The House Guest

The House Guest
Details
Show	The Flintstones
Season	2
Episode number	42
Production number	P-39
Original airdate	December 22, 1961 (ABC)
Recording Date	May 15, 1961
Crew
Animated by	Laverne Harding
Written by	Sydney Zelinka
Chronology
Previous	"The Picnic"
Next	"The X-Ray Story"

"The House Guest" is the fourteenth episode of the second season and the forty-second overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on December 22, 1961.

Synopsis

The Rubbles move in with the Flintstones, while their cave is being repaired, but Wilma and Betty fear that Fred and Barney will spend all their time fighting.

Plot

A fissure in the Rubbles' kitchen sink pipe should require the expensive labor of a plumber, but Fred forbids his friends to appeal to a tradesman for help and offers to correct the problem himself, by sticking an ice pick into the hole from which water is spewing onto the Rubbles' kitchen floor. All this does is to cause a leak elsewhere in the pipe. More improvisation by Fred- spoons, an umbrella, and a broom inserted into the subsequent pipe holes- results in the pipe bursting open and water flooding the Rubbles' house.

A plumber estimates pipe and valve replacement and installation to cost $200, and he will need to drain the domicile of the overabundant moisture and renovate the floor, a job of 4 to 5 days, during which time Barney and Betty must reside elsewhere. Fred feels responsible for the Rubbles' troublesome situation and offers to accommodate them for 5 days. Wilma and Betty are both dubious about this, saying that the surest way for one to lose a friend is to have him/her co-habit one's home, but Fred and Barney insist that they will be able to live with each other under the same roof and whole-heartedly maintain their singing of, "My bosom buddy and life-long pal."

Barney grates upon Fred's nerves by grabbing and eating the larger of two pieces of layer cake without first being offered that cake slice by Fred, who must eat the small-sized serving, then by claiming the living room sofa as sleep site and requiring Fred to doze on a pair of chairs that have a habit of collapsing into each other- and into Fred- like a mousetrap, and again by removing Fred's telephone from its hook for the purpose of concentration while reading- when Fred is anxiously awaiting an important telephone call from Mr. Slate.

Fred strains to smile and not exhibit animosity toward his house-guest from hell, but Barney exhausts Fred's ability to feign amicable placidity when he eats an entire pizza put by Wilma into the refrigerator for the two families to eat in celebration of their last night as co-residents. Fred announces that he will walk to a delicatessen with Barney for food to replace the pizza, and once beyond the edge of his yard, Fred proclaims his vehement disdain for Barney's conduct and prepares to fist-assail Rubble, before Wilma and Betty are heard arguing bitterly about Barney's solitary pizza-repast. Fred and Barney laugh at the quarreling women and, with their friendship mended again, invite their wives out for a meal at a burger joint.

Characters

• Fred Flintstone
• Wilma Flintstone
• Barney Rubble
• Betty Rubble
• Pearl Slaghoople (mentioned)
• Mr. Slate (mentioned)

Locations

Bedrock

• Flintstone home
• Rubble home
• Quicky Car Wash (only appearance)

Objects

• Fork
• Spoon
• Umbrella
• Broom
• Tree branch
• Hammer
• Cuckoo Clock
• Rock Bell Phone
• Ice Age Box

Food

• Mammoth meatball
• Swamp root layer cake (only appearance)

Animals

• Mammoth (as vacumm cleaners, squirter hoses and a meatball)
• Hedgehogasaurus (as a brush)
• Hipposaurus (as a press)
• Monkeysaurus
• Turtlesaurus

Vehicles

• Flintmobile

Cast

Alan Reed	Fred Flintstone
Jean Vander Pyl	Wilma Flintstone
Mel Blanc	Barney Rubble Porcupine Plumber Woodpecker
Bea Benaderet	Betty Rubble

Notes/Trivia

• This episode was one of the very rare occasions where we see Wilma and Betty actually fight with each other.
• Dino is nowhere in sight, but the Flintstones own a cat named Baby Puss.
• In this episode, the Flintstone home has only one bedroom (the number seems to vary).

Censorship

• One sequence got past the censors. Fred is standing in the doorway of the bathroom, and next to him is what is clearly not the sink, but rather the edge of the toilet.

Errors

• None known.