{"id":9683,"date":"2014-03-18T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T07:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=9683"},"modified":"2020-09-27T23:14:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T06:14:45","slug":"saving-mr-flintstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/saving-mr-flintstone\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Mr. Flintstone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hanna-Barbera produced quite a few oddball vinyl records in the \u201860s, but look at this one-of-a-kind wonder\u2014it has Disney songs and HB characters all in one!<\/p>\n\"flintpoppins600\"\n

<\/p>\n

FRED FLINTSTONE AND BARNEY RUBBLE in
\nSONGS FROM MARY POPPINS<\/strong>
\nPresented by Hanna-Barbera
\nHanna-Barbera Records \/ Cartoon Series HLP- (12\u201d Vinyl 33 rpm \/ Mono \/ 1965)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Executive Producers:<\/strong> William Hanna, Joseph Barbera. Writer\/Director: Charles Shows. Song Arrangers: Al Capps, Stan Farber. Background Music: Hoyt Curtin. Underscore and Sound Effects Editor: Milton Krear. Mastering: Joe Leahy, Dave Diller. Engineer: Richard Olson. Art Direction: Harvard Pennington. Cover Art: Jerry Eisenberg, Paul Julian. Hand Lettering: Robert Schaefer. Running Time: 32 minutes.
\nVoices:<\/strong> Henry Corden (Fred Flintstone); Daws Butler (Barney Rubble, Opening Narrator, Policeman, Ed Sullivan); Danny Hutton, Rebecca Page, Ron Hicklin, Al Capps (The Hanna-Barbera Singers).
\nSongs:<\/strong> \u201cBedrock Rock (The Flintstones),\u201d \u201cA Spoonful of Sugar,\u201d \u201cA Jolly Holiday,\u201d \u201cSupercalifragilisticexpialidocious,\u201d \u201cChim Chim Cheree\u201d by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cheers to the absolute incongruity of this record album! It\u2019s a testimony to just how huge a hit Mary Poppins<\/em> was, as a movie and a musical score\u2014so much so that even HBR would do an album of songs\u2014but how could they reconcile the two disparate properties?<\/p>\n

\"flintstones-drive-in\"One has to give Charles Shows credit for cobbling together a story that incorporates the Disney songs without actually making Fred and Barney part of the Disney universe. How? By having the story result from the Flintstones and the Rubbles seeing Mary Poppins<\/em> \u201cin real life\u201d at their neighborhood drive-in (no doubt the same one that showed \u201cThe Monster\u201d and served giant, car-toppling ribs).<\/p>\n

Fred talks Barney into quitting the rock pile with him (did they both work there in the 1960\u2019s episodes? I seem to recall that not being the case until the \u201870s). Fred yells his resignation to the \u201cboss,\u201d not identified as Mr. Slate, for some reason.<\/p>\n

In a rare moment of HBR public service, Fred is dismayed to find that most jobs require degrees, saying, \u201cBoy, you can\u2019t get very far these days without an education.\u201d Fred does what dozens of characters on sitcoms have done: he decides to become a songwriter. Barney buys a kerosene guitar (also referenced on HBR\u2019s Pixie and Dixie Cinderella album). Fred proceeds to \u201cstrum\u201d up four songs, but forgets that he had already heard them at the drive-in. The one with the ribs.<\/p>\n

To prevent Fred from getting into a \u201cMy Sweet Lord\u201d\/\u201dHe\u2019s So Fine\u201d lawsuit, Barney keeps running home to get Mary Poppins<\/em> records. When he plays them for Fred, he does it in a non-confrontational manner, so as to avoid getting Fred any more steamed than necessary (it’s so much fun getting this \u201cdeep\u201d into favorite characters!) The \u201cHanna-Barbera\u201d studio singers, as featured on other HBR albums, are \u201cheard\u201d on Barney\u2019s records. <\/p>\n

Barney is correct when he says, \u201cThis record\u2019s been out a long time already.\u201d When Mary Poppins<\/em> was first released, there weren\u2019t that many cover versions of the songs (Ray Conniff\u2019s Columbia LP was among the first). By 1965, when this HBR album was made, the score was a full-fledged smash. Many artists and labels released their own renditions.<\/p>\n

\"poppins275\"Most likely for budget reasons, we hear Henry Corden in place of Alan Reed as Fred, and Daws Butler instead of Mel Blanc as Barney. Unlike some of HBR\u2019s voice stand-ins, Corden and Butler actually voiced them in various instances. Corden sang for most of Reed\u2019s songs and replaced Reed when he passed away. Butler filled in for Blanc for a handful of Flintstone episodes after Blanc\u2019s auto accident.<\/p>\n

Corden did a very different Fred than Reed, more blustery and Gleason-like; Butler\u2019s Barney sound like Yogi Bear on the surface (both had roots in Art Carney\u2019s Ed Norton), but his Barney has less guile and more joviality that his Yogi (at least at the time, since Yogi got nicer over the ensuing decades). And of course, Yogi and Barney have different laughs.<\/p>\n

Though repetitious, the script is pretty good. The only lapse in taste comes after Fred sings his first \u201ccreation\u201d and a policeman visits\u2014because the neighbors thought he was beating his wife! That wasn\u2019t funny even back then, before political correctness, especially for a children\u2019s record. Shows might have come up with something else to compare with Fred\u2019s singing.<\/p>\n

Pebbles appears on the cover but is not heard on this record. As mentioned in earlier Animation Spins, it\u2019s usually due to the disconnect between creation of the recordings and the printed materials (and the rapid production pace). Pebbles does have an indirect presence on the album, though, as Julie Andrews\u2019 song sections are sung by Rebecca Page, who also sang for Pebbles with a slightly sped-up voice. As to the cover art itself, Jerry Eisenberg, Paul Julian and Robert Schaefer created nothing less than a breathtaking masterpiece.<\/p>\n

A few other notes: the words \u201ctwine and twig\u201d are reversed in \u201cA Spoonful of Sugar;\u201d Corden mispronounces \u201cSupercaliFRAGilistic\u201d as \u201cSupercaliFLAGistic\u201d twice (maybe it was misspelled in the script); Fred sings \u201cIt\u2019s a jolly holiday with Wilma\u201d but of course, Ron Hicklin sings it as \u201cWith Mary;\u201d and also in \u201cJolly Holiday,\u201d the \u201craspberry ice\u201d verse is included, which seldom\u2014if ever\u2014appeared on records back then, even on the Disney vinyl soundtrack.<\/p>\n

GIVE A LITTLE LISTEN<\/strong>
\n\u201cFred is Finally Convinced\u201d<\/em>
\nThis conclusion sequence exemplifies the overall format of this album, with Fred realizing beyond a doubt that he has been \u201cwriting\u201d existing songs. I can\u2019t get enough of Butler\u2019s Ed Sullivan and particularly enjoy the amusing way Corden says, \u201cI\u2019ve had a rough day.\u201d<\/p>\n