Fred Flintstone

Fred Flintstone is the main character of the animated sitcom The Flintstones, which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966.[15] Fred is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintstone. His best friend is his next door neighbor, Barney, who has a wife named Betty and an adopted son, named Bamm-Bamm.[16]

Fred Flintstone
The Flintstones character
First appearanceThe Flintstones:
"The Flagstones" (pilot) (as Fred Flagstone)
1959
"The Flintstone Flyer" (1.01) (as Fred Flintstone)
September 30, 1960
Created byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Portrayed byJohn Goodman (1994 film)
Alan Blumenfeld (look-alike, 1994 film)
Mark Addy (2000 film)
Voiced byDaws Butler (pilot, 1959, 1973)[1]
Alan Reed (1960–1977)
Henry Corden (1965–2000)[2]
Lennie Weinrib/Scott Menville (The Flintstone Kids)
Jeff Bergman (2000–present)
Scott Innes (Toshiba commercial)
Maurice LaMarche (Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law)
James Arnold Taylor (2005–11, 2016)
Stephen Stanton/Dave Coulier (Robot Chicken)
Fred Tatasciore (MAD)
AppearanceCaveman, orange shirt, blue tie, black hair, barefoot
In-universe information
AliasFrederick J. Flintstone
Fred W. Flintstone
Muscles Flintstone
"Twinkletoes" (his bowling alley nickname)
SpeciesCaveman
GenderMale
OccupationCrane operator
Police officer[3]
FamilyEd "Pops" Flintstone (father)[4]
Eithne "Edna" Flintstone (mother)[4]
Rockbottom K. "Rocky"/Stony Flintstone (paternal grandfather)[5][6]
Granny Flintstone (paternal grandmother)
Jed Flintstone (great-grandfather)[7]
James Hardrock (maternal grandfather)
Lucille Fangstone-Hardrock (maternal grandmother)
Tex Hardrock (uncle)[8]
Jemina (aunt)
Giggles Flintstone (uncle)[9]
Hatrock (uncle)[10]
Zeke Flintstone (great-great-uncle)[7]
Davy Crockery (maternal great-grandfather)[11]
Tumbleweed (cousin)[12]
Mary Lou Jim (cousin)[12]
Pearl Slaghoople (mother-in-law)
Ricky Slaghoople (father-in-law)[4]
Bamm-Bamm Rubble (godson/son-in-law)
Roxy Rubble (granddaughter)[13]
Chip Rubble (grandson)[13]
SpouseWilma Flintstone (wife)
ChildrenPebbles Flintstone (daughter)
Stony Flintstone (adopted son)[14]

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. Fred's trademark catchphrase yell is "yabba dabba doo!", a phrase that was originally his club's cheer, and later adopted as part of the theme song from the third season on and used in the 1994 live-action Flintstones movie.

Since the original series' run, Fred has appeared in various other cartoon spinoffs, live action adaptations, music videos, and commercials.

Biography

While the mid-1980s spin-off series The Flintstone Kids depicts Fred as a child, the series may be apocryphal due to its presenting Wilma as a childhood friend of Fred and Barney; the original series asserts that they first met as young adults.[17] Still, the series' depiction of Fred as the only child of Ed (a handyman) and Edna (homemaker) Flintstone might be canon. (Pops Flintstone was in a comic strip.)[18]

As young adults, Fred and Barney worked as bellhops at a resort. There, they meet and fall in love with Wilma and Betty, who were working there as cigarette girls. Fred met Wilma's mother, Pearl Slaghoople, and the two took an instant dislike to each other.[17] An unspecified amount of time later, Fred married Wilma.

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 earlier episodes). Fred's job title in the second-season episode "Divided We Sail" is "geological engineer".[19]

During the original series' third season, Wilma gives birth to the couple's daughter, Pebbles. Years later, when Pebbles is a teenager, Fred and Barney join the Bedrock police force for a time as part-time police officers.[3] Eventually, Fred becomes a grandfather to the adult Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's twins, Chip and Roxy. Fred's family grew again in A Flintstone Family Christmas, when he and Wilma adopted an orphaned caveboy named Stony, and despite a rough start, Fred and his new son bonded well.

