"The Gambler" is the sixteenth episode of the second season and the forty-fourth overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on January 5, 1962.
Synopsis[]
Fred is tempted back into a life of gambling, when the local delivery boy makes an innocent bet with him.
Plot[]
"Betting Freddie" was Fred's childhood nickname. Whenever someone would utter, "bet," Fred would hear bells and whistles and would quiver and roll his eyes and repeat the word over and over like a clucking chicken. In his first years of a relationship with Wilma, compulsive gambler Fred bet on dinosaur-horses at various races, lost all of the money that he had, and used his possessions as collateral for further wagers in a vain effort to restore his finances.
After defeating Fred in another of Fred's gambles, Wilma decreed that he visit a psychiatrist, who diagnosed Fred's condition and urged Fred to summon the necessary will-power to quit betting. However, Fred was not really "cured" of his vice. When he announces to Arnold, the precocious journal-delivering juvenile, that he is cancelling his "newspaper" subscription due to chronic lateness on Arnold's part, Arnold is in the process of playing marbles and bets five cents that he can win against Fred in knocking a marble out of a circle. Fred hears those familiar bells and whistles and proposes a double-or-nothing gamble on the $22.12 accumulated journal fees that Fred owes to Arnold.
Fred loses the game and bets double-or-nothing again and again with Arnold, and each time, Arnold is the victor. Fred is honor-bound not to "welsh" on his woebegone wagers and allows Arnold to possess his television and living room furniture for Arnold's boys' clubhouse until Fred can pay Arnold the large sum of dollars specified in the final gamble; Wilma had "found" Fred's stashed savings inside of his bowling ball and used them to pay a man who was going to repossess the Flintstones' television. Wilma eventually suspects that Fred has again succumbed to his inclination.
Once informed by Fred that Fred loaned the television and furniture to Arnold's boys' club, she is unable to demand the return to Flintstone house of the television and furniture because the boys all hail Fred as their hero. So, she and Betty use Barney's monetary cache in Barney's bowling ball, to buy new furniture and a new television to transform ultra-modern the abode of the Flintstones. Now in debt to the Rubbles for the new living room items, Fred vows to again abstain from betting.
Characters[]
Locations[]
Bedrock[]
- Flintstone home
- Bedrock Race Track (in a photo album)
- Boys' Club (only appearance)
Other[]
- Hialeahstone (only mentioned)
- Hollyrock Park (only mentioned)
Objects[]
- Flintstones' TV
- Fred's old photo album
- Fred's bowling ball
- News-slab
- Marble (only appearance)
Animals[]
- Bearasaurus (as a bear rug from a photo)
Vehicles[]
Cast[]
| Alan Reed | Fred Flintstone |
|---|---|
| Jean Vander Pyl | Wilma Flintstone |
| Mel Blanc | Barney Rubble |
| Bea Benaderet | Betty Rubble |
| Don Messick | Arnold |
| John Stephenson | Doctor Announcer |
| Alan Dinehart | Voice |
Notes/Trivia[]
- The show The Unmentionables, a parody of the 1959 TV series, The Untouchables, is mentioned again.
- Hialeahstone is a spoof of Hialeah, Florida.
Errors[]
- None known.
| Season 2 of The Flintstones |
|---|
| "The Hit Songwriters" • "Droop-Along Flintstone" • "The Missing Bus" • "Alvin Brickrock Presents" • "Fred Flintstone Woos Again" • "The Rock Quarry Story" • "The Soft Touchables" • "Flintstone of Prinstone" • "The Little White Lie" • "Social Climbers" • "The Beauty Contest" • "The Masquerade Ball" • "The Picnic" • "The House Guest" • "The X-Ray Story" • "The Gambler" • "A Star is Almost Born" • "The Entertainer" • "Wilma's Vanishing Money" • "Feudin' and Fussin'" • "Impractical Joker" • "Operation Barney" • "The Happy Household" • "Fred Strikes Out" • "This is Your Lifesaver" • "Trouble-in-Law" • "The Mailman Cometh" • "The Rock Vegas Story" • "Divided We Sail" • "Kleptomaniac Caper" • "Latin Lover" • "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" |