"The Soft Touchables" is the seventh episode of the second season and the thirty-fifth overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on October 27, 1961.
Synopsis[]
Fred and Barney start a part-time detective agency, but their first client turns out to be a criminal.
Plot[]
Printed on a sign on a door in the Granite Building: Fred Flintstone, Part-Time Private Eye. Barney Rubble Likewise. Office Hours: After Dinner. The office of the amateur detectives is without furniture, which has been confiscated by a finance company until the two are able to earn money to redeem it, by attaining their first client. Opportunity knocks in the ravishing form of a white-haired bombshell who says that she represents a bank offering Fred and Barney a $500 per-day contract. The duo must meet the president of Bedrock's Third National Bank to learn the nature of their duties.
Unbeknown to the "eager beaver" gumshoes, the woman is really Dagmar the Peroxide Kid, member of a gang of bank robbers, the leader of which, a short, sharp-tongued man named Boss, intends to use Fred and Barney as unwitting stooges in his next planned heist- at the Third National Bank. Posing as the bank president in the gentlemen's restroom (and placing a "Bank President" sign on over the restroom designation on the door), Boss recommends that Fred and Barney accompany him to a park to discuss the particulars of their assigned task because spies are everywhere, and his "office" is probably "wired"!
Because bank robberies are increasing, Boss expresses banker's concern that "his" establishment will be the robbers' next target and that he and "Vice-President" P. J. Knuckles (his lame-brained accomplice) plan to covertly extract the money from the Third National Bank by night for transfer to a "safe place". Barney inquires as to what place could be safer for money than a bank, but Fred, not wanting to alienate a client, quashes his friend's legitimate skepticism. Boss wants for his detective hires to be guards (lookouts) during the procedure and informs Fred and Barney that any trouble is likely to come from robbers disguised as policemen, so that Fred and Barney will use force against the police officers to facilitate escape from the robbery site by Boss and Knuckles.
Wilma and Betty are displeased that their husbands have been contracted to this "job" (they were hoping that Fred and Barney would abandon their P.I. ambitions when its monetary yield was nil) and insist that Fred and Barney go with them to a Leonard Bernstone concert one hour after their nocturnal assignment with Boss commences. Fred and Barney still do not suspect a crooked deception when Boss and Knuckles use dynamite to gain entry into the bank (P. J. left his key to the bank in his "other suit").
While the criminals load bags of money onto a truck, a police car siren is heard, and Boss orders Fred and Barney to fight the coming police-garbed hoodlums while he and Knuckles abscond with the fortune. Fred and Barney realize that they have assaulted a bona fide police officer (who earlier ticketed Fred for driving his car too fast) and are ordered by the men at the Bedrock Police Department to report there on the next morning to identify Boss and Knuckles from a series of "mug shots". But Boss and Knuckles pose as taxi drivers, with Fred and Barney as initially ignorant passengers (Fred's car is still at the bank) and overhear Flintstone and Rubble's talk of planning to assist in jailing their swindlers. Once they have revealed themselves to the flabbergasted wannabe P.I.s, Boss and Knuckles plan to drop Fred and Barney into a cement mixer, but a broken tire of the stolen taxicab stalls arrival at the cement mixer destination.
Enter Wilma and Betty, furious with Fred and Barney for being late to go to the concert and en-route thereto in Betty's compact car. While Wilma and Betty distract Boss and Knuckles, Barney kicks the detached taxicab tire to trip the nefarious pair, and the wives use their purses to knock the villains into a stupor. Police arrest Boss, Knuckles, and Dagmar, and Rockville Times' first-page story is that Flintstone and Rubble capture bank robbers. Fred and Barney abandon their private detective agency.
Characters[]
- Fred Flintstone
- Wilma Flintstone
- Barney Rubble
- Betty Rubble
- Boss Rockhead (only appearance)
- Knuckles (only appearance)
- Dagmar the Peroxide Kid (only appearance)
- Gus Granite (only mentioned)
- Perry (only appearance)
Locations[]
Bedrock[]
- Flintstone home
- Granite Building (only appearance)
- Third National Bank of Bedrock (only appearance)
- Boss and Knuckles' hideout (only appearance)
Objects[]
- Rockville Times news-slab (only appearance)
- Clever Crimes magazine (only appearance)
- Wall Clock
Animals[]
- Saber-Toothed Tiger (as a full length coat)
- Pterodactyl (as part of a coat with a collar)
Vehicles[]
- Flintmobile
- Betty's car
- Police motorcycle
- Taxi cab
Media[]
- Bedrock News (news broadcast)
Cast[]
| Alan Reed | Fred Flintstone |
|---|---|
| Jean Vander Pyl | Wilma Flintstone |
| Mel Blanc | Barney Rubble |
| Bea Benaderet | Betty Rubble |
| Daws Butler | Knuckles Sergeant |
| John Stephenson | Boss Rockhead Cop Announcer |
| Sandra Gould | Dagmar the Peroxide Kid |
Notes/Trivia[]
- The title refers to the 1959 TV series, The Untouchables.
- The conductor Leonard Bernstone (Leonard Bernstein) and composer Rocky Maninoff (Rachmaninoff) are mentioned.
- Fred reads the Rockville Times.
- This was the first episode that Mel Blanc worked on after his near-fatal auto accident, over two months before. Joseph Barbera arranged for a portable recording studio to be set up in Mel's bedroom, with a boom microphone suspended over Mel's face so that he could record his dialogue with the cast, while encased in a full body cast, lying on a special hospital bed. He recorded episodes for an entire year this way.
Errors[]
- The story about Fred and Barney is in The Rockville Times although they live in Bedrock not Rockville.
| 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" |