Fred Flintstone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fred Flintstone | |
|---|---|
| Created by | William Hanna & Joseph Barbera |
| Portrayed by | Alan Reed, Henry Corden, John Goodman, Mark Addy, Jeff Bergman, and James Arnold Taylor |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Frederick F. Flintstone |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 35 |
| Date of birth | February 2nd |
| Occupation | Crane Operator |
| Family | Ed Flintstone (father), Edna Flintstone (mother), Rocksy Rubble (granddaughter), Chip Rubble (grandson), Bamm-Bamm Rubble (son-in-law) |
| Spouse(s) | Wilma Flintstone |
| Children | Pebbles Flintstone |
Frederick J. "Fred" Flintstone (middle initials occasionally changed to F. and W.) is a fictional character who originated in the animated sitcom The Flintstones on ABC. He is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintstone. His best friends are his next door neighbors, Barney and Betty Rubble, who have a son named Bamm-Bamm.
Fred lives in the fictional prehistoric city of Bedrock, a world where dinosaurs coexist with modernized barefoot cavepeople and the cavepeople enjoy "primitive" versions of modern conveniences such as telephones, automobiles, and washing machines.
Fred has since appeared in various other cartoon spinoffs and commercials.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
Fred Flintstone's biography has changed significantly throughout the show and its subsequent spinoffs. He is the only son of Ed and Edna Flintstone. In the original series episode, "Love Letters On The Rocks", it is stated that Fred and Wilma attended Boulder High School together, where Fred was a baseball player. Fred asked Wilma out when he was sixteen by romancing her with a love letter. This is contradicted in a later episode, "Flintstone Of Prinstone", where it is revealed that Fred went to Rockyville High School, was a football player, and graduated in seven years instead of four. His first meeting with Wilma has also been retconned in "Bachelor Daze" where it shows them meeting as young adults during the summer.
In The Flintstone Kids Fred and Wilma's first meeting has been retconned all the way to their childhood, having them know each other as children and having attended Bedrock Elementary.
[edit] Family relations
- The Flintstone clan came from "Arkanstone" (Arkansas) where they had a long feud with the "Hatrocks." The feud ended when Fred saved both Pebbles and a Hatrock baby from drowning in the local river. However, at the celebration of the end of the feud, Fred makes the same comment about a portrait of a Hatrock matron that originally started the feud, ("I don't know what the artist got for painting that picture, but if you ask me, he shoulda got life!) which restarts the feud.
- His last Arkanstone relation was "Zeke Flintstone."
- He had a rich eccentric uncle, "Giggles Flintstone," whose practical jokes drive Fred into a maddening rage.
- He also had two Texas relatives-Uncle "Tex" and sister Aunt "Jamina".
- His birthday is February 2nd; it's mentioned when Barney mentions that it's Groundhog Day.
- Both the first and last episodes were about aviation. In the first, Barney invents a hand powered helicopter; in the last, one of Fred's relatives and his sidekick are still trying to bring down their Red Baron enemy-50 years after World War IV.
[edit] Personality and occupation
Fred's personality was based on that of Ralph Kramden of the 1950s television series The Honeymooners and Chester A. Riley from The Life of Riley. Thus, 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.
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 the earliest episodes).
Fred's interests include bowling, playing pool, poker, lounging around the house, and playing golf. At the first two of these, he is very skilled, as seen in one of the episodes where he plays against Wilma's unsuspecting mother. Also, Fred has won championships with his incredible bowling skills; in one episode, he goes so far as to take ballet lessons in order to improve his game which led to his nickname "Twinkletoes". Fred is also an excellent golfer. In one episode he wins the championship only to have Barney repossess the winning trophy cup because Fred is behind in his dues. Fred, like Barney, was also a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos Lodge and a member of the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs (clearly modeled after Freemasonry; Mel Blanc, the voice behind Barney, was himself a Mason). Fred also has a serious gambling problem; the mere mention of the word "bet" causes Fred to stammer "bet" over and over again and go on gambling binges.
Fred's catchphrase is "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!," which becomes the subject of a song by Hoagy Carmichael that the singer-songwriter performs in an episode of The Flintstones. Fred's ability to carry a tune was quite good in his younger years. In fact, in one of the earliest episodes, "The Girl's Night Out", he recorded a demo record at a fair of the song "Listen to the Mockingbird", which ended up making him a star; renamed "Hi Fye", he toured for two weeks with Wilma, Barney and Betty. As the series progressed, however, his voice became worse and worse, eventually to the point that his housekeeper quit rather than hear Fred sing. It was also referenced in the refrain of the George Jones song "The King is Gone."
