60 years of Yabbadabbadoo!

When Fred Flintstone surfed through a wave tunnel on his Stone Age surfboard for the first time, he pushed out his “Yabbbadabbadoo” with joy. That was exactly 60 years ago this year, when the series “The Flintstones” was first broadcast on television in America. Since then it has been installed as a routinely recurring trademark of the Stone Age man Fred when he was particularly happy. Thanks to the enormous popularity of the series, the term soon found its way into American popular culture and eventually entered the American vocabulary.

Picture: 2006 Hanna Barbera and Warner Bros. Entertainment

For a long time, “The Flintstones” was considered the most successful animated series until it was caught up by the Simpsons in 1997. Initially, six seasons ran from 30 September 1960 to 1966 on the American television channel ABC during prime time.

One of the permanent gags are animals, which seem to be there only to serve humans and take over the work of modern machines. When Wilma complains that the rubbish chute no longer works, she finds a primeval creature behind a flap – too full to eat any more waste. Meanwhile, the air conditioner was played by a dinosaur wagging air into the rock house with its particularly broad tail.

Music always played an important role in the series. In many episodes, hits of the time were sung in the original or slightly recapitulated by Fred, Barney or a guest star. One of the first vocal interludes was the song “When the Saints Go Marching In”, sung by Fred. Many of the original songs were composed by Hoyt Curtin. In 1961 a record was produced especially for children, on which the voices of the characters sing different songs. The song “Meet the Flintstones” was then used as the title song of the series, with the beginning of the third season. (Sources: The Standard, Wikipedia)

“The Flintstones” for wind orchestra

“The Flintstones” for BigBand

“The Flintstones” for other orchestras

“The Flintstones” for Ensembles

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