The Tycoon

The Tycoon
Details
Show	The Flintstones
Season	1
Episode number	22
Original airdate	February 24, 1961
Crew
Written by	Warren Foster
Chronology
Previous	"Love Letters on the Rocks"
Next	"The Astra' Nuts"

"The Tycoon" is the twenty-second episode of the first season of The Flintstones. It aired on February 24, 1961.

Synopsis

Fred takes the place of missing look-a-like industrial tycoon, J.L. Gotrocks, who goes to meet the common folk, insulting everyone he meets, including Fred's wife and friends.

Plot

Everyone has a look-alike, and Fred's double is the pompous industrialist J.L. Gotrocks. During a day on which Wilma plans to travel away from Bedrock to visit her ill mother, Fred goes to work as usual. Meanwhile, Gotrocks, exasperated with incessant telephone calls and demands from his "battle-axe" wife to buy liver and hair curlers, resolves to leave his responsibilities and experience a care-free life.

After Gotrocks has escaped his business building by means of a back door, his two executives, fearing for their jobs should Gotrocks' disappearance cause his corporate empire to crumble, look high and low for their employer. They discover Fred at the rock quarry, and once satisfied that Fred is not really their company's founder, they proposition Fred to assume Gotrocks' place until Gotrocks is found. Promise of hefty remuneration entices Fred to cooperate with them, and Fred asks for and is granted a leave of absence by his boss.

At Gotrocks' office, Fred is instructed by the executives to say, "Whose baby is that? What's your angle? I'll buy that," to each contract proposal. By telephone, Wilma's mother reports to Wilma that she is recovering and does not require Wilma's visit, and Wilma agrees to stay in Bedrock. When she tries to contact Fred at the rock quarry to relay the good news, Wilma learns of Fred's leave of absence- for unspecified reasons- and is joined by Barney and Betty on an angry search for her errant husband.

In Bedrock, they find not Fred but Gotrocks and mistake him for Fred. The abrasive tycoon offends Wilma with his "battle-axe" wife description, body-slams Barney, denies knowing any of them, and spends a wad of money on a pinball machine and extravagant tips for bowling alley personnel, and Wilma, Betty, and Barney later furiously confront a thoroughly confused Fred after Fred has quit his substitution for Gotrocks and Gotrocks has willingly returned to his job, free from the harassment of Fred's folk.

Characters

• Butcher (only appearance; no lines)
• Baker (only appearance; no lines)
• Pizza pie maker (only appearance; no lines)
• Banker (only appearance; no lines)
• Fred Flintstone (main story and flashback)
• Wilma Flintstone (main story and flashback)
• Barney Rubble (main story and flashback)
• Betty Rubble (main story and flashback)
• J.L. Gotrocks (only appearance; flashback only)
• Parrot (only appearance)
• Mrs. Gotrocks (only time mentioned)
• F.M. (only appearance; flashback only)
• G.W. (only appearance; flashback only)
• Mr. Boulder (only appearance; flashback only)
• Pearl Slaghoople (first time mentioned)
• Doorman (only appearance; flashback only)
• Mabel (only time mentioned)
• Lady in Office #1 (only appearance; flashback only)
• Lady in Office #2 (only appearance; flashback only)
• Mr. Stonehead (only appearance; flashback only)

Locations

• Bedrock
  • Butcher's (only appearance)
  • Baker's (only appearance)
  • Pizza pie shop (only appearance)
  • Bank (only appearance)
  • Flintstone home (main story and flashback)
  • Quarry (flashback only)
  • Gotrocks Corp. (only appearance; flashback only)
  • Tar-pit Tavern (only appearance; flashback only)
  • Boulder Dan's Billiards (second and last appearance; flashback only)
  • Sam's Ice Cream Parlor (only appearance; flashback only)
• Riviera (mentioned only)

Objects

• Phones

Animals

• Mammoth (as a garden hose)
• Pterodactyl (as hedge clippers and a voicemail)
• Brontosaurus (as a crane)

Vehicles

• Flintmobile

Cast

Alan Reed	Fred Flintstone J.L. Gotrocks
Jean Vander Pyl	Wilma Flintstone
Mel Blanc	Barney Rubble Parrot G.W. Mr. Boulder Doorman
Bea Benaderet	Betty Rubble Ladies in office
John Stephenson	Narrator F.M. Mr. Stonehead

Notes/Trivia

• The narrator is never named and this is the only episode with narration.
• The quarry is called Rockhead Quarry Construction Co. in this episode.
• J.L. Gotrocks' version of "You're fired!" was stolen by President Donald Trump 40 years later.
• Betty goes to Boulder Dan's Place, the pool parlor that Fred tried to buy in "At the Races."
• In this episode, we learn that Bedrock is 200 feet below sea level and is the seat of Cobblestone County.

Errors

• None known.

Template:Season 1 (The Flintstones (1960))