Alan Young and Mister Ed

[bpatrick]

In this morning's Parade magazine insert, where readers get to
ask celebrities questions, someone asked Alan Young if he continued
to associate with horses after "Mister Ed" ended. No, he said, since
he thought he was somehow being unfaithful to Ed. He mentioned the
rapport he had with the horse, and that Ed didn't seem to mind that
Young was not the world's greatest rider. BTW, Young is 92 now and
if I understood the answer correctly, he's still the voice of Scrooge McDuck.

I've often heard that Young and Mister Ed took right on to one another from
day one. And I think it came across on the show.

 

[cspotrun]

kind of funny they had to cancel a show about a Talking Car, because it was too stupid that nobody watched it, YET a Talking Horse is OK....

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

kind of funny they had to cancel a show about a Talking Car, because it was too stupid that nobody watched it, YET a Talking Horse is OK....

Audiences simply fell in love with Allen & "Ed's" on-air chemistry (Ed was voiced by Rocky Allan). It was simply contageous. The same can not be said for Jerry Van Dyke and his car, voiced by Anne Southern. Though a great comic actress, Southern came across a little too cynical for my tastes on Car. She sounded like a watered down version of Charlie and Allan's mother on Two-And-A-Half Men. Viewers back then may not have been ready for that kind of comic antagonism. Another problem for me was Jerry Van Dyke, who looked like a foil trying to play a straight man.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

The 2 best quotes about "Mister Ed"...Alan Young, talking about Ed (aka Bamboo Harvester): "They changed his name, dyed his hair, and castrated him. Happens to a lot of us in this business." And, George Burns, the original producer of the show, on the search for someone to play Wilbur: "Get Alan Young. He looks like the sort of fellow a horse would talk to."

 

[bpatrick]

kind of funny they had to cancel a show about a Talking Car, because it was too stupid that nobody watched it, YET a Talking Horse is OK....

Audiences simply fell in love with Allen & "Ed's" on-air chemistry (Ed was voiced by Rocky Allan). It was simply contageous. The same can not be said for Jerry Van Dyke and his car, voiced by Anne Southern. Though a great comic actress, Southern came across a little too cynical for my tastes on Car. She sounded like a watered down version of Charlie and Allan's mother on Two-And-A-Half Men. Viewers back then may not have been ready for that kind of comic antagonism. Another problem for me was Jerry Van Dyke, who looked like a foil trying to play a straight man.

Which is probably why Jerry has always been more successful as a second banana; besides, like Tim Conway (another comic better as a second banana than as a lead), he doesn't project the image of being in control.

I've always felt that, besides the chemistry between Alan and Mr. Ed, one of the reasons that show made it and "My Mother The Car" didn't is that I believe there are probably plenty of people who have wondered what their pets would say if they could talk (I know I have), but I doubt if many people have wondered the same thing about their cars.

And the voice of Mr. Ed was Allan "Rocky" Lane, a veteran of many Saturday-morning movie Westerns going back to the '40s.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

And the voice of Mr. Ed was Allan "Rocky" Lane, a veteran of many Saturday-morning movie Westerns going back to the '40s.

Whoooaa, thanks for the catch. I knew better. Either I got in a hurry or I'm getting old.

 

[Mario500]

In this morning's Parade magazine insert, where readers get to
ask celebrities questions, someone asked Alan Young if he continued
to associate with horses after "Mister Ed" ended.  No, he said, since
he thought he was somehow being unfaithful to Ed.  He mentioned the
rapport he had with the horse, and that Ed didn't seem to mind that
Young was not the world's greatest rider.  BTW, Young is 92 now and
if I understood the answer correctly, he's still the voice of Scrooge McDuck.

I've often heard that Young and Mister Ed took right on to one another from
day one.  And I think it came across on the show.

Alan Young recently provided his voice for Scrooge McDuck for a new video games based on the TV series "DuckTales" (with Scrooge McDuck) scheduled to be released through the Internet for the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, and the Wii U this summer. Here is a link to more details.

By the way, Alan Young's age is actually 93 years as of this post (he was born on November 19th, 1919).

 

[bpatrick]

In this morning's Parade magazine insert, where readers get to
ask celebrities questions, someone asked Alan Young if he continued
to associate with horses after "Mister Ed" ended. No, he said, since
he thought he was somehow being unfaithful to Ed. He mentioned the
rapport he had with the horse, and that Ed didn't seem to mind that
Young was not the world's greatest rider. BTW, Young is 92 now and
if I understood the answer correctly, he's still the voice of Scrooge McDuck.

I've often heard that Young and Mister Ed took right on to one another from
day one. And I think it came across on the show.

Alan Young recently provided his voice for Scrooge McDuck for a new video games based on the TV series "DuckTales" (with Scrooge McDuck) scheduled to be released through the Internet for the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, and the Wii U this summer. Here is a link to more details.

By the way, Alan Young's age is actually 93 years as of this post (he was born on November 19th, 1919).

I never prided myself on my math skills. He is indeed 93.

 

[jwk1979]

BTW, Young is 92 now and
if I understood the answer correctly, he's still the voice of Scrooge McDuck.

Alan Young recently provided his voice for Scrooge McDuck for a new video games based on the TV series "DuckTales" (with Scrooge McDuck) scheduled to be released through the Internet for the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, and the Wii U this summer. Here is a link to more details.

