# Observations on the Flintstones **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 29, 1999, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321 "1999-08-29T11:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 1999, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/1 "1999-08-29T11:30:00Z")
1. Betty is the most evolved. She has a waist, a neck and whites in her eyes. Fred has whites but no neck or waist, Wilma has no whites but a waist and a neck. Barney has none so he is the most “Neanderthal” of the group 2. I hate it when the Flintstones get disproportional to each other. The Ann Margrock episode was the worst. Often Pebbles is 3/4 the size of Fred. 3. Barney seems he would be better in bed than Fred so why did he adopt? 4. The Flintstones have churches and Fred prays so they have some sort of religion. 5. Wilma’s mother has been married twice but in the series is single. What happened to her husbands. Either that or she was married once and Wilma was illegitmate. Wilma’s maiden name is Pebble. Her mother is Slaghoople (sp??) 6. After Gazoo was introduced the series became too unrealistic. 7. Bea Benaderet (sp?) was the only good voice of Betty. 8. I have way too much time on my hands. ---
**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 1999, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/2 "1999-08-29T13:33:00Z")
Fred Flintstone was the greatest pool player on earth. Ever seen his “follow the leader” shot? * * * One beer is less than two beers. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 1999, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/3 "1999-08-29T15:01:00Z")
Wait…a cartoon about people who live alongside dinosaurs, and have TVs but not photographic cameras didn’t get too unrealistic until the alien genie showed up? * * * ‘They couldn’t hit an Elephant from this dist…!’ Last words of General John Sedgwick ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/4 "1999-08-30T03:40:00Z")
I don’t remember the follow the leader shot. What was that? ---
**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/5 "1999-08-30T12:03:00Z")
The “follow the leader” shot was when Fred hits a group of balls, and they all line up and loop around (sort of like a centipede) and follow each other into a pocket. I think he was showing it to his mother-in-law. * * * One beer is less than two beers. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/6 "1999-08-30T12:44:00Z")
Bea Benederet is correct; she died in 1968 of lung cancer. She also played Kate on “Petticoat Junction”, if you’re curious what she looked liked. Let’s fill out the list: Alan Reed–Fred Flintstone Jean vander Pyl–Wilma Mel Blanc–Barney Rubble and about 1000 other voices. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/7 "1999-08-30T16:08:00Z")
I dunno I’d have to say Fred’s bowling skills are pretty much the best I have ever seen. Hell if REAL bowlers played like that I’d watch it on TV. * * * To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Shadowfox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfox)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/8 "1999-08-30T16:25:00Z")
My question always has been…What does Barney do for a living? In a couple of episodes, it appears as though he works with Fred at the quarry, but in other episodes it shows Fred dropping Barney off at his job before going to the quarry. I vaguely remember an episode in which Betty stated that he was a secret agent, but I assumed she was joking. Shadowfox ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/9 "1999-08-30T16:53:00Z")
Wait a minute–Mary Jane Croft, who just died last weelk, was listed in her obits as the voice of Betty Rubble! Most of us know her from Lucy’s various shows, where she played Carolyn Appleby and some other neighbor in the later shows. Gee, another “three deaths,” this time in sitcoms: Sandra Gould (Bewitched’s Gladys Kravitz No. 2) and Ross Elliott, who played several notable roles on I Love Lucy! ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/10 "1999-08-30T16:58:00Z")
She was Betty Ramsey on “I Love Lucy”, but the IMDB doesn’t show her as supplying the voice of Betty Rubble. Perhaps it was a typo in the obit. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/11 "1999-08-30T19:29:00Z")
I notice that the Flintstones are very similar to the Jeffersons–except that, like Archie and Edith Bunker, they have a daughter. Fred is loud and blustery, like George (or Archie): he is, however, almost never a match for his level-headed wife Wilma–who must see something in Fred we viewers could never see, like Louise Jefferson did in George. (What Edith saw in Archie is another story.) It’s clear, anyway, that although he must weigh 150 pounds more than Wilma, and has a louder voice, he is no match for her. So she is sort of a sounding-board for him–and they are quite compatible. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/12 "1999-08-30T20:05:00Z")
Actually, The Flintstones were loosely based on The Honeymooners. Didn’t Mary Jane Croft play both Betty Ramsey AND Carolyn Appleby on I Love Lucy? I can see her now, saying in that snippy way of hers, “Oh, Lucy, can Little Ricky come to Stevie’s birthday party?” ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 1999, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/13 "1999-08-30T21:35:00Z")
Yeah…for all his blustery nature Ralph would tell his wife, “Alice…you’re the greatest!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/14 "1999-08-31T01:25:00Z")
Shadowfox: > [@](#): > > My question always has been…What does Barney do for a living? From [www.answers.com.](http://www.answers.com.) : > [@](#): > > \*\*In the Flintstones, where did Barney go to work after Fred dropped him off? > > Barney originally worked for the Pebble Rock and Gravel Company. When he was laid off Fred got him a job with his company, the Slaterock Gravel Company (but also seen as the Rockhead Quarry Construction Company, the Bedrock Quarry Gravel Company, the Bedrock Gravel Company, and the Rockhead and Quarry Cove Construction Company).\*\* Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/15 "1999-08-31T03:09:00Z")
You can also take a look at [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_398a.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_398a.html) **In “The Flintstones,” what was Barney Rubble’s job?** ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/16 "1999-08-31T03:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Actually, The Flintstones were loosely based on The Honeymooners. You know, when I was a wee little one, I remember watching an episode of the Honeymooners where Ralph gets a job as Superintendent of the building and has to live in the basement with Alice. The next day on the Flintstones, Fred got a job as super for some joint and had to live in the basement with Alic-- erm… Wilma. I felt really cheated. Come to think of it, not long after I saw an episode of M_A_S\*H where Col. Potter complains about his hemmeroids not knowing the PA system is on and the next day in the old comic ‘Boner’s Ark’, the Cpt. complains that he’s sea sick without knowing the PA system is on. Not realizing the lag time between making a comic strip and it appearing in the paper, I thought the artist was a real rip-off. * * * “I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/17 "1999-08-31T04:51:00Z")
Doris Singleton played Lillian Appleby. (Later renamed Carolyn Appleby) She aslo was Chip’s Mother in Law on My Three Sons. So sad to hear about Mary Jane Croft. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/18 "1999-08-31T16:36:00Z")
Re: the Bea Benadaret/Mary Jane Croft issue – Betty Rubble was voiced by more than one person. I can place one version of Betty as definitely Bea. Perhaps the other was Mary Jane. Now here’s one for you. Was the Great Gazoo based upon the character created by Frank Nelson? * * * “Owls will deafen us with their incessant hooting!” W. Smithers ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/19 "1999-08-31T16:48:00Z")
Oh, I LOVE Frank Nelson! “EEeeyesss?” Even The Simpsons recently did a parody of him, as a headwaiter. One of the great unsung character comics! I recently saw a rerun of The Jack Benny Show, with Frank as a floorwalker. Jack pointed to the rose in his lapel and said, “excuse me, do you work here?” and Frank anwered (in that VOICE of his," Nooo–I’m a float at the Rose Bowl Parade!" ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321/20 "1999-08-31T18:03:00Z")
Flora, I just **knew** you would recognize Frank Nelson. YYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!! check this out: [www.uptonogood.com](http://www.uptonogood.com) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-on-the-flintstones/7321.md?page=2)