The idea started with a stack of short stories. Writer Walter R. Brooks, better known for his Freddy the Pig children’s books, had also written a series about a talking horse, and director Arthur Lubin came across them in the early 1950s while looking for a follow-up to his Francis the Talking Mule film series. Lubin had wanted the rights to Francis for television and could not get them, so he adapted Brooks’ horse instead. George Burns put up roughly 70,000 dollars to fund the pilot, a sum that would run well over half a million dollars today.
Alan Young, cast as architect Wilbur Post, had actually turned the role down once before. Lubin first approached him in 1953, and Young later admitted he could not picture himself as a horse’s straight man. He came around after returning from several years working in British television and seeing the finished pilot, and by the time cameras rolled for real, he had the part that would define his career.
Bamboo Harvester, a cross between an American Saddlebred and a part-Arabian, was already a working show and parade horse when Hilton took him on. Hilton, who had trained under cowboy star Will Rogers, taught the horse to move his lips using a nylon thread tucked into his halter. The trick worked so well that Bamboo Harvester eventually learned to fake speech on his own, simply by feeling a touch on his hoof or picking up the rhythm of Young’s dialogue.
The show debuted in first-run syndication on January 5, 1961, months before CBS picked it up for its Sunday lineup that October. That reverse move, from local stations to network television, was rare enough at the time to make news on its own. Mister Ed ran on CBS through February 6, 1966, closing out its run after 143 episodes and drawing guest stars along the way including Mae West, Clint Eastwood and George Burns himself.
CBS cancelled the series midway through its sixth season, reportedly describing it as too bucolic for a network moving toward sharper, more urban comedy. The cancellation came several years before the industry’s broader retreat from rural sitcoms in the early 1970s, so Wilbur and his talking horse were ahead of that particular trend. The show found a long second life in syndication anyway, including a run on Nick at Nite from 1986 to 1993 that introduced the theme song to an entirely new generation.
Bamboo Harvester’s own ending is harder to pin down. Some accounts have him retiring to Hilton’s ranch and living into 1970, while a separate stand-in horse named Pumpkin, used for publicity stills, was later mistaken by fans for the genuine Mr Ed and remembered as living until 1979.
Mister Ed: A TV show with horse sense
By Edgar Penton – The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida) Feb 18, 1962
IF THERE’S ANY one thing responsible for the success of the Mister Ed series, it can be summed up in a single word: cooperation. These are the words of Alan Young, star of the series that features the talking horse, Mister Ed.
“It’s as simple as that,” explained Alan. “We’re blessed by having a cast, crew and production staff that is the epitome of togetherness — work together, think together and enjoy Mister Ed together.”
Now in its first season on CBS-TV (Sundays, 6:30-7:00) Mister Ed is actually in its second year. The show premiered in 1960 as a syndicated television program and is the first program ever to make the reverse switch — from syndication to a network.
AND ALREADY it has set new records for the Sunday time slot, with more viewers than any program seen before in that time slot in television’s history.
But this isn’t a story about reverses, ratings or records. It’s the story of Mister Ed, one of the most intelligent, most docile, most understanding horses on television or off. And it’s the story of some of the people who feel it’s a privilege to play supporting roles with Ed.
The Mister Ed series was actually seven years in becoming a reality. Back in 1953 Arthur Lubin, the producer-director of Mister Ed, came across the short stories which appeared in national magazines, written by Walter Brooks and featuring a talking horse as the principal character.
Lubic saw great possibilities in featuring a talking horse in a television series, and tried to interest Alan Young in his idea.
“I GUESS I didn’t have Arthur’s foresight then,” says Young today. “In 1953, I couldn’t picture myself being buddy-buddy with any kind of a horse, silent or gabby.”
After spending nearly three years in his native England, where he wrote, produced and starred in British television, Young returned to the United States and again Lubin suggested the Mister Ed series to him.
This time, he was receptive to the idea, and after seeing the pilot, Young jumped at the opportunity to star in the series.
And it went into syndication on more than a hundred television stations across the country. “It wasn’t an immediate hit, either,” Lubin recalls. “I guess the viewers needed a little time to get accustomed to seeing — and hearing — a horse talk.”
ALAN YOUNG, as star of the show, is boundless in his respect and admiration for his fellow players. “Who could ask for a sweeter, more attractive television wife than Connie Hines?” he asked.
