The Rock Bell Phone (also called a Rock Phone) is a classic Stone Age telephone that first appeared in the episode, "The Swimming Pool" of the first season of the original series, The Flintstones and has remained an iconic objects in the franchise ever since, being one of its most recognizable items.
Background[]
It is a phone and the most commonly used piece of Stone-Age technology that was used to communicate and talk to people including Fred's boss, Mr. Slate and friend, Barney, Wilma's friend and Barney's wife, Betty and other citizens of Bedrock.
Description[]
The Rock Bell Phone has a white or variously colored stone base, with a rotary phone dial vector, a black string-like receiver attached to the base and a white shell horn.
Variants[]
Monkeysaurus Bell Phone[]
Barney's monkeysaurus bell phone from The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones.
An stylish model of monkeysaurus-operated bell phone model that's quite the vintage collectible. It offers a far wider ringing range, though this might not be preferable for every caveman. Barney was known to have briefly owned one such model during the events of The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones.
Porto-Tortoise Phone[]
A porto-tortoise phone from The Flintstones' Wacky Inventions.
An automatic mobile model of rock bell phone with the phone built-in to the shell of a tortoisesaurus. Due to modern stone age advances, instead of having to go to your phone when it rings, your phone comes to you thanks to its new wireless feature, and you can carry it wherever you go. It can even take orders and dial numbers for you if need be. Talk about convenience.
Although its slow pace and penchant for sleeping on the job may leave a lot to be desired. Regardless, Wilma had acquired one such model and gave it to Bamm-Bamm for Christmas by the time of A Flintstone Family Christmas set decades later.
Squawker Phone[]
A squawker phone from The Flintstones' Wacky Inventions.
While not mobile like the porto-tortoise model, the squawker phone model can not only make calls but answer them instantly too thanks to its built in parrotsaurus unit which can relay the caller's voice via loudspeaker so everyone can hear incoming calls and it can even take messages when you're out thanks to its keen memory capacity.
It is an absolute must for any office workplace, and owning one is like having your very own personal assistant. Even The Flintstone Family briefly owned one such model by the time of A Flintstone Family Christmas set decades later.
Shell Phone[]
A shell phone from Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby.
The latest in stone age phone technology. A wireless phone built into small handheld shells of varying shapes to suit the particular tastes of any owner and which can be taken anywhere thanks to their built-in retractable antennas with excellent reception so the owner can talk anywhere on the go or send messages, making it a very convenient and modern device.
They enjoy frequent use decades later by the time of Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby, most especially in Hollyrock where life is always busy and people are always waiting for that big important phone call that will decide a big business deal or that one chance at stardom.
Pay Stone Phone[]
The stone phone booth from "The Flintstone Flyer".
Publicly accessible phones built into buildings or along the streets for those without a porto-tortoise or shell phone on hand to make emergency calls. Quite convenient when needed, as long as they have the money to use it of course.
The earliest models accepted only rock coins before switching to clam currency, but later models went back to accepting rock coins as it was less likely to gum up the machine and eat their money. However most pay phones conveniently accept most forms of currency except slab dollar bills.
Gallery[]
Notes/Trivia[]
- The Rock Bell Phone is one of the most merchandised objects of the franchise alongside Fred's Flintmobile, with many toys and collectible phones made in its image and even many Flintstones-themed parks across the USA having phones based on the rock bell design.
- It has also been one of the most referenced objects from The Flintstones in popular culture alongside the Flintmobile.
- The Rock Bell Phone is a parody of the rotary bell phone as well as a spoof on the creator of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell.
- The Shell Phone is a parody of a cell phone.
- The Squawker Phone is a parody of a speakerphone.