Mister Ed

Did You Know?

• A race horse named after the character took part in the 1994 Grand National steeplechase at Aintree, England, but did not complete the course.
• In 2004, a remake was planned for Fox, directed by Michael Spiller and written by Drake Sather, with Sherman Hemsley as the voice of Mister Ed, David Alan Basche as Wilbur, and Sherilyn Fenn as Carol.
• In March 1995, Walt Disney Pictures approached Kelsey Grammer about playing Wilbur Post in a feature film adaptation, but Grammer declined because he did not want his first major film role to be a television character.

Beginnings

The concept for Mister Ed came from a series of short stories by Walter R. Brooks, beginning with "The Talking Horse" in the September 18, 1937, issue of Liberty magazine. Brooks is best known for the Freddy the Pig series of children's novels featuring talking animals. Arthur Lubin's secretary Sonia Chernus introduced him to the Brooks stories and is credited with developing the television concept. The show resembles the Francis the Talking Mule movies, in which an equine character talks to only one person. Lubin had directed the first six Francis films (1950–55) and wanted to make a Francis television series but could not secure the rights, so he optioned the Brooks stories. Comedian George Burns financed the pilot, shot at his McCadden Studio in Hollywood for $70,000, with Scott McKay as Wilbur. Jack Benny was also involved behind the scenes. Unable to sell the show to a network, Lubin sold it into syndication, securing single-sponsor identification on over 100 stations. The show was recast with Alan Young in the lead. Production began in November 1960, and the first 26 episodes were received well enough for CBS to pick up the series.

Synopsis

The show was built around a comedy duo. The title character, Mister Ed, was a talking palomino horse played by the gelding Bamboo Harvester, with his voice provided by former Western film actor Allan Lane. Ed’s owner was Wilbur Post, a friendly but clumsy architect played by Alan Young. The Posts lived at 17230 Valley Spring Road in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. Most of the jokes came from Ed only speaking to Wilbur, his surprisingly cultured personality, his mischievous nature, and his very human-like behavior. A frequent gag had other characters overhearing Wilbur talking to Ed and asking who he was talking to. Another running joke was Wilbur’s tendency to have accidents and hurt himself or others. According to Lubin, Young got the part because he “just seemed like the sort of guy a horse would talk to.” Wilbur’s patient wife, Carol, played by Connie Hines, was another main character. The Posts had two sets of neighbors. First were the Addisons: Roger (Larry Keating) and Kay (Edna Skinner), who appeared from the pilot until Keating’s death in 1963. After that, Skinner continued as Kay, with no mention of Roger, until the neighbors were replaced. During that time, Kay’s brother Paul Fenton (Jack Albertson) made appearances. The new neighbors were Colonel Gordon Kirkwood, USAF (Ret.), Wilbur’s former commanding officer (Leon Ames), and his wife Winnie (Florence MacMichael), from 1963 to 1965. In the final season, the Kirkwoods were phased out, and Carol’s grumpy father, Mr. Higgins (Barry Kelley), who had appeared occasionally throughout the series, apparently moved in with the Posts. Mr. Higgins hated Wilbur, whose clumsiness and awkward friendliness clashed with Higgins’s stiff, emotionless nature. He constantly tried to convince Carol to divorce Wilbur, often calling him a “kook.”

Production notes

The original, unaired pilot was titled "Wilbur Pope and Mister Ed" and featured an unrelated instrumental big-band theme with footage of Studebaker Hawk automobiles under the opening credits. This pilot used a nearly identical script but a different cast: Scott McKay as Wilbur Pope (surname later changed to Post) and Sandra White as his wife. The first horse used for the pilot was a chestnut gelding that proved unruly and was replaced by Bamboo Harvester (1949–1970), a crossbred gelding of American Saddlebred, Arabian and grade ancestry. A second pilot was filmed, and Bamboo Harvester remained with the series until its cancellation. Producers left the talents performing the title role uncredited; the credits listed Mister Ed as played only by "Himself." The voice actor for Ed's spoken lines was Allan "Rocky" Lane, a former B-movie cowboy star. Sheldon Allman provided Ed's singing voice, and the solo line "I am Mister Ed" at the close of the theme song was provided by its composer, Jay Livingston. Lane was alluded to only as "an actor who prefers to remain nameless" and later accepted a raise in salary instead of screen credit. Ed's stablemate, a quarter horse named Pumpkin, served as Bamboo Harvester's stunt double and later appeared on Green Acres. Trainer Les Hilton initially used a thread technique to create the impression of Ed talking, but the horse learned to move his lips on cue when the trainer touched his hoof.

Home media

MGM Home Entertainment released two Best-of collections on DVD in Region 1: Volume 1 (January 13, 2004) with 21 episodes and Volume 2 (March 8, 2005) with 20 episodes. Poor sales prevented further volumes. MGM also released Mister Ed's Barnyard Favorites on July 26, 2005, containing the first eight episodes from Volume One. Shout! Factory acquired the rights in June 2009 and released all six seasons on DVD in Region 1; Seasons 4 and 5 are not available outside the continental U.S. The sixth and final season was released on May 12, 2015. Syndicated versions of eight episodes were used for the Season One DVD release; all other releases contain unedited full-length versions. On December 9, 2014, Shout! Factory released Mister Ed – Complete Series on DVD in Region 1, a 22-disc set with all 143 episodes and bonus features.