"The Hot Piano" is the nineteenth episode of the first season of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on February 3, 1961.
Synopsis[]
Fred buys a cheap piano from a shady businessman, but has a lot of trouble trying to get it into the house without Wilma knowing.
Plot[]
Feigning forgetfulness regarding his wedding anniversary, Fred intends to buy something more substantial for Wilma than the usual flowers. He wishes to surprise Wilma with a genuine Stoneway piano but requires 100 times the 50 dollars that he has saved for the purchase from a music store. Fred believes it to be his lucky day when a man on a street corner offers to sell a Stoneway to Fred for a mere $50.
The vendor, Eighty-Eight Fingers Louie, says that he is able to sell at so extreme a discount because he has no store, hence no rent, no "overheads". All he has is a truck parked in an alley- and declines Fred's request to assist in delivering the piano to the Flintstone home, a task to which Fred assigns Barney. Flintstone and Rubble hide the piano in Fred's garage, and at midnight, the men endeavor to insert the heavy and cumbersome piano through a doorway, with Fred applying too much force, and the musical instrument careens through the Flintstone residence, rolls outside via another passageway, and menaces the streets of Bedrock.
Fred leaps atop the speeding object and is arrested by a sardonic policeman for recklessly driving a piano. Brought to police headquarters, Fred is assumed by the duty Sergeant to be 88 Fingers Louie, specialist in selling stolen property. Fred pleads innocence, says that all he wanted was to surprise his wife with the piano as a wedding anniversary gift, and the Sergeant sympathizes and orders his constables to aid Fred in this endeavor.
After Wilma awakes to see her piano present, being played by Barney with the policemen singing, "Happy Anniversary", the authorities confiscate the "hot" musical instrument and are about to escort Fred to jail, before a report is radioed from police headquarters that the real Eighty-Eight Fingers has been caught. Fred is released and hurries to a flower shop for the standard and cheap wedding anniversary gift!
Characters[]
- Wilma Flintstone
- Fred Flintstone
- Betty Rubble
- Barney Rubble
- Music shop seller (only appearance)
- Eighty-Eight Fingers Louie (only appearance)
- Mailman (only appearance)
- Police officer (only appearance)
- Sergeant (only appearance)
Locations[]
Bedrock[]
- Flintstone home
- Music shop (only appearance)
- Precinct
Objects[]
- Music to Calm a Volcano By (only appearance)
- Stoneway Piano
Animals[]
- Lizardsaurus (as a xylophone)
Vehicles[]
- Flintmobile
- Police van
Songs[]
- "Meet the Flintstones" (on a xylophone)
- "Happy Anniversary"
- “Chopsticks” (on piano)
Cast[]
| Alan Reed | Fred Flintstone |
|---|---|
| Jean Vander Pyl | Wilma Flintstone |
| Mel Blanc | Barney Rubble Lizard |
| Bea Benaderet | Betty Rubble |
| Frank Nelson | Clerk |
| Daws Butler | Eighty-Eight Fingers Louie Postman Cop Sergeant |
Notes/Trivia[]
- Barney plays "In the Merry, Merry Month of May" on the piano and the theme song, ("Meet the Flintstones" - before it became the official theme tune) on the xylophone. Barney's piano teacher was Professor Pizzicato.
- When Fred and Barney bring the piano home, they hoist it via pulley into an 'upstairs' window- which gives Fred the opportunity to drop it on Barney. In the next scene, after Fred 'tackles' the piano through the front door, it rolls right through the bedroom and whole house, which is one story again- just like throughout the rest of the series.
Allusions[]
- This episode appears to be a variation of Laurel and Hardy's classic 1932 film The Music Box.
- Happy Anniversary is sung to the tune of The William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini.
Errors[]
- None known.
| Season 1 of The Flintstones |
|---|
| "The Flagstones" • "The Flintstone Flyer" • "Hot Lips Hannigan" • "The Swimming Pool" • "No Help Wanted" • "The Split Personality" • "The Monster from the Tar Pits" • "The Babysitters" • "At the Races" • "The Engagement Ring" • "Hollyrock, Here I Come" • "The Golf Champion" • "The Sweepstakes Ticket" • "The Drive-In" • "The Prowler" • "The Girls' Night Out" • "Arthur Quarry's Dance Class" • "The Big Bank Robbery" • "The Snorkasaurus Hunter" • "The Hot Piano" • "The Hypnotist" • "Love Letters on the Rocks" • "The Tycoon" • "The Astra' Nuts" • "The Long, Long Weekend" • "In the Dough" • "The Good Scout" • "Rooms for Rent" • "Fred Flintstone: Before and After" |