Mister Ed is a fictional talking horse residing in Mount Kisco, New York, originally appearing in short stories by Walter R. Brooks, and later in an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961 to February 6, 1966.
The stars of the show were Mister Ed, a palomino horse who could "talk", played by gelding Bamboo Harvester and voiced by former Western star Allan Lane (who went uncredited for the entire length of the series), and his owner, an eccentric and enormously klutzy, yet friendly, architect named Wilbur Post (Alan Young). Much of the program's humor stemmed from the fact Mister Ed would speak only to Wilbur, as well as Ed's notoriety as a troublemaker. Other running jokes centered on Wilbur's character being a huge klutz and inadvertently causing harm to himself or others. According to the show's producer, Arthur Lubin, Young was chosen as the lead character because he "just seemed like the sort of guy a horse would talk to". Lubin, a friend of Mae West, scored a coup by persuading the screen icon to guest star in one episode.