This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)

Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.

History[link]

Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes from the 1950s through the 1980s. They were also known for releasing retrospectives of famous comedy performers, including Richard Pryor, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, and Spike Jones. Starting during the late 1980s, Rhino transitioned into a complete entertainment company specializing in home video/DVD re-issues of television programs such as The Transformers, G.I. Joe, Jem, The Lone Ranger, My Favorite Martian, The World of Sid & Marty Krofft collection and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and Compact Disc releases of select artists and movie soundtracks.

Rhino started as a record shop on Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles, during 1973, run by Richard Foos. It became a record distributor five years later thanks to the effort of then-store manager Harold Bronson. Their early releases were mostly novelty records (with their first single being Wild Man Fischer's "Go To Rhino Records") and some punk rock singles; the difficulties involved in getting airplay and distribution for such material eventually caused Foos and Bronson to take the label in other directions. One of their earliest reissues was achieved by acquiring the rights to the White Whale label. By the mid-1980s most of their releases were reissues of previously released recordings licensed from other companies. Superior sound quality (remastering of the original tapes was done under the direction of Bill Inglot) and creative packaging made Rhino one of the most respected reissue record labels, receiving rave reviews from music collectors, fans, and historians.^{[citation needed]} Rhino was quick to get into the Compact Disc market, releasing dozens of oldies CDs at the dawn of the CD age in 1984. Their retrospective compact disc releases are often remastered to restore or improve upon the original analog release's audio quality.

The company also continued to produce new music, with releases on subsidiary labels such as RNA (Rhino New Artists) and Forward, as well as the main Rhino label. However, the company's entertainers tended to generate more critical acclaim than public interest. One of Rhino's early artists was The Twisters whose Los Angeles popularity far exceeded their album sales. For the most part, sales totals in the low five figures or less were routine for Rhino-produced albums,^{[citation needed]} and the less costly, less risky reissue business remained the company’s primary revenue stream. One exception was the late-1986 success "At This Moment" by Billy Vera & the Beaters, a 1981 song that unexpectedly made it to the top of the U.S. Billboard charts after being featured in a 1986 episode of the hit NBC series Family Ties.

During 1986, Rhino signed a six-year distribution agreement with Capitol Records. During 1989 Rhino and Capitol’s parent EMI made a deal to jointly acquire Roulette Records; Rhino received the US rights to Roulette's catalog, excluding jazz. When the distribution deal with Capitol ended in 1992, Rhino signed a new distribution deal with Atlantic Records, and in turn Time Warner bought a 50% stake in the record company. In 1998, Time Warner bought the other half of Rhino; thus the company became a wholly owned unit of Time Warner. The Rhino Records retail store, which was not part of the sale, closed in 2005.^[1] In 1999, Rhino started the Rhino Handmade division of limited edition releases available primarily from their website. All of these Handmade reissues are limited to about 3000 copies or less and once sold out are not re-pressed.

It is through this merger that the label has released remastered editions of collections from such musicians as Eric Burdon, Fanny, Dannii Minogue, The Ramones, The Grateful Dead, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Beach Boys, Yes, The Doobie Brothers, The Cars, Chicago, Tom Paxton, Third Eye Blind, The Doors, War, Spirit of the West and most recently The Bee Gees; as well as soundtracks spanning the Turner-owned pre-1986 MGM and pre-1950^[2][3] Warner Bros. periods, in addition to WB's own post-1949 period. Rhino's soundtrack releases include Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Easter Parade, North by Northwest, Casablanca, King Kong, Doctor Zhivago, Superman, and Finian's Rainbow.

Rhino also owns the rights to The Monkees’ master tapes and film footage (which they acquired from Raybert Productions in 1994), and thus has released home videos and CDs from the group.

In 2003, co-founders and longtime executives Richard Foos and Harold Bronson left Rhino, reportedly due to frustration at being unable to release compilation albums in an increasingly competitive market. In fact, Time Warner's final vesting of its 100% ownership of the label, and its subsequent 'reorganization' of label staff, which did not stop at the former owners, were the major factors in their exits. Soon after, Foos inaugurated a new label, Shout! Factory, which began releasing dozens of CDs and videos mirroring the original early-1990s Rhino philosophy.

In 2004, Time Warner spun off its music divisions and today Rhino is part of the newly organized Warner Music Group.

In addition to dealing with archive material, the label also manages the US distribution or worldwide production of compilations for more recent Warner acts, including still-active artists such as Enya, New Order, and Chicago.

In May 2007, Warner Strategic Marketing in the UK was dissolved and Rhino Records UK was formed. The division has two main factions - TV advertised compilations (for example Pure Garage Rewind Back to the Old School) and catalog material from the Warner vaults. Led Zeppelin's 2007 release Mothership and the soundtrack to the film Juno serve as the label's most recent successes.

