3671. Wilma Flintstones

Wilma Flintstone (née Slaghoople see below) is a fictional character in the television animated series The Flintstones. She was the red-headed wife of caveman Fred Flintstone, daughter of Pearl Slaghoople, mother of Pebbles Flintstone and a grandmother. Her best friends are her next door neighbors, Betty and Barney Rubble. Wilma's personality is based on that of Alice Kramden, wife of Ralph Kramden on the 1950s television series The Honeymooners. Thus, much like Alice, Wilma plays the strong-willed, level-headed person in her marriage, often criticizing Fred for pursuing his various ill-fated schemes. Wilma will also often be the one to bail out Fred when one of his schemes land him in trouble. 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 (Mickey and Mica) and that her father—who apparently died by the time Wilma reached adulthood—ran a prehistoric computer business might be taken as valid. Wilma mentions having a married sister in the sixth season of the original series. 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 is also a good cook; one of her specialties is "gravelberry pie," the recipe for which she eventually sold to the "Safestone" supermarket chain. Wilma also enjoys volunteering for various charitable and women's organizations in Bedrock, shopping, and (occasionally) getting to meet the celebrities of their world, including "Stony Curtis", "Rock Quarry" and "Cary Granite". In the original series' third season, Wilma becomes pregnant, and gives birth to the couple's only child, Pebbles. When Pebbles becomes a teenager, Wilma (along with Betty) gains employment as a reporter for one of Bedrock's newspapers, the Daily Granite (a spoof of the Daily Planet of Superman fame), under editor Lou Granite (a parody of The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Lou Grant). While employed there, Wilma shares various adventures with prehistoric superhero Captain Caveman, who (in a secret identity) also works for the newspaper (a la Clark Kent). Later still, after Pebbles grows up and leaves home, Wilma starts a successful catering business with her neighbor and friend Betty, before becoming a grandmother to Pebbles' twin children, Chip and Roxy.