Jan 29, 2013

Organic architecture of "Gallery Flintstone

The Flintstones (1960) has been rightly lauded over the years, but one of the lesser noted features of the Hanna-Barbera series is its iconic architectural setting, a stunningly attractive, organic, circular ranch house topped with pancake-shaped granite slabs.

The prehistoric Flintstones world was designed by Ed Benedict (1912-2006), the same man who designed the show's characters.

Benedict created the Flintstones' home almost entirely from his imagination. Benedict created the Flintstones' house almost entirely from his imagination. He was once asked, "What do you mean? He replied, "No, with one exception: on one sample interior, I painted a prehistoric cave painting. I just looked up into the cave and saw an old typical buffalo thing crossing the wall.

Benedict had a little practice with stone age settings. He had designed a caveman and a cave dwelling for Tex Avery's 1955 short story "The First Evil Man"

and he had also designed a cave dwelling for the 1955 film "The First Evil Man"

. The cave dwelling in The First Evil Man is built into the side of a rock formation and looks uncomfortable compared to the homely setting of The Flintstones, complete with a garage, a front yard with flower beds, a pool, and a living room with a sofa. Benedict probably did not come up with the original idea of giving the Flintstones all the comforts of suburbia, but the credit for the visual success of the idea belongs to him. [The Flintstones designs in the image gallery below were created by Benedict for the original network presentation. These works established the general look and feel of the Flintstones world and served as a guide for the layout artists who built the world in each episode. A rare set of photographic prints of these drawings is currently up for auction at HowardLowery.com.