Similar music companies include Collectables Records, Hip-O Records, One Way Records, Beat Goes On Records, Varèse Sarabande, and Sony Music's Legacy Recordings, as well as Ace Records of Britain and Bear Family of Germany.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• List of record labels

External links[link]

• Rhino.com official site
• RhinoHandmade official site
• Rhino Records on Myspace
• Rhino U.K. official site
• Rhino.tv official video site
• [1]

Paul Baribeau is a folk punk singer and musician from South Central Michigan.^[1]. He is signed to the independent record label Plan-It-X Records.^[2] His self-titled debut album was released on Plan-It-X Records in January 2004.^[3] In 2006, he embarked on a tour with Ginger Alford on which they collaboratively covered Bruce Springsteen songs^[4]. They subsequently released an album on No Idea Records, Darkness on the Edge of Your Town Tour ^[5], which contains studio and live versions of these covers. His second album of original material, Grand Ledge, was released on Plan-It-X Records in June 2007.^[3] Grand Ledge was recorded in a barn belonging to a friend of Baribeau's father, in Grand Ledge, Michigan.^[6] Baribeau's most recent album, Unbearable, was released on No Idea Records on March 10, 2010.^[7]

Critical reception[link]

The punk music website AbsolutePunk praised Baribeau's latest record Unbearable and described it as "beautiful in the sense that it's crisp and clear."^[8] The website Punknews.org positively reviewed Grand Ledge, mentioning that Baribeau's lyrics were "often heartbreaking and always honest."^[9]

Discography[link]

• Paul Baribeau (January 2004) on Plan-It-X Records
• Darkness on the Edge of Your Town Tour" (2006) on No Idea Records
• Grand Ledge (June 2007) on Plan-It-X Records
• Unbearable (March 2010) on No Idea Records

References[link]

Alex Chilton
Live in France, 2004.
Background information
Birth name	William Alexander Chilton
Born	(1950-12-28)December 28, 1950 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	March 17, 2010(2010-03-17) (aged 59) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.[1]
Genres	Rock 'n' roll, power pop, proto-punk, hard rock, blue-eyed soul, indie rock
Occupations	Musician, singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1966–2010[1]
Associated acts	Box Tops, Big Star, Tav Falco's Panther Burns

William Alexander "Alex" Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American songwriter, guitarist, singer and producer, best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star.^[2] Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s as a teen vocalist for the Box Tops was not repeated in later years with Big Star and in his indie music solo career on small labels, but he drew a loyal following in the indie and alternative music fields, and is often cited as an influence by many mainstream rock artists and bands.

Early life and career[link]

Chilton grew up in a musical family; his father, Sidney Chilton, was a jazz musician. A local band recruited the teenager in 1966 as their lead singer after learning of the popularity of his vocal performance at a talent show at Memphis' Central High School; this band was The Devilles, later renamed Box Tops. The new group recorded with Chips Moman and producer/songwriter Dan Penn at American Sound Studio and Muscle Shoals' FAME Studios.

As lead singer for the Box Tops, Chilton enjoyed at the age of 16 a number-one international hit, "The Letter." The Box Tops went on to have several other major chart hits, including "Neon Rainbow" (1967), "Cry Like a Baby" (1968), "Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March" (1969) and "Soul Deep" (1969). Aside from the hits "The Letter", "Neon Rainbow" and "Soul Deep", all written by Wayne Carson Thompson, many of the group's songs were written by Penn, Moman, Spooner Oldham and other top area songwriters, with Chilton occasionally contributing a song. By late 1969, only Chilton and guitarist Gary Talley remained from the original group, and newer additions replaced the members who had departed. The group decided to disband and pursue independent careers in February 1970.

Chilton then began performing as a solo artist, maintaining a working relationship with Penn for demos. During this period he began learning guitar by studying the styles of guitarists like Stax Records great Steve Cropper, recording his own material in 1970 at Ardent Studios with local musicians like producer Terry Manning and drummer Richard Rosebrough, and producing a few local blues-rock acts. His 1970 recordings and productions from that time frame were released years later in the 1980s and 1990s on albums like Lost Decade (New Rose Records) and 1970 (Ardent Records).

1970s career[link]

After a period in New York City, during which Chilton worked on his guitar technique and singing style (some of which was believed to have been influenced by a chance meeting with Roger McGuinn at a friend's apartment in New York, when Chilton was impressed with McGuinn's singing and playing), Chilton returned to Memphis in 1971 and co-founded the power-pop group Big Star, with Chris Bell, recording at engineer John Fry's Ardent Studios. Chilton and Bell co-wrote "In The Street" for Big Star's first album #1 Record, a track later known as the theme song of That '70s Show.

The group's recordings met little commercial success but established Chilton's reputation as a rock singer and songwriter; later alternative music bands like R.E.M. and The Posies would praise the group as a major influence. During this period he also occasionally recorded with Rosebrough as a group they called The Dolby Fuckers; some of their studio experimentation was included on Big Star's album Radio City, including the recording of "Mod Lang." Rosebrough would occasionally work with Chilton on later recordings, including Big Star's Third album and Chilton's 1975 solo record Bach's Bottom.

Moving back to New York in 1977, Chilton performed as "Alex Chilton and the Cossacks" with a lineup that included Chris Stamey (later of The dB's) and Richard Lloyd of Television at venues like CBGB, releasing an influential solo single, "Bangkok" (b/w a cover of the Seeds' "Can't Seem to Make You Mine"), in 1978. This period learning from the New York CBGB scene marked the beginning of a key change for Chilton's personal musical interests away from multi-layered pop studio recording standards toward a looser, animated punk performance style often recorded in one take and featuring fewer overdubs. There he made the acquaintance of punk rockabilly band the Cramps. He brought them to Memphis, where he produced the songs that would appear on their Gravest Hits EP and their Songs the Lord Taught Us LP.

In 1979, Chilton released, in a limited edition of 500 copies, an album called Like Flies on Sherbert, produced by Chilton with Jim Dickinson at Phillips Recording and Ardent Studios, which featured his own interpretations of songs by artists as disparate as the Carter Family, Jimmy C. Newman, Ernest Tubb, and KC and the Sunshine Band, along with several originals. While criticized by some as a druggy mess, this album is considered by many to be a lo-fi masterpiece. Sherbert, which included backing work by Memphis musicians including Rosebrough, Memphis drummer Ross Johnson, and Lesa Aldridge, has since been reissued several times. Beginning in 1979 Chilton also co-founded, played guitar with, and produced some albums for Tav Falco's Panther Burns, which began as an offbeat rock-and-roll group deconstructing blues, country, and rockabilly music.

