Wilma Flintstone

**Wilma Anna Flintstone** is a fictional character in the television animated series *The Flintstones* and the rest of the franchise.

## Background

She is the beautiful and attractive red-headed wife of caveman Fred Flintstone, daughter of Pearl Slaghoople, mother of Pebbles Flintstone and grandmother to Roxy and Chip Rubble. Her best friend is her next door neighbor, Betty.

### **Personality**

Wilma's personality was based on that of Alice Kramden, wife of Ralph Kramden on the 1950s television series *The Honeymooners*. Thus, much like Alice, Wilma plays the serious, strong-willed, level-headed person in her marriage, often criticizing Fred for pursuing his various ill-fated schemes. Wilma will also often be the one to bail out Fred when one of his schemes lands him in trouble or brings up the problem.

### **Physical Appearance**

Wilma is an unbearably beautiful, very attractive and slender cavewoman with fair skin. She has swirly red-orange hair that's worn in a bun at the back of her head, wears a white loincloth/dress with one strap on her left shoulder and a torn hemline, a white pearl necklace, and red lipstick (in some specials and shows it's pink). Another notable thing about Wilma is that she has black dots for eyes.

Although she's a modest woman, Wilma along with Betty proved themselves the two most beautiful women in Bedrock, as shown in "The Beauty Contest". In the plan to shock Fred and Barney, Wilma and Betty snuck into a beauty contest. Removing their necklaces and donning swimsuits and heels, they showed themselves to be stunning, shapely and gorgeous.

## Occupations and Interests

She became a housewife and was also a good cook. One of her specialties was Gravelberry Pie - the recipe for which she eventually sold to the Safestone supermarket chain. Wilma also enjoyed volunteering for various charitable and women's organizations in Bedrock, shopping, and (occasionally) getting to meet the celebrities of their world, including "Stony Curtis", "Rock Quarry" and "Jimmy Darrock".

When Pebbles was a teenager, Wilma (along with Betty) gained employment as a reporter for one of Bedrock's newspapers (or, more accurately, news-slabs), the *Daily Granite* (a spoof 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) also worked for the newspaper (a la Clark Kent).

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

## Biography

Wilma is a childhood friend of Betty. As a child, she lived with her parents and younger sisters Mickey and Mica Slaghoople.

As a young adult, Wilma worked with Betty as cigarette girls/waitresses at a resort. There, they first met and fell in love with their future husbands, Fred and Barney (who were working there as bellhops). Wilma's mother, Pearl Pebbles Slaghoople, also met her future son-in-law, and took a disliking toward Fred (and vice-versa), starting a long-lasting rivalry between the two.

Wilma and Fred eventually married, and Wilma became a homemaker, keeping house with such prehistoric aids as a baby elephant vacuum cleaner and pelican washing machine.

## Relationships

### **Family**

While the mid-1980s spin-off series *The Flintstone Kids* depicts Wilma as a child, the series seems to be mostly apocryphal due to its presenting Wilma as a childhood friend of Betty, Fred and Barney (the original series asserted that they met as young adults) as well as using the last name Slaghoople instead of the original Pebbles. Still, the series' depictions that Wilma had younger sisters and that her father—who apparently died by the time Wilma reached adulthood—ran a prehistoric computer business might be taken as valid. Wilma did mention having a married sister in the sixth season.

In the original series' third season, including the episode, "*The Dress Rehearsal*" for example, Wilma became pregnant, and gave birth to the couple's only child, Pebbles.

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 a young adult, Wilma worked with Betty as cigarette girls/waitresses at a resort. There, they first met and fell in love with their future husbands, Fred and Barney (who were working there as bellhops). Wilma's mother, Pearl Pebbles Slaghoople, also met her future son-in-law, and took a disliking toward Fred (and vice-versa), starting a long-lasting rivalry between the two. Later, Wilma and Fred were married in Rock Vegas in *I Yabba-Dabba Do!* (in a flashback) and *The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas*.

Wilma loves Fred very much, but he isn't always easy to get on with, but she always knows Fred's heart is in the right place and tries his best to be a loving husband and father. In the first few episodes of the series, particularly the first episode, Wilma (as is Betty) is portrayed as a domestically abusive wife, throwing a tantrum and physically assaulting her husband (or at least attempting to do so) upon discovering that he and Barney had fooled her and Betty so that they could go bowling, despite the fact that Fred had a bandaged head injury to the point that he and Barney actually run away on the Flintstone Flyer, and even after six hours, she and Betty show no remorse for their behaviour and look forward to hurting their husbands again once they land. Also, in the same episode, she and Betty are shown to be willing to assault their husbands violently in public without second thoughts, demonstrated when they bash Fred and Barney over the heads with their heavy handbags in the bowling alley in front of their teammates and several other players. In subsequent episodes, she is shown to get angry but never harms Fred seriously, often lecturing him or slapping him for his exceptionally bad behaviour. For example, in the 21st episode of Season 2, Wilma can be seen biting Fred's finger when he points at her. Wilma also can be extremely sad too, sometimes she even starts crying. Like Betty, Wilma also cries when something goes wrong, one example being after Fred tells her about going to the Fireman's Ball.

