Great Commercials--Mister Ed for the Studebaker Lark
I am just barely old enough to remember Mister Ed being on TV in prime time. One thing I didn't appreciate until many years later was that Studebaker was the show's prime sponsor from 1961 through 1963. (I was a toddler in 1962-63, so cut me a little slack please.) The sponsorship included a product placement deal: Mister Ed's family, the Posts, drove a Lark convertible, and their nosy neighbors the Addisons had a swank Avanti in their driveway.
In this commercial, Wilbur Post (played by Alan Young) and Mister Ed (voiced by old-time cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane) took a break from the wacky situations and madcap hijinks of the show to shoulder the important burden of convincing the audience to buy Studebaker Larks:
All of you neigh-sayers who thought a horse couldn't do a commercial for a "horseless carriage" will have to admit this one's a thoroughbred. In thirty seconds we get a quick gallop through the main selling points (including references to the new recirculating ball steering box and 112 HP overhead valve "Skybolt Six" engine), with enough time to spare to throw in a joke.
As good as this ad was, it wasn't enough to reverse the company's fortunes. Saddled with declining sales and a board of directors that wanted out of the auto business, Studebaker put its South Bend production facility out to pasture at the end of 1963 and sent the Lark to the glue factory.
Maybe it just needed a jingle. How about this:
A horse is a horse, of course, of course
And no horse could sell a car, of course
Unless, of course, in fact, the horse
Is the famous Mister Ed.
Go straight to the source and ask the horse
The Lark is the auto that he'll endorse
He test-drove it himself, of course
Talk to Mister Ed.
People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
But Mister Ed will sell you a Lark complete with an ashtray.
The Studebaker Lark, of course,
Is the car that the talking horse endorsed
The plant in South Bend is its source--
Talk to Mister Ed!
--Cookie the Dog's Owner
Chuck on June 01, 2009 at 08:56 AM
If you ever, ever, EVER get to South Bend, Indiana, please see the Studebaker Museum. We went a few years ago, and it was JUST $5.50. They have the oldest known existing Studebaker product, an 1857 Conestoga wagon, and the last Stud to roll off the line, a small turquoise 4-door sedan. The vehicles in-between are amazing, especially the prototypes that possibly could have saved the company.
I've heard the factory has been torn down, ravaged by time and urban decay. But if they ever sell bricks from it, please let me know.
Jocelyn Wilson on June 01, 2009 at 10:03 AM
My dad had a Lark in 1962. I was 12 and I remember it as a neat little car. It was the first non-Mercury car my folks ever bought.
John B on June 01, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Cookie...You're basically correct, the Lark NAME went to the glue factory in 1963, but the basic car, restyled by Brooks Stevens, stayed around until 1966.
December 1963 did mark the end of the line for American-made Studebakers...after that production of the Lark-based cars continued in Canada. The GT (Hawk-based) coupe and the Avanti weren't produced in Canada.
(You'd be surprised...or maybe not...how many people come up to me at car shows and tell me my Avanti was made in Canada.)
The Canadian-built 65 & 66 Models had Chevy engines, since the Studebaker foundry in South Bend was shut at the same time as the assembly plant.
The sad end to a historic firm.
Shawn on June 01, 2009 at 06:33 PM
"See your Studebaker dealer TOMMORROW and take a demonstration drive!"
What a charmingly archaic pleasant sales tactic. Compare this to any modern ad that insists you hoof it down to the dealer post haste. CALL NOW BUY NOW etc etc.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on June 02, 2009 at 03:44 AM
John, I plan to do a posting on the Canadian-built "Chevybakers" at some point in the future. My mane point in this post was not so much strict historical accuracy as it was loading as many horse puns on the cart as I could. Cry "foal" if you will, but that's locking the barn door after the Lark is already out.
:-)
John B on June 02, 2009 at 08:33 AM
Cookie...point well taken, your post was well Dunn.
And of course, any palimino is a pal-o-mine-o.
That Car Guy on June 02, 2009 at 06:45 PM
OK, this fine post has been up for two days, and nobody has said it yet... Wiilllbuurrrr... LOL :)
diamond dave on June 05, 2009 at 07:51 AM
One major problem I noticed with the ad - they spent so much time focusing on Wilbur and Mr. Ed that they neglected showing much of the car. All I saw was the front end briefly and that was about it. Don't think that would pass muster in today's advertising world. You need to do more than look cute and talk about the car's features, you need to show them, too. May partly explain their declining fortunes at the time.