We’re spared the “Pebbles and the Postman” sub-series, but Pebbly-Poo continues to appear at least twice a week in the dailies. No Betty. No Baby Puss. We get great-looking scary creatures (Oct.4 and 30), funny creatures (Oct. 16), a pregnancy gag (Oct. 7), a swearing gag (Oct. 26) another what-will-they-think-of-next punch line (Oct. 28), a wife-can’t-cook gag (Oct. 22), a gossipy woman stereotype (Oct. 30), Dino in love (Oct. 27) and a funny mole gag (Oct. 20). Fred seems to wear hats more in the comics (Oct. 6, 11, 13, 16, 18, 25, 28).
The “anniversary” comic from October 10th you see below is just terrific, from the letters that spell Anniversary in the opening panel, to Fred yelling (great lettering, too), to the swirling Fred/dinosaur panel (look at Fred’s varied expressions) to the corkscrew gag at the end. Other highlights are the hearts-in-the-eyes look Dino has in the October 24th comic (Fred is quite inventive) and the neat looking dinosaur in the October 31 comic. Again, click to enlarge.
October 3, 1965
October 10, 1965
October 17, 1965
October 24, 1965
October 31, 1965
We’ll at least have the Flintstones weekenders again for you in four weeks.
"We’re spared the “Pebbles and the Postman” sub-series."
ReplyDeleteNot quite. Look at the October 19 comic.
Thanks for finding these.
Here's the complete material of the Flintstones comic strip from October 1965, carried in the newspapers from the whole world via McNaught Syndicate, featuring the daily strips drawn by Gene Hazelton and the Sunday pages drawn by Gene Hazelton and Dick "Bick" Bickenbach.
ReplyDeleteThe Flintstones TV series was entering its 6th and final season. Airing in prime time when these strips were released were "The Return of Stony Curtis" (10/1), "Disorder in the Court" (10/8), "Circus Business" (10/15), "Samantha" (10/22), and "The Great Gazoo" (10/29).
ReplyDeleteThe season had begun in September with the infamous "No Biz Like Show Biz" (9/17) and "The House That Fred Built" (9/24).
Though there is no doubt the show was becoming less adult oriented and more kid-friendly, it still held onto some adult humor in these episodes (jury duty as a civic responsibility, idolization of movie stars, shaky business ventures, romantic evenings, conjugal togetherness, etc.). The Flintstones series was not the only one to change its tone from more adult to more all-ages (juvenile)--look at other series of the period and you'll note the same pattern in many cases. ("Bewitched" is a good example.) A similar change was happening in the comic strip as more gags centered around Pebbles.
Look at this first salesman who appears in the Flintstones Sunday page from October 17, 1965 (drawn by Gene Hazelton).
ReplyDeleteDoes he look like Hispanic?