Mister Ed is an American television sitcom produced by FilmwaysThe New York Times Encyclopedia of Television by Les Brown (Times Books, a division of Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company, Inc., 1977), , p. 277 that aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966. The show's title character is a talking horse which originally appeared in short stories by Walter R. Brooks. Alan Young starred as Wilbur Post, an architect who is the only person Ed will talk to; Ed was played by the gelding Bamboo Harvester and voiced by Allan Lane.
Arthur Lubin, who had directed the Francis the Talking Mule films, developed the series after failing to get the rights to Francis for television. George Burns financed the pilot. No network would buy the show, so Lubin sold it into first-run syndication, and CBS picked it up after its first 26 episodes. All 143 episodes were filmed in black and white. The theme song, written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, was sung by Livingston. Bamboo Harvester won four PATSY Awards, and reruns on Nick at Nite in the 1980s brought the show a new audience. Later attempts to revive the property include an unmade Disney film in the 1990s and a 2004 Fox pilot.
Beginnings The Mister Ed show concept was derived from a series of short stories by author Walter R. Brooks which began 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 which feature talking animals that interact with humans. In the stories the couple were Wilbur and Carlotta Pope; for television they became Wilbur and Carol Post, because, Alan Young later wrote, "Carlotta was too operatic, and Pope a little religious". The series credits read "Format developed by Sonia Chernus from characters created by Walter Brooks". End credits. Chernus, Lubin's secretary, is said to have introduced him to the stories.
The show's concept resembles that of the Francis movies, in which an equine character talks to only one person, leading to a variety of opportunities and frustrations. The first six Francis films (1950–55) were directed by Lubin. He wanted to make a Francis television series, but had been unable to secure the rights, so he optioned the Brooks stories for television. Comedian George Burns financed the pilot for Mister Ed, which was shot at his McCadden Studio in Hollywood at a cost of $70,000. Jack Benny was also involved behind the scenes.
None of the three networks bought the pilot. Producer Al Simon joined the project and had the pilot cut into a 15-minute presentation, which the advertising agency D'Arcy brought to Studebaker. Under the arrangement, each Studebaker dealer contributed $25 for every car sold, matched by the company, and the dealers bought time for the show on their local stations. It had single-sponsor identification on over 100 stations. The show was recast with Alan Young as the lead. According to Young, it was George Burns who suggested him, saying "He looks like the kind of a guy a horse would talk to." Lou Derman was hired as head writer. Production began in November 1960, although Lubin did not direct early episodes as he was working in Europe on a film. The first 26 episodes were received well enough for the show to be picked up by CBS. Young recalled that CBS programming head James T. Aubrey gave it the Sunday 7 p.m. slot, ahead of Lassie and The Ed Sullivan Show.
Burns oversaw the staging of the first 13 episodes. The audience's response to his warm-up at the first studio preview was recorded and used as the show's laugh track.
Synopsis The show in effect had two leads operating as a comedy team. The title role of Mister Ed, a talking palomino, was played by the gelding Bamboo Harvester and voiced by former Western film actor Allan Lane. The role of Ed's owner, a genial but somewhat klutzy architect named Wilbur Post, was played by Alan Young. The Posts lived at 17230 Valley Spring Road in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Many of the program's gags follow from Ed's tendency to talk only to Wilbur, his mysteriously well-cultured manner, his mischief, and behavior far more intelligent than anyone around Wilbur expects of a horse. A running gag is other characters hearing Wilbur talking to Ed and asking to whom he is talking. Another centers on Wilbur being accident-prone and inadvertently causing harm to himself and others.
The other main character throughout the series is Wilbur's generally tolerant young wife, Carol (Connie Hines). The Posts also have two sets of neighbors, to whom Ed delights in making Wilbur appear as eccentric as possible. They included the Addisons, Roger (Larry Keating) and his wife Kay (Edna Skinner), who both appeared from the pilot episode until Keating's death in 1963; thereafter, Skinner continued appearing as Kay, without mention of Roger's absence, until the neighbors were recast. During this period, Kay's brother Paul Fenton (Jack Albertson), who had made occasional appearances before, appears. Following the Addisons, the Posts' new neighbors were Col. Gordon Kirkwood, USAF (Ret.), Wilbur's former commanding officer (Leon Ames), and his wife Winnie (Florence MacMichael). They appeared on the series from 1963 to 1965. In the final season the Kirkwoods were phased out, and Carol's father, Mr. Higgins (Barry Kelley), who had appeared occasionally throughout the series, moved in with Wilbur and Carol. Higgins dislikes Wilbur, calls him a "kook", and keeps urging Carol to divorce him.
