Do you remember the cartoon The Flintstones? It is often played here at the Hotel Thompson. Bacon’s mom says it goes all the way back to her childhood way back in the 60’s. Gulps. That does tell Bacon’s moms age doesn’t it..ssshh we won’t tell her we said that. Well the roll of Fred Flintstone was based off the character Ralph Kramden from the Honeymooners. You know Ralph Kramden was played by Jackie Gleason. Fred Flintstone’s character makes sense now, right?
Do you remember Fred’s catchphrase? Yabba-Dabba-Doo! In the original script, it called for Fred to just say, “Yahoo”. Doesn’t have the same feel to it, does it? Alan Reed was doing the voice over for Fred Flintstone at the time. He said that his mother used to say, “A little dab’ll do ya”. It doesn’t say if Reed ad-libbed the phrase or asked to change it to the ever knowing, “Yabba-Dabba-Doo!”, but it stuck and as they say… the rest is history.
Do you remember the other close characters in the show? There was Wilma, Fred’s wife. Then there was the close neighbors – Barney and Betty Rubble. And let’s not forget the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos Lodge that Fred and Barney were members. What a fun show it was. I think I’m off now. I gotta go catch up on Pebbles and Bam-Bam.
Piglove 