Relatives

The Flintstone family's paternal side originally came from the prehistoric state of Arkanstone, where they had been engaged in a feud similar to the Hatfield-McCoy feud. The feud was originally started by an ancestor of Fred's making a joke about a Hatrock family portrait ("I don't know what the artist got for doing that painting, but he should've gotten life!"). In the fourth-season episode "Bedrock Hillbillies", the feud is ended when Fred helps rescue Pebbles and a Hatrock baby, only to start up again when Fred makes the same joke as his ancestor. The Hatrocks later appear in the follow-up fifth-season episode "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes", where they visit Bedrock. The last of the Arkanstone Flintstones was Fred's great-great-uncle Zeke Flintstone who lived to 102.

Other relatives of Fred include: Rockbottom "Rocky/Stony" Flintstone, Fred's grandfather, who was a veteran of Stone World War One;[6] Uncle Giggles Flintstone, a rich, eccentric practical joker whose jokes drive Fred into a mad rage;[9] James Hardrock, Edna's father; Uncle Tex Hardrock, Fred's rich Texan uncle;[8] Tumbleweed and Mary Lou Jim, Fred's rich Texan cousins.[12]

The Flintstones character was based on the character Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) from The Honeymooners

Personality

Fred's personality was based on those of early television's Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners and Chester A. Riley of The Life of Riley, as originally portrayed by Jackie Gleason. (William Bendix was Riley on radio, film, and later television.) 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. Also like Ralph, despite his harshness, he is friendly, and has a loving heart, who is very devoted to his family and cares a lot about his best friend and next door neighbor Barney Rubble. Fred loses his temper easily and is very impatient, but he seems free of malice and never holds a grudge. Although his loudness irritates the people around him, Fred proves friendly, often going out of his way to help others. Also, although Fred often annoys Wilma with his immaturity, he is known to go to great lengths to please his family and apologize when he goes too far. Other known characters from other programs may also be known to have personalities based on Fred Flintstone including Archie Bunker from All In The Family and Archie Bunker's Place (both played by Carroll OConnor), George Jefferson from The Jeffersons (played by Sherman Hemsley), Mel Sharples from Alice (played by Vic Tayback) and Frank DeFazio from Laverne & Shirley (played by Phil Foster).

Fred's interests include bowling, playing pool, golf, poker and lounging around the house. Fred has won championships with his bowling skills; in one episode, he goes so far as to take ballet lessons in order to improve his game.[20] The nickname of "Twinkletoes" stuck with him when Fred attended a local university and became eligible to play on their football team, and it became his call sign.[21] Fred is also an excellent golfer. Fred is a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos Lodge (named "the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs" in an early episode).[22] Fred also has a serious gambling problem; the mere mention of the word "bet" causes Fred to stammer "bet" over and over again (sounding like a clucking chicken) and go on gambling binges.[23] Fred is also an avid driver. In the fifth-season episode "Indianrockolis 500", Fred entered the famed prehistoric auto race under the pseudonym "Goggles Paisano".[24]

Fred's catchphrase is "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!"; Alan Reed, voice actor who provided Fred's voice from 1960–1977, reportedly said the inspiration for the phrase came from his mother, who used to say, "A little dab'll do ya," probably borrowed from a Brylcreem commercial. When the script called for a simple yahoo, Alan either asked if he could alter the phrase or he ad-libbed. It inspired, in the 1970s a short-lived fruit drink called "Yabba Dabba Dew" and may or may not have also inspired George Jetson's similar-sounding catchphrase, "Hooba-dooba-dooba" (or "Hooba-Dooba"). It does, however, become the subject of a song by Hoagy Carmichael which the singer-songwriter performs in one episode of The Flintstones.[25] Fred's ability to carry a tune was quite good in his younger years. One early episode[22] sees Fred (with Barney, who is a skilled drummer) perform at a nightclub with his musician friend "Hot Lips Hannigan" where his singing caused teenage girls to swoon over him; on this occasion, he was nicknamed the "Golden Smog". In another first-season 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 (even during his success as a singer, Wilma was never impressed by Fred's voice), eventually to the point that a temporary maid the Flintstones hired quit rather than having to hear Fred sing.[26]

Due to his impulsive and short-tempered behavior and stubborn and somewhat selfish nature, Fred seems to be accident-prone. Even his most innocent and mundane actions often cause widespread confusion. At the end of the closing credits, Fred begins to knock the door of his house and starts yelling "Wilma", to open the door.

