Betty Rubble

**Elizabeth Jean** "**Betty**" **Rubble** (née **McBricker/O'Shale**) is the beautiful and very attractive wife of Barney Rubble, the adoptive mother of Bamm-Bamm Rubble, the grandmother of Chip and Roxy, a fictional character and the tetartagonist of the original series, *The Flintstones* and the rest of the franchise.

## Background

### **Personality**

Betty's personality was based on that of Trixie Norton, wife of Ed Norton on the 1950s television series *The Honeymooners*; each of the four of the series' principal adult characters is an analogue of a *Honeymooners* character. Much like Trixie spent a lot of her time socializing with Alice Kramden, Betty mostly spends a lot of her time socializing with Wilma, and the two will often end up working together to bail their husbands out of whatever scheme of Fred's has landed them in trouble.

Betty can be considered the least developed character in the show, as she is rarely seen not following the lead of either Barney or Wilma, the latter of whom she often seems merely an echo of, generally. In spite of this, Betty is shown to have a distinctly emotional marriage with Barney, which more often included pet names and a more obvious affection, as opposed to the more dynamic and energetic interaction between Fred and Wilma.

This lack of focus and character development (almost as background-set as supporting characters such as Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm, or Dino, except for her more continuous presence) makes Betty less of a main character as is implied by the general concept of the show and more like a filler character. In addition to her attractiveness and beauty, Betty can also be quite emotional. She gets mad and frustrated when Barney is not behaving and she feels sad sometimes and starts sobbing when something goes wrong, one example is after making a phone call about being sent to the Fireman's Ball.

In later depictions, she is portrayed as being more stubborn and headstrong than Wilma, and considerably smarter than her husband. Her jealous streak is also played up.

### **Physical Appearance**

Betty is a beautiful, slim and slender young woman with fair skin and black hair in a bob and she's considerably taller than her husband, Barney. She wears a blue loincloth/tube dress with a torn hemline, black straps that tie around the back of her neck, a decorative stone sewn onto the front of the chest and a jagged bottom. She also wears a trademark blue ribbon in her hair.

In the episode, "*The Beauty Contest*", Betty alongside Wilma proved themselves the two most beautiful women of the Stone Age. In a plan surprise Fred and Barney, the girls donned swimsuits and heels and showed themselves more gorgeous than the other contestants.

## Occupations and Interests

The occasions when Betty leads the action are extremely scarce: one episode centers around her working undercover as a gentle old lady who uses her to pass "counterfeit" money to buy a present for Barney, and on another occasion the plot for her and Wilma was led by her suspicions of Barney being involved with another woman (which turns out to be Fred in a disguise contrived in order to attend a ball game free of charge).

Betty, much like Wilma, also enjoys volunteering for various charitable/women's organizations in Bedrock, shopping, and (occasionally) getting to meet the celebrities of their world, including Stony Curtis, Cary Granite, and Ann-Margrock. At various times, she has been seen playing sports like tennis, polo, softball and bowling.

When Bamm-Bamm was a teenager, Betty gained employment as a reporter for one of Bedrock's newspapers (or, more accurately, news-slabs), the *Daily Granite* (presumably a parody of the *Daily Planet* of Superman fame), under the editorial guidance of Lou Granite. While employed there, she shared various adventures with prehistoric superhero Captain Caveman, who (in a secret identity as Chester) also works for the newspaper.

Later still, after Bamm-Bamm grew up and left home in *I Yabba-Dabba Do!* and *Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby*, Betty started a successful catering business, "Bone-Appetite" with her partner Wilma.

## Relationships

### **Family**

Betty's pre-marriage name is either McBricker or O'Shale, depending on the source.

In the 1980's spin-off series, *The Flintstone Kids*, Betty is a friend of Fred, Barney and Wilma since their childhood. As a child, she lived with her parents, Brad and Jean who ran a convenience store and her brother Brick and sister Sissy. Later, she and Barney were married, presumably not long after Fred and Wilma.

Around the fourth season of the original series, Betty and Barney found an abandoned infant on their doorstep, by the name of "Bamm-Bamm." After a court battle in which they defeated noted lawyer "Perry Masonry", the couple were allowed to adopt Bamm-Bamm legally and permanently. The Rubbles never had children of their own, though it's suggested they've tried. Whether this is due to simple bad luck or something deeper is unknown.

Later in *Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby* and *A Flintstone Family Christmas*, she became a grandmother to Bamm-Bamm's twin children, Chip and Roxy.

### **Love Interests**

As young adults, Betty and Wilma were employed as cigarette girls/waitresses at a resort. There, they first met, and fell in love, with their future husbands, Fred and Barney.

