Jackie Gleason and cartoons questions and facts

[zoombie]

I have a bunch of thoughts on similar subject, Jackie Gleason and his influence on animation, and thought I start one thread to discuess them all, insteading flooding the board.

Can anyone confirm these facts and / answer these questions.

I hear Alan Reed the voice of Fred Flintstones was friends with Gleason, and he may have saved the Flintstones franchise, because Gleason was thinking about suing the producers of the Flintstones for ripping off the Honeymooners, legend has it, Reed told Gleason he could sue and win, but if he did, would he want to be known as the guy that took the Flintstones, a show that brings kids joy? Is any of the true?

Did Gleason clear Warner Brothers to do the Honeymousers cartoons? That is a bladent parody of the Honeymooners, so I would think they would have needed his permission.

Did HB try to get Gleason to guest star on the New Scooby Doo Movies?, that would have been awesome, a nice geasture to let bigons be bigons.

[SNES Chalmers]

Did Gleason clear Warner Brothers to do the Honeymousers cartoons? That is a bladent parody of the Honeymooners, so I would think they would have needed his permission.



In the U.S. you do not need the permission to parody someone's work. Look at things like The Simpsons, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Weird Al Yankovic. They have all done plenty of parodies in their time, and they never had to ask permission, although Weird Al does anyway. WB parodied things all the time; the cartoon A Corny Concerto is supposed to be a parody of Disney's Fantasia. I highly doubt that if WB had needed to ask Disney if they could parody Fantasia that they would have gotten permission to.

[88fingers]

According to the book The Flintstones: a Modern Stone Age Phenomenon, quoted on the Webrock FAQ,:

Henry Corden, a friend of Jackie Gleason and the current voice of Fred Flintstone, recalls:
Jackie's lawyers told him he could probably have "The Flintstones" pulled right off the air. But they also told him, "Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show that so many kids love, and so many of their parents love, too?" And apparently Jackie thought it over and decided against it.

[EinBebop]

I don't know if Flintstones would fit under the legal definition of parody. Not that I know what that definition would be... but I think that taking the basic plot, tweaking the setting, and trying to call it "parody" would just be an excuse to rip off someone else's work. On the other hand, what was really ripped off? A combination of personality types as the lead characters? If anyone involved with the Honeymooners had tried to stop the Flintstones, I would hope they would have failed.

[zoombie]

I don't know if Flintstones would fit under the legal definition of parody. Not that I know what that definition would be... but I think that taking the basic plot, tweaking the setting, and trying to call it "parody" would just be an excuse to rip off someone else's work. On the other hand, what was really ripped off? A combination of personality types as the lead characters? If anyone involved with the Honeymooners had tried to stop the Flintstones, I would hope they would have failed.

I thought any problems between Gleason and the creator of The Flintstones is not the show itself but the merchandise the Flinstones endoursed and its profits. Thinking from Gleason's point of view, I can understand thinking they are entitled a percentive of the profits. Of course Gleason was rich to begin with he didn't need the money, but the principal of the thing, his creation made someone else a boat load of money.