High School Fred

High School Fred
Details
Show	The Flintstones
Season	3
Episode number	73
Production number	P-73
Original airdate	December 7, 1962 (ABC)
Recording Date	July 5, 1962
Crew
Animated by	Harry Holt Ed Parks Bob Carr Don Patterson
Layout	Dick Bickenbach Walter Clinton
Background	Richard H. Thomas
Written by	Warren Foster
Chronology
Previous	"Nuthin' But the Tooth"
Next	"Dial 'S' for Suspicion"

"High School Fred" is the thirteenth episode of the third season and the seventy-third overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It first aired on December 7, 1962.

Synopsis

Fred is embarrassed that he lacks a high school diploma and has returned to classes with teenagers to keep his job.

Plot

Mr. Slate's efficiency expert, Mr. Rockhard, has an expenses-cutting plan for Slate's company requiring that any worker lacking a high school diploma must accordingly upgrade his education or be terminated as a Slate employee. Because Fred is the best player on the Slate Construction bowling team, Slate offers to pay Fred's salary while Fred attends two weeks of high school and will retain Fred as a rock quarry laborer. Fred is so ashamed of this situation that he does not correct Wilma when she misunderstands Fred's statement about needing to go to school to improve his job qualifications and believes that Fred has enrolled in "executive school" for promotion to a position of authority.

Fred maintains the "executive school" façade to Wilma and the Rubbles while each day he sits at a desk in Miss Stonewall's classroom and wows his teenage peers with his knowledge of the substrata beneath Bedrock. He enjoys free periods with his youthful, new friends at a malt shop, where he indulges in marathon milkshake drinking and brontosaurus burger eating. He also plays a variety of sports, including pole vaulting and pass-the-baton racing.

Consequently, Fred arrives home completely exhausted each evening and goes directly to bed. Wilma is worried about the physically draining regimen of "executive school" and asks Barney to follow and observe Fred while Fred is occupied with his schoolwork. Bemused, Barney watches as "overage teenager" Fred chug-a-lugs milkshakes and dances his potbelly to jukebox music to the cheers of his cherub chums.

When Barney reveals himself and surprises Fred at the malt shop, Fred confides his predicament to Barney, who agrees not to tell Wilma about it until after Fred receives his diploma. However, as fate would have it, Fred, with his "weight and power," is inducted into the high school football team, and Barney unwittingly brings Betty and Wilma to the football team's championship game, where the wives discover Fred on the football field as a key player. Barney explains Fred's deception to Wilma and Betty, and they join him in cheering Fred's game-winning performance. Fred's graduation speech: "High school is only for the young- because only the young can take it. Oh, my aching back."

Characters

• Fred Flintstone
• Wilma Flintstone
• Barney Rubble
• Betty Rubble
• Dino
• Mr. Slate
• Mr. Rockhard (only appearance)
• Ms. Birthstone (only appearance)
• Rocky, Crystal, and Sandy (only appearance)
• James (only heard off-screen)
• Principal (only appearance)
• Ms. Stonewall (only appearance)
• Sam Boulder (only mentioned)
• Charles Cobblestone (only heard off-screen)

Locations

Bedrock

• Flintstone home
• Bedrock Slate and Gravel Company
• Bedrock High School (first appearance)
• Brontoburgers Malt Shop (first appearance)
• Rock Bowl (only appearance)

Objects

• Rockball
• High school diploma (only appearance)
• Rock Bell Phone

Animals

• Snorkasaurus
• Brontosaurus (as a Bronto-Crane and Bronto-Steak)
• Pterodactyl (as a Roast Pterodactyl)
• Saber-Toothed Cat
• Mammoth (as a spray gun)

Vehicles

• Flintmobile

Cast

Alan Reed	Fred Flintstone
Jean Vander Pyl	Wilma Flintstone Crystal Ms. Stonewall
Mel Blanc	Barney Rubble Dino Bronto-Crane Rocky Bird Elephant
Bea Benaderet	Betty Rubble Ms. Birthstone
John Stephenson	Mr. Slate Charlie Principal Announcer
Howard Morris	Mr. Rockhard Charles Coach Cat Sandy James

Notes/Trivia

• The Rubbles appear to have a cat in this episode, but it's never seen or referenced again. When Betty is tickling Barney's feet, the cat mocks him.
• Fred works for the Slate Gravel Co.; Mr. Slate's secretary is Ms. Birthstone.
• The local radio station is KROK.
• Fred's teacher is Miss Stonewall, and his classmates are Sandy, Rocky, and Crystal, who were seen during this episode, and James, who was only heard off-screen.

Allusions

• The music played by Hoyt Curtin when Fred and the teens dance at the Malt Shop is actually music from The Jetsons. The same music would later be retooled to become the Josie & The Pussycats theme.

Errors

• In a previous episode, "Flintstone of Prinstone" Fred was taking accounting classes at "Prinstone" University. Now, he is told in this episode that in order to keep his job, he has to have a high school diploma.