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Mister Ed was an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways[1] that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961 and then on CBS from October 1, 1961 to February 6, 1966. Mister Ed was the first series ever to debut as a midseason replacement. The stars of the show are Mister Ed, an intelligent palomino American Saddlebred who could talk ("played" by gelding Bamboo Harvester and voiced by Allan Lane), and his owner, an eccentric and enormously klutzy architect named Wilbur Post (portrayed by Alan Young). Much of the program's humor stemmed from the fact Mister Ed would speak only to Wilbur, as well as Ed's notoriety as a troublemaker. According to the show's producer, Arthur Lubin, Young was chosen as the lead character because he "just seemed like the sort of guy a horse would talk to."[2] Lubin, a friend of Mae West, scored a coup by persuading the screen icon to guest star in one episode. In the United States, reruns aired on Nick at Nite from March 3, 1986 to February 1, 1993.[3] Sister station TV Land also reran the show from 1996 to 1998 and again from 2003 to 2006. The series is currently reran every morning on this TV, along with sister series The Patty Duke Show.
[edit] BeginningsThe show was derived from short stories by Walter R. Brooks, including Ed Takes the Pledge. Brooks is otherwise known for the Freddy the Pig series of children's novels, which likewise feature talking animals who interact with humans. The concept of the show was similar to Francis the Talking Mule, with the equine normally talking only to one person (Wilbur), and thus both helping and frustrating its owner. [edit] Mister EdThe horse that played Mister Ed for the pilot episode was a chestnut gelding. Mister Ed (1949-1970) was voiced by ex-B-movie cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane (speaking) and Sheldon Allman (singing, except his line in the theme song, which was sung by its composer, Jay Livingston). Ed was voice-trained for the show by Les Hilton. Lane remained anonymous as the voice of Mister Ed, and the show's producers referred to him only as "an actor who prefers to remain nameless," though once the show became a hit, Lane campaigned the producers for credit, which he never received. The credits listed Mister Ed as playing "Himself"; however, his family tree name was Bamboo Harvester. Ed's stablemate, a quarter horse named Pumpkin, who was later to appear in the television series Green Acres, was also Ed's stunt double in the show. [edit] DeathThere are conflicting stories involving of the death of Bamboo Harvester, the horse that played Mr. Ed. One version is by 1968 the horse was suffering from a variety of health problems. In 1970 he was euthanized with no publicity, and buried at Snodgrass Farm in Oklahoma.[4] A second story, which also occurs in Oklahoma, is a horse that died in Oklahoma in February 1979 who was widely thought to be Mister Ed, (it was in fact another horse that posed for the still pictures used by the production company for the show's press kits). After Bamboo Harvester's death in 1970 this horse was unofficially known as Mister Ed which led to him being reported as such (including sardonic comments on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update) following his own death.[5] A third version is quoted by Alan Young in his book "Mr. Ed and Me" (1994,St. Martins Press, New York, ISBN 0-312-11852-X). Young wrote in his book that he'd frequently visit his former "co-star" in retirement. He states that Mr. Ed died from an inadvertent tranquilizer administered while he was "in retirement" in a stable in Burbank, California where he lived with his trainer Lester Hilton. Young says Hilton was out of town visiting relatives and a temporary care giver might have seen Ed rolling on the ground, struggling to get up. Young said Ed was a heavy horse and he wasn't always strong enough to get back on his feet without struggling. The theory is the care giver thought the horse was in distress and administered a tranquilizer and for unknown reason, the horse died within hours. The remains were cremated and scattered by Hilton in the Los Angeles area at a spot known only to him. Young says when the Oklahoma horse death story came out in 1979, he knew it wasn't the real Mr. Ed, but didn't have the heart to "shatter their illusions" that the horse being memorialized wasn't the real Mr. Ed. He believes it was a horse used for early publicity photos. [6] [edit] Other charactersThe other main characters in the show were Wilbur's tolerant young wife, Carol (Connie Hines); and their neighbors the Addisons, Roger (Larry Keating) and Kay (Edna Skinner) until 1963 (upon Larry Keating's death that year) and then the Kirkwoods, Gordon (Leon Ames) and Winnie (Florence MacMichael). In 1963, the child actor Darby Hinton, cast thereafter as Israel Boone on NBC's Daniel Boone, guest starred as Rocky in the episode "Getting Ed's Goat". Jack Albertson appeared occasionally from 1961 to 1963 as Kay Addison's older brother Paul Fenton. For the final season, the show focused strictly on the home life of the Posts, which was made more interesting when Carol's grumpy and uptight father, Mr. Higgins (Barry Kelly), who appeared occasionally through the entire series, apparently moved in with Wilbur and Carol during the final episodes, and who never stopped loathing Wilbur since Wilbur's quirky eccentricity always clashed with the emotionless and uptight personality of Carol's father who never stopped trying to persuade Carol to leave Wilbur, whom he referred to as a "kook" because of his klutziness. Although Connie Hines retired from acting a few years after the shows cancellation in 1966, she and Alan Young still make public appearances together.