The Flintstones

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The Flintstones

Title screen from Seasons 1 & 2
Format Animated situation comedy
Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Starring Alan Reed (voice of Fred)
Jean Vander Pyl (voice of Wilma)
Mel Blanc (voice of Barney)
Bea Benaderet (voice of Betty, Seasons 1-4)
Gerry Johnson (voice of Betty, Seasons 5-6)
Theme music composer Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 166 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time approx. 30 minutes (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Original run September 30, 1960 – April 1, 1966
Chronology
Followed by The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971-1972)
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Flintstones is an animated television sitcom which ran from 1960 to 1966 on ABC.

Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones is about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next door neighbor and best friend. The first prime time cartoon geared for adults, the show originally aired from 1960 to 1966, on the ABC network. It was also ABC's first series to be televised in color. While the show was originally syndicated by Screen Gems (until 1981, then DFS Program Exchange from, and then Turner Program Services), Warner Bros. Television later acquired the rights (through parent Time Warner's purchase). It premiered on the air on Jetix in the UK and Ireland, on May 23, 2008.


Contents

[edit] Overview

The show is set in the town of Bedrock in the Stone Age era. The show is an allegory to American society of the mid-to-late 20th century; in the Flintstones' fantasy version of the prehistoric past, dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, and other long extinct animals co-exist with barefoot cavemen, who use technology equivalent to that of the mid-to-late 20th century, largely through the use of various animals. The characters drive cars made out of stone or wood and animal skins and powered by foot.

Model of Flintstones car at 2008 New York International Auto Show
Model of Flintstones car at 2008 New York International Auto Show

One source of the show's humor was the ways animals were used for technology. For example, when the characters took photographs with an instant camera, the inside of the camera box would be shown to contain a bird carving the picture on a stone tablet with its bill. In a running gag, the animals powering such technology would, breaking the fourth wall, look directly into the camera at the audience, shrug, and remark, "It's a living," or some similar phrase. Another commonly seen gadget in the series was a baby woolly mammoth being used as a vacuum cleaner. Travel to "Hollyrock," a parody of Hollywood, California, usually involved an "airplane" flight—the "plane" in this case often shown as a giant pterodactyl. (Other familiar place names are similarly contorted: San Antonio becomes Sand-and-Stony-o; the country to the south of Bedrock's land is called Mexirock; and so forth.) Lifts are raised and lowered by ropes around brontosaurs' necks; "automatic" windows are powered by monkeys that dwell on the outside windowsill; birds configured as "car horns" are activated by pulling on their tails. An electric razor is depicted as a clam shell housing a honey-bee vibrating it as the edges are rubbed against the character's face.

Being set in the Stone Age allowed for various gags and puns that involved rocks in one way or another, including the names of the various characters being "rock" puns. These included celebrities of the 1960s such as "Cary Granite" (Cary Grant), "Stony Curtis" (Tony Curtis), "Ed Sulleystone" (Ed Sullivan)", "Rock Hudstone" (Rock Hudson), and "Ann-Margrock" (Ann-Margret). Other celebrity/puns on The Flintstones were "Alvin Brickrock" (Alfred Hitchcock); "Perry Masonary" (Perry Mason); and a new neighbor lady "Sam" (Samantha of Bewitched).[1]

[edit] Closing credits

In the show's closing credits, Fred tries to put the "cat" (actually a saber-tooth tiger) out for the night. The cat jumps back into the house through the window, opens the back door, and deposits Fred on the doorstep. Fred winds up getting locked out and yelling for his wife to come open the door: "Wilma! Come on, Wilma, open this door! Willllll-ma!" By the time the theme song "Meet the Flintstones"[2] was used,[clarify] Fred cut the yelling to: "Willllll-ma!" (This gag was mentioned in the lyrics of the "Flintstones" theme song used for the closing credits. "Someday/Maybe Fred will win the fight/Then that/Cat will stay out for the night.")

Although the cat, Baby Puss, was seen in the closing credits of every episode, it was rarely actually seen in any of the storylines. This running gag of having the lead character of the series ending up being helpless during the end credits in every episode due to the hijinks of a family pet would later be repeated by Hanna-Barbera in the series The Jetsons in which George Jetson ends up being caught on a treadmill that ends up spinning out of control. He also (as does Fred in this series) cries out for his wife, by asking her to stop the mechanism with the line, "Jane! Stop this crazy thing!"

