Fred Flintstone, American Beauty
Where do you go after you've picked up an Oscar for Best Picture? To a party
to celebrate the creators of Scooby-Doo and Magilla Gorilla, of course!
American Beauty producer Bruce Cohen set down his statuette long enough to join a lifetime-achievement tribute to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera earlier this week in Los Angeles. The threesome are actually producers of the upcoming Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Cohen's Beauty follow-up. Who knew?
Hanna-Barbera was the first studio to produce animation specifically for
television (1957's Ruff and Ready) and, with The Flintstones, created the first prime-time cartoon. An event to honor their achievements seems fitting, if not long overdue! "To be in the company of these two men who are the history of cartoons, you can't do better than that," Tony Curtis tells TV Guide Online. "We're privileged to have them both around. And the things they made are as brand new today as they were 40 years ago."
Curtis, who once guest-starred on The Flintstones as Stoney Curtis, joined many other voice talents for a walk down memory lane, made more effective if
you closed your eyes to hear the voices of Space Ghost (Gary Owens), Scooby-Doo pals Shaggy (Casey Kasem) and Velma (B.J. Ward), The Jetsons' Jane (Penny Singleton) and Judy (Janet Waldo), and a host of others from the golden age of animation.
"I'm reduced to 6 years old when I hear them all speak," says CNN anchor
Jim Moret, who hosted the party. Moret has a special connection to The
Flintstones: When he was a sixth grader his dad, actor/singer James
Darren, guested on the series as James Darrock. "When your father guest-stars on The Flintstones, you can go to the dance with whomever you want!"