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Barney Rubble

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“Okay, Fred.”
―Barney Rubble


Bernard Matthew "Barney" Rubble is a next-door neighbor, best friend of Fred Flintstone, and the deuteragonist of the original series, The Flintstones and the rest of the franchise.

Background[]

Personality[]

Barney's personality was based on that of Ed Norton on the 1950s television series The Honeymooners, played by Art Carney. Like Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, Fred was constantly on the lookout for get-rich-quick schemes, while Barney, like Norton, found life satisfactory as it was, but participated in said schemes because Fred was his friend. Usually, after Fred had hatched one of his plans, Barney showed his agreement by laughing and saying, "Uh hee hee hee... Ok, Fred." or "Hee hee hee... whatever you say, Fred."

Barney is more jovial, easy-going, and good-natured than Fred, though he often plays funny little insult jokes on his best friend. He’s very caring and devoted to his wife, Betty, as he never wanted to be romantically involved with another woman. Barney is childlike, respectful, noble, encouraging, reasonable, responsible, understanding, big-hearted, benevolent, and extroverted. Also, he’s a loving father to his adopted son, Bamm-Bamm.

Although Fred and Barney are best pals, Barney occasionally loses his patience with Fred. The best example comes in I Yabba-Dabba Do!, when, after losing his patience with Fred for ruining Pebbles's and Bamm-Bamm's wedding, Barney decides to leave Bedrock. He changes his mind after Fred owes him an apology. Barney's inveterate cheerfulness often aggravates Fred, but he truly cares for him.

Barney is not as emotional as the other characters, including Fred, and rarely cries. He cries after saying, "I hate to see a grown man cry," or "Oh gee, if there's one thing I can't stand is to see a grown man cry."

Physical Appearance[]

Barney is a short and diminutive caveman with fair skin, tan beard stubbles, yellow hair, thick black eyebrows, and eyes that are depicted as two ovals or (occasionally) circles and shown only as dark circular outlines in the first through fifth seasons and later with black, very similar to Wilma's eyes in the sixth and final season of the original series. He also wears a brown loincloth with a black letter X-shaped shoelace on the top.

Occupations and Interests[]

Barney's interests included bowling, playing pool, poker, tinkering around in Fred's garage, and playing golf (though there were episodes where Barney did not know how to play golf). He, like Fred, was also a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes and its predecessor in earlier episodes, the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs. He is also a talented pianist and drummer. In the first episode of the original series, he invented a hand-powered helicopter called the Flintstone Flyer.

While the subject of Barney's occupation (or even if he had one) was never given during the original series (only implied at best), subsequent spin-offs suggest Barney went to work at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company alongside Fred at some point after the original series; possibly in some office role. An episode of the original series does have a brief scene of Barney working at the Granite Building and one episode depicting him as a furniture repossessor after Fred got him fired from his first job. However, after this episode, the nature of his job became ambiguous once again later on. The first instance of Barney working alongside Fred at Slate's company was in the 70s primetime specials and The New Fred and Barney Show. Barney would continue working there for most subsequent media, and in The Flintstone Comedy Show, Barney, along with Fred, would briefly join the Bedrock Police force as part-time officers late in Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's teen years while still working at the quarry. By the time of I Yabba-Dabba Do!, Barney and Fred are seemingly no longer working part-time as police officers, with Fred once again working full time at the quarry, however Barney is back to working at his unidentified job which Fred picks him up from.

When speaking to an upper-crust snob in another episode, Betty declares Barney is in "top-secret" work. That might have been a cover for a low-level job, unemployment, or perhaps an in-joke, meaning that Barney's job was unknown even to the show's writers. It could also be possible that both Fred and Barney work at the quarry, but they may work in different sections of it under different bosses.

In one episode, Barney's boss tells him to "put down his broom," implying some janitorial work. However, in the majority of depictions after the original show's run, including the highly successful 1994 film, Barney has been portrayed as working in the quarry as a dino-crane operator alongside Fred, and it has become somewhat cemented with the character. Notably, in the 1990s, Cartoon Network featured a musical remix of The Flintstones theme for their Groovies segment, which included trivia about the show, with one bit of trivia claiming that Barney was "frequently unemployed." If this were the case, it would explain Barney's constant change in occupation and the obscure nature of his jobs.

Biography[]

Fred and Barney as babies - Fussin and Feudin

Fred and Barney as babies from an old photo from "Feudin' and Fussin'".

Not much of Barney's life growing up is known, and while the mid-1980s spin-off series The Flintstone Kids depicts Barney as a child, the series seems to be mostly apocryphal. What is known is that Barney has known Fred since infancy, with them even being taken on strolls together as babies and being on the same sports teams together back in their high school days, all the while getting into all sorts of shenanigans even back then as revealed in "Feudin' and Fussin'".

The Flintstones - Bachelor Daze - Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty in the Cinderama

Barney with Betty, Wilma and Fred seeing a movie in the Cinderama.

Barney and Fred would first meet their future wives Betty and Wilma in their teenage years at the Honeyrock Hotel sixteen years prior to the episode "Bachelor Daze" (although "Fred Strikes Out" implies they may have met before then, possibly having lost track of each other after childhood or simply the result of a retcon). There, Barney and Fred had just started working as bellboys. One day, they were goofing off and pretending to be millionaires in a fancy car they were watching when they first met Betty and Wilma (who also worked at the hotel as maids) who were also goofing off and pretending to be rich girls while hanging out in a fancy car that wasn't theirs.

