Trouble-in-Law

Trouble-in-Law
Details
Show	The Flintstones
Season	2
Episode number	54
Original airdate	March 16, 1962
Crew
Animated by	Carlo Vinci
Written by	Joanna Lee
Chronology
Previous	"This is Your Lifesaver"
Next	"The Mailman Cometh"

"Trouble-in-Law" is the twenty-sixth episode of the second season and the fifty-fourth overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It first aired on March 16, 1962.

Synopsis

Fred's mother-in-law arrives with the news that she has sold her home and is looking to move in with them - but Fred spots an opportunity to find her a husband.

Plot

Wilma sprains her ankle in advance of her mother, Pearl Slaghoople's arrival for a two-week-long stay with her and fretting Fred, who can scarcely tolerate his mother-in-law's constant criticisms, demands, and terrible health food. Fred's suffering is prolonged when the battle-axe informs him that she has sold her house and has come to live permanently with the Flintstones.

As Wilma's mother's furniture is delivered and loaded into the Flintstone home, Fred and mother-in-law agree that the house is not large enough for 3 persons. So, after Fred has strained to install chairs, tables, sofas, and a bed into the garage, his unloved in-law announces that she will join Wilma in the house, relegating Fred to the garage!

While commiserating with Barney at the Bedrock Golf Club, Fred is introduced by Joe Rockhead to Melville J. Muchrocks, who says that he owns a 50,000 acre ranch in Gold Nugget, Texarock, on which is situated a riverbed of gold nuggets and several oil wells, and is now seeking a wife to "take charge and manage things" and cook health food. Fred is delighted to act as a matchmaker between his mother-in-law and Melville, and the two are immediately smitten with each other. Melville convinces Wilma's mother to invest her assets in one of Melville's expected oil strikes, and Wilma suspects Melville of being a "con-man". Wilma and Betty then, at Andre's Beauty Salon, overhear gossip about a widow-swindling man now in Bedrock who poses as a Texarock millionaire to marry, "fleece", and then abandon his targeted victims, and Wilma is frantic that Melville, whom she suspects is the scoundrel, not be permitted to propose marriage to her mother.

Disguised as an uncomely mother with her son are Fred and Barney, who pursue mother-in-law and Melville to Rocky Island Amusement Park, and Barney sticks a lollipop into Melville's mouth before Muchrocks can mention wedded bliss to mother-in-law. Next, as a cantankerous, mustached German chef at a restaurant, Fred challenges Melville to an outdoors fisticuffs concerning a bowl of soup thrown by waiter Barney into Melville's face. Fred and Barney tie Melville and throw him into the baggage car of a train departing Bedrock.

Some time later, as her mother is sad at the loss of her suitor, Wilma learns from Bedrock's journal that the notorious, widow-victimizing "con artist" now captured by police was not Melville. Muchrocks was a legitimate magnate. Mother-in-law's investment in Melville's oil venture has reaped hearty dividends, and she decides to travel the world with her earnings and attempt to find Melville. These plans are halted, however, after Fred twists a ligament in his back and needs "tender, loving care"- of his insufferable in-law.

Characters

• Fred Flintstone
• Wilma Flintstone
• Barney Rubble
• Betty Rubble
• Pearl Slaghoople (first appearance)
• Melvin J. Muchrocks (only appearance)
• Joe Rockhead
• Pete (only appearance)
• Chuck (only appearance)
• Andre (only appearance)
• Daisy (only appearance, no lines)
• Rocko (only mentioned, in a sign)
• Harvey T. Pebble (only appearance, in a news-slab)

Locations

• Bedrock
  • Flintstone home
  • Rubble home
  • Bedrock Golf Club
  • Bowling alley
  • Andre's Beauty Salon (only appearance)
  • Rocky Island Amusement Park (only appearance)

Objects

• Golf clubs
• Daily Slate news-slab

Animals

• Mammoth (as a vacuum cleaner)
• Pelicansaurus (as a trash can)
• Dodo Bird (as a Dodo Bird Egg batter)
• Brontosaurus (as a Bronto-Mover Truck, hair-dryers and part of the Rocky Road Railroad)
• Pterodactyl (as a Pterodactyl leg)
• Stegosaurus (as a Lawn-Mower)

Vehicles

• Flintmobile
• Rocky Road Railroad Train (only appearance)

Cast

Alan Reed	Fred Flintstone
Jean Vander Pyl	Wilma Flintstone
Mel Blanc	Barney Rubble Bird Fish Engineer Chuck
Bea Benaderet	Betty Rubble Dame
John Stephenson	Joe Rockhead Andre Barker Pete
Hal Smith	Melville J. Muchrocks
Verna Felton	Pearl Slaghoople

Notes/Trivia

• It's in this episode that you learn Wilma's mother's first name is Pearl Slaghoople.
• Pearl's boyfriend is called Melville J. Muchrocks.

Errors

• None known.

Template:Season 2 (The Flintstones (1960))