1980s onwards[link]

Chilton moved to New Orleans in the early 1980s, while also touring regularly with Panther Burns and occasionally as a solo artist, as documented in his poorly received 1982 solo release Live in London. After a six month span of working outside music at tree-trimming and dishwashing jobs in New Orleans, he resumed playing with Panther Burns in 1983. His new association with New Orleans jazz musicians (including bassist René Coman) marked a period in which he began playing guitar in a less raucous style and moved toward a cooler, more restrained approach, as heard in Panther Burns' 1984 Sugar Ditch Revisited album, produced by Jim Dickinson.

Immediately upon completing the recording in mid-1984, Chilton returned his focus to his own solo career. He stopped playing regular gigs with Panther Burns and took with him the group's bassist, Coman. Chilton then formed a trio with Coman and Memphis jazz drummer Doug Garrison. The trio immediately began touring intensely and recording at Ardent Studios, releasing in 1985 an EP, Feudalist Tarts, that featured his versions of songs by Carla Thomas, Slim Harpo, and Willie Tee, and releasing in 1986 No Sex. The latter EP contained three originals, including the extended mood piece, "Wild Kingdom," a song highlighting Coman's jazz-oriented, improvisational bass interplay with Chilton.

During this period, in his recordings Chilton began frequently to use a horn section consisting of Memphis veteran jazz performers Fred Ford, Jim Spake, and Nokie Taylor to imbue the soul-oriented pieces among his repertoire with a postmodern, minimalist jazz feel that distinguished his interpretative approach from that of a simple soul revivalist style. Chilton forged a new direction for his solo work, eschewing effects and blending soul, jazz, country, rockabilly and pop. Coman left Chilton's solo trio at the end of 1986 to pursue other projects, forming (with Garrison) The Iguanas, three years later, with other New Orleans musicians; both would record occasionally with Chilton after departing.

Chilton was the subject of the song "Alex Chilton" by American rock band The Replacements on their 1987 album Pleased to Meet Me, on which Chilton was a guest musician playing guitar on the song "Can't Hardly Wait".^[3]

Chilton included on 1987's High Priest a cover of "Raunchy," his instrumental salute to Sun Records guitarist Sid Manker, a friend of his father from whom he'd once taken a guitar lesson; this song was also a standard in his early Panther Burns repertoire. Along with four upbeat originals, High Priest also included other covers like "Nobody's Fool," a song originally written and recorded in 1973 by his old mentor Dan Penn. His EP Black List contained a cover of Ronny & the Daytonas' "Little GTO," along with an original song, "Guantanamerika." He also produced albums by several artists beginning in the 1980s, including the Detroit group The Gories, occasionally producing Panther Burns albums well into the 1990s.

Touring and recording as a solo artist from the late-1980s through the 1990s with bassist Ron Easley and eventually drummer Richard Dworkin, Chilton gained a reputation for his eclectic taste in cover versions, guitar work, and laconic stage presence. Chilton recorded an acoustic solo record of jazz standards in New Orleans' Chez Flames studio with producer Keith Keller, entitled Cliches, and continued with a live CD released in 2004, Live in Anvers.

From the mid-1990s on, he added to his schedule concerts and recordings with the reunited Box Tops and a version of Big Star. In 1997, Chilton and original Box Tops Danny Smythe, John Evans, Bill Cunningham and Gary Talley regrouped in Memphis at Easley Studios to record Tear Off, the last Box Tops album, which was only released in Europe. Chilton subsequently toured with the original group annually. Chilton also reformed Big Star, with a line-up that included two members of The Posies, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. A new Big Star album, entitled In Space, with songs penned by this lineup, was released September 27, 2005, on Rykodisc. Chilton was present at his home in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and evacuated on September 4, 2005.^[4]

Death[link]

Chilton was taken to the hospital in New Orleans on March 17, 2010, complaining of health problems, and died the same day of a heart attack.^[5] He is survived by his wife, Laura, a son, Timothee, and a sister, Cecelia.^[1][6] He had been scheduled to play a concert with Big Star at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas on March 20; the show instead took place as a tribute to Chilton, with guests Curt Kirkwood, Chris Stamey, M. Ward, Mike Mills, John Doe, Sondre Lerche, Chuck Prophet, Evan Dando and original member Andy Hummel (who died 3 months later) joining the other members of Big Star.^[7]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• One Day in New York - (Trio, 1978, reissued 1991 on Art Union Records)
• Like Flies on Sherbert - (Peabody, 1979; Aura, 1980 UK)
• Bach's Bottom - (Line, 1981, remixed & reissued 1993 on Razor & Tie)
• Live in London - (Aura, 1982 UK)
• High Priest - (New Rose/Big Time, 1987; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie)
• Clichés - (Ardent, 1994)
• A Man Called Destruction - (Ardent, 1995)
• 1970 - (Ardent, 1996) (recorded between his tenures with the Box Tops and Big Star, but unreleased until 1996)
• Cubist Blues, with Ben Vaughn and Alan Vega - (Discovery, 1997, reissued by Last Call in 2006 with an extra disc recorded live)
• Loose Shoes and Tight Pussy - (Last Call, 1999)
• Set (Bar/None, 2000) (U.S. release of Loose Shoes LP)
• Live in Anvers - (Last Call, 2004)
• Free Again: The "1970" Sessions - (Omnivore OVCD-13, 2011)

