Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Fair-Going Flintstones

Though Walt Disney has quite famous connections to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, rival cartoon makers Hanna-Barbera also made their presence felt by way of their then very popular Flintstones characters. The stone-age family was featured in an Official World's Fair Comic Souvenir titled The Flintstones at the New York World's Fair. The stories in the book featured cameo appearances by other Hanna-Barbera cartoon stars including the Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, Snagglepuss and Huckleberry Hound. The stories took place throughout the fairgrounds at Flushing Meadows and many of the Fair's more famous landmarks were highlighted:

The U.S. Royal tire-themed ferris wheel.

The Tower of the Four Winds sculpture at the Pepsi-Cola pavilion.
The pavilion also played host to the Disney-created it's a small world attraction.

And appropriately enough, Sinclair's Dinoland.

The Fair was also featured in episode of The Flintstones television program that aired during the show's fifth season. Originally broadcast on January 15, 1965, the episode "Time Machine" preceded the Fair's 1965 season. In the episode, Fred, Wilma, Betty and Barney attend the Bedrock World's Fair where they discover, appropriately and amusingly, an empty Hall of Science. The building's only occupant, an eccentric bespectacled inventor sends the two couples into the future by way of his newly invented time machine. After a series of adventures through time, the four end up at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.