Wilma Flintstone

Wilma Flintstone is a main character in The Flintstones, voiced by Jean Vander Pyl, and Tress MacNeille. She is the wife of Fred Flintstone, and the mother of Pebbles Flintstone. She is 43 years old.

About Wilma[]

Wilma is a slender, Caucasian cavewoman. She has bright red hair tied in a high bun and fair skin. She wears a large white pearl necklace and a white mini dress with one strap on her left shoulder and a torn hemline. The cartoons don't supply her an eye-color, instead opting to draw her eyes completely black.

Her live-action appearance remained largely the same except the color of her bright red hair is changed to dark ginger. Her mini dress is pearly white and her large pearl necklace resembling large natural white jade stones. Wilma's high bun was depicted curly and wears a pair of matching pearl earrings in each ear.

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 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.

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.

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". Wilma even got a job hosting a TV show called "The Happy Housewife," where she cooked meals and sang, much to Fred's chagrin.

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 (a spoof of the Daily Planet of Superman fame), under the editorial guidance of Lou Granite (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 (à la Clark Kent).

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.

Personality[]

Her 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.

Friends[]

Her best friends were her next-door neighbors, Betty, and Barney Rubble.

Controversy[]

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" (P-44), Wilma's old friend Greta Gravel remembers her as "Wilma Pebble". Again, in "Dial S for Suspicion" (P-74), 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: "[I]t'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 one time.

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

Marriage[]

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 he 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 behavior 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 behavior. For example, in the 23rd episode of Season 2, Wilma can be seen biting Fred's finger when he points at her.

She and Fred argue often because of Fred's laziness, and because Fred sometimes flirts with other women. In The Flintstones, Fred's gorgeous secretary seduces him very often, and Wilma walks in and sees Fred being easily aroused, though afterwards she forgives him as she knows he loves only her. 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.

Portrayal[]

Jean Vander Pyl was the original voice artist of Wilma until her death in 1999.^[1] Since then, Tress MacNeille has taken over as Wilma's voice even when she voiced her in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. In the live-action film The Flintstones, Wilma was played by Elizabeth Perkins (although in the film, Vander Pyl made a cameo at Fred's Surprise party for being promoted at the Quarry in the conga line behind Dino). In the prequel film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, she was played by Kristen Johnston.