If I ever have the privilege of writing a FLINTSTONES comic one day, this is the kind of joke I would do.. from BARNEY AND BETTY RUBBLE # 22 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: October, 1976).
Pushed around for being short, Barney decides to do something about it!
This great meta-exchange between Betty and Barney follows:
OH, HOW I LOVE THAT!
It's the kind of thing you could only do with The Flintstones!
For reasons none of us will ever know, the BARNEY AND BETTY RUBBLE title was far and away Charlton's best Flintstones-related title (they had several) in terms of story, art, and humor!
But why this, and not the "main FLINTSTONES title"? (Example below)
...VS. an ancillary title about "the neighbors"?
That's what makes Charlton so fascinating! They defied all common knowledge and practices... and "went their own way"! ...And we got some REALLY WEIRD and sometimes wonderful comics for it!
12 comments:
Joe, I think you are enjoying sort of a "Charlton Renaissance." After years of disparagement, you have discovered a Hanna-Barbera Charlton title that you actually "like." I am very pleased that you take so much delight in the "Barney and Betty Rubble" comic book.
This title has actually been my LEAST favorite of the Charlton Flintstones-related comics. I do not care for the artwork, which renders Barney as wider and more (vertically) scrunched up than usual. I also do not like the way Wilma and Betty are shown as being so much taller than either Fred or Barney, or the horizontal tilt that stretches their hair out in such a bizarre manner. I also did not like the frequent portrayal of Barney as a ladies' man, nor the implications of marital infidelity that seemed to abound in the handful of issues that I read.
However, that said, I am now viewing these issues in a different light, seeing them through your eyes and with your appreciation for the gags and the offbeat artwork. I am willing to revisit my earlier opinion and reconsider my attitude toward these comics. Yes, Joe, you have that much influence! I think I could "learn" to like these, knowing what I am now discovering.
But, let's face it--the whole Charlton-Flintstones deal seems to have been an experiment in trying how far the characters could be stretched from their usual mode into something bearing only a faint resemblance to the classic TV sitcom. When Marvel started publishing "The Flintstones," I noticed the difference right away.
Scarecrow:
I think it’s fair to say that I have done something of a turnaround on Charlton. You may call it a “Charlton Renaissance” if you wish, but there *has* been a slow but steady increase in my appreciation for the… er, “sometimes unusual” things that Charlton did, that is a clear and visible trend over the life of this humble Blog.
Bear in mind, though, that this turnaround is largely based on the quality of the later Hanna-Barbera issues (as opposed to the earlier ones, which are still inferior, if not outright BAD, by any standard), and my more recent exposure to other Charlton titles of a generally higher quality, such as their version of the Hanna-Barbera Abbott and Costello, Popeye (especially once the just-deceased Nick Cuti began writing it displaying some needed knowledge of Segar and Sagendorf), and Bullwinkle and Rocky by Paul Fung, Jr.
All of these titles, whether they preceded, followed, or concurrently ran with the early Charlton Hanna-Barbera titles, were vastly superior to them. Recall that those issues were full of Ray Dirgo’s earlier Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Jetsons, and Top Cat, Frank Johnson’s “Underdog-style Huckleberry Hound” and poorly translated (if they were even translated from rough-basic-English at all) foreign market stories. And the writing on the Charlton originals left a great deal to be desired as well!
I gave them the first year, and as many issues, to begin showing me *something* that even faintly resembled the late and definitely lamented Gold Key issues… but, they never did. I was gone before the 20-cent issues began.
A funny thing happened while I was away… Several things, actually… Unlike the terrible artists at Gold Key (Kay Wright, Bob Gregory), Ray Dirgo actually began to get better! His art improves significantly over the run of Charlton’s FLINTSTONES title! The writing either also improved, or I grew more tolerant of it in my old age… probably a combination of the two. Charlton also added other artists, each with their own unique style… Frank Roberge who drew in a “Gene Hazelton style”, Tony Di Preta who had a nice “retro-Flintstones-look” reminiscent of the show’s first season, and Fred Himes a master of detail and “squash-and-stretch”! And that sums up the reasons for my more recent “Charlton Renaissance”.