Ed's ability to talk was never explained and rarely contemplated on the show. In the first episode, when Wilbur says he cannot understand the situation, Ed offers the show's only remark on the subject: "Don't try. It's bigger than both of us!" Cast Main Alan Young as Wilbur Post Connie Hines as Carol Post Bamboo Harvester as Mister Ed (credited as "Himself") Allan Lane as the voice of Mister Ed (uncredited) Larry Keating as Roger Addison (seasons 1–4) Edna Skinner as Camille "Kay" Addison (seasons 1–4) Leon Ames as Col. Gordon Kirkwood (seasons 4–5) Florence MacMichael as Winnie Kirkwood (seasons 4–5) Recurring Jack Albertson as Paul Fenton (seasons 1–3) Barry Kelley as Mr. Higgins, Carol's father (guest 1962–1964, recurring 1965–1966)
Guest stars Celebrities who appeared as themselves include Mae West, Clint Eastwood, George Burns, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Leo Durocher, Jon Provost, Johnny Crawford and Sebastian Cabot; Jack LaLanne is seen on Ed's television in "Psychoanalyst Show". Actors in character roles included Donna Douglas, who appeared in three episodes, Irene Ryan, Raymond Bailey, Alan Hale Jr., Neil Hamilton, Hayden Rorke, William Bendix and Sharon Tate.
Episodes
Production The original, unaired pilot was titled "Wilbur Pope and Mister Ed". It was directed by Lubin, produced by Lubin and William Burns, and starred Scott McKay as Wilbur Pope and Sandra White as his wife; its credits run over footage of Studebaker cars. Opening and closing credits. It survived in a Studebaker sales presentation film that followed it with a pitch to dealers by George Burns and an introduction to Young and Hines. The pilot used an unrelated instrumental big-band theme and a script nearly identical to the series premiere.
The horse in the unaired pilot was a chestnut gelding. Al Simon considered it "a pathetic-looking nag" and wanted a better-looking horse. Trainer Les Hilton bought Bamboo Harvester for $1,500 from the president of the California Palomino Society; the horse was gelded after the purchase. Bamboo Harvester (1949–1970) was a crossbred palomino of American Saddlebred, Arabian and grade ancestry. A second pilot was filmed, and Bamboo Harvester stayed with the series until its cancellation.
Making Ed "talk" Mister Ed producers left the performers of the title role uncredited, the show's credits listing Mister Ed as being played only by "Himself."
Ed's spoken lines were provided by Allan "Rocky" Lane, a former B-movie cowboy star. Lane was staying with Hilton when Simon and Lubin heard his voice during a publicity shoot at Hilton's ranch. He agreed to take the part only if his name was kept off the credits. During filming, he read Ed's lines into a microphone at the edge of the set. After the show became a hit, Lane asked for screen credit; Simon argued that the "played by himself" credit had convinced younger viewers that Ed really talked, and gave Lane a raise instead. After the third season, the producers auditioned for replacements for Lane, but no one else fit the role.
Sheldon Allman provided Ed's singing voice. The solo line "I am Mister Ed" at the close of the theme song was sung by its composer, Jay Livingston.
Another palomino, Pumpkin, reportedly served as Bamboo Harvester's body double.
Hilton had trained the mule for Lubin's Francis films. Alan Young recalled: "It was initially done by putting a piece of nylon thread in his mouth. But Ed actually learned to move his lips on cue when the trainer touched his hoof. In fact, he soon learned to do it when I stopped talking during a scene! Ed was very smart."
Reports circulated during and after the show's run that the talking effect was achieved by applying peanut butter to the horse's gums. In his 1994 memoir Young declined to describe the method, saying only that it was Hilton's invention, was painless, and was "a little like having peanut butter stuck under your top lip". He later said he had invented the peanut butter story: "Al Simon and Arthur Lubin, the producers, suggested we keep the method a secret because they thought kids would be disappointed if they found out the technical details of how it was done, so I made up the peanut butter story, and everyone bought it."
Hilton told Young that he was Ed's "father image", who had to scold him, while Young's job was to have "motherly appeal". When Hilton cracked his whip (only as a sound; Young wrote that Ed was never struck), the horse would put his chin on Young's shoulder for comfort.
Theme song The theme song, "Mister Ed", was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and sung by Livingston. The first seven episodes used only instrumental music to open the show; thereafter the version with lyrics was used. Livingston agreed to sing the song until a professional singer could be found, but the producers liked his vocals and kept them.
The theme song received renewed publicity twenty years after the show went off the air when Jim Brown, an evangelist from South Point, Ohio, claimed in May 1986 that it contained "satanic messages" if played in reverse. Brown and his colleague Greg Hudson claimed that the phrases "Someone sung this song for Satan" and "the source is Satan" would be audible. After one of their seminars, teenagers burned more than 300 albums. The teens did not burn a copy of Television's Greatest Hits, which includes the song, and Brown said that "Satan can be an influence whether they [the songwriters] know it or not. We don't think they did it on purpose and we're not getting down on Mister Ed."
Sponsorship The series was sponsored from 1961 to 1963 by Studebaker-Packard Corporation, renamed Studebaker Corporation in 1962. At first, sponsorship came from Studebaker's dealers, with corporate sponsorship coming from South Bend once the series had been picked up by CBS. Studebakers were featured prominently in the show during this period. The Posts are shown owning a 1962 Lark convertible, the company used publicity shots of the Posts and Ed with its cars, and cast members appeared in "integrated commercials" for the Lark at the end of the program. When a Lark convertible served as the pace car at the 1962 Indianapolis 500, Connie Hines attended the race as part of the promotion.