Mister Ed was a zebra?

General Questions
#1

I was reading some entries on the Snopes pages and they claim that Mr. Ed was a zebra and that this worked because no one could tell the difference with black & white TVs. (original article at http://www.snopes.com/lost/mred.htm ) All reference materials on zebras I’ve seen state that they have alternating white and black/brown stripes, hardly something that would be concealed by a black and white picture (unless the contrast is turned down real low). Nothing else online even mentions the possibility of Mr. Ed being a zebra. Is this story true???

P.S.- I wrote Snopes asking if this was correct- they never responded.

#2

Mister Ed was an American Saddlebred Bamboo Harvester. Whatever that is. Yes, I actually visited Misted Ed sites to find out the breed of horse. I’m so ashamed.

Mojo, the “lost” directory which is part of the URL you listed respresents the “The Respository of Lost Legends” (TRoLL). They’re made up.

From http://www.snopes.com/lost

But if you knew that all along and you just wanted someone to wade through web pages that include detailed schematics of Mister Ed’s stable to find out the actual breed of horse Mister Ed was, then you have succeeded.

I hate you.
Alphagene

#3

Alphagene writes:

But Mojo may have done as I had and found the page without going through the TRoLL link and not gotten the description stating that it was indeed a spoof.

When I originally saw it, I had done a search and that page came up in the search. I read the page and the page itself does not mention that it is a spoof. Only if you found the page by following the links.

It was not until much later that I found the link and saw that it was listed as a spoof.

Jeffery

#4

Sorry- wasn’t trying to troll. I found that page when I was doing a search for something else and decided to check that link. There’s nothing on the page stating/implying/hinting that its a spoof. I don’t think “Bamboo Harvester” was the type of horse he was, but rather his “given” name (I can’t imagine an entire breed of horses known as “bamboo harvesters”- Then again, what I don’t know about horses/zebras…). Much thanks.

#5

Once again Mojo has proven that a dab of common sense will go a lot further than a dollop of your “book learnin”… Mr. Ed’s “real” name was Bamboo Harvester, it had nothing to do with his breed.

PS Have a nice day.

#6

OK, I want to say I don’t actually hate you Mojo. I made that comment to emphasize the absurdity of the existence of dozens of detailed Mister Ed websites, not as an accusation of your netiquette.

And I don’t think you were trolling. Someone accused me of trolling in another thread, so I know how annoying that is. One day I’ll learn that sarcasm doesn’t tranfer well over the net.

The link you gave me threw me for a loop too. It took me a while to find out what was going on. I have been to that site before and remember their being a “fake section” like that. I also remember that the falsehood of the stories listed in that section is not explicitly mentioned.

So no harm no foul, Mojo. Sorry about that.

And I admitted I had know idea what a bamboo harvester was, ducks. It’s true that “common sense” should say that a bamboo harverster is not the name of a breed. But “common sense” also tells me it’s a stupid “real” name for a horse.
Alphagene

#7

Bamboo Harvester is not such a stupid name when you consider all the other names out there attached to horses. It would be his registered name. In the barn, his barn name would be something stupid or sweet like “boomer” or “bambi” or “cupcake” or whatever. That’s usually the way things work. My horse is shown as “The Witch”, but at home she’s “Jellybean” to her mom and “Missy” to all others. One of those obscure horse things.

As for the zebra, here’s another factlet about zebras: they cannot be trained. It just doesn’t work. Any time you see someone “riding a zebra” in the movies, that’s a horse painted to look like a zebra. They are built differently from horses, and even without the stripes, you’d know you weren’t looking at a horse!

Still, as far as looney legends go, this one is pretty great!

#8

Wow. I can’t buy a break in this thread. Is it the font I’m using or something? Maybe I should ditch my “no-smileys ever” policy.

To amend myself:

"I hate you. :wink: "

"But “common sense” also tells me it’s a stupid “real” name for a horse. :wink: "

Should I employ a sig with a sarcasm disclaimer?
Alphagene

#9

Zebras CAN be trained. See:

http://www.homestead.com/NileMusings/ZebraPerformance.html

and

http://www.homestead.com/NileMusings/ZebraActs.html

for text and photos.

sosumi

#10

…plus they got that zebra to smile for the Fruit Stripe gum package, no easy task.

AG, I empathize. Most horse names sound like sailboat names (I assume because its typically the same wealthy crowd owning both) and are completely ludicrous. If you saw someone calling their dog “here, Bamboo Harvester” or “here, Daddy’s Favorite Cigar” you would likely think them loony.

#11

A horse is a horse, of course, of course…

What type monkey is curious george? A chimp?

#12

CG, a chimp is not monkey.

Mojo, have you never seen a zebra that you have to rely on “reference materials” to know what they look like?

You both belong in the zoo. If you’re ever down here in San Diego, I’ll show you around.

#13

re: horse names

Most racehorse names are dirived from the names of both parents. For example if the sire is named “Showtime” and the mare is named “Magpie” then the foal will be named something stupid like “Time for Pie”. After a few generations of this the names get even more bizzare.