She and Fred argue often because of Fred's laziness, and because Fred flirts with another women, Sharon Stone. In the 1994 live-action film *The Flintstones*, Fred's gorgeous secretary seduces him very often, and Wilma once walks in and sees Fred drooling over her half naked body while she sexually fools him. It is unknown if she learned of their advances at sexual intimacy, than just flirting. It is though unlikely, due to Fred wanting to keep his marriage, but still has a strong lust for Miss Stone. In *A Flintstones Christmas Carol*, Wilma gets upset at Fred for forgetting Pebbles and being an idiot, but she favors him at the end of the film. In *Flintstones: On the Rocks*, her and Fred's marriage is not working out and they consider a divorce, but they reconcile at the end.

### **Maiden Name**

Wilma's maiden name has been a source of dispute. Several early episodes in the original series clearly stated Wilma's maiden name was "Pebble." In the episode "The Entertainer", Wilma's old friend Greta Gravel remembers her as "Wilma Pebble". Again, in "Dial 'S' for Suspicion", one of Wilma's old boyfriends Rodney Whetstone calls her "Wilma Pebble." It could be possible that Pebble is her middle name. This wouldn't be illogical, due to the potential difficulty of pronouncing Slaghoople.

However, later episodes and spin-offs also firmly state her maiden name was indeed "Slaghoople," based upon the name of Wilma's mother in the original series, Pearl Slaghoople. *Flintstones'* writer Earl Kress explained the discrepancy as such: "*It's just as simple as Hanna-Barbera not caring about the continuity*." Maybe Mr. Slaghoople was Pearl's second husband and he adopted Wilma when they married. In *The Flintstones* movie, when Wilma is leaving Fred to live with her mother, Fred shouts "Come back here, Wilma Slaghoople". ("Sufflehooper" was also used at least once.)

Wilma and Fred's daughter is named "Pebbles" after Wilma's maiden surname.

## Appearances

### **Television shows**

* *The Flagstones* (1959)
* *The Flintstones* (1960–1965)
* *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)
* *Dino: Stay Out!* (1995)
* *Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs* (2020)

### **Films and specials**

* *The Man Called Flintstone* (1966)
* *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: 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: Big Trouble in Bedrock*
* *The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas*
* *The Flintstones: Bring Back Bedrock*

## Portrayals

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

* **Jean Vander Pyl**
	+ *The Flagstones*
	+ *The Flintstones*
	+ *The Man Called Flintstone*
	+ *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)
	+ *I Yabba-Dabba Do!* (1993)
	+ *Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby* (1993)
	+ *A Flintstone Family Christmas* (1993)
	+ *A Flintstones Christmas Carol* (1994)
	+ *Dino: Stay Out!*(1995)
* **Tress MacNeille**
	+ *The Flintstones: On the Rocks* (2001)

### **Other**

* Julie McWhirter Dees & Elizabeth Lyn Frasier - *The Flintstone Kids*
* Elizabeth Perkins - *The Flintstone*
* Kristen Johnson - *The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas*

## Gallery

Images of Wilma Flintstone, featured in the franchise of *The Flintstones*.

### **Clipart**

Wilma and her friend, Betty in their Water Buffalo hats.Wilma being kissed by her husband, Fred.Fred dancing with Wilma.
### **Concept Art**

Early concept sketch of Fred, Barney & **Wilma** by Ed Benedict.Model Sheet of the main core cast including Fred, **Wilma**, Betty and Barney by Ed Benedict.Character designs of **Wilma**, Fred, Barney and Betty from *The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!* by Shane Glines.Model sheet of **Wilma** from *The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!* by Shane Glines.Character designs of Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm, **Wilma** and Betty from *The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!* in swimwear by Shane Glines.Original pencil art lineup of Fred, Barney, **Wilma**, Betty and Dino in *Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs* by Chris Battle.Color lineup of Fred, Barney, Bamm-Bamm, Pebbles, **Wilma**, Betty and Dino in *Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs* by Chris Battle.

## Notes/Trivia

* Wilma appeared as a supporting character in the 1995 series, *Johnny Bravo*, in the 2004 episode "*A Page Right Out of History*".