Betty Rubble

From Hanna-Barbera Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Betty Rubble
Betty Rubble.png
Aw, how about some more screentime. Pretty please? Huh huh? Can I?
Species Human
Gender Female
Affiliation Fred Flintstone
Wilma Flintstone
Hoppy
Occupation Homemaker
Journalist[Note 1]
Caterer[Note 2][Note 3]
Works for Daily Granite[Note 4]
Bone Appétit[Note 5][Note 6]
Goals Supporting her family
Keeping Barney and Fred away from their schemes
Father Mr. Bricker
Mother Mrs. Bricker
Brother(s) Brad Bricker[Note 7]
Other relative(s) Pebbles Flintstone, daughter-in-law[Note 8][Note 9][Note 10]
Marital status Wife to Barney Rubble
Son(s) Bamm-Bamm Rubble
Grandchildren Roxy and Chip Rubble[Note 11][Note 12]
First appearance TF: "The Flintstone Flyer" (1960)
Played by June Foray (1960, pilot pitch)
Bea Benaderet (1960-64)
Gerry Johnson (1964-66)
Gay Autterson (1971-82)
B.J. Ward (1986-98)
Rosie O'Donnell (1994)
Jane Krakowski (2000)
Grey DeLisle (since 2001)
TFK Betty.png
The Flintstone Kids
90s Betty.png
I Yabba-Dabba Do!
O'Donnell Betty.png
The Flintstones
Krakowski Betty.png
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
DC Betty.png
The Flintstones
YDD Betty.png
Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs

Betty Rubble is a cavewoman and the fourth main character of the Flintstones animated franchise. She is the wife of Barney and lives next to the Flintstones at the town of Bedrock. Her voice was originated by Bea Benaderet in the first four seasons of the original series (not counting June Foray in the pilot pitch). From seasons 5-6, she was instead voiced by Gerry Johnson.

Her relationship is somewhat more easy-going with Barney than it is between her best friend Wilma and her husband, Fred, who are always at odds with their money and what she can do. Not much of Betty's personality has been known apart from her limited screen presence in the original series, as it was written as a classic domestic sitcom in mind. Unable to conceive children, both she and Barney later adopted a son called Bamm-Bamm.

Character description

Betty is a beautiful, slim woman with fair skin and black hair combed into a bob. She wears a blue dress with black straps attached around her neck, and a decorative stone sewn onto the front. She also wears a blue hair ribbon on top of her head.

As mentioned above, Betty is the wife of Barney Rubble. She is a sweet lady who spends most of the time socializing with Wilma, and the two often make amends to bail their husbands out of whatever scheme Fred gets in trouble with. Betty is (unfortunately) the least developed character in the original show, as she is rarely seen not following the lead of either Barney or Wilma. In the latter's case, she often agrees with whatever feelings Wilma has in any situation.

In addition to her attractiveness and beauty, Betty can also be emotional at times. She gets mad when Barney acts up and she sometimes feels sad when something goes into the wrong hands. In later depictions, she is portrayed as being a bit more stubborn than Wilma, and considerably smarter than her husband.

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Specials

Shorts

Comics

Books

Video games

Theme park rides

Biography

Summer Job

In the original series, Betty was born Betty Jean McBricker, and worked as a waitress with Wilma at the Honeyrock Hotel. While there, they met the new bellboys Fred and Barney, but due to a misunderstanding when both the boys and girls were sitting in the rich guests' cars, each pair of friends thought the other was rich. The girls had fallen in love with the two men, but were afraid to tell them the truth, believing Fred and Barney would dump them otherwise. But soon after, their boss, Mr. Stonyface, revealed the truth to both of them while they danced at the masquerade ball when they should've been working, and were all fired and seemingly the end of their summer flings. Wilma's mom, who had visited to see Wilma's supposed rich boyfriend, took them home the next day, and while on the road, they spotted Fred and Barney. Wilma's mom did not care for Fred after she discovered the truth about him, but he seemed to make amends with her and for both couples by acting as the wheels to her car.[1]

The Sidekick

When We Were Young

Betty Comes to Life

I Am Cameo

Having become old and retired, Betty lived a life at the Old Cartoon Sidekicks Retirement Home.[2]

Betty Sells Out

In the Captain Planet and the Planeteers episode "Who's Running the Show?," to get into Fred Lerner's TV studio unnoticed by the Eco-Villains, the Planeteers dress like mucky versions of the Flintstones and Rubbles. When they are revealed to be in costume, an instrumental version of "(Meet) The Flintstones" plays, and Wheeler leads the other Planeteers into the mission by announcing "Okay, Planeteers, time to do our yabba-dabba-duty." Gi is dressed in Betty's dress. Ma-Ti is also dressed like Barney, but they do not act like a couple.

Betty in the Funny Books

Development

Betty's personality was based on that of the archetypal wife of a lead character's best friend, commonly seen in 1950s television shows; specifically Trixie Norton from the sitcom The Honeymooners. Like Betty, Trixie did not appear in every episode and had a less developed character, though she is shown at times to be bossy towards her husband, Ed Norton.

