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Frederick “Fred” Flintstone, also known as Fred W. Flintstone or Frederick J. Flintstone, is the protagonist of the animated sitcom The Flintstones, which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966. He is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintstone. His best friends are his next door neighbors, Barney and Betty Rubble, who have an adopted son named Bamm-Bamm.^[11]

Fred lives in the fictional prehistoric town of Bedrock, a world where dinosaurs coexist with modernized cavepeople and the cavepeople enjoy "primitive" versions of modern conveniences such as telephones, automobiles, and washing machines. Flintstone's catchphrase is "yabba dabba doo!", which is also heard at the beginning of the theme song and the film.

Fred's address has varied through the series' run, including 345 Cave Stone Road, 1313 Cobblestone Way, and 222 Rocky Way.

Fred has since appeared in various other cartoon spinoffs, live action adaptations and commercials.

Personality and occupation[link]

Fred's personality was based on that of Ralph Kramden of the 1950s television series The Honeymooners and Chester A. Riley from The Life of Riley. Thus, much like Ralph, Fred tends to be loud-mouthed, aggressive, and constantly scheming ways to improve his family's working class lot in life, often with unintended results. Archie Bunker of All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place and George Jefferson of The Jeffersons also have similar personalities. Also like these characters, Fred is also a very temperamental character. He loses his temper very quickly and is very impatient.

Fred is a typical blue-collar worker, who works as a "bronto crane operator" at Slate Rock and Gravel Company (also known as Rockhead and Quarry Cave Construction Company in the earliest episodes). However, when their children become teenagers, Fred and Barney join the Bedrock police force for a period of time as part-time police officers.^[1]

The Flintstone family's paternal side originally came from the prehistoric US state of Arkanstone, where they had been engaged in a feud with the Hatrock family.^[6] The feud was originally started by an ancestor of Fred's making a wisecrack about a Hatrock family portrait ("I don't know what the artist got for doing that painting, but he should have gotten life!"). In the episode "Bedrock Hillbillies," the feud is ended when Fred helps save a Hatrock baby (and Pebbles) from going over a waterfall, only to start up again when Fred makes the very same wisecrack. The Hatrocks later appear in the followup episode "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes," where they visit Bedrock. The last of the Arkanstone Flintstones was Fred's great-great-uncle Zeke Flintstone. Among other relatives of Fred include: Giggles Flintstone, a rich, eccentric practical joker whose jokes drive Fred into a mad rage^[4]; Uncle Tex, Fred's rich Texan uncle^[3]; Tumbleweed (who, strangely enough, resembles Uncle Tex) and Mary Lou Jim, Fred's rich Texan cousins^[8]; and Rocky Flintstone, Fred's grandfather, who was a veteran of Stone World War One^[7].

Fred's interests include bowling, playing pool, golf, poker and lounging around the house. At the first two of these, he is very skilled, as seen in an episode where (in disguise) he plays against Wilma's unsuspecting mother.^[12] Fred has won championships with his incredible bowling skills; in one episode, he goes so far as to take ballet lessons in order to improve his game.^[13] The nickname of "Twinkletoes" stuck with him when Fred attended a local college and became eligible to play on their football team, and it became his call sign.^[14] Fred is also an excellent golfer. In one episode he wins the championship only to have Barney repossess the winning trophy cup because Fred is behind in his dues.^[15] Fred, like Barney, was also a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos Lodge (named "the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs" in an early episode). Fred also has a serious gambling problem; the mere mention of the word "bet" causes Fred to stammer "bet" over and over again and go on gambling binges.^[16] Fred is also an avid driver. In the fifth season episode "Indianrockolis 500," Fred entered the famed prehistoric auto race under the pseudonym "Goggles Pisano"; the race's announcer repeatedly compared Fred's performance to somebody "driving on the freeway".^[17]

The original series had several stories focusing on movies or television. In one, Fred makes a fool of himself trying to give Wilma acting lessons after she wins a TV appearance – only for the only part of her to appear on TV is her hands. In another, when Fred wins a TV appearance he tries to act like a "stage parent", until he comes down with stage fright. A third time, Fred appears on a TV commercial in a non-speaking role as a "before" picture of a person before going on a diet.^[18] Once, Fred even appeared in a movie, but merely as a stunt double.^[19]

Fred's catchphrase "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!" (originally derived from the Brylcreem advertising jingle motto "A Little Dab'll Do Ya!"), becomes the subject of a song by Hoagy Carmichael that the singer-songwriter performs in an episode of The Flintstones. Fred's ability to carry a tune was quite good in his younger years. One early episode^[20] was where he did a jam with his musician friend "Hot Lips Hannigan", (with Barney, who is apparently a skilled drummer) where his singing caused teenage girls to swoon over him. On this occasion he was named "the Golden Smog". In another early episode, "Girls' Night Out", Fred recorded a demo record at a carnival of the song "Listen to the Rocking Bird", which ended up making him a teenage singing idol named "Hi Fye." As the series progressed, however, his voice became worse and worse, eventually to the point that a temporary maid the Flintstones hired quit rather than having to hear Fred sing.^[21]

Due to his impulsive and short-tempered behavior and stubborn and naive nature, Fred seems to be accident-prone. Even his most innocent and mundane actions often cause widespread confusion.