On an extra note, it seems that the titles seen on Boomerang are reissues (versions of titles that are used when the sponsor no longer has the program). On a website, there are titles that are different than what people see every day. On these ending credits, the show has one final commercial where the announcer states: "'The Flintstones' has been brought to you by Winston, America's best tasting, fast working cigarette", and Fred recites the jingle. Then the sequence of everyone going to sleep occurs, with a sign with "Winston" flashes on and off outside of Bedrock. Then after Fred says "Wilma! Come on, Wilma, open this door! Willlllll-ma!", there is applause and then for its final title card it says "This has been an ABC Television Network presentation".

[edit] The characters

[edit] The Flintstones

[edit] The Rubbles

  • Barney Rubble - Fred's best friend and next door neighbor
  • Betty Rubble (née Elizabeth Jean McBricker) - Barney's wife.
  • Bamm-Bamm Rubble - the Rubbles' abnormally strong adopted son.
  • Hoppy - The Rubbles' pet Hopparoo (a kangaroo/dinosaur combination creature)

[edit] Other characters

  • Mr. Slate - Fred Flintstone's hot tempered boss at the stone quarry.
  • Joe Rockhead - a friend of Fred's.
  • Arnold - the paper boy.
  • Sam Slagheap - the Grand Poobah of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes.
  • The Great Gazoo - an alien exiled to Earth who helps Fred and Barney, often against their will.
  • The Gruesomes - the Flintstone's strange next-door neighbors (inspired by the then-popular monster sitcoms The Addams Family and The Munsters)
  • Zeke Flintstone-Fred's uncle that owned San Cemente (a pun on the California town, San Clemente, that was the site of Richard Nixon's "Western White House."

[edit] Opening teasers

Each episode of The Flintstones opened with a short scene, lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes prior to the main titles. During the first three seasons, this was footage that took place later in the episode, usually from somewhere in the middle. Serving as a preview, the opening teaser did not clue viewers in on the actual plot.

Beginning with the fourth season, the majority of opening teasers were scenes specifically written to open the episode (examples include "Ann Margrock Presents," "Sleep On Sweet Fred"). This change was not consistent, as a handful of episodes still previewed footage that would be seen later in the episode ("Glue For Two" and "10 Little Flintstones"), while on five occasions, this "preview" footage was never seen during the remainder of the episode at all ("Daddy's Anonymous," "Peek A Boo Camera," "Once Upon A Coward," "Fred El Terrifico" and "'The Hatrocks," a.k.a. "Bedrock Hillbillies".

[edit] Voice cast


[edit] Broadcast history

USA

Canada

UK

Australia

India

Israel

Middle East

It has been noted[who?] that Fred Flintstone physically resembled voice actor Alan Reed, and also Jackie Gleason. The voice of Barney was provided by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc, though five episodes during the second season 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.

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 that Art Carney voice was used was for a few seconds in "The Prowler" (the 3rd episode produced!). In a 1980s Playboy interview, Jackie Gleason said that Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies, and that he (Gleason) considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners but decided to let it pass.[verification needed]

Henry Corden handled the voice responsibilities of Fred after Reed's death in 1977. Corden had previously provided Fred's singing voice in The Man Called Flintstone and later on Flintstones' children's records. After 1999, Jeff Bergman performed the voice of Fred. Since Mel Blanc's death in 1989, Barney has been voiced by both Frank Welker and Bergman. Various additional character voices were created by Hal Smith, Allan Melvin, Janet Waldo, Daws Butler, Howard Morris, among others.

[edit] Production history

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. 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, Hanna-Barbera settled upon The Flintstones. Aside from the animation and fantasy setting, the show's scripts and format are typical of a 1950s American situation comedy, with the usual family issues resolved with a laugh at the end of each episode.

Although most Flintstones episodes are standalone 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, in which Wilma reveals her pregnancy to Fred, the arc continued through the trials and tribulations leading up to Pebbles' birth, and then continued with several episodes showing Fred and Wilma adjusting to the world of parenthood.

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, 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 Daddy's Annonymous (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).

Fred and Wilma advertising Winston Cigarettes.
Fred and Wilma advertising Winston Cigarettes.