Singles and EPs[link]

• Singer Not the Song (EP) - (Ork, 1977)
• "Bangkok" / "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" - (Fun, 1978)
• "Hey Little Child" / "No More the Moon Shines on Lorena" - (Aura 1980 UK)
• Feudalist Tarts (EP) - (New Rose/Big Time, 1985; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie)
• No Sex (EP) - (New Rose/Big Time, 1986; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie)
• Black List (EP) - (New Rose, 1989; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie)

Compilations[link]

• Lost Decade - (Fan Club, 1985)
• Document - (Aura, 1985)
• Stuff - (New Rose, 1987)
• Best of Alex Chilton - (New Rose, 1991)
• 19 Years: A Collection of Alex Chilton - (Rhino, 1991)
• Top 30 - (Last Call, 1997)

Appears On[link]

• It'll End in Tears - (This Mortal Coil, 1984)
• Medium Cool - (New Routes, 1991), Chet Baker tribute^[8]
• Downtown Does The Beatles Live At The Knitting Factory 1992 — (Knitting Factory Works, 1992)
• The Weedkiller's Daughter — (John & Mary, 1993)
• See My Friends — (Ray Davies, 2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Last Call Records artist page
• Box Tops official band website
• Alex Chilton Biography at Bar/None Records
• Big Star site from Rykodisc
• Jeff the Joker's Alex Chilton, Big Star & the Box Tops: Interviews & Reviews (Archived 2009-3-13)
• Alex Chilton discography at MusicBrainz
• Rolling Stone Interview 2/2000
• Alex Chilton: The Gibson Interview
• Alex Chilton - Daily Telegraph obituary

The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that was broadcast from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. The original pilot episode clip however was called the "Flagstones" (which first appeared in 1959 as a 90 second promotion to draw advertisers to the show) and was later reincorporated into the show's 1st episode (3rd episode in original airdate order). The show's name was changed to "The Flintstones" shortly thereafter. The show was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend.

The show's continuing popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns in the Stone Age setting.^[4][5]

Overview[link]

The show is set in the Stone Age town of Bedrock. (In some of the earlier episodes, it was also referred to as "Rockville"). In this fantasy version of the past, dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, and other long-extinct animals co-exist with cavemen. Like their mid-20th century peers, these cavemen listen to records, live in split-level homes, and eat out at restaurants, yet their technology is made entirely from pre-industrial materials and largely powered through the use of various animals. For example, the cars are made out of stone, wood, and animal skins, and powered by the passengers' feet (as in the theme song, "Through the courtesy of Fred's two feet").

Technology[link]

Often the "prehistoric" analogue to a modern machine uses an animal.^[6] For example, when a character takes photographs with an instant camera, inside of the camera box, a bird carves the picture on a stone tablet with its beak. In a running gag, the animal powering such technology would frequently break the fourth wall, look directly into the camera at the audience and offer a mild complaint about their job. Other commonly seen gadgets in the series include a baby woolly mammoth used as a vacuum cleaner; an adult woolly mammoth acting as a shower by spraying water with its trunk; elevators raised and lowered by ropes around brontosauruses' necks; "automatic" windows powered by monkeys on the outside; birds acting as "car horns," sounded by the driver pulling on their tails or squeezing their bodies; an "electric" razor made from a clam shell, vibrating from a honey-bee inside; a pelican as a washing machine, shown with a beakful of soapy water; and a woodpecker whose beak is used to play a gramophone record. In most cases, "The Man of a Thousand Voices," Mel Blanc, contributed the animals' gag lines, often lowering his voice one to two full octaves, far below the range he used to voice the character of Barney Rubble. In the case of the Flintstones' cuckoo clocks, which varied from mechanical toys to live birds announcing the time, when the hour approached 12:00, the bird inside the clock "cuckooing" usually just ran out of steam and gave up vocally, physically, or both.

"Stone-age" names[link]

The Stone Age setting allowed for gags and word plays involving rocks and minerals. For example, San Antonio becomes "Sand-and-Stony-o"; the country to the south of Bedrock's land is called "Mexirock." Travel to "Hollyrock," a parody of Hollywood, usually involves an "airplane" flight — the "plane," in this case, is often shown as a giant pterosaur, with the fuselage strapped to its back. The last names "Flintstone" and "Rubble", as well as other common Bedrock surnames such as "Shale" and "Quartz", are in line with these puns. So are the names of Bedrock's celebrities: "Cary Granite" (Cary Grant), "Stony Curtis" (Tony Curtis), "Ed Sulleyrock/Sulleystone" (Ed Sullivan), "Rock Pile/Quarry/ Hudstone" (Rock Hudson), "Ann-Margrock" (Ann-Margret), "Jimmy Darrock" (James Darren), "Alvin Brickrock" (Alfred Hitchcock), "Perry Masonary/Masonite" (Perry Mason as played by Raymond Burr), "Mick Jadestone and The Rolling Boulders" (Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones), "Eppy Brianstone" (Brian Epstein) and "The Beau Brummelstones" (The Beau Brummels). Once, while visiting one of Bedrock's houses of "Haute Couture" with Wilma, Betty even commented on the new "Jackie Kennerock (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) look". In some cases, the celebrity featured also provided the voice: "Samantha" and "Darrin" from "Bewitched" were voiced by Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York. Examples from the above list include Ann-Margret, Curtis, Darren, and the Beau Brummels. Other celebrities, such as "Ed Sulleystone" and "Alvin Brickrock," were rendered by impersonators. Some of Bedrock's sports heroes include: football player "Red Granite" (Red Grange), wrestler "Bronto Crushrock" (Bronko Nagurski), golfer "Arnold Palmrock" (Arnold Palmer), boxers "Floyd Patterstone" (Floyd Patterson) and "Sonny Listone" (Sonny Liston), and baseball players "Sandy Stoneaxe" (Sandy Koufax), "Lindy McShale" (Lindy McDaniel), "Roger Marble" (Roger Maris) and "Mickey Marble" or "Mickey Mantlepiece" (Mickey Mantle). Ace reporter "Daisy Kilgranite" (Dorothy Kilgallen) was a friend of Wilma. Monster names include "Count Rockula" (Count Dracula) and "The Frankenstone Monster" (Frankenstein's monster).