[edit] In other media
- For many years Fred Flintstone (as well as other characters from the show) was used to advertise 'Amber', an Australian company that sold pavers and tiles. In some advertisement, a variant of Fred's catchphrase was changed to "Only Amber tiles will do".
- Fred Flintstone was the guest of honor at a celebrity roast for his birthday in the live-action and animated TV special Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue (1977) hosted by Roy Clark and Bonnie Franklin which featured the Ice Capades.
- Fred Flintstone appeared in the short movie trailer, Raging Fred, a redub of Flintstones clips with dialogue from the movie Raging Bull.
- Fred made a cameo appearance in the Family Guy episode "Dammit, Janet!", in which he is seen on a news report, along with Wilma, when the news reporter described Peter and Lois as "a fat man inexplicably married to an attractive redhead." Fred made another appearance in the episode "Patriot Games." He is seen having placed a bet with Stewie and stammering "Bet-bet-bet-bet!" in the same way he does in the Flintstones episode "Betting Freddy." Realizing that there's nothing funny about an addiction, he turns to the camera and tells the audience to "vote no on Indian gaming laws". In another episode, he is talking to Barney in the bar, "the cohog mens club," telling him that he saw Barney's wife, Betty naked. He explained that he saw her accidentily, and she saw him. She kept undressing. Barney replies, "Whoa, whoa, are you serious?!" Fred replies, "Yep. I got an "erocktion."
- Fred Flintstone appeared in the Johnny Bravo episode "A Page Right Out Of History," in which he saved Johnny's ancestor of the same name. Johnny did chores for Fred as a way of repaying Fred, who also made sure to keep Johnny well away from his now-teenaged daughter Pebbles.
- In 2003, Fred Flintstone came in at #42 on VH1's list of the 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. Some of Fred's animated peers also made the list including Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Spider-Man, Charlie Brown, Scooby Doo, Batman, Superman, and The Simpsons.
- Fred Flintstone appeared in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "The Dabba Don" voiced by Maurice LaMarche. He is suspected to be an organized crime boss. The episode is a parody of The Sopranos and The Godfather.
- Fred made a special guest appearance in the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episode, "Modern Primitives", in which Billy finds him frozen in ice and buried in his backyard. Upon being (accidentally) defrosted by Grim, Billy forces Fred to adapt to the modern world until he finally goes on a senseless rampage, referred to as "future shock" by Mandy. At the end of the episode, he is frozen again, this time due to sherbet ice cream. Billy also gets frozen (though this is not shown in the episode; Billy tells Fred about it in another future world), upon realizing that there was sherbet ice cream buried in his yard. This version of Fred behaves like a caveman and can only say "Yabba-Dabba-Doo," shortening it to "YABBA-DABBA!!!" when he got really mad. When Billy asks him his name, he replies with "Oh, Fred," but Billy misinterprets it, thinking Fred is talking in another language, and renames him "Jake Steel." Here, Fred Flintstone is voiced by James Arnold Taylor.
- Fred Flinstone appeared in the Robot Chicken episode "Easter Basket" voiced by Stephen Stanton. Fred & Barney brawl over a box of Fruity Pebbles. He gets killed by Barney, who then kills all the appliances in the house (and Dino). In "Yancy the Yo-Yo Boy," Fred (voiced by Dave Coulier) is driving his car when he skids to a stop. His feet are horribly mutilated & he says "should I go to a mechanic or the hospital?"
- English cricketer Andrew Flintoff has been nicknamed "Freddie Flintoff" because of a similarity between their surnames.
- In autumn 2005, Fred and Barney began appearing in Midas Muffler television commercials.
- Fred makes a cameo in the Dexter's Laboratory episode "Beard To Be Feared" in which he looks at Dexter's beard.
- Fred's catchphrase "Yabba dabba doo" is parodied in a The Far Side cartoon, in which two saber-toothed cats are walking away, having eaten a caveman. One says to the other, "You know, I've heard all sorts of sounds from those things, but 'Yabba dabba doo' was a new one to me."