The series was initially aimed at adult audiences; the first season was sponsored by Winston cigarettes and the characters appeared in several black and white television commercials for Winston.

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.[3]

The show also 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 shows 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.

[edit] Films and subsequent TV series

Following the show's cancellation in 1966, a theatrical film based upon the series was released. The Man Called Flintstone was a musical spy caper that parodied James Bond and other secret agents. The movie was released on DVD in Canada in March 2005 but not in the United States.

The show was revived in the 1970s with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm having grown into teenagers, and several different series and made-for-TV movies — 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 comic strip character The Shmoo — have appeared over the years. The original show also was adapted into a hit live-action film in 1994, which was so popular that a prequel The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, followed in 2000.

[edit] Music

Ann-Margret as "Ann Margrock" was one of many famous names who lent their likenesses and voices to the series.
Ann-Margret as "Ann Margrock" was one of many famous names who lent their likenesses and voices to the series.

The Flintstones was one of the more musical animated TV series, with many episodes featuring original, slightly rewritten, or actual popular recordings of the day, performed either by Fred, Barney, or a special guest star. In the first season Fred knew how to sing. One of the first song performances in the series was the old spiritual "When the Saints Go Marching In" performed by Fred in the first season episode "Hot Lips Hannigan" in a vocal style strongly reminiscent of jazz crooner Mel Tormé. A later episode, in which Fred takes on the persona of teen idol "Hye Fye" sees him performing "Listen to the Rockin' Bird" — a rewrite of the standard "Listen to the Mockingbird". Again, Fred's voice sounds so much like Tormé's that it was speculated the singer provided the voice, although it is actually Reed singing these two songs. Also in the first season while Alan mostly created Fred's speaking voice in an unnaturally loud tone, on occasion he used his natural tone to voice Fred (episode 5 "Split Personality" for example).

In the second season, Fred was stripped of his singing ability (in the season premiere for Season 2 "Hit Song Writers" Fred could not carry a tune when he attempted to sing "Stardust"). Fred was from then on depicted as being tone deaf, but a couple times sang a few tunes that had limited vocal range. Alan Reed himself sang several tunes in his loud tone in the coming years, including "Christmas is My Favourite Time of Year" and "Dino the Dinosaur" in the series' often-replayed Christmas episode. Mel Blanc also performed a few vocals, including a version of "Old Folks at Home", while Jean Vander Pyl and Bea Benaderet sang two versions of "The Car Hop Song," one performing as a pair of young girls auditioning for a job with Fred and Barney's new hamburger stand, and a second version in character as Wilma and Betty. The song bears a strong resemblance, both in the tune and in the subject matter, to the much-later "Be Our Guest" from Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

An unusual musical moment came in the season 3 episode "Swedish Visitors" when the song "Wilma" composed and performed by Swedish pop singer Owe Thörnqvist appeared. Thörnqvist had released the song in 1963 in Sweden and had been inspired by the show, which appeared on Swedish television. Someone at the Hanna-Barbera studio had heard the song and the studio threatened legal action; Thörnqvist personally spoke to Hanna and Barbera and got a settlement which allowed for the use of the song on one episode. Thörnqvist did not receive a credit for the song on the program, however.

Many of the original songs in the series were composed by Hoyt Curtin, who also did most of the background music for the show (as well as Ted Nichols).

Many musical moments were provided by celebrity voice artists who lent both their vocal talents and their likenesses to characters. Hoagy Carmichael was the one of the first, introducing the original song "Yabba Dabba Doo!" in the second season premiere episode, "The Hit Songwriters" (in the same episode, Fred - on one of his tone deaf days - mangles Carmichael's "Stardust"). Ann-Margret, appearing in a fourth season episode as "Ann-Margrock", performed her single "I Ain't Goin' to Be Your Fool No More" and the lullaby "The Littlest Lamb". James Darren, appearing as "Jimmy Darrock" performed "The Surfin' Craze", while The Beau Brummels (as "The Beau Brummelstones") performed "Laugh Laugh", a real-life hit for the group. In the final season, space-rockers, The Wayouts appeared.