Characters[link]

The Flintstones[link]

The Rubbles[link]

Other characters[link]

Voice actors[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

It has been noted Fred Flintstone physically resembled voice actor Alan Reed, and also Jackie Gleason, whose series The Honeymooners was said to be very similar to The Flintstones. The voice of Barney Rubble was provided by voice actor Mel Blanc, though five episodes during the second season (the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 9th) employed Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler while Blanc was incapacitated by a near-fatal car accident. Blanc was able to return to the series much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. It should be noted, however, Blanc's portrayal of Barney had changed considerably after the accident. In the earliest episodes, Blanc had used a much higher pitch. After his recovery from the accident, Blanc used a deeper voice, quite similar to the voice of the Abominable Snowman he performed in other cartoons.

Additional similarities with The Honeymooners included the fact that Reed based Fred's voice upon Jackie Gleason's interpretation of Ralph Kramden, while Blanc, after a season of using a nasal, high-pitched voice for Barney, eventually adopted a style of voice similar to that used by Art Carney in his portrayal of Ed Norton. The first time the Art Carney-like voice was used was for a few seconds in "The Prowler" (the third episode produced).

In a 1986 Playboy interview, Jackie Gleason said Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies, and he (Gleason) considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners but decided to let it pass.^[8] According to Henry Corden, who took over as the voice of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed died, and was a friend of Gleason, “Jackie’s lawyers told him he could probably have The Flintstones pulled right off the air. But they also told him, “Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show so many kids love, and so many parents love, too?”^[9]

Henry Corden took over the voice responsibilities of Fred after Reed's death in 1977 with A Flintstone Christmas.^[10] Corden had previously provided Fred's singing voice in The Man Called Flintstone^[11] and later on Flintstones children's records. Since 2000, Jeff Bergman, James Arnold Taylor, and Scott Innes (performing Fred and Barney for Toshiba Commercials) have performed the voice of Fred. Since Mel Blanc's death in 1989, Barney has been voiced by both Frank Welker and Kevin Michael Richardson. Various additional character voices were created by Hal Smith, Allan Melvin, Janet Waldo, Daws Butler, and Howard Morris, among others.

Voice cast[link]

• Fred Flintstone – Alan Reed; Henry Corden (singing voice in The Man Called Flintstone only)
• Wilma Flintstone/Pebbles Flintstone – Jean Vander Pyl
• Barney Rubble – Mel Blanc; Daws Butler (season 2; episodes 1, 2, 5, 6, and 9 only)
• Betty Rubble – Bea Benaderet (seasons 1–4); Gerry Johnson (seasons 5–6)
• Bamm-Bamm Rubble/Hoppy/Arnold – Don Messick
• Dino – Mel Blanc
• Mr. Slate – John Stephenson
• Mrs. Slaghoople – Verna Felton and Janet Waldo
• The Great Gazoo – Harvey Korman

Episodes[link]

Music[link]

The opening and closing credits theme during the first two seasons was called "Rise and Shine", a lively instrumental underscore accompanying Fred on his drive home from work. The tune resembled "The Bugs Bunny Overture (This Is It!)," the theme song of The Bugs Bunny Show, also airing on ABC at the time, and may have been the reason the theme was changed in the third season.^[12]

Starting in Season 3, Episode 3 ("Barney the Invisible"), the opening and closing credits theme was the familiar vocal, "Meet the Flintstones". The melody is derived from part of the 'B' section of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 Movement 2, composed in 1801/02.^[13] The "Meet the Flintstones" opening was later added to the first two seasons for syndication.

The musical underscores were credited to Hoyt Curtin for the show's first five seasons; Ted Nichols took over in 1965 for the final season.^[12]

During the show's final season, "Open Up Your Heart (And Let the Sunshine In)", performed by Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, in a clip from that season's first episode, was used as alternate close music.

In 2010 a PRS for Music survey of 2,000 adults in the UK found that the "Meet the Flintstones" theme tune was the most recognised children's' TV theme, ahead of those for "Top Cat" and "Postman Pat".^{[14] [15]}

Production history[link]

The idea of The Flintstones started after Hanna-Barbera produced The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Quick Draw McGraw Show. Although these programs were successful they did not have the same wide audience appeal as their previous theatrical cartoon series Tom and Jerry. Tom and Jerry entertained both children and the adults that accompanied them. However since children didn't need their parents supervision to watch television Hanna-Barbera's output became labeled "kids only". Barbera and Hanna wanted to recapture the adult audience by creating the most popular form television genre that appealed to both adults and children, the situation comedy.^[16] Another influence is rooted in Hanna-Barbera's tenure at MGM; where they were in a friendly competition with fellow cartoon director Tex Avery. In 1955, Avery directed a cartoon entitled "The First Bad Man" (narrated by cowboy legend Tex Ritter). The cartoon concerned the rowdy antics of a bank robber in stone-age Dallas. Many of the visual jokes pre-dated similar ones used by Hanna-Barbera in the Flintstones series, many years later. Many students of American animation point to this cartoon as a progenitive seed (along with "The Honeymooners") of the Flintstones.

