Just got word that the lovable Alan Young has passed away.
English born/ Scottish raised entertainer Angus “Alan” Young (b. 1919) had a radio background at the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and somehow landed himself an American network program in 1944 as a summer replacement for Eddie Cantor’s NBC show. The radio version of his show was on the air until 1949.
With his bland, goofy, inoffensive visage that somehow matched his voice perfectly, he was a natural to transfer his show to television, which he did from 1950 to 1953. Both the radio and tv versions of his show had stretches where it was a variety show, and stretches where it was a sit-com.
Amazing eh? Nine years of the Alan Young Show, and we haven’t even gotten to the stuff Baby Boomers know him best for…the voice of Scrooge McDuck and a certain chap name of Wilbur…
I tend to think most people today know his later show best, the immortal Mr. Ed which ran from 1961 to 1966, and thereafter in re-run syndication, which is where and how I first encountered it as a child. For those too young to know, the premise (almost identical to that of the Francis the Talking Mule movies) saddles (sorry) a young man with a magical talking horse, who creates embarrassing situations and ONLY talks to his owner, an architect named Wilbur (Young). The rumor (since debunked) is that the producers made Ed “talk” by putting delicious peanut butter on his snout. Television at its best!
At any rate, that’s old news. The truth is Young never stopped working! His most recent IMDB credits are from this year! 96 years old! Rest in peace is right! You deserve it!
(Travalanche) 
“Mr. Ed” was produced by George Burns’s McCadden Productions, as was Jackie Cooper’s early TV series, “The People’s Choice” which featured a talking basset hound named “Cleo.”
Burns found talking animals sure-fire, and provided employment for actors proficient at playing genial characters who were easily but gently befuddled, of which Alan Young was certainly one…. R.I.P.
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I remember watching reruns of Mr Ed in the late afternoon/early evenings at my Nan and Grandad’s when was a wee nipper. In the late 80s and early 90s broadcasters still broadcast (repeats of) Black and White shows at that time in the UK, mostly on the smaller channels but still…
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