The Flintstones!

It’s not often that a cartoon series transcends the time it originally aired to become a “cultural” icon.

Rare, but that’s the case with “The Flinstones”, which made its debut on this date 50 YEARS ago! Yes, five decades of Fred and Barney and Wilma, Betty and the gang!

On September 30, 1960, the TV executives at ABC made a calculated bet. In essence, they decided that an animated show would work in PRIME TIME—a first. The formula was to rip off the most popular show on television at the time—“The Honeymooners”—and toss in enough stone-age puns to keep adults and kids laughing.

Needless to say, it worked.

Hanna-Barbera Productions realized the setting of Bedrock and the caveman era lent itself to the abundance of rock puns that were riddled throughout each episode. Hollywood became “Hollyrock” and celebrities of the day were parodied as well—Cary Grant became “Cary Granite” and so forth—with the stars themselves often providing the voice of their cartoon counterpart!

Check out this CIGARETTE commercial starring The Flintstones! Times were certainly different back then:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZvHiiWFbBU


Wow.

The voice of Fred Flintstone was provided by actor Alan Reed, who physically resembled Fred—and for that matter Jackie Gleason. In a 1966 Playboy interview, Gleason said that Reed had once done voiceovers for him in some of his early movies. He went on to state that he (Gleason) considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying “The Honeymooners”, but was persuaded not to. Gleason’s lawyers said that he could probably get “The Flintstones” pulled off the air, but wondered if he “wanted to be the guy who took away a show that so many children—and adults loved?”

He decided not to go to court.

The voice of Barney Rubble was provided by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc during 5 early episodes. He was replaced by Daws Butler for a time while Blanc was recovering from a near-fatal car accident. Mel Blanc returned sooner than expected, recording the parts from his bed—and the pitch of his voice lowered considerably after the accident---now resembling the Ed Norton character from…you guessed it-- “The Honeymooners”!

“The Flintstones” was on the air until 1966, but since has become rebroadcast in reruns, on video and DVD and was remade into a full length motion picture.

Visit Google’s home page today and you’ll see their tribute to a show that is truly timeless. Just about everyone can sing the theme song—and virtually everyone has loved that “modern stone-age family”----for a half a century.

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