When I was a kid, I loved the television show Mister Ed. The show ended before my second birthday, so clearly, I saw it in syndication. It is still pretty much the archetype of the kind of comedy that I most enjoy. Mister Ed is basically a puppet character. Indeed, the 1980s television show ALF was just Mister Ed with one change: ALF was a really unappealing character. Mister Ed was charming, if difficult at times.

In one episode, Mister Ed wanted to go to the circus because his father “worked” for it and he had not seen his father since he was little. (Or at all. I don’t actually remember.) For some reason, Wilbur would not take him. So in order to make Wilbur feel guilty, Mister Ed sang the song, “Oh! My Pa-Pa.” Until I was an adult, I only knew the song from Mister Ed’s repeated singing of it. This did not, however, stop me from writing my own parody of it.

The song was originally in the 1950 German musical, Der Schwarze Hecht with the title, “O Mein Papa.” But in 1954, an English translation of the song was a huge hit for pop sensation Eddie Fisher. I’m not that fond of it. But since I can’t find a version with Mister Ed singing it, I guess we are stuck with this:

Afterword

I found it: “What Kind of Foal Am I.” The plot is a bit different than I remembered. But at least there is some basis for my memory.