Mr. Slate

**Mr. Slate** (known in earlier episodes as **J.J. Granite** or **Mr. Rockhead**) is Fred's boss at the Bedrock Quarrel and Gravel Company (later known as Slate Rock and Gravel Company) and a fictional character of the original series, *The Flintstones* and the rest of the franchise.

## Background

Mr. Slate was born in Granite Town and lived at 140 Boulder Avenue. Right next door at 142 Boulder Avenue lived his sister, Flo Slate Rubble, mother of Barney Rubble.

### **Personality**

Mr. Slate is stern, strict, no-nonsense, serious, neutral and hot-tempered. He often is not impressed by Fred's antics and clumsy blunders and often fires him only to give him his job back in the end.

## Physical Appearance

He is a tall and stout caveman with fair skin, black beady eyes and is nearly bald, having only two hair strands on his head, and wears a pair of black glasses with circular lenses. He wears a loincloth with a tie in various colors which hangs down to his knees. When he was a kid, known as Nate Slate from *The Flintstone Kids*, he had blonde hair.

## Live-action film

In the 1994 film, Mr. Slate is still the owner of the company, but has a minor role in the film. His villainous Executive Vice President, Cliff Vandercave, concocts a plan to build faulty machinery to quadruple the company's profits but which will fall apart after Cliff has stolen Slate's money and fled the country. Cliff makes Fred Flintstone the Vice President of the company and tricks him into firing all the workers, framing him for embezzlement. Slate's reaction to this is unknown, and it is also not known whether it is he who calls the police to pursue Fred.

At the end, when Cliff is defeated and trapped in concrete, Slate congratulates Fred for "ending the Stone Age" and attempts to promote him to President of the company's concrete division, but Fred, happy with his own job, politely declines, and requests his old job back, along with two weeks holiday. Slate accepts, and his last line is "There goes the best executive I ever had."

## Appearances

### **Television shows**

* *The Flintstones* (1960-1966)
* *The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show* (1970-1971)
* *The Flintstone Comedy Hour* (1972-1973)
* *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* (1986-1987)
* *Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs* (2020)

### **Television specials and films**

* *A Flintstone Christmas* (1977)
* *The Flintstones: Little Big League* (1978)
* *The Flintstones: Jogging Fever* (1981)
* *The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones* (1987)
* *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: On the Rocks* (2001)
* *The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!* (2015)

## Portrayals

* **John Stephenson**
* *The Flintstones* (1960-1966)
* *The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show* (1970-1971)
* *The Flintstone Comedy Hour* (1972-1973)
* *Fred Flintstone and Friends* (1977-1978)
* *A Flintstone Christmas* (1977)
* *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 Flintstone Comedy Show* (1980-1982)
* *The Flintstones: Jogging Fever* (1981)
* *The Flintstone Funnies* (1982-1984)
* *The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones* (1987)
* *I Yabba-Dabba Do!* (1993)
* *Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby* (1993)
* *A Flintstone Family Christmas* (1993)
* *A Flintstones Christmas Carol* (1994)
* *The Flintstones: On the Rocks* (2001)

### **Other**

* Frank Welker - *The Flintstone Kids* (as Nate Slate)
* Dann Florek - *The Flintstones*
* John O'Hurley - *The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!*
* Jeff Bergman - *Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs*

## Notes/Trivia

* It was either a continuity error or a running gag that in each episode where Slate's first name was mentioned, it was different: Sylvester, Nate, Oscar or George.
* The only change of appearance was that his hair color could be seen.
	+ In the episode, "*Moonlight and Maintenance*", Mr. Slate has only two large tufts of dark hair behind his ears.