Home » Plants & Animals » Working Animals » A HORSE, OF COURSE!

A HORSE, OF COURSE!

© Joy Butler

Family gatherings tend to bring back memories. We fondly reminisce our younger days and school friends, discuss old hairstyles, old songs and even that time we had the measles. We also recall old TV shows, the ones that were still clean. So who all still remembers the talking palomino from the 60's series?

"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!"

The comedy kept America laughing through 143 episodes which aired from January 1961 to September 1966 and won the Golden Globe award for Best in TV Show in 1963. Mr. Ed was a very special horse. He wanted to do the things that humans did, and was known to wear leopard pants, a Beatle wig, and sunglasses, ride a surfboard and talk on the phone, among other things. However, Wilbur Post, his owner, was the only person to whom he would speak, and that presented problems for Wilbur and created hilarious drama in every episode.

This orating equine was born Bamboo Harvester in 1949 in El Monte, California. Before his talking days, the gelding was a show horse and parade horse, but The Mister Ed Company, owned by the President of California Palomino Society, bought him, and Les Hilton liberty trained him. Liberty training means training without use of a lead line.

There have been several stories as to how Mr. Ed was made to talk. Alan Young, who played Wilbur Post, once stated that peanut butter was placed inside the horse's lip, which caused him to lick until it was gone. In this way, they could, sometimes, shoot all his scenes with one take.

Later on, a set photographer revealed that a nylon string was placed across Ed's gums and a tug from someone behind, and out of camera view, caused him to wiggle his lips. These movements, synchronized with the voice of Allan "Rocky" Lane, who incidentally was embarrassed of his role and did not allow his name listed in the credits, produced the striking effect of a talking horse! Young, later, confirmed that, actually, both methods were used, admitting he, earlier, had not wanted to divulge training tricks.

He also explained that it was harder to make Ed stop talking than it was to get him to talk. Ed somehow fell upon the belief that he was supposed to talk every time Young finished his lines, even when the script did not call for it! Hilton finally taught him to stop talking with a tap on the foreleg.