The show imitated and spoofed The Honeymooners.^[17] William Hanna admitted that "At that time, The Honeymooners was the most popular show on the air, and for my bill, it was the funniest show on the air. The characters, I thought, were terrific. Now, that influenced greatly what we did with The Flintstones ... The Honeymooners was there, and we used that as a kind of basis for the concept."^{[citation needed]} However, Joseph Barbera disavowed these claims in a separate interview, stating that, "I don't remember mentioning The Honeymooners when I sold the show. But if people want to compare The Flintstones to The Honeymooners, then great. It's a total compliment. The Honeymooners was one of the greatest shows ever written."^[18]

Before settling on the stone-age Barbera and Hanna experimented with hillbillies, Ancient Rome, Pilgrims, and American Indians as the settings for the two families.^[19] Originally, the series was to have been titled The Flagstones, and a brief demonstration film was created to sell the idea of a "modern stone age family" to sponsors and the network.^[20]:3 When the series itself was commissioned, the title was changed, possibly to avoid confusion with the Flagstons, characters in the comic strip Hi and Lois. After spending a brief period in development as The Gladstones (Gladstone being a Los Angeles telephone exchange at the time),^[21] Hanna-Barbera settled upon The Flintstones. Aside from the animation and fantasy setting, the show's scripts and format are typical of 1950s and 1960s American situation comedies, with the usual family issues resolved with a laugh at the end of each episode, as well as the inclusion of a laugh track.

During the developmental stages, Hanna-Barbera created the Flintstone family consisting of Fred, Wilma, and their son, Fred Jr. However, when the series went into production, the idea of the Flintstones having a child from the start was discarded, with Fred and Wilma starting out as a childless couple; some early Flintstones merchandise, such as a 1961 Little Golden Book, included Fred Jr., before it was decided on his removal.^[22]

Although most Flintstones episodes are stand-alone storylines, the series did have a few story arcs. The most notable example was a series of episodes surrounding the birth of Pebbles. Beginning with the episode "The Surprise", aired midway through the third season (1/25/63), in which Wilma reveals her pregnancy to Fred, the arc continued through the trials and tribulations leading up to Pebbles' birth in the episode "Dress Rehearsal" (2/22/63), and then continued with several episodes showing Fred and Wilma adjusting to the world of parenthood. In Australia, the Nine Network ran a "Name the Flintstones' baby" competition during the 'pregnancy' episodes – few Australian viewers were expected to have a USA connection giving them information about past 'Flintstone' shows.

A postscript to the arc occurred in the third episode of the fourth season, in which the Rubbles, depressed over being unable to have children of their own (making The Flintstones the first animated series in history to address the issue of infertility, though subtly), adopt Bamm-Bamm. The 100th episode made (but the 90th to air), Little Bamm-Bamm (10/3/63), established how Bamm-Bamm was adopted. About nine episodes were made before it, but shown after, which explains why Bamm-Bamm would not be seen again until episode 101, Daddies Anonymous (Bamm-Bamm was in a teaser on episode 98, Kleptomaniac Pebbles). Another story arc, occurring in the final season, centered on Fred and Barney's dealings with The Great Gazoo (voiced by Harvey Korman).

The series was initially aimed at adult audiences, which was reflected in the comedy writing, which, as noted, resembled the average primetime sitcoms of the era. Hanna and Barbera hired many writers from the world of live-action (including two of Jackie Gleason's writers, Herbert Finn and Sydney Zelinka, as well as relative newcomer Joanna Lee) while still using traditional animation story men (like Warren Foster and Tony Benedict). The first two seasons were co-sponsored by Winston cigarettes and the characters appeared in several black and white television commercials for Winston (dictated by the custom, at that time, that the star{s} of a TV series often "pitched" their sponsor's product in an "integrated commercial" at the end of the episode).^[23] During the third season (the season in which Pebbles was born), Welch's (grape juice and grape jellies) became the primary sponsor, and the overall tone and writing of the series became more family friendly. Integrated commercials for Welch's products feature Pebbles asking for grape juice in her toddler dialect, and Fred explaining to Pebbles Welch's unique process for making the jelly, compared to the competition. Best Foods, makers of Skippy peanut butter, was the alternate sponsor.

The Flintstones was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex (Fred and Wilma; Barney and Betty) sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds. For comparison, the first live-action depiction of this in American TV history was in television's first-ever sitcom: 1947's Mary Kay and Johnny.^[24]

The show contained a laugh track, common to most other sitcoms of the period. In the mid-1990s, when Turner Networks remastered the episodes, the original laugh track was removed. Currently, the shows airing on Boomerang and the DVD releases have the original laugh track restored to most episodes (a number of episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 still lack them). Some episodes, however, have a newer laugh track dubbed in, apparently replacing the old one. Because of this practice, the only episode to originally air without a laugh track ("Sheriff For a Day" in 1965) now has one.