According to the original series' third season episode "The Birthday Party" (originally aired April 5, 1963), Fred's birthday is February 2.

Positive qualities[link]

Despite his apparently anti-social character, Fred's actions are shown to be usually free of any malice. And, although he almost constantly shouts and irritates the people around him, Fred proves to be a friendly person; often going out of his way to help someone.

Although Fred often annoys Wilma with his immaturity, he is known to go to great lengths to please his family or apologize when he goes too far.

Other women[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In the original series, plus the live-action films, Fred has shown some attraction toward women other than Wilma, and vice versa:

• Madame Yes - In the fifth season episode "Doctor Sinister" Fred and Barney meet Madam Yes, a seductive lady spy who manipulates them into aiding her in her covert activities, repeatedly landing them in trouble and then quickly escaping saying "I'm too important to be captured" leaving Fred and Barney in peril at the hands of the villains.^[22]
• Kitty Rockhawk - In the fifth season episode "Fred's Flying Lesson," Kitty, a pretty blonde flight instructor with an American Southern accent, teaches Fred how to fly a plane. Fred initially plans on keeping the flying lessons a secret to surprise Wilma, but his plans are thwarted after accidentally flying over a restricted military airspace near the airport.^[23]
• Miss Sharon Stone - In the first live-action film, after Fred is promoted to an executive at Slate & Co., Miss Stone (played by Halle Berry) becomes his secretary. Her boyfriend, Cliff, is the company's executive vice-president. When Fred is first introduced to her, he is immediately smitten with her, with Miss Stone flirting in return. Later, after seeing how villainous Cliff truly was (and his plans on betraying her), Miss Stone assists Fred and the others in unraveling the plot.^[24]
• Betty Rubble - In the second live-action film, which serves as a prequel to the first live-action film, Fred's first date is with Betty, who he becomes smitten with. But while Fred and Betty are on a date with Barney and Wilma (Barney's date), she becomes attracted to Barney and they swap dates. She becomes Barney's girlfriend and eventual wife.^[25]

Portrayal[link]

• Alan Reed was the original voice artist of Fred (minus the original short pilot where he was voiced by Daws Butler) until his death in 1977.^[26] Henry Corden, who had provided the singing voice for Reed (and Fred) in The Man Called Flintstone, took over until his death in 2005.^[27] Corden voiced Fred's father in The Flintstone Kids. Jeff Bergman has voiced Fred a few times. The current "official" voice of Fred is James Arnold Taylor.

• In The Flintstone Kids, young Fred was voiced by both Lennie Weinrib and Scott Menville at different points.

• In the first live-action film, The Flintstones, Fred was played by John Goodman.^[28] In the prequel film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, in which Fred is portrayed as younger than he was in the original, he was played by Mark Addy.^[29]

Appearances in other Hanna Barbera media[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

• For many years Fred Flintstone and other characters from the show were used to advertise 'Amber', an Australian company that sold pavers and tiles. In some advertisements, a variant of Fred's catchphrase was changed to "Only Amber tiles will do".

• Fred and Barney once appeared as guest stars in Yogi's Space Race.

• Fred also appeared in some episodes of 1977-1978's Laff-a-Lympics as guest.

• A statue of Fred and Barney appears in an art museum in an episode of Top Cat.

• Fred Flintstone was the guest of honor at a celebrity roast for his birthday in the live-action and animated TV special Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue (1977) hosted by Roy Clark and Bonnie Franklin which featured the Ice Capades.

• Fred Flintstone appeared in the short movie trailer, Raging Fred, a redub of Flintstones clips with dialogue from the movie Raging Bull.

• Fred Flintstone appeared alongside Barney Rubble street Santasin Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper, in which Snagglepuss asked them if they had seen J. Wellington Jones, in response to which they suggested he ask that question of an old lady. She screamed in fear of Snagglepuss, and then Fred and Barney attacked him, purportedly for entertainment purposes.

• Fred Flintstone appeared in the Johnny Bravo episode "A Page Right Out of History" voiced by Jeff Bergman. He saved Johnny Bravo's ancestor of the same name and Johnny repaid Fred by working for him.

• Fred Flintstone appeared in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "The Dabba Don" voiced by Maurice LaMarche. He was suspected of being an organized crime lord.

