The World of ‘Mister Ed’ — What You Didn’t Know About the Talking Horse (Of Course)

It all began with the short stories of Walter R. Brooks.

Born in 1886, Walter Rollin Brooks was working for an advertising agency when an inheritance made the need for employment non-existent. Eventually, though, he went to work for the American Red Cross and then on several magazines, where he did editorial work. In 1940, he began writing short stories about a talking horse and his drunken owner (which may go a long way in explaining why the horse only talked to him). All told, Walter wrote 25 stories featuring Mister Ed. In 1963, they were compiled into a paperback published by Bantam. Sadly, he died in 1958, several years before his work became the Classic TV series.

Mister Ed may owe a bit of a debt to Francis the Talking Mule.

Like Mister Ed, this film series was based on works of fiction. In this case from author David Stern, a U.S. Army Captain, who wrote the novel Francis in 1946. According to the book’s jacket copy, David had been made Co-Officer-in-Charge of the Army newspaper MIDPACIFICAN. “One night,” he said, “I was sitting looking at a blank, unpainted wall. To pass the time I wrote four pages of dialogue between a second lieutenant and an Army mule. I had no intention of writing more. But that little runt of a mule kept bothering me. With memories of OCS fresh in my mind, I thought I might rid myself of the creature by shipping him off to become a second lieutenant. Francis outwitted me. He refused to go.”

Indeed, 1948 saw the publication of the sequel, Francis Goes to Washington, with that former lieutenant running for Congress (and Francis lending a helping…uh, hoof). That was it for Francis in print, as David purchased and became editor of a newspaper, the New Orleans Item. But that wasn’t the end of Francis himself as his adventures came to the big screen with Donald O’Connor as Peter Stirling, the soldier befriended by the chatty mule. Seven films were produced between 1950 and 1956.

Bringing Mister Ed to television.

Arthur Lubin, who had directed six of the seven Francis the Talking Mule films (as well as Don Knotts' The Incredible Mr. Limpet), had wanted to bring the concept to television, but couldn't obtain the rights. Then he learned about the existence of the short stories written by Walter R. Brooks and optioned those rights. Early on, there were undoubtedly people who believed that Mister Ed was a rip-off of Francis, but to be fair, Walter had predated the concept by several years. Next to get involved with the concept was comedian George Burns, who actually backed the first pilot at a cost of $70,000.

Scott McKay was originally Wilbur Post.

Before Alan Young was cast as Mister Ed's cohort Wilbur Post, actor Scott McKay had been signed to play Wilbur Pope. Up until that time, Scott had only had a dozen or so guest-starring appearances in different TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Play of the Week. When Mister Ed went to series though, he was let go. The actor, born on May 28, 1915, passed away on March 16, 1987.

And then Alan Young came in to play Wilbur.

A British-American actor born Angus Young on Nov. 19, 1919, his ambition to get into entertainment was being met during high school when he had a comedy radio show on the CBC network. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II (his family having moved from England to Canada), after which he resumed his work in radio. Eventually he was made host of The Alan Young Show on the NBC radio network, before bringing the show to television for CBS. Originally a variety sketch comedy show when it debuted in 1950, it was retooled in 1952 as a standard sitcom with Alan playing a bank teller. Between 1946 and 1959 he also appeared in a number of feature films, though his greatest success came with Mister Ed, which debuted in 1961.

The voice of Mister Ed was provided by actor Allan “Rocky” Lane.

You'd never know it from reading the credits, but Mister Ed was not voiced by "himself," instead being brought to vocal life by an actor by the name of Allan "Rocky" Lane. He had a career that spanned from 1929 to 1966, and he starred in dozens of films (many of them B-movies), but the thing that reached more people than any other was his voice as Mister Ed, though it's not something he ever really talked about. Initially, he was embarrassed by the show, and when he did seek to get some publicity out of it, he was denied.

Connie Hines was the oh-so-understanding Carol Post.

If ever there was a housewife who had a reason to be jealous of her husband's relationship with another, it would be Carol Post. Married to Wilbur, she had to deal with the fact that he spent an awful lot of time in that stable with a horse, and he always seemed to be lying about something (though in actuality he was just trying to cover for some sort of trouble Ed had gotten him into). The woman who brought her to life, Connie Hines, was an actress who had guest starring roles before and after the series. While far from fulfilled by what Carol got to do, she viewed it as steady work rather than moving from show to show. She passed away on Dec. 18, 2009.

‘Clint Eastwood Meets Mister Ed’

Doesn’t the above sound like a Saturday Night Live skit or something? But the truth is that during Mister Ed‘s run, Clint Eastwood was starring in the CBS Western series Rawhide. Well, in episode 51, Ed comes up with a plan to become Clint’s new horse by getting rid of the competition (though ultimately things don’t go Ed’s way). Believe it or not, when Clint’s last directorial effort, The 15:17 to Paris was released, he told The New York Times about an important lesson he learned from that guest appearance.

