"'Dear Abby, uh, my horse told me that he wants to live away from home and have his own swingin' bachelor apartment. Do you think he's right? Signed, Butterfly Net.' Because that's what they'll throw over me." - Wilbur Post (Alan Young) to his talking horse, Mister Ed, when Ed suggests that they write to Dear Abby to solve a housing dispute
"You don't have to tell her your horse asked you. Tell her it was your cat." - Mister Ed (played by himself) in response
The Best of Mister Ed: Volume Two Quick Take
Just Like Our Regular Reviews. Only Smurf-sized.
By A.J. Carson
Most horses make do with whinnying, but Mister Ed (voiced by horse opera veteran Allan "Rocky" Lane) has a knack for talking that would put even the chattiest of town gossips to shame. In the grand tradition of the classic Looney Tunes short "One Froggy Evening," however, he only speaks to one person: his hapless owner, architect Wilbur Post (Alan Young). Now 20 episodes of this sublimely stupid 1961-65 sitcom have been collected in The Best of Mister Ed: Volume Two. In almost every installment, Ed hatches some sort of idiotic scheme that eventually backfires, leaving poor Wilbur to take the blame and clean up the mess. Produced and directed by Arthur Lubin (who, as director of the Francis the Talking Mule movies, made a career out of chatty animals), Mister Ed is by no means a timeless classic - at most, it's on the level or slightly better than other gimmicky 1960s sitcoms like The Munsters and My Favorite Martian. Much of the show's fun comes from the genially game performances of Young and Mister Ed.even though it is sort of strange to think of a horse giving a performance. For his part, Young breezily converses with Ed and performs ridiculous physical gags (like spastically dancing the frug after receiving lessons from a hep-cat young neighbor) with equal aplomb. The wires (look closely and you can see them) and peanut butter (not to mention, for all we know, the cattle prods) that were used to elicit Ed's performance work quite effectively. Even with these primitive methods, Ed really seems to be interacting with Wilbur and his environment. He is also the center of numerous sight gags. Whether he's wearing driving goggles, a baby bonnet and pacifier, a My Little Pony braided mane and tail, a shower bonnet, a sleeping cap, or a grass skirt and a lei, Ed proves to be the ultimate dress-up doll. He also performs an endlessly amusing array of stunts. Ed drives a car! Ed surfs! Ed dances the hula! Ed goes to a go-go! And who can resist the sight of a full-sized palomino riding a giant skateboard? Appearances by a late-career Mae West (who looks alarmingly like a plumber trying to get in touch with his feminine side) and lisping advice maven Abigail Van Buren (whose hair is shellacked into an awe-inspiringly unnatural looking football helmet shape) are mostly embarrassing, but do add to the collection's camp value. The episodes are divided onto two disks - one of which is double-sided. Another treat: the collection's clever, partially animated menus.
The episodes included in Volume Two are "Ed Gets the Mumps," "Ed Visits a Gypsy," "Ed, the Chauffeur," "Ed, the Donkey," "Mae West Meet Mister Ed," "Mister Ed Writes Dear Abby," "Like Father, Like Horse," "Ed, the Pilot," "Ed, the Stowaway," "Animal Jury," "Ed's Juice Stand," "Ed's Contact Lenses," "The Bank Robbery," "My Horse, the Mailman," "Robin Hood Ed," "Ed, the Artist," "Ed a Go-Go," "Coldfinger (aka Ed Sniffs Out a Clue)," and "Ed Breaks the Hip Code (aka Spies Strike Back)." Most of these episodes are from the 1963-64 and 1964-65 seasons, when Leon Ames (TV's Life with Father) co-starred as Wilbur's neighbor, Colonel Gordon Kirkwood. (Larry Keating, who appeared as neighbor Roger Addison during the series' first two seasons, died at the start of the third.) The final three episodes in the collection are from the series' final season, which featured only Mister Ed, Wilbur, and his extraordinarily patient wife, Carol (Connie Hines).