You can read an earlier post of mine on Fred Himes HERE!
In one of our VERY rare disagreements, I’m sorry to learn that you don’t much care for the work of Fred Himes. For what is worth, I think he was the best artist to work on Charlton’s stable of Flintstones titles.
Was he “perfect”? No! No Flintstones comic book artist ever was, other than Harvey Eisenberg. But Fred Himes was about as “entertaining” as Charlton art got – and for once I’m not using the term “Charlton art” as a lesser category. As the older post shows, there’s something I like about Himes’ “short and squat” Barney. I like the slight – but not unrecognizable - distortion. In an odd way, it sort of emphasized “what Barney is” in physical relation to the other characters in his world.
Another funny thing about comics, and books, TV, movies, animation, etc. is that, unless it comes out of the gate as the very best of its kind, be it Carl Barks’ Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, or “Casablanca”, there is always room for reassessment – with the passage of time and, if you’re fortunate, having more time to think about this stuff now than when you formed your earlier opinions. It can – and SHOULD – happen with everything. It’s certainly true of the “Thursday Night Film Group” that I’ve attended for the last seven years – and the more old comics I revisit (or newly acquire), the more it’s true there as well!
Ha! That reminds me of an episode of the original TV series, "The Rock Vegas Story": Fred and Barney are in an automat. As Fred is reading off the items available (all typical rock and stone puns, of course), he comes across 'Chicken Cacciatore' and says to the audience "How'd THAT get in there?"
JoeC:
Yes! The kind of thing the show would only have done in its earlier and funnier seasons! Love it!
And, while I’m on the subject of those “earlier and funnier seasons”, I should point out that, beyond the generality of the writing, another reason those seasons were funnier was because Bea Benaderet voiced Betty!
Consider the “Napoleon Bonaparte” joke that is the subject of this post. Bea Benaderet would have done it to perfection, while her successor (and we don’t need to go into the reasons why she was), Gerry Johnson, would have made it fall flat! Ms. Johnson simply wasn’t a “funny type”, and the character of Betty suffered for it by becoming a bland background character!
Go back and mentally read the joke in Bea Benaderet’s Betty voice, and you’ll "hear" a great gag become even better! …I did exactly that, when reading it the first time!
Oh I guarantee you that Bea is the only Betty voice I ever hear. I'm also a big fan of the old radio show The Great Gildersleeve and she was great there too. (In one episode she does an imitation of old Peavey the pharmacist that just kills!) These voice roles really allowed her to stretch her vocal abilities a lot more than say Petticoat Junction ever did.
Agreed… especially so in early Warner Bros. cartoons like “Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears” and, for me, she literally MADE “Little Red Riding Rabbit” her own! “…Tah HAVE! See!” And, that’s while performing with both Mel Blanc and Billy Bletcher! What a cast that one had!
But she was also great on Petticoat Junction and Burns and Allen, too! Oh, but when wasn’t she great?!
She was even great when I imagined her voice while reading a 1970s Charlton comic! THAT’S TALENT! To be great at something you didn’t even actually do! :-)
Oh, yes, Bea Benaderet was the definitive voice of Betty! As a child, not knowing her name, I recognized when Betty had a different voice. I don't think anybody else in my family noticed that Betty's voice had changed in those last two seasons. And there were no reruns yet, as the show was still in its first airing, so the "good voice" of Betty quickly became a memory. None of my friends noticed the change in Betty's voice, either. There also seems to be a subtle difference in the way she was rendered onscreen as well--I think it's the eyes, but I can't quite pinpoint it. Anyway, for years, I was the sole person in my circle who was aware that Betty's voice had altered and not for the better. When I finally got my hands on a 78 Little Golden Record of "Meet the Flintstones" sung by the original cast members (and alas, with part of the middle bridge section removed, which I only discovered years later when I heard the complete recording) I was delighted to hear the "real" Betty's voice singing/speaking "As long as he has a buck to lend." That confirmed what I had suspected--that the later voice of Betty was not the same as the earlier voice. I still puzzle over why I was the only one of my friends, family, and acquaintances who noticed?
