
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 14, 1995                   TAG: 9505160021
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ARTHUR LUBIN, HOLLYWOOD DIRECTOR, DIES

Arthur Lubin, the Hollywood director whose credits ranged from the lush 1943 remake of ``Phantom of the Opera'' to ``Francis the Talking Mule'' and its spinoff, the ``Mr. Ed'' television series of the 1960s, died Thursday at a Glendale, Calif., nursing home. He was 96.

Lubin, a Los Angeles native, broke into the movies as an actor in the 1920s, directed highly successful action and mystery thrillers in the 1930s and then found even greater success directing a string of Abbott and Costello comedies in the 1940s.

In 1949, Lubin managed to convince skeptical studio executives that the American public, weary of war movies, was ready for a movie about an Army mule who not only talked but talked back to generals.

When the low-budget ``Francis the Talking Mule,'' starring Donald O'Connor, became a runaway success in 1949, Lubin brayed all the way to the bank.

Lubin rode Francis to the bank six more times, and then, with Francis changed into a talking horse, transferred his success to television with the ``Mr. Ed'' series, starring Alan Young, from 1961 to 1965.

- The New York Times

by CNB