I never prided myself on my math skills. He is indeed 93.

He was/is doing voice over parts for Dr. James Dobson's "Adventure in Odysey", along with Dave Madden, Jerry Houser and until his death in the mid 90s, Hal Smith (Otis Campbell).

 

[Markxxx]

I agree Ed and Wilbur were likable.

I just finished a biography of Ann Sothern, who said, the only reason she did "My Mother The Car," was for the money.

She said, "I didn't have to get dressed, I didn't have to wear make up, I didn't have to learn any lines. It was like doing radio, but for TV money."

She also said, "I took the part, because I like to spend money, and this was easy money."

But I her most telling bit was when she said, "Also you got to remember I am first an actress, I can't sit around waiting for great acting roles, that are never going to come my way."

Sothern also said, she never recorded any of her dialog with the other actors on the show. It was always done separately.

 

[LKellerIII]

To me, the primary difference between Mister Ed and My Mother the Car was the writing. Though Mister Ed was a typical escapist 50s-early 60s style sitcom, it was well written and clever. Car was not.

And for what its worth, my father (born 1912) told me at the time that the car looked nothing like a vintage car from the 20s, but like a unrealistic and badly done mock-up of glued-on spare parts. That probably didn't help the show with middle aged audiences of the time. My father would have been 54 when the show aired in 1966.

 

[FredLeonard]

To me, the primary difference between Mister Ed and My Mother the Car was the writing. Though Mister Ed was a typical escapist 50s-early 60s style sitcom, it was well written and clever. Car was not.

Although the creator, head writer and most frequent writer of My Mother the Car, would go on to create and write Room 222, the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant.

 

[landtuna]

And for what its worth, my father (born 1912) told me at the time that the car looked nothing like a vintage car from the 20s, but like a unrealistic and badly done mock-up of glued-on spare parts.

From the photo in the following link I think your father is correct. The tires and wheels are far too wide and small to be of that vintage but other than that it looks like an early 19-teens vehicle to me. It would most probably have been black in color though.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cbsboston.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/my-mother-the-car.jpg%3Fw%3D600&imgrefurl=http://boston.cbslocal.com/photo-galleries/2012/10/29/top-10-movie-tv-rides-of-all-time/&h=450&w=600&sz=294&tbnid=sDvzWaBJ84gRoM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=127&zoom=1&usg=__8-bN8QD_XnUrNZ7zwr9BrZrMvMA=&docid=mlFUupNlaZY1GM&sa=X&ei=6ddQUYz-IKqYiALWkICwCw&ved=0CFYQ9QEwCw&dur=969

 

[bpatrick]

There was no such car as a Porter (what Ann Sothern's character
was supposed to be), 1928 or otherwise, so it's probably no accident
that the car was culled from parts of real cars.

 

[ixnay]

Now THAT vehicle was a hybrid! What became of it after MMtC ended?

And closer to the topic, how long did the steed that played Ed live? Did he go to stud?

ixnay

 

[LKellerIII]

There was no such car as a Porter (what Ann Sothern's character
was supposed to be), 1928 or otherwise, so it's probably no accident
that the car was culled from parts of real cars.

Yes, but they could have worked harder to make it look like a real car from the period. I was only 14 and didn't know the difference - to me, "old" cars were huge and had tailfins. But that "Porter" really bugged my dad.

 

[Markxxx]

There was no such car as a Porter (what Ann Sothern's character
was supposed to be), 1928 or otherwise, so it's probably no accident
that the car was culled from parts of real cars.

Correct, the name Porter was taken from Don Porter, Ann Sothern's co-star on her two TV shows.

 

[cd637299]

George Burns, the original producer of the show, on the search for someone to play Wilbur: "Get Alan Young. He looks like the sort of fellow a horse would talk to."

I was just thinking, if this is THE George Burns, after watching Burns & Allen reruns, I'm surprised he didn't mention Harry Von Zell for the role; I think Harry could out-Alan Young Alan Young!

cd

 

[Corky Marlowe]

George Burns, the original producer of the show, on the search for someone to play Wilbur: "Get Alan Young. He looks like the sort of fellow a horse would talk to."


I was just thinking, if this is THE George Burns, after watching Burns & Allen reruns, I'm surprised he didn't mention Harry Von Zell for the role; I think Harry could out-Alan Young Alan Young!

cd

I believe it was. Between the point when Gracie retired in the late 50s, and his movie comeback in the 70s with "The Sunshine Boys" and "Oh God!" he had some, while not "lean" years, a bit of downtime where he took his career in other directions.

 

[LKellerIII]

I checked George Burns' credits as a producer. Despite all of his success, he didn't have many hits as a producer - other than The Burns & Allen Show. His other producing credits were Mister Ed (only one episode), Wendy and Me (in which he co-starred, casting Connie Stevens as a kind of Gracie stand-in), Mona McCluskey, and the TV version of No Time for Sergeants.

Those last 3 shows were all cancelled after one season.

Harry Von Zell (b. 1906) would have been 52, perhaps a bit too old to play Wilbur when Mister Ed premiered in 1958. Alan Young (b. 1919) was only 39 at the time.

Von Zell did a lot of commercials in Southern California in the 60s and 70s - Home Savings, and others. He always impressed me as kind of stiff and grouchy. He probably would have made a good Roger Addison (Wilbur's cranky next door neighbor), but not a good Wilbur.