Barney McNulty

Thanks for the Memories

         The two years we lived in Bangkok, Thailand, I served as Special Services Officer for the area.  Diane and I were privileged to meet some very interesting people.  We were there two Christmas seasons, 1967 and 1968, and were involved with the annual Bob Hope Christmas Show that came to entertain the troops in Southeast Asia.  I was the assistant project officer for the shows and coordinated the travel and ground efforts for the Thailand shows and travel for the Viet Nam shows.  While they were in SW Asia they stayed in Bangkok each night.  That was because a few years prior they realized that Hope was a target while in Saigon so they no longer stayed overnight there.  Diane volunteered to travel with the show to assist with wardrobe needs.  She went to all of the shows while they were in Thailand and helped the ladies with their quick changes and wardrobe needs.  Diane always said that her “claim to fame” was the fact that she had seen Raquel Welch naked.  We became acquainted with all of the performers, musicians and production people and it was fascinating.  Among all the “stars” and notables there was one individual who stood out for us.  We grew to know and love Barney McNulty. 

         Barney McNulty was the cue card man.  We quickly realized that next to Hope, Barney was the most important person in the show.  Not a word came from Hope’s mouth that was not written on these large cards that McNulty had written down for him.  He would get the script from the writers and work tirelessly to get them ready for each show.  Each location they played called for a different script except for set “scenes.”  Each show referenced each place they played.  The cue cards were on heavy stock and large because Hope’s eyesight was pretty bad by then.  This was well before the days of teleprompters. 

         Barney was a little guy, full of energy and always interested in people he met and the area where the show was playing.  Diane and I became good friends with him and we had a lot of adventures prowling around Bangkok looking for neat restaurants and places to visit.  We had a car and we would head off looking for excitement.  Barney was unassuming and very friendly.  The second year they were there during my tenure he quickly looked us up and off we went again! 

         One year we were at a party at the Thai Air Chief Marshall’s home and the American Deputy commanding general got a little tipsy and offered Ann Margaret his helicopter so she could do see the famous bridge on the River Kwai.  He looked at me and said, “Captain, you take them.”  “Yes, sir!”  There was room for 4 passengers in addition to me and the pilots.  So, early the next morning, the day before Christmas eve I found myself taking Ann Margaret, Roger Smith (her husband), a Gold Digger and Barney McNulty down to see the famous bridge.  That’s a story for another day.  Barney was ecstatic.  What a fun adventure. 

         Years later I thought about Barney and the good times we enjoyed together.  The Internet had become available by then and I checked him out.  This is what I found. 

         Barney was a page for the Ed Wynn show in the early days of television.  Wynn had always used cards in his show with just bits and pieces of his act to jog his memory.  However, he was growing older and he asked to have his entire script written out for him.  Barney did the job and thus began the cue card phenomenon.  He became known as the king of the cue cards and was soon in high demand.  He worked with Hope for 43 years, but also handled the cards for people such as Milton Berle, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Judy Garland and many others.  John Wayne once invited him to an on set poker game to see if he was just as good with regular cards! 

         Diane and I did not know any of this while we knew him.  He was just the neat dude who kept Hope on script for all the shows.  I found out through research that he had been a military pilot.  I also discovered that his sister was Penny Singleton who was Blondie in the Dagwood movies.  She also voiced Jane Jetson in the cartoon series. 

         Barney McNulty passed away a few days before Christmas in 2000 at age 77.  He was “King of the Cue Cards” to the world, but to us he was a good buddy who liked to go look for out of the way restaurants in Bangkok.  Thanks for the memories, Barney.