Like a rotting brontosaurus carcass on a desert, The Flintstones stunk in the final season.
Sorry, fans of the Great Gazoo. The character was a gimmick (though Harvey Korman was great, as always). Sorry, fans of “A Screen Gems Presentation.” Samantha and Darren Stephens were suddenly turned into cartoon characters eons before they existed because Bewitched and The Flintstones were distributed by the same company? What was the idea behind inventing a “Stone World War One”? And don’t get me started on that treacly episode where Bamm Bamm and Pebbles chirp a song denuded of its religious references.
Then there was the studio’s tendency to be lazy and add “stone” or “rock” to names, whether or not it fit. Thus viewers were subjected to “Romeorock” and “The Beau Brummelstones.”
A name which worked much better was Tony Curtis. “Stony Curtis” may seem obvious, but it was an appropriate pun for a character on The Flintstones (not a stretch like “Arnold Palmrock”).
Guest stars have been used for a long time to bolster ratings, going back to the days of network radio. There’s no denying Curtis was a star at the time he was converted into a cartoon character; The Great Race was appearing in theatres and he starred in a number of acclaimed films before that.
It appears the Hanna-Barbera publicity machine got in gear in late April 1965; that’s when newspapers starting running blurbs in their entertainment columns that Curtis would appear on the premiere episode of the sixth season. Sources indicate Curtis recorded his part on June 21. The episode was not the season opener. It was the third show to air, on October 1.
If you’re wondering what Curtis thought of the experience, it seems he didn’t (at least publicly) deem working on a cartoon demeaning. The September 25-October 1 edition of TV Guide wrote about it.
IT WAS TYPE CASTING
Tony Curtis is playing Stony Curtis on THE FLINTSTONES
“It does your ego good to wind up in the cartoons,’ says Tony Curtis of his role as Stony Curtis, prehistoric movie star, in an episode of The Flintstones (ABC, Oct. 1). “It is also intriguing to see the caricature and hear the voice. I liked the idea of doing it, and I thought it would be good for my daughters [Kelly, 9, and Jamie, 6; Alexandra is only 1] to see.”
Aside from all that, it gave Tony a chance to do a good turn. “I never got paid so well in my life,” he said of the wages he received from Hanna-Barbera Productions for his voice work. “I go in for a few minutes’ time and they pay me three or four hundred bucks. I added some money to it and sent it to a summer-camp fund.”
Curtis had full approval of the role he was to play, that of a film idol visiting the Stone Age town of “Bedrock,” and of the sketches. “We had an ascot tie on him and he took it off,” said Joe Barbera, co-producer (with Bill Hanna) and director of the episode. “He wanted to look like a cave man, so we didn’t dress him up.” When he actually recorded, said a bystander, Tony took direction as though “doing a major movie role.”
Curtis is the second major movie star to do a Flintstones; the other was Ann-Margret, who played “Ann-Margrock.” Barbera hopes to have other stars like “Cary Granite,” “Jackie Gleastone,” or the “Cartrocks” of the “Rockerosa Ranch.”
As for his own Stone Age name, Tony is happy enough with it. “At least it’s better than ‘Phony Curtis,’ ” he said.
Curtis “took direction as though doing a major movie role”? This would have been news to the Hollywood Women’s Press Club which, in late 1964, voted Curtis the Sour Apple award as “the most uncooperative male star.” (The AP’s Bob Thomas reported Curtis was bewildered because “the girls” had honoured him as the most cooperative male star twice).
Barbera’s comment about Cary Granite is odd, as the character appeared in the series’ first season. The Cartrocks appeared in season five. Considering the possibility of a lawsuit stemming from The Flintstones’ similarities to The Honeymooners, it’s no wonder Jackie Gleastone did not visit Bedrock. (Gleason revealed in the August 1986 issue of Playboy he had mulled over the suit. Gleason also told writer Bill Zehmer “In fact, the guy who did Fred's voice (Alan Reed) dubbed in things for me in motion pictures, whenever they were looping and I couldn't make the session”).
Curtis mentioned the role in his autobiography, American Prince: A Memoir (Harmony, 2008).
In the fall of 1965, George Pal, my director in Houdini, introduced me to several executives at Hanna-Barbera — the company that had created the cartoon The Flintstones — to explore the possibility of using my voice on the show. Was I interested in helping to create a new cartoon character named Stony Curtis? I said, "Let's do it." I loved the idea, plus The Flintstones was one of the most popular shows on television. Later, people asked me why I did it. I did it because I was invited to, and because it looked like it would be fun! And it was.
Curtis’ star-power didn’t help. The Arbitron ratings gave CBS’ The Wild, Wild West a 18.1 rating and a 40 share. The Flintstones placed second with an 11.8 rating and 26 share, while Camp Runamuck on NBC ended up with a 7.6 rating and a 17 share.
As far as I can recall, one stone/rock name pun didn’t make it into the episode. It would have been entirely logical for Fred to point out that Stony’s real name was “Bernard Quartz.”