## Appearances

### **Television shows**

* *The Flagstones* (1959)
* *The Flintstones* (1960–1966)
* *The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show* (1971–1972)
* *The Flintstone Comedy Hour* (1972–1974)
* *Fred Flintstone and Friends* (1977–1978)
* *The New Fred and Barney Show* (1979)
* *Fred and Barney Meet the Thing* (1979)
* *Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo* (1979–1980)
* *The Flintstone Comedy Show* (1980–1982)
* *The Flintstone Funnies* (1982–1984)
* *The Flintstone Kids* (1986–1988)
* *The Rubbles* (2002)
* *Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs*
* *Bedrock*
* *The VeggieTales Show*

### **Films and specials**

* *The Man Called Flintstone* (1966)
* *1967 Busch Advertising Reel* (1967)
* *The Flintstones on Ice* (1973)
* *A Flintstone Christmas* (1977)
* *The Flintstones: Little Big League* (1978)
* *The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone* (1980)
* *The Flintstone Primetime Specials*
	+ *The Flintstones' New Neighbors* (1980)
	+ *The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling* (1980)
	+ *The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma* (1981)
	+ *The Flintstones: Jogging Fever* (1981)
* *The Flintstones' 25th Anniversary Celebration* (1986)
* *The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones* (1987)
* *The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special* (1988)
* *A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration: 50 Years of Hanna-Barbera* (1989)
* *I Yabba-Dabba Do!* (1993)
* *Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby* (1993)
* *A Flintstone Family Christmas* (1993)
* *The Flintstones* (1994)
* *A Flintstones Christmas Carol* (1994)
* *The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas* (2000)
* *The Flintstones: On the Rocks* (2001)
* *The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!* (2015)

### **Video games**

* *The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy*
* *The Flintstones*
* *The Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak*
* *The Flintstones: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock*
* *The Flintstones: Bedrock Bowling*
* *The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas*
* *The Flintstones: Bring Back Bedrock*

### **Publications**

* *The Flintstones (comic strips)* (1961-1998)
* *The Flintstones (Dell Comics)*
* *The Flintstones (Gold Key Comics)*
* *The Flintstones (Charlton Comics)* and *Harvey*
	+ *Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm (Charlton Comics)*
	+ *Barney & Betty Rubble (Charlton Comics)*
	+ *Dino (Charlton Comics)*
	+ *The Great Gazoo (Charlton Comics)*
* *The Flintstones (Marvel Comics)*
* *The Flintstone Kids (Marvel Comics)*
* *The Flintstones (Archie Comics)*
* *The Flintstones and the Jetsons*
* *The Flintstones (DC Comics)*

## Portrayals

### **Television shows, films and specials**

* June Foray - *The Flagstones*
* **Bea Benaderet** - *The Flintstones* (Seasons 1-4)
* **Gerry Johnson** - *The Flintstones* (Seasons 5-6)
	+ *The Man Called Flintstone*
	+ *1967 Busch Advertising Reel* (1967)
* **Gay Autterson**
	+ *The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show* (1971–1972)
	+ *The Flintstone Comedy Hour* (1972–1974)
	+ *A Flintstone Christmas* (1977)
	+ *Fred Flintstone and Friends* (1977–1978)
	+ *The Flintstones: Little Big League* (1978)
	+ *The New Fred and Barney Show* (1979)
	+ *Fred and Barney Meet the Thing* (1979)
	+ *Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo* (1979–1980)
	+ *The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone* (1980)
	+ *The Flintstone Comedy Show* (known as *The Flintstone Frolics*) (1980–1982)
	+ *The Flintstone Primetime Specials*
		- *The Flintstones' New Neighbors* (1980)
		- *The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling* (1980)
		- *The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma* (1981)
		- *The Flintstones: Jogging Fever* (1981)
	+ *The Flintstone Funnies* (1984-1985)
* **B.J. Ward**
	+ *The Flintstone Kids* (1986-1987)
	+ *I Yabba-Dabba Do!* (1993)
	+ *Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby* (1993)
	+ *A Flintstone Family Christmas* (1993)
	+ *A Flintstones Christmas Carol* (1994)
* **Grey DeLisle**
	+ *The Flintstones: On the Rocks* (2001)
	+ *The Rubbles* (2002)
	+ *The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!* (2015)
	+ *Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs* (2020)
	+ *The VeggieTales Show* (2024)

### **Other**

* Julie McWhirter Dees - *The Flintstone Kids*
* Rosie O'Donnell - *The Flintstones*
* Jane Krakowski - *The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas*
* Nicole Byer - *Bedrock*

## Notes/Trivia

* Betty appeared as a supporting character and made a cameo appearance in the 1995 series, *Johnny Bravo*, in the 2004 episode "*A Page Right Out of History*".
* For many years, Betty was controversially not included as a character in the popular Flintstones Chewable Vitamins. Apparently this was either because she was not considered a very popular character among children or due to her lack of focus in the show.
* "*Old Lady Betty*" is the only episode of the original series to actually focus on Betty.