“That’s when I first caught on that I didn’t want to overthink things,” he explained. “I was asking myself a lot of questions you shouldn’t pose, like, ‘What would the real me do in this situation?’ The hardest thing for a professional actor to do is to play themselves. Most actors are hiding behind roles and don’t know who they really are.”

So just how did they make Mister Ed talk?

This will no doubt come as a shock to you, but the horse that played the title character, Bamboo Harvester (how’s that for a name?) did not actually speak, though it sure looked like he did. Besides Allan Lane’s voice, the way this was accomplished initially is that a thread was used (it wasn’t painful), much as had been done in the making of the Francis the Talking Mule films. Eventually, this turned out to be unnecessary, although there was another story in which it was suggested that peanut butter was given to Bamboo, and his efforts to clean it off of his teen resulted in his mouth moving.

In speaking to Cinemaretro.com, Alan Young explained, “[The kids] would write and ask if the horse really could talk! 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. 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, which actually could be a bit of a problem. Ed was very smart. And, despite what some people have written about him, he was the gentlest horse you ever saw.”

Other famous actors spent some time in the stable with Ed.

In some ways, it seems insane to think how popular a show about a talking horse was, but it really did connect with people and brought in some interesting guest stars. Clint Eastwood you already know about, but there was also Zsa Zsa Gabor, the socialite and actress who appeared in the episode “Zsa Zsa”. In it, she is supposed to be filming a western, but has a genuine fear of horses. To overcome it, Wilbur helps her get used to Ed, and eventually she decides she wants to take him to Australia with her (spoiler: he doesn’t go).

George Burns, who had been fascinated with the concept from the start and financed the first pilot, appeared in episode 44, “George Burns Meets Mr. Ed,” in which he’s so impressed with the horse that he offers $25,000 if Ed makes a Las Vegas appearance with him. In “Mae West Meets Mister Ed,” the veteran comedienne commissions Wilbur to build her a deluxe stable for her horses and Ed is determined to move in with her. It isn’t long before he realizes that things aren’t as he imagined they would be. And, then, “Jon Provost Meets Mister Ed” has the young star of Lassie come along as the pitcher for Wilbur’s Little League game, but nearly misses it. Maybe he fell in a well or something? Lassie would know.

And then there was Ed the baseball player.

Look, no one can deny that the plots of a lot of these episodes are kind of ridiculous, but, oh man, are they funny. For instance, "Leo Durocher Meets Mister Ed" has the baseball player/manager getting phone tips from Ed, who is a massive Dodgers fan. Long story short, Ed ends up playing for the Dodgers, hitting an inside-the-park home run and, and as he gallops towards home base, Wilbur shouts, "Slide, Ed, slide!" Which is exactly what he does — an obviously large plastic horse taking over for the real thing. It sounds so stupid, but it's actually laugh-out-loud funny.

Another series highlight: ‘Ed the Bridegroom.’

Okay, here's another one. Ed decides that he needs to marry his favorite filly, so he convinces Wilbur that he needs to find a Justice of the Peace to do exactly that. Initially reluctant, Wilbur, of course, agrees to do it, but because no one else knows that Ed can speak, his father-in-law becomes convinced that Wilbur has lost his mind. One thing that needs to be said is that this was toward the end of the series' run, which adds weight to the argument that the audiences does not like to see their leading characters get married because it takes away the magic. Just sayin'.

Alan Young Goes Scrooge. McDuck, that is.

Following the end of the series, Alan gradually moved toward voice acting, and although he played a number of different roles, he became most famous for voicing the character of Disney's Scrooge McDuck, which he did for three decades. He alternated being voice work in cartoons and radio with TV and film appearances, and worked pretty steadily until his passing at the age of 96 in 2016.

Rumors of a new version pop up periodically.

Like everything else in Hollywood, Mister Ed has been the subject of remake talks, although so far there has only been one pilot. That was shot for FOX, and it starred David Basche as Wilbur, Sherilyn Fenn as Carol, and The Jeffersons' Sherman Hemsley as the voice of Ed. You can find the pilot on YouTube, and it would be surprising if you didn't find it to be terrible, lacking any of the charm that made the original series so special.

The Mister Ed theme song is forever irresistible.

You cannot think of Mister Ed without thinking of the show's theme song, which was composed by the team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, with Jay handling the vocals himself. Allan "Rocky" Lane, the voice of Ed, comes in at the very end, proclaiming, "I am Mister Ed!"

And we can think of no better way of paying tribute to Mister Ed than ending with that song.