It was essentially love at first sight for the youths, but both parties were too afraid to pursue their relationships further out of fear that they would be exposed as lowly hotel workers. In the end, though, the truth was revealed at the hotel party that night, and both parties were greatly relieved to find out they weren't rich. After being fired for goofing off, they were picked up and taken home by Wilma's mother Pearl Slaghoople, who was less than pleased with her daughter's new boyfriend, Fred.

It is unknown when Barney would formally propose to Betty. Still, it would presumably be sometime after Fred proposed to Wilma six and a half years after their first meeting (although the number of years they've been married exactly always varies between episodes and media). Barney and Betty also presumably moved to Bedrock with Fred and Wilma sometime after their weddings, with Barney moving into the house next door to Fred's. Several episodes and spin-offs suggest that Barney, along with Fred, spent some time in the army early in their marriages, though said references may be to Barney and Fred's military service in the episode "The Astra' Nuts" which was very short-lived and ended with them being unsuccessfully launched to the moon.

After their marriages, Barney got a job somewhere in Bedrock, although the details were always obscured. In contrast, Fred got a job at Slate Rock and Gravel Company, although Barney briefly had some involvement at Fred's workplace. With their new home and employment in place, the duo would spend most of their lives going through many shenanigans and trials, including Barney serving as Fred's lackey in many of his get-rich-quick schemes.

The most eventful day of Barney and Betty's lives after marriage would come shortly after the birth of Fred and Wilma's first daughter Pebbles Flintstone. After her birth, Barney and Betty were made the newborn's godparents, and the two would spend every night with her. This was an activity they cherished dearly due to Barney and Betty's difficulty in having children of their own. However, one night, a disgruntled Fred lost his temper and told the couple to leave his daughter be after Pebbles' first words turned out to be something Barney taught her rather than what Fred had been teaching her. This greatly upset the Rubbles, who ran off to their home, deeply saddened and heartbroken. Fred naturally realized he had overreacted and quickly went to apologize. Still, the Rubbles' held no ill will, realizing that they had been spending too much time with Pebbles to make up for their lack of a child and had been relying too much on Pebbles to fill that need.

The Flintstones - Little Bamm-Bamm - Bamm-Bamm with Betty and Barney

Barney and Betty with Bamm-Bamm.

That night both Barney and Betty saw a wondrous shooting star over their house and both wished with all their heart on it, with their only desire being to be blessed with a child of their own. The next morning, Barney walked out to fetch the paper when he saw an orphaned baby on his doorstep, much to his amazement and delight.

With all haste, Barney took the child to Betty and read the note that accompanied it, which said that the child's name was "Bamm-Bamm" and that he needed a good home. The couple were ecstatic at the prospect of finally having a child of their own, and Barney could only thank his wishing star for this miraculous opportunity. Although Barney and Betty would initially have some legal problems during the official adoption process, they eventually won out in the end. Finally, they had their first true child, Bamm-Bamm Rubble, whom they would lovingly raise.

The Flintstones - The Great Gazoo - Fred, Barney and the Great Gazoo

Fred and Barney meet The Great Gazoo.

From there, Barney's life continued to be hectic, with many more shenanigans alongside Fred while also learning the joys of fatherhood. Barney would also get to go on even more fantastic adventures with Fred after meeting the mysterious alien known as The Great Gazoo. Although their time together was short, it would prove to be a very troubling but exciting time.

From then on, Barney and Fred would still be inseparable as the years rolled by, with Barney even going to work in the same occupation as Fred. They watched their children grow up to become teenagers and a lovely couple who would, fittingly enough, become much like their parents. Pebbles often acted as the scheming and adventurous planner. In contrast, Bamm-Bamm would act as the unwilling but loyal sidekick in all her schemes, much like his father before him, much to his father's amusement. Eventually, Fred and Barney decided to pursue a new career path for themselves by joining the Bedrock Police as part-time officers. There, Barney and Fred would first meet the mysterious Shmoo, who proved to be a loving and faithful police partner and pet to the duo both on and off duty.

Many more years passed, and now the Rubbles' and the Flintstones' children had grown to adulthood with lives of their own, with Barney's son Bamm-Bamm going on to become a mechanic and amateur script writer while still living with his parents. However, the Rubbles and the Flintstones received some life-changing news when Bamm-Bamm announced that he and Pebbles had finally become engaged. This union would finally seal the Rubbles and the Flintstones together as a family forever more.

Relationships[]

Family[]

In The Flintstone Kids, Barney had at least one younger brother, Dusty, who was a childhood friend of Fred and the son of artist Flo Slate Rubble and car dealer Robert "Honest Bob" Rubble might be taken as valid. In at least one episode of the original series, it was implied that Mr. Slate was actually Barney's uncle (most likely Barney's mom's brother) -- but subsequent episodes of the original series (as well as subsequent Flinstones-media) don't seem to support this claim.

He was later married to Betty, with whom he adopted their son, Bamm-Bamm, and also had a pet hopparoo named Hoppy. He later became the paternal grandfather to Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's children, Chip and Roxy.

Love Interests[]

Unlike Fred, Barney has never been shown with any woman aside from his wife. However, an exception for this is made in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas when he is invited to go to a buffet with Chip's secretary, Roxie, although he and Betty are just dating and not married at this point. After Barney accidentally knocks a cake onto Roxie and is helping her get cleaned up, Betty happens to witness this and (not realizing what happened) mistakes this for an intimate gesture between the two.

Another exception is made in A Flintstones Christmas Carol when an actress named Maggie appears, and every man at the Quarry, including Barney, is surprised by her beauty.

Appearances[]

Television shows

Films and specials

Video games

Publications

Portrayals[]

Television shows, films and specials

Other

Gallery[]

The Flintstones - F Letter Logo
The Flintstones Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Barney Rubble.

Notes/Trivia[]

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