FLINTSTONE Collectibles
With the now famous cry of “Yabba, Dabba Doo”, the Flintstones cartoon show took the airwaves in the fall of 1960 and has been a part of our culture ever since.
The delightful creation of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera was the first prime-time cartoon series to be made especially for television and it remained in that spot for a record six years.
In part, the show was simply an animated version of the Honeymooners TV series, but these characters were living in the Stone Age in a suburban community called Bedrock. It was an immediate success and In 1962 it became one of the first ABC prime-time shows to be regularly broadcast in colour.
The show's tremendous popularity plus the nature of its character resulted in a treasure trove of toys and other products during the 1960's and in the years that followed. For example, Fred, wife Wilma, neighbour Barney Rubble, children Bamm Bamm and Pebbles, and even house cat Sabertooth were all made into dolls early in the series' run.
One of the finest of the dolls came from Knickerbocker in 1960. The plush Fred doll had a vinyl and plastic head and was available in sizes of 15 to 18 inches.
"Since the Flintstones lasted on network television for a very long six years and has since been in what seems like perpetual syndication".
Kohner manufactured button puppets of most of the characters in the early 1960's, all were plastic jointed mechanical figures.
Dino the dinosaur became one of first in the family to be a bendable toy from Bendy, and a few years later included Wilma among their bendable figures.
One of the most collectible Flintstone dolls came from Ideal in the image of Bamm Bamm. The vinyl and plastic doll were posable and came in a leopard skin outfit complete with bone buttons. It came in various sizes as did Ideal's Baby Pebbles and Tiny Pebbles. Both were big sellers in 1963 and 1964.
In 1962 Fisher-Price issued the Fred Flintstone Xylophone complete with pivoting musical instrument and Fred himself playing. This pull toy of wood, metal and litho paper was licensed by Hanna-Barbera and was one of only two made by Fisher-Price exclusively for Sears and Roebuck.
Marx marketed a Flintstone Playset in 1961 complete with all the figures in the cast, stone age cars, animals and buildings. The following year Linemar, a Japanese-based subsidiary of Marx, produced the amazing battery toy, Fred and Dino. The toy was 21 inches overall, with a three inch Fred in a cloth outfit, and aboard the pink and blue animal Fred could complete eight mechanical actions.
Additionally Marx manufactured the Flintstone's Mechanical Shooting Gallery starting 1962. They also made a number of Flintstone friction cars in the years that followed, while Linemar, "the best by far" added the classic Mechanical Turnover Flintstone Tank in two different arrangements.
Other items from the early years of the TV smash were the Flintstone Pre-Historic Animal Rummy playing car from Ed-U-Card, the Flintstones Tile Square Puzzle from Roalex, the Bamm Bamm bubble pipe from Transograr and a Barney Rubble figure highlight in colourful plastic from Snapit.
Remco produced Flintstone Motorized Model Kits in the early 1960's. The plastic assembly kits came with small battery-operated electric motors which powered assembled models including the Car and Trailer, Paddy Wagon, and Yacht. Kohner sold ten different plastic Flintstone circus figures, Whitman Publishing provided both colouring books and paper dolls in the Flintstone theme, Empire had a Flintstone checkers game, and Arrow Houseware Products even produced a figural ash-tray.
There were also commercially-related products promoting the Flintstones in the 1960's. Purex soap containers, for example, were issued in the images of Fred and Barney and several colour cartoon scenes appeared on glass tumblers issued by Welch Inc. Several price guides now list an 18 × 22 Welch's Fruit Drinks and Flintstones store display poster from 1962 at $250. Likewise, TV guides including a 1961 issue with the cast on the cover and a 1964 issue with Fred on the cover also list in the $100 range.
Games relating to the prime-time TV show were abundant in that era. Transogram offered Dino the Dinosaur Game, Flintstone's Hoppy the Hopparoo, Bamm Bamm's Color Me Happy, and a bowling game which came with six plastic figures of Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, Dino and Baby Puss (pet tiger), among other games.
The first set of Flintstone trading cards, 36 in all, were issued by the Dynamic Company in 1962.
Later trading cards came from Wonder Bread, Mother's Cookies, and Cardz. Similarly cookie jars were issued almost from the beginning and continue to appear today. Flintstone character wristwatches also cover many years and range from Fred and Bamm Bamm by Prince Roable to Fred hirself by Armitron.
Products which appeared on the market in the 1970's included the Fred Flintstone flashlight, lithograph tin pin-back buttons, Flintstone Vitamin mugs with the image of Bamm Bamm, a Barney Rubble plastic bank, acrylic figures from Imperial, and an all plastic battery operated car made in Hong Kong.
The 1980's saw vinyl banks in the form of replica Post Cocoa Pebbles and Post Fruity Pebbles cereal boxes, and Dino action figures from Flintoys.
Over the years there have been thousands of toys and other products proudly bearing the Flintstone name from Fred Flintstone's battery-operated Bedrock Band and paper plates and cups for a birthday party, to boxes of chalk and table lamps. Much of that material is quite collectible today.
"The end results of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera's creations were far more than could be measured.
They created the laughter of a child and the fond memories of a grownup," concludes Carol Turpen the author of Baby Boomer Toys and Collectibles.
"Having grown up, looking back at Fred Flintstone one does not simply see a cartoon character but an old friend. Fred Flintstone represents all the good things of our childhood."
Marx Fred & Dino Battery Operated Toy $400 if mint and in the box $700
