The success of Mister Ed not only led to him making the jump from syndication to network television, it also inspired a seemingly never ending array of merchandise. There were comic books:
Board games, even in Germany:
Records:
and even buttons:
Mister Ed even began making personal appearances; at least his impersonators did. While the actual Mister Ed was a horse named Bamboo Harvester, a few lookalike horses toured the country to meet his fans. Television production limited Bamboo Harvester’s availability, so the lookalikes were seen as a way to satisfy the demands of his fans. The lookalikes were often used for publicity pictures, but only Bamboo Harvester ever appeared on the show because he had already been trained to “talk”.
Alan Young once commented that he always preferred working with Bamboo Harvester over the lookalikes, who were apparently more temperamental than the actual star. Apparently, his Hollywood success never went to his head.
