September 30, 1960…”The Flintstones” Debuts On ABC + Demo Video

There is much more in my original story below, with the very first animation demo of the show. The X marks and long black lines on the film are grease pencil marks for portions that were later used in on of the first episodes to air. Yabba Dabba Doo! -Bobby Ellerbee

Meet The Flintsones! Studio Shots & Original Demo Footage

Although it’s only 1:34 seconds long, this is the first ever animation of the show, and was done in the winter of 1959 as a demo. Originally, the series was going to be called ‘The Flagstones’, but there was some kind of copyright problem so the name was changed just before the show went to air on ABC on September 30, 1960.

Notice the voice of Betty isn’t Bea Benaderet, but rather June Foray (who was the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, among her many works). The voice of Fred is not Alan Reed, but Daws Butler who was the voice of Yogi Bear as well as Huckleberry Hound. Daws also did the demo voice of Barney, who was voiced by Mel Blanc in the regular series.

The voice of Wilma is done by Jean Vander Pyl and she was the only actor from the pilot to continue in the series. In 1960, ABC did not have color telecine equipment in Los Angeles, so the show was broadcast in black and white, until ‘The Jetsons’ came along in 1962. Starting then, the film for both shows was taken to NBC Burbank and fed to ABC for broadcast, and these were the first color shows on ABC.

The show left the air April 1, 1966 and for 30+ years, was the most successful animated network show ever. When ‘The Simpsons’ came along, this series moved to second place.

There is more detail on the photos, so click through, enjoy and share! Yabba Dabba Doo! -Bobby Ellerbee

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