- In the opening credits of an episode of The Simpsons, the standard joke in the title sequence with the couch has the Simpson family running to the couch, and being perplexed to see Fred and the Gang already there. In the episode Lady Bouvier's Lover, Mr. Burns mistakes Homer Simpson for Fred. Also in Marge vs. the Monorail the episode starts with a tribute song to The Flintstones as Homer heads home from work singing the theme song of The Flintstones but about himself crashing his car in a tree (which he ends up doing).
- Fred and Barney appear as burglars in an episode of The Powerpuff Girls.
- Fred appears in a 2007 GEICO Insurance commercial which spoofs the money-saving methods of a blue-collar working man and how he and wife, Wilma, were able to afford a necklace "with huge rocks."
- With Barney Rubble, Fred has been a pitchman for Post Cereals' Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles breakfast cereals. The commercials typically feature Barney trying to trick Fred out of his cereal, usually ending with Fred bellowing, "Barney, my Pebbles!" as Barney runs off with Fred's cereal - a notable exception being a Christmas-themed commercial in which Santa Claus reminds him that "'Tis the season for sharing, Fred," whereupon Fred then sheepishly shares his cereal with both Barney and Santa.
- During the first several seasons of The Flintstones series, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were pitchmen for Winston cigarettes, the show's sponsor at the time. In one Winston 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 the Winston brand cigarette, Fred lit up his cigarette and delivered the catch phrase: "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." Another similar ad for the cigarettes featured Wilma and Betty as well; the women were working hard mowing the lawn and beating dust out of a rug while Fred and Barney smoked behind the house. Vignettes also aired in which Fred lit Wilma's Winston cigarette, and the couple shared a smoke. Campaigns such as this contributed to cigarette advertising of all kinds being banned from television beginning in 1970.
- In the crossover film The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, Fred and Barney become spokesmen for Spacely Sprockets and Cogswell Cogs respectively.
- Fred was the spokesman for a Rhode Island bank until it went out of business in the 1980s-'90s. The bank, The Providence Institution for Savings, known as Old Stone Bank, featured Fred in its commercials, saying, "Yabba-Dabba-Doo! Love that Old Stone Bank!" The Bank was also one of the first to offer full service Automated Teller Machines (ATM) which were named "Ready Freddy" and included a picture of Fred until the Bank decided to terminate its contract with Hanna Barbera to use the likeness. The machines were so popular that people often referred to ATMs at other banks as "Ready Freddies."
- In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in the episode "The Baby Comes Out", Vivian is having her son delivered. When Uncle Phil and Will get to the hospital, Phil and Vivian call each other's names. To make the situation lighter, Will makes a Flintstones joke by yelling, "WILMA!!" in the same fashion of Fred when he gets locked out of the house in the opening credits.
- The Beastie Boys rap, "Like Fred Flintstone driving around with both feet", in the song "Shake Your Rump" off of the album Paul's Boutique.
- He is mentioned in rapper's Cam'ron song "Killa Cam".
- Fred and Barney once appeared as guest stars in Yogi's Space Race. Fred also appeared in some episodes of Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics.
[edit] Portrayal
- Alan Reed was the original voice artist of Fred until his death in 1977. Henry Corden, who had provided the singing voice for Reed (and Fred) in The Man Called Flintstone, took over until his death in 2005. Fred is currently voiced by James Arnold Taylor. In the first live-action film, The Flinstones, Fred was played by John Goodman. In the prequel film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, he was played by Mark Addy.
- When the series was broadcast in Spanish-speaking countries, Fred and Wilma's names became Pedro (Pedro, Peter in Spanish as being close to 'piedra' which means 'stone') and Vilma Picapiedra ('picapiedra' translating to something like 'stone chiseler' or 'stone hammerer'), and Barney and Betty Rubble became Pablo and Betty Mármol ('marble'), though in Portuguese (which is quite similar to Spanish), the names remained intact. The Spanish version featured Mexican actor Jorge "Tata" Arvizu doing the voice of Pedro Picapiedra, who frequently ad-libbed comments not traceable to the original English language script. Some critics (and a few Hanna-Barbera executives, Arvizu once claimed), found these ad-libbed comments funnier than those in the original English track. A classic example is an episode in which Fred suggests to Barney that two music-playing boarder youths who rented rooms at their respective houses be ejected from them "de una patada en la rabadilla" ("with a kick in their rumps"), a line not featured in the English script.
[edit] External links
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