European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 31, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                File Wilma and Fred Flintstone in the to cartoon. The Flintstones movie opens Friday on the cafes  sexy Side of the cartoon a Flintstones by trip Gabriel the new York times s o you re planning to see the Flintstones the movie. From All those hours spent watching the to on the Sylvania you have warm fuzzy memories of the Flintstones. The characters Are As familiar As old friends. But have you thought about this arc Fred and Barney Gay you May not have mulled the question much but Arlen Schumer has. A when it comes to these male characters in old television shows there a always a lot of touching and feeling going on a said Schumer a graphic designer and Illustrator As he led a slide and video dissection of the old cartoon series. Four projectors clicked efficiently As to stills dissolved into one another Fred and Barney giving each other big smooches on the Cheek. Fred and Barney in drag. Fred and Barney Side by Side in bed. Schumers conclusion about the homosexuality question a definite maybe. Before his recent presentation which was held at the Art directors club in new York City he promised to expose a the dark Underbelly of the Flintstones. A his audience members pop culture vultures like himself Many from advertising seemed eager to get out of the rain of hoopla from the $45 million movie and take cover in an alternative merrily subversive viewpoint. The 36-year-old Schumer who recently Drew a satirical history of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in comic Book form for people Magazine did not disappoint. The projection of sexual fantasies onto images that seem to have no sexuality at All particularly fascinates him. A someone took a poll a few years ago asking a whom would you rather sleep with Betty or Wilma a and men preferred Betty 10 to 1,�?� he said. A Why is that what is it about Betty that is More at Tractive than Wilma a to answer this and other questions Schumer had a watched nearly half of the 166 episodes in the orig. Inal Hanna Barbera series which has never gone off the air since its original 1960-66 run. A maybe the clue for Bettye a attractiveness lies in the women a relationships with their husbands a he. Said illustrating with stills from the series. A what was Betty and Barneys relationship All about Quot slide of Betty slavishly waiting on Barney a Betty was a Geisha  while Wilma makes fun of her husbands por Liness Schumer said Quot Betty is Cany ing Barneys  slide of Betty carrying Barney in the tradition of two couple sitcoms like 7 love Lucy and the honeymooners from which i the Flintstones Drew much of its Mise he scene episodes regularly ended with Wilma and Fred kissing. But the kiss was a demure Peck. By contrast Schumer noted a the very few times we see Barney and Betty kissing its this a slide of the rubbles in a passionate lip lock. Whence came the image of Betty the sexpot. Of a bad  Schumer a gregarious Type who was dressed in a dark suit and a Nicole Miller tie cheerfully admitted that he had not yet seen the movie version. To him the movie was a predictable upshot of a a far More fascinating phenomenon the Way the Flintstones alone among shows that were introduced in the fall of 1960, permanently entered the american Stream of consciousness. As an Amateur though passionate scholar of television he produced an idiosyncratic Coffee table Book a few years ago visions from a the Twilight zone a which posits that this cult show was a Bridge Between 1920s surrealism and contemporary Art. He and his wife Sherri Wolfgang they Call themselves the dynamic duo Are based in Westport conn., and produce comic Art for advertising use. Why has the Flintstones stood the test of Lime becoming fodder for a contemporary Rock poster artist like Frank Kozik who Drew Betty and Wilma in bondage gear or the subject of a mid. 1980s trivia quiz in spin Magazine much of the reason Schumer suggested is that the show is a time capsule of pop culture references a the Flintstones was the beginning of the television shows about television a he said. In fact 77ie George Burns and Grade. Allen show which ran on lbs from 1950 to 1958, slowed this Earth before but the Flintstones did extensively spoof other to personal tics. As the first animated series to run in prime time its humor had a knowing Ness that was aimed at adults. De Sullivan turned up ased Sully Stone Perry Mason As Perry masonry and Ben Casey As Ben casement. Because the Flintstones was an Abc show the bits were often disguised plugs for other Abc shows musically too the show was with it parodying current Rock in Roll and dance crazes. In its first season Fred like Elvis was discovered by a col. Par Ker ish character and dubbed by by. Later he played Rock Roll with a rockabilly hit called the twitch. At the Art directors club presentation Schumer launched into a not bad rendition Quot there a a town i know where the hipsters go called  audience members grown up children of a to marinated generation volunteered the chorus a twitch twitch a a what i love about these scenes what i think All of us love about the Flintstones is that the show had All these scenes that took place at night a said Schumer. The after hours settings gave even the suburbs where the show was set and where much of America was moving a kind of hipness. A the Early 60s, night California the car culture the drive in a Schumer said. A it was these nighttime scenes with the of it stones that made it a great . A decline began he said in 1963, with the birth of pebbles. It was the biggest birth on television since the arrival of Little Ricky on i love Lucy. Eight months later the rubbles had a son Bam Bam. A what did babies do to the Flintstones to Schumer asked. A it ruined  Fred and Barney were. Reduced to pushing carriages. Wilma and Betty became housebound. A before they had babies Wilma and Betty had character a said Schumer. A they dressed up. They were Cool. Check Mem  slide of Betty and Wilma dressed up a once they had kids in the pre liberated times of the �?T60s, Wilma and Betty lost the better part of themselves. They became  in Schumers opinion in its last years the shows humor lost its savvy and its pop culture references became infantile. The munsters were spoofed As the gruesome a. Although the hints tones was cancelled in 1966, its i influence lives on in to shows that have followed. I Schumer sees  Fred Flintstone in a1 Bundy of married. With children and in Homer of the Simpsons. Another animated series he says he believes owes a debt to the Flintstones is Ren and skimpy the joyfully Tacky Nickelodeon cartoon featuring a barrel chested feline and a High Strung Chihuahua. A you can talk All you want about skimpy a a Gross out faces but he  make a Gross out face that Fred  match a said Schumer showing a slide of Fred that went a considerable Way toward proving his Point. A and if Fred is skimpy does no to that make Barney Ren a Side by Side images showing an uncanny resemblance july 31.1994 sunday Page