Flintstones odds and ends

Going through all my files to prepare the Ed Benedict piece I kept coming across these little Flintstones related WTF's and cool curiosities --so I thought they might as well have their own post. I'll leave which is which up to you. Above is a flyer for the release of the 1997 Flintstones Laserdisk box set (Naturally I thought it appropriate to start with the "Flintstone Flyer" heh, heh...)

Not sure what the story is on these "Walk-Around" Costumes. The sculpts on the faces seem really decent...but the rest of the costumes have a "Little Rascals" feel to them.

These two are really googly. I can only imagine how hot costumes like that would be in the Arizona sunshine. Of course, Bedrock City only hires "little people" to wear these things and the legs are stilts. Hey, it might be true! (That would explain the massive varicose veinage on their legs, at least!)
Here's an odd 1970's ad for Eaton Truck Components penned by the one-and-only Carlo Vinci! Proportions might be a little skewy, but you can clearly see that Carlo sense of movement in every pose.


We picked this up at lunch when I worked at Designefx (I think at Denny's) in the early 1990's.
At the time (for some reason) we thought the scrambled answers were pretty damn funny.

In 1980, when I was in college we had an assignment to do-over a childrens book illustration with the style of a different famous artist (like Dr. Suess illustrated by Maurice Sendak). I chose the "Little Golden Book" of the Flintstones as envisioned by longtime Hunter Thompson cohort and visual scribe Ralph Steadman. I think I got a B-.


This 1960's "gift, prize or party favor" looks like it was designed by however painted the cartoon characters on the front of the local kindergarden in my hometown of Smyrna. I thought it was a mix-and-match kinda toy, but look at how "wacky" all the possible combinations get on the box...


The Flintstones 35th anniversary was marked with some of the coolest modern 'Stones merchandising ever. I still have some great shirts I bought (yep, had to buy 'em) at the Turner Store back then. Here's a Taco Bell bag adorned with cool retro designs by Craig Kellman.

...And here's the other side! Too bad Wilma doesn't look this cool on the same-era studio model sheets.

Eh...I thought for a minnit this was Dave Strandquest in a Halloween costume...but no, it's Weird Al in a 1995 Red Hot Chili Peppers takeoff with Flintstones related lyrics.

Pretty deluxe entrance for a stage play as the Stones taxi out on stage courtesy Pteradactyl airlines. (Though the guys walking around in street clothes sorta kills the illusion.)

Fred's "Real" Cars

There are parks all over the world that feature Flintstones homes and vehicles. I'll finish up this post with a look at some of the different ways Fred's (and Barney's) Cars have been interpeted into reality. Here's one from the Bedrock town set up at the Grand Canyon.


Here's the Flint-Car from one of the ill-fated Flintstones movies (Looks like it might be in the shop with some front wheel trouble). Designed kinda long for my taste. My biggest complaint with ALL the cars in those films is that they move about as fast as earth-moving equiptment.


Here's Barney's car from the Grand Canyon exhibit as well...all nice and shiny.

This deluxe car show car "The Wilma" is more on-model than any of the movie-car versions. Be really cool if it actually worked (with a 500 dinosaur-power engine).


This last car from an amusement park in Bulgaria(?) might just be my favorite. Like Fred's Car in the original opening title sequence, It feels just primitive enough to be sorta believable. Actually though --judging by the condition of the "happy-fun slide" in the background --this might just be the park owner's car. (I'd love to see him going 80 on the freeway in this contraption!)
More cool stuff next week.