[7] [edit] Theme songThe theme song was written by the songwriting team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and sung, for the show, by Livingston, who was not the first choice. Only the music was used to open the first six episodes, but when a professional singer could not be found, Livingston agreed to sing the lyrics, because the producers were so pleased with his vocals, and he was never replaced. [8] [edit] SponsorshipThe series was sponsored from 1961 to 1963 by Studebaker Corporation, a now-defunct American car manufacturer. Studebakers were featured prominently in the show during this period. The Posts are shown owning a 1962 Lark convertible, and the company used publicity shots featuring the Posts and Mister Ed with their product (various cast members also appeared in "integrated commercials" for Lark at the end of the program). The Addisons are shown owning a 1963 Avanti. Ford Motor Company provided the vehicles starting at the beginning of 1965. It is also interesting to note that, in the first episode ever aired, the Posts were driving a 1961 Studebaker Lark. [edit] RemakeIn 2004, a remake was planned for the Fox network, with Sherman Hemsley as the voice of Mister Ed, David Alan Basche as Wilbur, Sherilyn Fenn as Carol, and Sara Paxton. The pilot was filmed, but was not picked up by Fox. The show's writer and producer, Drake Sather, committed suicide shortly before the pilot's completion. [edit] The peanut butter legendIt is often said the crew was able to get Mister Ed to move his mouth by applying peanut butter to his gums in order for him to try to remove it by moving his lips. However, Alan Young said in 2004 that he had started the story himself.[9] [edit] Real methodYoung, in an interview 7 April 2007 on radio station 3AW, Melbourne, Australia, claimed that a loose piece of Nylon was inserted under Mr. Ed's lip which the horse attempted to remove on his trainer's cue. Mr. Ed was so well trained, it was said, that the insert would be ignored until the required cue. Others argued that examination of Mister Ed footage shows Ed's handler pulling strings to make him talk, and that this was method was at work at least some of the time. Young later said during an interview for the Archive of American Television that a nylon string was tied to the halter and the loose end inserted under his lip to make Ed talk, saying that he had used the peanut butter fable for years in radio interviews instead of telling the truth. The loose thread can be seen tied to the halter, and it is clearly not taut as it would be if it were being pulled. Young also states in the AAT interview that after the first season, Ed didn't need the nylon - Alan and trainer Les were out riding one day and Les started laughing, telling Alan to look at Ed, who was moving his lips every time they stopped talking, as if attempting to join in the conversation. The difference is visible when comparing first season episodes to later ones, as it is clear that early on he's working the irritating string out, sometimes working his tongue in the attempt too, and later on he tends to only move his upper lip, and appears to watch Alan Young closely, waiting for him to finish his lines before twitching his lip. Young added in the Archive interview that Ed saw the trainer as the disciplinarian, or father figure, and when scolded for missing a cue, would go to Alan for comfort, like a mother figure, which Les said was a good thing.[10] [edit] CastMain cast: [edit] Housing development
Recent work has been done by a master builder in Oklahoma to create a community built around the supposed final resting place (although that fact is disputable) of Mr. Ed. It is intended to be themed to the style of the show and its period. [edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Episodes[edit] DVD releasesMGM Home Entertainment released two Best-of collections of Mister Ed on DVD in Region 1. Volume 1 (released January 13, 2004) contains 21 episodes and Volume 2 (released March 8, 2005) contains 20 episodes. Due to poor sales, further volumes were not released. MGM also released a single-disc released entitled Mister Ed's Barnyard Favorites on July 26, 2005 which contains the first eight episodes featured on Volume One. Judging by the pattern of other CBS and Filmways programs of the era, it is possible that some episodes from the early seasons may have had their copyrights lapsed, and thus have fallen in the public domain. The Internet Archive (archive.org) has the episode entitled "Ed the Beneficiary". On October 6, 2009, Shout! Factory released the complete first season of Mister Ed on DVD in Region 1.[12] An early review by Paul Mavis states that most of the episodes are the full-length versions, while eight of them are the edited versions. [13] The Complete Second Season has been announced for release on February 2, 2010. [14]
[edit] See alsoOther films with talking horses include Hot to Trot (1988) and Ready to Run (2002). The names of the talking horses were Don and Thunder Jam (TJ) respectively. [edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: 1960s American television series | 1961 television series debuts | 1966 television series endings | Black and white television programs | CBS network shows | Horses in film and television | Fictional horses | First-run syndicated television programs in the United States | Television series by MGM Television | Palomino horses | American television sitcoms | Television series about animals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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