In 1960, the great animation duo of William Hanna and Joe Barbera premiered the first half-hour prime-time cartoon series, “The Flintstones.” Two years later, Hanna Barbera Studios’ only DENTAL-THEMED episode “Nuttin But the Tooth” aired. Two limited edition cells were released from this Flintstones cartoon. Both have been a huge hit with dentists as both editions sold out completely.
Since the demand for the first two pieces was so high, Amazing Animation (an exclusive distributor of dental-related art) once again collaborated with the very talented Hanna-Barbera artist Bob Singer on the third and final cel limited edition based on this cartoon. “Nuttin’ But the Tooth” was the 12th episode of season 3. The original air date was November 30, 1962.
Here is the very funny plot synopsis:
When Barney wakes up with a terrible toothache, Betty asks Fred if he would take him to the dentist to have his tooth pulled. Along the way, Fred sees a billboard promoting that night’s big fight, so Fred gets the idea to pull Barney’s tooth himself and take the $10.00 to buy side seats for the fight.
Fred’s first attempt is depicted in this now vintage and out of print limited edition cel from 1994. “Nuttin But the Tooth” The cel shows Fred about to leave in his car while Barney stands behind the car with a rope tied to his tooth on one end and Fred’s car on the other,
After Barney foils this attempt, by running after the car as Fred drives away, Fred comes up with another idea, shown in this out-of-print limited edition cel from 2003, “Nuttin But the Tooth II”. In this scene, Fred gets the idea to attach one end of the rope to Dino’s collar and then tempt Dino to run away by throwing the cat in front of him.
This plan also backfires when Barney removes the rope and gives it to Fred just before Dino goes after the cat. This sends Fred bouncing down the street, up and over many hard objects before finally crashing into a tree.
Not to deny that he saw the big fight, Fred suggests that a dinosaur dentist remove Barney’s tooth. This will be only $5.00, still enough money left over for a couple of cheap seats to the fight.
This leads them to the only dinosaur dentist in town, Smiley Molar. While Smiley is on the phone to get his wife’s shopping list, Barney overdoses on gas and floats past Fred, just outside the office window. Fred proceeds to chase after him, finally catching him with a clever lasso, which finally crashes Barney on top of Fred and causes Barney’s tooth to fall out. The cartoon ends with the boys arriving at the fight.
Smiley Molar’s dentist’s office scene forms the basis of artist Bob Singer’s creation and the Flintstones’ third limited-edition dental cell, “Stone Age Dentistry.” Bob Singer has worked alongside Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera since the magical days of Hanna-Barbera Animation in the 1960s and 1970s. He is the last of three living artists and continues to create Hanna-Barbera animation artwork for Warner Brothers Studio today. The Warner Bros. studio now owns the then-separate Hanna-Barbera Studios.
Amazing Animation has worked closely with Bob Singer for years. He has appeared on our exhibit booth during the annual dental gatherings we exhibit at and has created three other limited edition cells for us: The Jetsons “Space Age Dentistry”, Scooby Doo’s “Bad Bite Clinic”, and “Fred’s New Braces”.
Bob is a tremendous talent and we are privileged to be able to work with him, but more importantly he is a wonderful human being. We’ve always been huge fans of Bob’s artwork, so needless to say, we were thrilled when we saw his rendition of the new “Stone Age Dentistry” limited edition.
I think Bob expertly captured the look from the cartoon “Nuttin But the Tooth”. Even from the first sketch I could imagine the three cells very well together. I also love the way Bob has portrayed the Stone Age dentist’s tools. The conversion from the present day to the Stone Age was always my favorite part of watching the Flintstones.