After MGM's multi-disc 2004 DVD release of
The Best of Mister Ed, Volume 1 and 2005 release of
The Best of Mister Ed, Volume 2, fans have been looking out for further adventures of the incredible talking horse and his human friend, Wilbur. But the only other release which has ever come out was a re-release of the first disc from the first package, titled "
Mister Ed's Barnyard Favorites".
Now it looks like there's new information about these DVDs, and it does NOT bode well for future releases too soon. The character of Mister Ed was first seen in a short story ("Ed Takes the Pledge") by children's author Walter R. Brooks, best known for his
Freddy the Pig books. Brooks died in 1958, but in 1959 his widow, Dorothy Brooks, sold the rights to Arthur Lubin (also known for directing "Abbott & Costello" films such as
Buck Privates). The agreement granted Lubin the right to exploit the property for profit, but stated that the Brooks estate would share in 25% of those profits. Lubin's end of the agreement eventually became the property of Orion pictures, which is how MGM inherited those rights.
Now
Variety magazine has
reported that the estate of Dorothy Brooks is suing MGM "
for failure to pay monies from the sale of 'Mr. Ed' on DVD and VHS." According to the story, this suit was filed last Friday at the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, contending that MGM owes the Brooks estate a minimum of $378,396 plus interest, and citing that the studio "
has refused to provide an accounting of homevid sales and related costs."
Our thanks to readers Rob Peterson and Gary Havlik for sending us e-mails regarding
Variety's story. We're not sure how closely we'll follow this here, as litigation issues aren't really our forte. But we thought we would pass it along to
Mister Ed fans, so they're at least aware of it.
