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Sunday 8 February 2015

The Flintstones

The Flintstones was broadcast from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, on ABC. It was the first thirty-minute cartoon to be aired during prime time.

The Flintstones was originally aimed at older viewers, airing at 8.30pm on Friday nights. In the early days it was sponsored by a cigarette company, so Fred, Barney and co could occasionally be seen relaxing with a smoke over the closing credits.

Fred and Wilma advertising Winston cigarettes during the closing credits. Wikipedia

After being involved in a near fatal car crash in 1961, voice-over artist Mel Blanc did the voice of the Flintstones character Barney Rubble while still in a body cast, flat on his back, from his hospital bed. The actors would crowd around his hospital bed to record lines while the producers used a built in speaker to direct. Around forty episodes were recorded in such a manner.

Belgian actor Jean -Claude Van Damme learned to speak English by watching the The Flintstones.

Wilma Flintstone’s maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble’s Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.

Jackie Gleason wanted to sue Hanna-Barbera due to The Flintstones' similarity to The Honeymooners.
He decided not to as he didn't want to upset fans of the show by having it taken off the air.

 When The Flintstones added the baby Pebbles in 1963, it was originally going to be a boy, until Ideal Toys pointed out that they would sell a lot more merchandise if they made the baby a girl, as baby boy dolls didn't sell well in that era. 

The six seasons that The Flintstones held the record for the longest-running prime-time animated TV series until the seventh season of The Simpsons in 1997.


Bedrock, Colorado's post office gets so much Flintstone fan mail that they have a "Return to Sender - Fictitious Cartoon Character" stamp.

During the 1980’s, drunken calls to Hanna-Barbera studios from Flintstones fans curious to know what Barney Rubble did for a living were so common that the security guard in charge of answering the phones at night would simply reply: "He worked in the quarry."

During the comic actress Tina Fey's childhood, her parents allowed her to watch Young Frankenstein, Saturday Night Live, Monty Python, Marx Brothers, and The Honeymooners, but she was not allowed to watch The Flintstones. That was because her father hated the show because it ripped off The Honeymooners.

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