31 Odd Things Fans Never Figured Out About "The Flintstones"

Fun Facts About The Flintstones - Gameday News
Athletes
Sports History
Search for:
Athletes
Sports History
About
Contact
Copyright
Privacy
Terms
baseball
basketball
football
hockey
soccer
Culture
Sports History
More
money
Tennis
Wrestling
Golf
performance
Yabba Dabba Doo! Rock-Solid Facts About The Flintstones
Trending |
4/27/26
Set during the Stone Age, The Flintstones follows the Flintstone family and their neighbors as they navigate through life during a much more primitive time. Originally airing from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, The Flintstones grew to become the most financially successful animated franchise for three decades. Produced by Hanna-Barbera, it was also the first animated series to ever be broadcast in a primetime slot. Now, take a look to see what made The Flintstones so successful and behind-the-scenes facts that even some of the show's biggest fans don't know.
Fred And Barney Were Originally Drawn To Look Like Real Cavemen
ABC via MovieStillsDb
One of The Flintstones' designers, Ed Benedict, originally drew the characters of Fred and Barney to look like true cave dwellers. He commented that they looked like "cave people wearing long beards, with scraggly, unkempt hair and in slightly distorted, hunched-over shapes."
However, producer Joesph Barbera didn't like the designs, which led Benedict to clean up their look. Over time, the costumes continued to be altered with Fred's the number of spots on his loincloth being changed from six to four. A necktie was added to Fred's look and Wilma gained a stone necklace.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mel Blanc Continued To Voice Barney After A Near-Death Car Accident
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC via MovieStillsDb
ADVERTISEMENT
The voice of Barney was done by Mel Blanc, otherwise known as "The Man of a Thousand Voices." However, in 1961, he was involved in a horrific head-on car crash that almost killed him and left him hospitalized for 70 days.
ADVERTISEMENT
Upon being released from the hospital to continue his recovery at home, he insisted to continue working from home. With wires all around his hospital bed and a speaker to talk to the producers, Blanc managed to record 40 episodes at his home while still recovering.
ADVERTISEMENT
Alan Reed Came Up With "Yabba Dabba Doo"
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC via MovieStillsDb
ADVERTISEMENT
Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone, came up with Fred's timeless catchphrase "Yabba Dabba Doo." He was experimenting with it during a recording session, and little did he know how iconic it would become. Supposedly, Reed's mother was known to say "A little dab'll do ya," which Reed adapted into his own.
ADVERTISEMENT
During the recording session, Reed asked producer Joe Barbera if he could change "yahoo" to "Yabba Dabba Doo." Barbera didn't have a problem with the change, and today it's one of the most recognizable character catchphrases in television history.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Voice Of Wilma Was Convinced That Fred And Wilma Really Loved Each Other
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC via MovieStillsDb
ADVERTISEMENT
The voice of Wilma Flintstone was done by Jean Vander Pyl, who worked in the role from the first episode up until her death in 1999. Although the couple in the show may have argued a fair amount, their characters did care about each other.
ADVERTISEMENT
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Pyl said that "I loved the bum [...] Sure, Fred was a yahoo and I got mad at him all the time. But we really loved each other. Our romance was one of the things that made us so popular. We were real."
ADVERTISEMENT
Alan Reed Influenced Fred Flintstone's Entire Design
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
ADVERTISEMENT
In addition to spontaneously coming up with Fred Flintstone's iconic catchphrase, voice actor Alan Reed was also an inspiration for many of the visual aspects of Fred's design.
ADVERTISEMENT
This wasn't necessarily because he told the animators how to draw him but rather because they based Fred's design off of Reed's facial features and build. If Hanna-Barbera had hired a different voice actor, Fred's design could have ended up completely unrecognizable from his now-famous look.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Flintstones Were Going To Be The Flagstones
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC via MovieStillsDb
ADVERTISEMENT
Before The Flinstones, Joe Barbera was thinking about calling the show The Gladstones or even The Flagstones. However, Barbera soon learned that there was already a comic strip in circulation with the same name. They went on to film a 90-second pilot episode in 1959 and although it didn't air, the name was officially changed to The Flintstones.
ADVERTISEMENT
It wasn't until 1993 that Cartoon Network found the original pilot in a storage warehouse in New York. Cartoon Network's head of programming claimed that "we sent out teams of researchers to look for it all over. It was like the search for the Holy Grail." It was aired in 1994.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fred And Wilma Were One Of The First Televised Couples To Sleep In The Same Bed
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC via MovieStillsDb
ADVERTISEMENT
Although today, couples can be seen sleeping in the same bed all over television and in films, it used to be taboo. Back then, the couples would sleep in the same room, although in separate beds on different sides of the room.
ADVERTISEMENT
Although Wilma and Fred may not have been the first couple to sleep together in the same bed on television, they were close, with the sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny being first. Yet, even if they weren't the first on television, they surely were the first animated couple to share a bed.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Show Wasn't Originally Supposed To Be Set During The Stone Age
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC via MovieStillsDb
ADVERTISEMENT
When Hanna-Barbera decided to make a primetime animated sitcom, they knew that they wanted to make the show about a family. However, they didn't always know that the show was going to be set during the Stone Age.
ADVERTISEMENT
The other ideas that the studio considered were a hillbilly family, a pilgrim family, a Native American family, and a Roman family. After The Flintstones became successful during the 1960s, Hanna-Barbera launched the show The Roman Holidays in 1972, about a family that was living in Rome in the year 63 CE.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jackie Gleason Almost Sued Hanna-Barbera
ADVERTISEMENT
Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
ADVERTISEMENT
If you've ever seen The Flintstones and The Honeymooners, you may notice that there are numerous similarities between the two shows. At one point, Jackie Gleason, the creator of the show The Honeymooners, told Playboy in an interview that he was ready to take legal action against Hanna-Barbera.
ADVERTISEMENT
Yet, he decided against it, because he didn't want to be known as the man who forced Fred Flintstone off of the air. On the other hand, Hanna-Barbera took the comparison as a compliment saying, "Well, if you compare Flintstones to Honeymooners , that's the biggest compliment you can give me."
ADVERTISEMENT
They Even Hired Writers From The Honeymooners
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC via MovieStillsDb
ADVERTISEMENT
To help write the scripts for The Flintstones, Hanna-Barbera hired experienced live-action writers from The Honeymooners to help spruce up the dialogue on the show. The writers that they hired were Herbert Finn and Sydney Zelinka.
ADVERTISEMENT
Barbera claimed that "I brought in a writer from the Honeymooners, [...] I paid him three thousand bucks and he was terrible." So, taking the writers from The Honeymooners backfired and the scripts turned out to be too wordy with not enough action for an animated series.
ADVERTISEMENT
Pebbles Was Going To Be A Baby Boy
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC via MovieStillsDb
ADVERTISEMENT
By Season 3 in 1962, the show-runners decided that Fred and Wilma should have a baby to spice up the show. Initially, they all agreed that the child should be a boy. However, their decision was changed by the Ideal Toy Company.
ADVERTISEMENT
The person in charge of Flintstones merchand…

Text scraped from the landing page for research purposes. © respective owners. This text is sourced from the advertiser's public landing page; for removal, contact dmca@luba.media.