According to the original series' third-season episode "The Birthday Party" (originally aired April 5, 1963), Fred's birthday is February 2. Fred's address has varied through the series' run, with addresses given for the Flintstone residence including 345 Cave Stone Road, and 1313 Cobblestone Way. Fred's address was cited as "55 Cobblestone Rd" in the 1961 episode "The X-Ray Story".

Animated media

Television shows

Films and specials

Video games

Appearances

Portrayal

In other media

Commercials

Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were pitchmen for Winston cigarettes, the show's sponsor at the time. In one 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 their favorite brand, Fred lit up and delivered the catch phrase: "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." A similar ad featured Wilma and Betty as well. By the original series' third season, Winston had been dropped in favor of Welch's.[34]

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See also

References
  1. Ehrbar, Greg (July 26, 2016). "Hanna-Barbera Characters Talk 'Safety'-on Records". Cartoon Research. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  2. Ehrbar, Greg (March 18, 2014). "Saving Mr. Flintstone". Cartoon Research. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  3. The Flintstone Comedy Show, 1980-1982, NBC
  4. The Flintstone Kids, 1986-1988, ABC
  5. "The Little Visitor / Grandpa for Loan", The Flintstone Kids, season 1
  6. "The Story of Rocky's Raiders", The Flintstones, season 6
  7. "Bedrock Hillbillies", The Flintstones, season 4
  8. "Baby Barney", The Flintstones, season 3
  9. "A Haunted House is Not a Home", The Flintstones, season 5
  10. "They Went That Away", The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, CBS
  11. "Deep in the Heart of Texarock", The Flintstones, season 5
  12. "Droop Along Flintstone", The Flintstones, season 2
  13. Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby, 1993, ABC
  14. A Flintstone Family Christmas, 1993, ABC
  15. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 333–344. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  16. The Flintstones The Museum of Broadcast Communications
  17. "Bachelor Daze", The Flintstones, season 4
  18. https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uixhK3mS6Yw/VwQXPSOzfBI/AAAAAAABj9A/ypZWn57gvkk750lJj5CtofFfQyRLU6Uag/s1600/Flintstones-1967-08-26.jpg
  19. "Divided We Sail". Retrieved 2019-12-08 – via www.imdb.com.
  20. "Bowling Ballet", The Flintstones, season 3
  21. "Flintstone of Prinstone", The Flintstones, season 2
  22. "Hot Lips Hannigan", The Flintstones, season 1
  23. "The Gambler", The Flintstones, season 2
  24. Video on YouTube
  25. In "The Hit Song Writers", The Flintstones, season 2
  26. "Wilma, the Maid", The Flintstones, season 3
  27. "Voice of Fred Flintstone, Henry Corden dies at 85". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2011-02-11. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
  28. Ehrbar, Greg (March 25, 2014). "The Day "Alice" Fell Through Her TV: The 1966 HB Special". Cartoon Research. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  29. Ehrbar, Greg (November 11, 2014). "The Flintstones' Meet The Orchestra Family (1968)". Cartoon Research. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  30. McLellan, Dennis (2005-05-21). "Henry Corden, 85; Played Film and TV Heavies, Was Voice of Fred Flintstone". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  31. "Day in the Life of a Voice-Actor: The Fred Flintstone Session". Retrieved 2019-12-08 – via www.youtube.com.
  32. Brennan, Judy (1994-04-24). "Will 'Flintstones' Bolster Goodman's Rocky Film Career?". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  33. Harrison, Eric (2000-04-28). "Meet the Young Flintstones in Livelier Prequel". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  34. "Did the Flintstones Do Commercials for Winston Cigarettes?". 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.

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