The Flintstones also became the first primetime animated series to last more than two seasons;^[25] this record wasn't surpassed by another primetime animated TV series until the seventh season of The Simpsons in 1995/1996.^[25]

Reception[link]

The night after The Flintstones premiered, Variety called it "A Pen and Ink Disaster".^[26] However, the negative reviews were short-lived and The Flintstones soon became one of the most popular and well-loved shows of all time. In 1961, The Flintstones became the first animated series to be nominated for an Outstanding Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award, but lost out to The Jack Benny Show. In January 2009, IGN named The Flintstones as the ninth best in its "Top 100 Animated TV Shows".^[27]

Nielsen ratings[link]

• 1960–1961: #18
• 1961–1962: #21
• 1962–1963: #30
• 1963–1964: Not in the Top 30
• 1964–1965: Not in the Top 30
• 1965–1966: Not in the Top 30

Broadcast history[link]

Original[link]

Note: The most frequent time slot for the series is in bold text.

• Friday at 8:30-9:00 PM on ABC: September 30, 1960—April 5, 1963
• Thursday at 7:30-8:00 PM on ABC: September 19, 1963—December 17, 1964
• Friday at 7:30-8:00 PM on ABC: December 25, 1964—April 1, 1966

Films and subsequent television series[link]

Following the show's cancellation in 1966, a film based upon the series was created. The Man Called Flintstone was a musical spy caper that parodied James Bond and other secret agents. The movie was released to theaters on August 3, 1966 by Columbia Pictures.^[28] It was released on DVD in Canada in March 2005 and in United States in December 2008.

The show was revived in the early 1970s with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm having grown into teenagers, and several different series and made-for-TV movies (broadcast mainly on Saturday mornings, with a few shown in prime time); including a series depicting Fred and Barney as police officers, another depicting the characters as children, and yet others featuring Fred and Barney encountering Marvel Comics superhero The Thing and Al Capp's comic strip character The Shmoo — have appeared over the years. The original show also was adapted into a live-action film in 1994, and a prequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, which followed in 2000.

It has been announced that Family Guy creator (and Hanna-Barbera alumnus) Seth MacFarlane will be reviving The Flintstones for the Fox network, with the first episode airing in 2013.^[29] The program was indefinitely delayed from the 2013 date however, due to MacFarlane's schedule. ^[30]

Television series[link]

• The Flintstones (1960–66) (166 episodes) (6 seasons)
• The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971–72) (20 episodes) (1 season)
• The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972–73) (16 episodes) (1 season)
• Fred Flintstone and Friends (1977–78) (95 episodes) (1 season)
• The New Fred and Barney Show (1979) (17 episodes) (1 season)
• Fred and Barney Meet the Thing (1979) (13 episodes) (1 season)
• Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo (1979–80) (13 episodes) (1 season)
• The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980–82) (18 episodes) (2 seasons)
• The Flintstone Funnies (1982–84) (13 episodes) (1 season)
• The Flintstone Kids (1986–88) (76 episodes) (2 seasons)
• Dino: World Premiere Toons – featuring "Stay Out!" (1995) and "The Great Egg-Scape" (1997)
• Cave Kids: Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm (1996) (8 episodes) (1 season)
• The Flintstones (2013)

Theatrical animated feature[link]

• The Man Called Flintstone (1966, released by Columbia Pictures)
• The Flintstones (CGI Computer Animated film, TBA, released by Warner Bros. Pictures)

Television specials[link]

• A Flintstone Christmas (1977)
• The Flintstones: Little Big League (1978)
• The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (1979)
• The Flintstones' New Neighbors (1980)
• The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling (1980)
• The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma (1981)
• The Flintstones: Jogging Fever (1981)
• The Flintstones' 25th Anniversary Celebration (1986)
• The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special (1988)
• Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration (1989)
• A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993)

Television movies[link]

• The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987)
• I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993)
• Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993)
• A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
• The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)

Live-action films[link]

• The Flintstones (1994)
• The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)

Other media[link]

For a list of DVDs, video games, comic books, and VHS releases, see List of The Flintstones media.

Theme parks[link]

At least two Flintstones-themed amusement parks exist in the United States: Bedrock City in Custer, South Dakota and another in Valle, Arizona. Both have been in operation for decades.

Another existed until the 1990s at Carowinds in Charlotte, NC. In Canada, Flintstone Park in Kelowna, British Columbia opened in 1968 and closed in 1998; notable for the "Forty Foot Fred" statue of Fred Flintstone which was a well known Kelowna landmark. Another Flintstones park was located in Bridal Falls, British Columbia which closed in 1990.^[31] Calaway Park outside Calgary, Canada, also opened with a Flintstones theme and many of the buildings today have a caveman-like design, though the park does not currently license the characters. The Australia's Wonderland & Canada's Wonderland theme parks both featured Flintstones characters in their Hanna-Barbera-themed children's sections from 1985 up until the mid '90s.

Live theater[link]

A stage production opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in 1994 (the year the live action film was released), developed by Universal and Hanna-Barbera Productions.^{[citation needed]} It opened at the Panasonic Theater replacing the Star Trek Show. The story consists of Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty heading for "Hollyrock".^{[citation needed]} The show ran until January 2, 1997.^{[citation needed]}

Popular culture[link]

Theme cafeteria The Flintstones in Agia Napa, Cyprus

As noted above, for the first two seasons, the series had strong ties to a sponsor, Winston cigarettes, with the characters shown smoking the product during commercial breaks. This approach was not unusual for television at that time, either with tobacco or any other product. In one memorable advertisement, Fred and Barney relaxed while their wives did housework, smoking Winstons and reciting Winston's jingle, "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should!"^[32] In 1962, Winston pulled their sponsorship from the show when Wilma became pregnant;^{[citation needed]} beginning in the fall of 1963, the main sponsor was Welch's Grape Juice. By no small coincidence, Pebbles' favorite drink was Grape Juice.