Gallery

Main article: Betty Rubble/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Main article: Betty Rubble/Toys

Behind the scenes

In popular culture

WARNING: The following section contains content that may be seen as mature or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
Main article: List of pop culture references to Flintstones
  • In the film Better Off Dead, as Lane finds a parcel for a DIY space shuttle and reads the front page of a newspaper about a suicidal New Yorker, dialogue from The Flintstones episode "Little Bamm-Bamm" plays in the background, specifically when Fred says goodnight to Barney and Betty, leaving them to wish on a shooting star, but when Lane looks at the TV, when Barney is supposed to tell the audience that he can bet that they know what the couple wished for, Lane imagines Barney talking directly to him, asking Lane awkwardly if he would mind if he took out Beth for Lane, instead, followed by his signature laugh.
  • In The Joe Piscopo New Jersey Special, there is a skit called The Flintstones: The Lost Episodes, wherein Fred (Piscopo) and Barney (Danny DeVito) present one of the supposed lost clips involving Fred and Barney discussing 18-year-old Pebbles dating a neanderthal man. Barney thinks this is okay because Betty's cousin was married to a Paleolithic man named Link until he disappeared, so people now call him "the missing Link."
  • In the BBC Two sitcom Red Dwarf episode "Backwards," the first scene is of Lister asking Cat if he has watched The Flintstones and if he thinks Wilma is sexy, to which he agrees. Lister thinks it's crazy that they're discussing sleeping with a cartoon character, but then asks Cat what he thinks of Betty. He says that he would sleep with Betty but think of Wilma. Lister thinks their discussion is crazy but then says it's because Wilma would never leave Fred.
  • In the Full House episode "Happy Birthday, Babies, Part 2," Stephanie dresses like Betty for Michelle's Flintstones-themed birthday party.
  • In the "Mighty Max" episode "Tar Wars," Max starts a conversation with the caveman Gor by asking him how Betty Rubble keeps her shapely figure. After his mother criticizes his cave paintings, Max says, "Not to worry, Fred."
  • In the Moesha episode "The Ditch Party," Moesha refers to Kim and Niecy as Betty and Wilma when she tells them to relax after they believe she's gone to the wild side in joining them in a ditch party, which is actually a story for the school newspaper.
  • In the Spin City episode "A Star Is Born," Mike says that when he was younger he would enjoy watching attractive women on TV such as Farrah Fawcett, Lynda Carter, and Betty Rubble. When his girlfriend, Ashley, questions his choice of a cartoon character, he says she still has a hot body.
  • In the According to Jim episode "The Truck," a hustling bar patron repeatedly makes jokes about Jim looking like Fred, and when his wife and sister-in-law show up, he calls them Wilma and Betty, respectively.
  • In The Fairly OddParents TV movie Channel Chasers, Timmy zaps himself and his fairies into the world of The Meatflints, where Wanda is dressed like Betty, but in Wanda's signature yellow.
  • In the Family Guy episode "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air," Fred and Barney attend the inaugural ball of the Quahog Men's Club, where Fred reveals to Barney that he accidentally caught sight of Betty undressing, who saw Fred, but continued anyway, giving way to Fred's e-rock-tion.
  • In The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!, Barney cheated on Betty with Toot. She is voiced by Tara Strong.
  • In "Episode 18" (series 7) of the UK BBC One quiz show Pointless, the first round of questions that fell into the "Cartoon" category is Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, with host Alexander Armstrong showing an image of several of them together. The contestants have to be able to pick out all the obscure characters that 100 anonymous public people had been able to guess. Contestant Sarah picked Betty Rubble, which 38 out of the anonymous public also picked out. Cohost Richard Osman circles Betty and reveals that her maiden name is Bricker. This surprises Armstrong, who says Betty must have been thrilled when she met her husband, who Osman and Armstrong both said shall remain nameless so as not to accidentally help the contestants.
  • In The Middle episode "The Shirt," Mike gets a lot of jokes when suddenly wears a Hawaiian t-shirt instead of his usual flannel shirt. After they go on a double date with another couple, Mike complains about all the jokes they made, which Frankie says it's unusual, the same way if Fred Flintstone walked around Bedrock in something other than his "leopard man-dress" he wouldn't get any remarks from Wilma, Barney, and Betty.
  • In the Archer episode "Liquid Lunch," Archer says that On the Town was Bea Benaderet's film debut, but when the others don't know who he's talking about, he tries to jog their memories by telling them she was Mrs. Barney Rubble.
  • In the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode "Valloweaster," Diaz hid under the couch, as Peralta told the therapist that Betty Rubble gives him an erection.

The Simpsons

Main article: The Simpsons
  • "Sideshow Bob Roberts:" When Sideshow Bob is elected the new mayor, he uses his power to send Bart to kindergarten, where he guesses correctly the shape of a triangle and is rewarded with first choice of a toy to play with, which is a talking Flintstones phone, which includes Betty on one of the buttons, but Bart chooses to hear Fred's voice.
  • Simpsons Comics #55 - "Duff Daddy!:" In a Pebbles cereal commercial homage, wherein Homer is lying in a hammock drinking Duff Beer, when the drunken Barney Gumble comes over dressed as Barney trying to trick Homer into giving him his beer, by saying Betty needs to borrow some, and calls him Fred. But Homer tells him to stop calling him Fred and to leave.
  • "Mobile Homer:" While taking the RV by themselves, Bart and Lisa find a "Flintstones Fun Map" (which has the Flintstones, Rubbles, their pets, and the Great Gazoo) instead of a real map.
  • "A Tale of Two Trumps:" President Donald Trump has a dream of being a better person and making amends with people he has had feuds with, including telling Rosie O'Donnell she was great in The Flintstones movie for her portrayal as Betty.

Footnotes

  1. ^ The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980-1981).
  2. ^ I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993).
  3. ^ Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993).
  4. ^ The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980-1981).
  5. ^ I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993).
  6. ^ Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993).
  7. ^ In The Flintstone Kids (1987).
  8. ^ I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993).
  9. ^ Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993).
  10. ^ A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993).
  11. ^ Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993).
  12. ^ A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993).

References

  1. ^ The Flintstones: "Bachelor Daze," season 4, episode 25 (1964).
  2. ^ I Am Weasel: "I Am My Lifetime," season 2, episode 7 (1998).