Here are just a few pages from The Flintstones newspaper comic strip reprinted in the Pocket Books paperback THE FLINTSTONES FEATURING PEBBLES, which is copyright 1963 by Hanna-Barbera. The uncredited art is by Gene Hazelton (1919 - 2005), who was an animator and character designer. A matter of fact, he created Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm for the series.
With a long background in animation (at Disney, MGM, Warner Brothers, as well as his own studio) and a syndicated panel under his belt ("Angel Face" for the McNaught Syndicate, which was around for about a year in 1957), Gene was the go-to comic strip guy as far as Hanna Barbera was concerned.
Gene helmed the FLINTSTONES and YOGI BEAR comics from 1961 to 1986, overseeing the work of other talented cartoonists like Roger Armstong, Dale Hale, Harvey Eisenberg, Dick Bickenbach, Joe Messerli, Jerry Eisenberg, Iwao Takamoto, Bob Singer, Tony Di Paola, Lee Hooper and Jesse Marsh. Although I can find support for his involvement in the comic strips, I'm pretty sure that he was behind the scenes of the many HB Dell, Gold Key and Charlton comic books.
Here are a few samples of his great, bold cartoony line from the strip. The jokes -- well, the jokes are not the most fresh ones. But the art is still a standout.
Wondering if these were done for the book and/or something other than the newspaper strip. I don't see how most of them could have originally been in a strip format.
ReplyDeleteI do remember the Flintstone daily and Sunday in a San Jose paper, along with the Sunday Yogi Bear. A curious detail with the Flintstones is that Fred had a pompous, white-haired boss who looked nothing like Mr. Slate.
Two odd gags I recalls:
One, a party guest with hat and cane announces he's going to do "the old soft shoe". Everybody says, "The old soft WHAT?" Took me a while to get, even though every character was drawn with bare feet visible.
Another had Wilma all dressed up and telling Betty that Fred told her to meet him in front of the Lamp Shop. Second panel is Wilma, annoyed, in front of the Lamp Shop. Last panel is Fred checking his watch in front of a restaurant named The Lamb Chop.
Thanks for posting this, Mike!! Didn't know about this book. Gene was a big influence on me and he was a master draftsman!! Looks like they reprinted some strips and the single panels might've been done for the book. That format would not have worked for the Flintstones daily. The Yogi Bear daily panel was also a good one. I'm wondering if you know of a paperback collection of those Yogi panels?
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