theories about making him talk

im not quite sure how they pull it off in the wide shots but they used a clear string that you can spot pretty easily. my guess is that it is somehow strung through his halter (which is why he wears a halter in every episode) and when they tug on his halter he was trained to open his mouth. unless the string was threaded down thru the halter and then put in his mouth similiar to how a horse wears a bit... once i get my pc up and running again ill take some screen caps to point out the string, in the close ups just watch closely right around his halter...the string is usually present.

With wide string?






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SEE! I always knew he could talk. Gotta show my mom that post. She would never believe me when I'd say Ed could talk. She also didn't believe that he could play the harmonica, the cymbals, drums, trumpet...she didn't even think he could dance. I won! Gimme my money :)

HOW THEY GOT MR. ED TO TALK: TAKE TWO

Dear Cecil:

In your discussion of how they got Mr. Ed to talk, you cite actor Alan Young's claim that it was peanut butter stuck between Ed's cheek and gum. This is Mr. Young's stock answer. However, the enclosed video shows indisputable evidence that the "marionette theory" [i.e., Ed's handler pulled strings to make him talk] was at work at least some of the time. The video shows excerpts from a few episodes where the lighting and camera angle reveal the very visible nylon "bit" being pulled for each word Ed spoke. If you don't see the nylon under Ed's neck, then look for it running behind Ed, out of camera range. Some may claim that a nylon bit was needed in order to have Ed turn his head or perform some other movement without his trainer having to be in the camera shot, but the evidence is clear that the bit was also used when Ed was standing still and merely had to talk. Alan Young has every right not to reveal the whole truth about Ed's talking methods; it is the wonder and mystique of "how was it done?" that keeps the Mr. Ed television series alive. I do think peanut butter may have been used some of the time, but though I am a great admirer of Mr. Young, I thought you should know he was not telling you the whole truth. --Joseph Fox, Los Angeles

In the day, the rumor was that Ed couldn't really talk. The voice was done by a ventriloquist donkey.

<<<everyone always overlooks the most obvious answer. ED REALLY COULD TALK

yes. I even remember a Nick at Nite promo for Mr. Ed where they said Ed could really talk and that it was actually Wilbur they put a string on to make Wilbur's mouth move so that it looked like Wilbur was talking.

I know this is old, but I found this explanation. Not sure, because anyone can add to Wiki.

<<<<<<<<<<
The actual mule who appeared on-screen was not a male at all, but a female named Molly, selected because she was easy to handle. According to author Pauline Bartel, Universal paid $350 for the animal, but made millions from the film series. Molly was trained by Les Hilton, a former apprentice of Will Rogers, who would also go on to train Bamboo Harvester, the horse who played Mr. Ed. To create the impression that the mule was actually talking, Hilton used a thread fed into the animal's mouth, which when tugged, would cause Molly to try to remove it by moving her lips (the same technique used for Mr. Ed).
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_the_Talking_Mule

<<<The reason that Mister Ed speaks such excellent English is that he was educated at a private school. Had he been educated at a public school he would have been talking in Spanish or Ebonics.

not in the 1960's, he wouldn't have.

<<<The idea of a talking horse is blasphemous.

not really. As I understand it, the idea for "Mr. Ed" came from "Francis the Talking Mule".

And the idea for "Francis the Talking Mule" came from the Bible where a donkey or mule talked to a human.

They used a piece of fishing line that was tied to the halter on one side and then run under the horse's upper lip - over his upper gums - and then out the other side. You can always see the halter moving slightly whenever Ed "talks". The horse does not seem to be in any real discomfort when he's being made to "talk" - at least, not on camera.