It's also very telling that the handful of Flintstones episodes that focus on Betty--most notably "Old Lady Betty" and "Little Bamm-Bamm"--feature the voice of Bea Benaderet. The later Betty didn't seem to rate the star treatment. The character became less important to the series, including at least one last-season episode where Betty doesn't appear at all. So while "The Flintstones'" loss was "Petticoat Junction"'s gain, it's pretty evident there could only be one Bea Benaderet.
Scarecrow:
Without Bea Benaderet, Betty became (as I said) a bland background character. Or, as I’ve also said on occasion, a “Stepford Stone Wife”, devoid of all the entertaining character traits she once possessed.
One thing that got lost over the course of the series was that Wilma and Betty were the allied counterpoint to Fred and Barney, and that was very clear by their conversations and their own occasional scheming.
Once the change took place, Betty’s exchanges with Wilma were more about the kids and the pets, and saying goodbye to Barney as he headed off to work, or worrying when he was off on another misadventure with Fred. Funny thing is, that happens in “real-life” too. (…Okay, maybe less so on that “misadventure part”.) So maybe the series was deeper than we thought? …Naaaah!
And, for what it’s worth, I noticed the change immediately at around the same age as you. I guess certain people are just more attuned to these things than the unconcerned masses.
OK, so I should watch the episode "Old Lady Betty"? On your (plural) recommendation, I might shell out the two bucks! Or check to see whether my library system has Season 4. The plot summary sounds interesting....
Elaine:
Absolutely, you should. It was a rare (perhaps the only TRUE) Betty-centric episode, and Bea Benaderet gives a wonderful performance, dipping into her old Warner Bros. repertoire for a combination of the original voices for both Tweety and Sylvester’s Granny and Bugs Bunny’s Witch Hazel – before June Foray assumed both roles.
Another one worth watching (Asian stereotype warning aside) would be the first season episode “The Prowler” (a rare episode by this time to be…) written by Joe Barbera, and a sort-of expansion of the Pixie and Dixie cartoon “Judo Jack” (1958) that he wrote for the first season of The Huckleberry Hound Show.
You and Scarecrow just prompted me to watch "Old Lady Betty" again, before responding to your comment… and I noticed something odd in the credits. Bea Benaderet was (perhaps purposely, at this juncture) omitted from the voice credits! Alan Reed, Jean Van der Pyl, and Mel Blanc were there – as were H-B voicing stalwarts Allan Melvin and Doug Young … but no Bea Benaderet!
I suspect *something* was up even then!
I, too, have noticed that Bea Benaderet's name was dropped from the end credits of "The Flintstones" throughout Season 4. I have absolutely no idea of why this was done. So what follows is purely my own theory, not based on anything I have read on the topic. Season 4 of "The Flintstones" was broadcast in the 1963-64 season on ABC, the same season that "Petticoat Junction" debuted on CBS. The impression one got in those days--I'm not sure how much of it was true, or to what extent it was true--was that the rival networks were cutthroat competitors. It's very possible that the ABC execs did not want a headliner for a CBS show to get mentioned by name on their network. Conversely, the impetus could have come from CBS, not wanting one of their stars to be doubly promoted by their rivals. Or there could have been a contractual reason why the star (she was not merely a supporting player, but the lead character) of one series could not be simultaneously billed in a supporting role on another series on a different network. Anyway, I'm pretty sure her dismissal from "The Flintstones" had something to do with her leading role on "Petticoat." In interviews, Bea Benaderet said she could have gone on recording the Betty voice without its affecting her "Petticoat" schedule. It sounds like she herself did not know the exact reason she was dropped--either that, or for contractual reasons, she couldn't reveal it. Pure guesswork on my part--but logic of which I'm sure even Mr. Holmes would be proud. (No, wait--if I'm gonna name a detective, better make it Perry Gunnite. Yeah.)
Scarecrow:
Everything you suggest seems not only possible, but plausible… even very likely! One or more of these theories must be true. …More things we’ll never know, alas.
Oh, and stick with Sherlock Holmes. Perry Gunnite was a bit more… fallible.
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