Little Bamm-Bamm

Little Bamm-Bamm
Details
Show	The Flintstones
Season	4
Episode number	91
Production number	P-101
Original airdate	October 3, 1963 (ABC)
Recording Date	June 12, 1963
Crew
Animated by	Kenneth Muse George Goepper Jerry Hathcock
Layout	Dick Bickenbach Jack Huber Walt Clinton
Background	Fernando Montealegre (known as F. Montealegre) Art Lozzi
Written by	Warren Foster
Chronology
Previous	"Groom Gloom"
Next	"Dino Disappears"

"Little Bamm Bamm" is the third episode of the fourth season and the ninty-first overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on October 3, 1963.

Synopsis

After the childless Rubbles wish upon a star for a baby of their own, Barney finds a basket containing the world's strongest foundling. However, someone else wants to adopt little Bamm-Bamm, and he's rich.

Plot

The episode starts where Fred is laughing at Dino because his bone is too long. Again, the jealous, thoughtless, loud-mouthed, overbearing, quick-tempered, and possessive father, Fred, is becoming a bore! In one of his irritable moods, Fred proclaims exasperated weariness with the Rubbles' daily visits in adulation of Pebbles and especially with Barney's habitual bird, horse, and upside-down cake imitations, all of which delight Pebbles but cause Fred's stomach to somersault, particularly because Fred is unable to amuse Pebbles to the same extent. Fred angrily expels the Rubbles from the Flintstones' house, is promptly scolded by Wilma for his rude and inconsiderate attitude, and visits the Rubbles to make things right.

Barney and Betty express their desire to have a child of their own, and when the Rubbles notice a falling star in the night sky, they both wish for an infant addition to their family. Thus, the next morning, Barney discovers in a turtle shell basket on the Rubble doorstep a giggling bundle of joy, a white-haired, brawny male toddler porting and slamming to the floor of a wooden club. The note enclosed in the basket says that the orphan boy, Bamm-Bamm, requires a good home, and theirs is the one of choice. Barney insists that this wonderful development is a direct result of his and Betty's wish on the falling star, but proud parenthood is not going to be theirs without complication. The Rubbles must report their finding of Bamm-Bamm to the Child Welfare Authority and file a petition for permission to adopt the tough toddler. However, there is a prior application by a well-to-do man named Stonyfeller for custody of Bamm-Bamm.

Since Barney and Betty are immediately fond of little Bamm-Bamm and feel that their home is equally valid as a place for raising a child than that of the moneyed Stonyfeller, they enter into litigation with their lawyer, Bronto Berger, against the tycoon, whose attorney is invincible Perry Masonry. Fred and Wilma accompany the Rubbles to the Bedrock Municipal Court for the custody trial. Although the judge is Masonry's estranged brother and thought by Barney and Betty to be therefore favorable to them, Masonry skillfully berates Barney's memory with a question of Barney's whereabouts on a non-event day, which the nervous Barney cannot recollect and literally reduces Mr. Rubble on the witness stand to monkey-like conduct unbecoming of a Stone Age father.

So, custody of Bamm-Bamm is granted by the judge to Stonyfeller, but Stonyfeller minutes later learns that his wife is expecting a child, and he will now have blood offspring. Stonyfeller cedes Bamm-Bamm to the Rubbles permanently. Without hearing this excellent news, a heartbroken and depressed Barney walks out of the courthouse alone and despondently declares his life not worth living without his little Bamm-Bamm and prepares to drown himself in a rock-tied-to-leg jump from a bridge. Fred, Wilma, and Betty arrive, with Bamm-Bamm in Betty's arms, at the bridge, and when they inform Barney that Bamm-Bamm is officially his son, Barney gladly aborts the suicide.

Characters

• Fred Flintstone
• Wilma Flintstone
• Betty Rubble
• Barney Rubble
• Dino
• Pebbles Flintstone
• Bamm-Bamm Rubble (first appearance)

Other Characters

• George (only appearance)
• Perry Masonry (only appearance)
• Mr. Stonyfeller (only appearance)
• Mrs. Stonyfeller (only mentioned)
• Judge Stonyfeller (only appearance)
• Child Welfare Authority Clerk (only appearance)
• Orderly (only appearance)
• Bailiff (only appearance)
• Bronto Berger (only appearance)
• Old Lady (only appearance)

Locations

Bedrock

• Flintstone home
• Rubble home
• Child Welfare Authority (only appearance)
• Bedrock Municipal Court (only appearance)

Objects

• Bedrock Slab news-slab
• Rock Bell Phone
• Bamm-Bamm's club (first appearance)

Food

• Cactus Mush
• Dodo Egg

Animals

• Snorkasaurus
• Dodo Bird (as a dodo egg)
• Mammoth (as a faucet)
• Brontosaurus (as a bone)
• Catasaurus
• Pterodactyl (as a can opener)
• Turtlesaurus

Vehicles

• Flintmobile
• Loggin Continental
• Stonyfeller's limousine (only appearance)

Cast

Alan Reed	Fred Flintstone
Jean Vander Pyl	Wilma Flintstone Pebbles Flintstone Child Welfare Authority Clerk
Mel Blanc	Barney Rubble Dino Stonyfeller
Bea Benaderet	Betty Rubble Old Lady
Don Messick	Bamm-Bamm Rubble Bird Judge Stonyfeller Perry Masonry
Hal Smith	Bronto Berger Cat Orderly George Bailiff

Notes/Trivia

• The working title for this episode was "The Rubble's Son".
• Judge Stonyfeller is a spoof of Rockefeller.
• The commentary on the DVD points out that this episode talks about two surprisingly serious subjects for the show: adoption and suicide. There is also the implication that Barney is either sterile/impotent or Betty is unable to get pregnant.
• Although Bamm-Bamm was introduced in this episode, he would not become a regular character until much later in the fourth season.
• The scene in this episode where Pebbles meets Bamm-Bamm for the very first time was adapted into a flashback scene in Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby.
• In this scene, Barney breaks the fourth wall when he bets that the viewers at home cannot guess what he and Betty wished for. He also appears on a TV screen in a cameo appearance in the film, Better Off Dead.
• Bamm-Bamm only smiles when a Rubble or Flintstone is nearby.

Allusions

• Perry Masonry and Bronto Berger are spoofs of Perry Mason and his nemesis, Hamilton "Ham" Burger.

Errors

• Notice at the end of the episode that Bamm-Bamm's hair is red like Pebbles, then changes to white when the gang starts laughing.