• James Arnold Taylor voiced Fred Flintstone who appeared in the episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy entitled "Modern Primitives". Billy after digging him up in a block of ice adopts Fred as his pet and calls him "Jake Steele". Fred eventually escapes and, after colliding with an ice cream truck, ends up frozen again, and Billy reburies him in his backyard. At the end, he is once again freed from his "ice-prison" (along with Billy), only to have his brain eaten by gigantic alien creatures (much to Fred's chagrin). In this appearance, Fred's dialogue consists solely of him saying "Yabba Dabba!" without the Doo (however when he destroys a car he says the full phrase "Yabba Dabba Doo"). He also says "Oooh...Fred." when trying to explain his name to him.

• In the crossover film The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, Fred and Barney become spokesmen for Spacely Sprockets and Cogswell Cogs respectively.

• Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble both appear as guests in a 1996 video called "Kids for Character".

Guest appearances[link]

• Fred appeared on the premiere of ABC-TV's The Jimmy Dean Show on September 19, 1963.

• He also appeared with Barney in the 1996 program Kids for Character.

• Fred made a brief cameo on Family Guy voiced by Jeff Bergman.

• A canine version of Fred appeared in the Ren and Stimpy pilot episode Big House Blues, along with a canine version of George Jetson.

Commercials[link]

During the first several seasons of The Flintstones series, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were pitchmen for Winston cigarettes, the show's sponsor at the time. In one Winston ad, Fred and Barney saw the men working hard at the quarry and decided to retire out of sight for a smoke break. After extolling the virtues of the Winston brand cigarette, Fred lit up his cigarette and delivered the catch phrase: "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should". Another similar ad for the cigarettes featured Wilma and Betty as well; the women were working hard mowing the lawn and beating dust out of a rug while Fred and Barney smoked behind the house. Vignettes also aired in which Fred lit Wilma's Winston cigarette, and the couple shared a smoke. Campaigns such as this contributed to cigarette advertising of all kinds being banned from television beginning in 1970.^{[where?][citation needed]}

During later seasons of the original series, after the arrival of daughter Pebbles, she was often seen drinking or requesting grape juice. This was at a time when Welch Company (makers of grape juice and other juices) was a major sponsor of the show. Several cross-promotions were spawned by this sponsorship.

In the mid-1970s, the Flintstones cast were featured pitching a juice drink called "Yabba Dabba Dew." The drink was sold in large aluminum cans, similar to Hi-C. The commercial played a catchy jingle that went "Yabba Dabba Dew, Ooh Ooh Ooh. Yabba Dabba Dew, Ooh Ooh Ooh. It's the new, fun fruit drink made just for YOU. Yabba Dabba Dew!"

With Barney Rubble, Fred has been a pitchman for Post Cereals' Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles breakfast cereals. The commercials typically feature Barney trying to trick Fred out of his cereal, usually ending with Fred bellowing, "Barney, my Pebbles!" as Barney runs off with Fred's cereal - a notable exception being a 1989 Christmas-themed commercial in which Santa Claus reminds him that "'Tis the season to be sharing, Fred," whereupon Fred then says "Happy holidays, pal", and willingly shares his cereal with both Barney and Santa.

Another cereal company the Flintstones was featured in was Team Flakes, a breakfast cereal from Nabisco in the late 1980's.

In 1990, the Flintstones cast were featured in a UK advert for Swinton Insurance, as well as the cast from Thunderbirds.

In autumn 2005, Fred and Barney began appearing in Midas Muffler television commercials. Fred appears in a 2007 GEICO Insurance commercial which spoofs the money-saving methods of a blue-collar working man and how he and wife, Wilma, were able to afford a necklace "with huge rocks." It turns out saving money with GEICO really is so easy even a caveman can do it.

Fred was the spokesman for a Rhode Island bank until it went out of business in 1993. The bank, The Providence Institution for Savings, known as Old Stone Bank, featured Fred in its commercials, saying, "Yabba-Dabba-Doo! Love that Old Stone Bank!" The bank was also one of the first to offer full service Automated Teller Machines (ATM's) which were named "Ready Freddy" and included a picture of Fred until the Bank decided to terminate its contract with Hanna Barbera to use the likeness. The machines were so popular that people often referred to ATMs at other banks as "Ready Freddies."

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Yabba Dabba Doo! The Alan Reed Story, by Alan Reed and Ben Ohmart. Albany, 2009. ISBN #1-59393-313-4.

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]

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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]

External links[link]

Look up Appendix:Hanna-Barbera in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Flintstones

• Museum of Broadcast Communications: The Flintstones
• The Flintstones - Cartoon Network Department of Cartoons (Archive)
• Webrock: The Flintstones and Hanna-Barbera Site
• The Flintstones page at Toonopedia
• The Flintstones at the Internet Movie Database
• The Flintstones at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Flintstones at TV.com
• 50 Years of Journey of The 'Flintstones'
• A film clip of television commercials for Winston cigarettes featuring The Flintstones is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]