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Wilma Flintstone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wilma Flintstone (born Wilma Pebble, though this is unclear as her mother is referred to as Slaghoople, see below), is a fictional character in the popular television animated series The Flintstones. She is the red-headed wife of caveman Fred Flintstone and mother of Pebbles Flintstone. Her best friends were her next door neighbors, Betty and Barney Rubble.
Wilma lived in the fictional prehistoric city of Bedrock, a world where dinosaurs coexisted with cavepeople and the cavepeople enjoyed "primitive" versions of modern conveniences such as telephones, automobiles and washing machines.
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 played the strong-willed, level-headed person in her marriage, often criticizing Fred for pursuing his various ill-fated schemes. Wilma would also often be the one to bail out Fred when one of his schemes landed him in trouble.
While the mid-1980s spinoff 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 Fred and Barney (the original series asserted that they met as young adults). Still, the series' depictions that Wilma had younger twin 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.
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 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.
Eventually, Wilma and Fred were married, and Wilma became a homemaker, keeping house with such prehistoric aids as a baby elephant vacuum cleaner, pelican washing machine, and so forth. Wilma also enjoyed volunteering for various charitable/women's organizations in Bedrock, shopping, and (occasionally) getting to meet the celebrities of their world, including "Stony Curtis" and "Cary Granite".
In the original series' third season, Wilma became pregnant, and gave birth to the couple's only child, Pebbles.
When Pebbles was a teenager, Wilma (along with Betty) gained employment as a reporter for one of Bedrock's newspapers, the Daily Granite, under the editorial guidance of Lou Granite (presumably a parody of The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Lou Grant). While employed there, she shared various adventures with prehistoric superhero Captain Caveman, who (in a secret identity) also worked for the newspaper.
Later still, after Pebbles grew up and left home, Wilma started a successful catering business with her neighbor and friend Betty, before becoming a grandmother to Pebbles' twin children, Chip and Roxy.
- Jean Vander Pyl was the original voice artist of Wilma until her death in the late 1990s. Since then, Tress MacNeille has taken over as Wilma's voice.
- Several early episodes in the original series stated Wilma's maiden name was "Pebble," but later episodes and spinoffs more firmly state her maiden name was indeed "Slaghoople." Because people that haven't seen her since she was a girl refer to her as Wilma Pebble, it is most likely that her maiden name IS Pebble. In the episode "The Entertainer" (P-44), Wilma's old friend Greta Gravel remembers her as "Wilma Pebble" -- which we can only assume was her maiden name. Again, in "Dial S for Suspicion" (P-74), one of Wilma's old boyfriends Rodney Whetstone calls her "Wilma Pebble." Wilma is never referred to as Wilma Slaghoople in the original series. Only Wilma's mother is referred to as Slaghoople, so it is strongly implied that Wilma's mother remarried. In fact Wilma's mother is seen dating (while Wilma's father is never mentioned) in the original series.
- The notion of a rivalry between in-laws, as seen between Fred and Wilma's mother, is seen in various other sitcoms, including in The Flintstones's successor prime time animated series, The Simpsons---where Homer shares a rivalry with Marge's sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier.
- The Red Dwarf characters Dave Lister and the Cat reach the conclusion that, "in all probability, Wilma Flintstone is the most desirable woman who ever lived." They also conclude that they would have sex with Betty, but would be thinking of Wilma. They then agree that it is an absurd conversation, since she will never leave Fred and they know it.
- She was portrayed by Elizabeth Perkins in the 1994 film.