Wilbur and Carol Post are a terribly nice couple who move into a new house in the suburbs and inherit a talking horse. That, in a nutshell, is the premise of the Filmways TV Show, Mister Ed, which ran from 1962-1966.
The show was hugely popular, not least because of Ed's wisearse demeanor and naturally he always gets the better of the ingenuous Wilbur, who incidentally is an architect (as so many leading TV men were in those days). The trick was that Ed would never speak to anyone except Wilbur Post, leading to some fun hi-jinks and embarrassing situations for the latter. Carol, though a housewife par excellence, often becomes frustrated and jealous of Wilbur's seemingly obsessional relationship with his horse..."Wilbur you're not going out to the barn again..?"
Mr. Ed is burdened with all the usual annoying features common to old sitcoms - deafening canned laughter, a ludicrously perfect home and not much scratching beneath the surface of an idealised portrait of American suburbia, yet mercifully, the Post's Middle American niceness is counterbalanced by the inclusion of a cynical neighbour, Addison, who, though well-meaning, can never resist descending into amusing sarcasm. Addison is married to Kay, an urbane sophisticate and the pair bicker and snipe at each other with good-humoured but cutting witticisms.All in all, it's a pretty funny, if dated, show and it also has a great theme song, though I am a bit worried about how they got that horse to move its lips, pre-computer age. Wires?
- Wilbur Post - Alan Young
- Carol Post - Connie Hines
- Roger Addison -Larry Keating
- Kay Addison -Edan Skinner
- The Addisons were later replaced by the Kirkwoods, played by Leon Ames and Florence MacMicheal
- Mr Ed -played himself and was voiced by Allen Lane
More vintage tv...
The Patty Duke Show
My Living Doll
My Favorite Martian
Pick-a-Box
Andy Pandy
Gerry Gee
Funky Squad