Speaking of Mister Ed himself, he’s a Palomino. Mister Ed’s real name is Bamboo Harvester, but for show business, he consented to have it changed to Ed.
He’s a medium-sized horse, standing 5 feet, one inch tall. Ed lives in a comfortable stable at the residence of his trainer, Les Hilton, in the San Fernando Valley.
HILTON IS no newcomer to the trained-animal business, having handled Francis the Mule, Fury, Flicka and others. Of all of the animals in his career, Les admits Mister Ed is the most satisfactory, competent and intelligent animal he’s worked with.
Hilton explained that Mister Ed is a trained horse, not a trick horse. When the script calls for Ed to do something unusual Les walks him through the particular assignment several times. Then he puts Ed on his own, and nine times out of 10, he’ll do what’s required of him on the first take.
So far, Lou Derman, the imaginative head writer of the Mister Ed series, hasn’t come up with anything for Ed to do that he’s unable to do — even to making friends with an elephant.
One thing that both puzzles and amuses everyone on the set is a horse’s ability to sleep standing up with his eyes wide open.
MISTER ED’S conversation in the series is limited to verbal exchanges with Wilbur Post (played by Alan Young) who is Ed’s owner. And while this might seem to limit Ed, there has been a lot of chatter that gives a good indication of his sense of humor.
Many filmed television shows have a tight shooting schedule, completing a program in three or four days per episode, which often makes for considerable tension on the sets on the part of the actors and the crews. The Mister Ed shows are shot in three days, but the tensions that exist elsewhere are absent on this set. One crew member explained it complete and sincerely.
“It’s a fun show to work,” he said, “and it’s a happy set. I get the feeling we’re all a part of one big family with Mister Ed as the ‘ead of the house.”
It all makes good horse sense.
Mister Ed’s Alan Young: “The type of fellow that a horse would talk to” (1961)
Excerpted from an article published in The Marion Star (Marion, Ohio) – January 04, 1961
The idea for “Mister Ed” was conceived a couple of years ago by director Arthur Lubin, who did the six “Francis the Mule” movies, and producer Al Simon.
In the television show, Alan Young plays an architect (Wilbur) who, with his wife (Connie Hines), moves into the country. The previous owner of the house and barn has left Ed, the horse, behind.
The horse talks only to Alan, and of course, this leaves him trying to explain all sorts of odd things to his wife and acquaintances. “Ed is really a character,” says Alan. “He answers the phone when I’m not around, and gets into arguments with my clients.”
Director Lubin prefers to keep Ed’s talking trick a classified bit of information. An off-camera actor’s voice is used for simultaneous dubbing, while Ed supposedly is mouthing the words. Some kind of contraption is concealed in the horse’s mouth which causes him to move his lips.
MORE: About The Dick Van Dyke Show, the comedy TV series from the ’60s – plus see the opening credits
With an uninhibited animal around, all sorts of things naturally happen on the “Mister Ed” set at General Services Studios. If Ed gets temperamental, it means that the human actors have to work faster to keep the shooting schedule from falling into overtime.
“I’ve never been around horses before, especially talking horses, and it’s quite an experience,” says Alan.
“How do you mean?”
“Well, it’s like working with Charlie McCarthy. I catch myself talking to the horse when we’re off camera. The other morning, I passed Ed on the set and said. ‘Hello, Ed.’ When he didn’t say anything, I was a little shaken and thought perhaps he was mad at me.”
“This shook you?”
“Sure. Don’t forget, there are a lot of comedians out of work now. Of course, I suppose with this experience I could get guest shots with Fury and Lassie,” says Alan.
Mr Ed: The Horse Human
Mister Ed opening and closing credits/theme song
Mister Ed theme song lyrics: A horse is a horse, of course, of course
Hello. I’m Mister Ed.
A horse is a horse, of course, of course.
And no one can talk to a horse, of course.
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed.
Go right to the source and ask the horse.
He’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse.
He’s always on a steady course.
Talk to Mister Ed.
[Below only included in the closing credits]
People yakkity-yak a streak and waste your time of day,
But Mister Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.
A horse is a horse, of course, of course.
And this one’ll talk ’til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?
Well listen to this: I am Mister Ed.