Welch's advertised their product with animated commercials featuring the cartoon cast and they were often pictured in print ads and on grape juice containers. In the actual scenes of a few episodes, Pebbles is given grape juice as a treat, although, in those scenes, Welch's is not mentioned by name.

Miles Laboratories (now part of Bayer Corporation) and their One-A-Day vitamin brand was the alternate sponsor of the original Flintstones series during its first two seasons, and in the late 1960s, Miles introduced Flintstones Chewable Vitamins, fruit flavored multivitamin tablets for children in the shape of the Flintstones characters, which are sold to this day.^[33]

The characters from the series were used in a 1966 industrial film designed to promote the 1967 beer advertising campaign for Anheuser-Busch's Busch Beer. This film was released to the Anheuser-Busch distributors, and it was not seen by the general public until years later when bootleg copies began to circulate.^[34]

In 1982 satirist Tom Chalkley, using the alias "Bruce Springstone", did a parody of the intro theme titled 'Bedrock Rap/Meet the Flintstones'. The cover of the album listed "Live at Bedrock". Sounding like Bruce Springsteen, Tom did a talking intro describing himself as a kid 'flipping dino burgers' and watching a worker (Fred) 'coming home to his stone hut' at night shouting 'Wilma, I'm home honey. Wilma!', then launching into a Springsteen-esque version of the intro theme from the show, complete with saxophone solo at the end.^[35]

The series spawned the Post Foods brands of Pebbles cereals: Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles, and the discontinued Dino Pebbles (later revived as "Marshmallow Mania Pebbles", and then to "Marshmallow Pebbles").

In the 1985 documentary feature Bring on the Night, Sting and his band sing "Meet the Flintstones" during a recording session.^[36]

"Weird Al" Yankovic paid homage to the Flintstones in his song "Bedrock Anthem", a combined parody of "Under the Bridge" and "Give it Away", both by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, that even featured Flintstones voices and sound effects. It also was rereleased on the soundtrack album of the 1994 live action film.

The Screaming Blue Messiahs had a song called "I Wanna Be a Flintstone" on their album Bikini Red. It was later rereleased on the soundtrack album of the 1994 live action film The Flintstones.

The Simpsons have referenced The Flintstones in several episodes. In the episode Homer's Night Out, Homer's local convenience store clerk, Apu remarks "You look familiar, sir. Are you on the television or something?" to which Homer replies "Sorry buddy, you've got me confused with Fred Flintstone."^[37] During the opening credits of the episode Kamp Krusty, the Simpson family arrive home to find the Flintstone family already sitting on their couch.^[38] The beginning of the episode Marge vs. the Monorail is an homage to the The Flintstones opening sequence. Homer leaves work much in the same way Fred Flinstone does, singing to the tune of The Flintstones theme: "Simpson, Homer Simpson / he's the greatest guy in history / from the town of Springfield / he's about to hit a chestnut tree" at which point he screams and crashes his car into a tree.^[39] In Lady Bouvier's Lover, Homer's boss, Mr. Burns appears at the family's house and says "Why, it's Fred Flintstone (referring to Homer) and his lovely wife, Wilma! (Marge) Oh, and this must be little Pebbles! (Maggie) Mind if I come in? I brought chocolates." Homer responds by saying "Yabba-dabba-doo!"^[40] In Rome-old and Juli-eh, to save on gas, Homer "Flintstones" the car, imitating Fred Flintstone by putting his feet through the car floor and running on the road, yet with much less efficiency. Again, he says "Yabba-dabba-doo!"^[41] In Little Orphan Millie, Homer sings a song about his wife which contains the line "She's the Wilma to my Fred".^[42]

An episode of BBC sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf sees Lister and the Cat discussing, and agreeing that they find both Wilma and Betty attractive, before realizing that the discussion is pointless... 'She'll never leave Fred and we know it!'

In 2008, Warner Bros/ Theater Ventures announced that Jeff Marx, Jake Anthony and Marco Pennette would collaborate on a stage musical version of The Flintstones, with the plot putting a contemporary spin on the characters.^[43] The proposed production stalled during negotiations.

Fred Flintstone's exclamation 'Yabba-Dabba-Doo!', shouted in the opening credits as well as any time Fred became happy or excited, is widely known and repeated.

In the Young Money song BedRock, although the song is mainly about sex, the name is referenced with the line: "Call me Mr Flintstone, I can make your bedrock".

More recently, the Flintstones have been seen in commercials for GEICO automotive insurance and Midas auto repair shops.

On September 30, 2010, Google temporarily replaced the logo on their search page with a custom graphic celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first TV broadcast.^[44]

In the animated feature, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs when Ellie jumps on a brontosaurus she exclaims, "Yabba-Dabba-Do". Manny later says, "Don't Yabba-Dabba-Do that again".

The Beastie Boys song "Shake Your Rump" from their 1989 album Paul's Boutique contains the lyrics "Like Fred Flintstone driving around with bald feet".^[45]

See also[link]

	Animation portal
	Television portal
	United States portal

• Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue – Hanna-Barbera characters honor Fred in an all-star celebrity roast for his birthday (1977)
• "(Meet) The Flintstones", a version of the show's theme song that became a hit single for The B-52s.

References[link]