One of the most fondly remembered songs of the series was "The Bedrock Twitch", performed by staff voice actor Daws Butler and later performed in the first live-action Flintstones film by The B-52s (who renamed themselves the BC-52s for the occasion); presented as a parody of "The Twist" in the original TV series, the lyrics actually make reference to the then-current dance craze, and also include a reference to the rock and roll standard, "Rock Around the Clock". One song written for the series became a standard and not always identified as originating with the Flintstones — the seemingly endless sing-along "Happy Anniversary" which is often performed at anniversary parties. The spiritual "Open Up Your Heart (and Let the Sunshine In)", adopted as the series closing theme during the final season, as popularized by the series although it did not originate on the show. The aforementioned "Littlest Lamb" also became a popular lullaby.

During 1961, the cast members recorded an album of songs, in character, aimed at children. One of these songs, "Meet the Flintstones", was later adopted as the series' theme song beginning with the third season. Hanna Barbera's own record label, Hanna-Barbera Records also released several other Flintstones-related recordings, including the five-song EP, Wilma Flintstone in Songs from Bambi (CS 7041), an unusual crossover between Hanna-Barbera and Disney.

In 1994, Rhino Records released The Flintstones: Modern Stone Age Melodies, an album containing a number of musical selections taken from the series.[4] Missing from the collection are the two Ann-Margret songs, which have been released on the Bear Family Records label of Germany.

[edit] Theme song

The famous theme song "Meet the Flintstones" was not actually introduced until the third season (1962–1963), although early versions of the melody can be heard as background music in many episodes. (The famous "Meet the Flintstones" theme, in a much longer form, first appeared on a Flintstones record released in the early 1960s). The theme used for the first and second seasons, an instrumental called "Rise and Shine", was removed from all first and second season episodes in syndication from the 1960s through the early 1990s and replaced with the "Meet the Flintstones" opening, while a closing credits sequence taken from a later episode was substituted at the end.

New syndicated versions of the episodes in the 1990s restored the original first season credits and theme, albeit with cigarette and other advertising matter omitted. According to information provided on the DVD release of the second season, this decision was made because at the time syndicated programs were often aired out of their original broadcast order, and it was felt having the show jump between the different opening credits sequences would confuse audiences. Nonetheless, a number of later Flintstones episodes in syndication used an alternate version of the closing credits in which Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are shown singing "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In".[5]

The first season of the original series, with the original opening credits, as well as "Rise and Shine" restored but not the cigarette ads, was released on DVD in March 2003; Season 2 was released in December 2004; season three in March 2005; Season four in November 2005; season five in March 2006; and season six, the final season, in September 2006.

[edit] Flintstones series and spin-offs

[edit] Television series

[edit] Theatrical animated feature

[edit] Television specials

[edit] Television movies

[edit] Live action films

[edit] Other media

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

This American Life Radio Play about Barney running over Dino in Fred's driveway http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1222

[edit] Popular culture

In the 1960s 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!"[6] In 1963, Winston pulled their sponsorship from the show when Wilma became pregnant;[citation needed] after that point, the main sponsor was Welch's Grape Juice. This is probably because of a shift from adult to family audiences.

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.

The series spawned three breakfast cereals: Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles, and the discontinued Dino Pebbles (later revived as "Marshmallow Mania Pebbles").

An enduring license has been a line of children's multivitamins called "Flintstones Complete" (more popularly known as Flintstones Vitamins); the first seasons of the series were, in part, sponsored by Miles Laboratories.[7] Miles' corporate successor, Bayer Corporation, continues to market Flintstones vitamins.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Barbera, Joseph R. (Executive Producer/Writer), Montgomery, Elizabeth (Samantha Stephens), York, Dick (Darrin Stephens), Corden, Henry (Fred Flintstone), Vander Pyl, Jean (Wilma Flintstone), Blanc, Mel (Barney Rubble), and Johnson, Gerry (Betty Rubble)Gaye Autterson (Betty ). (2006 (Original Air Date: )). The Flintstones – "Samantha" (DVD) [Television series]. USA: Warner Home Video.
  2. ^ The Flintstones FAQ
  3. ^ http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/marykay.htm
  4. ^ http://www.filmmusic.com/soundtracks/database/?id=864
  5. ^ Broadcasts of The Flintstones episodes from season 5 and 6 in the 1970s and 1980s.
  6. ^ Video of the commercial on YouTube
  7. ^ Advertisements for the product are included in the DVD release for season 1.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Flintstones
Characters
Television shows
Television specials
Television films
Theatical films
Other media