September 23rd marks the 52nd anniversary of the premiere of the animated television sitcom The Jetsons. While the
original incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera series lasted only one season, the
adventures of George Jetson, his boy Elroy, his daughter Judy, Jane his wife,
and his trusty dog, Elroy, have stood the test of time. Check out these 10 far-out facts about The Jetsons.
1. The first season of The Jetsons premiered in 1962, with
24 episodes. But it wasn’t until a full two decades later, in 1985, that the
second season of the space-age sitcom debuted! According to the website
for the Federal Communications Commission, The Jetsons and its prehistoric
counterpart, The Flintstones, were the first programs on ABC to be aired in color.
2. Speaking of The Flintstones, two alums from that show
did double duty as voice actors on The Jetsons. Jean Vander Pyl (Flintstones wife. Wilma) voiced several Jetsons characters, including Rosie the Maid and
Mrs. Spacely, while Mel Blanc (Barney Rubble) voiced Mr. Spacely. Vander
Pyl once revealed she made a mere $250 per episode for her voice work, and in
1989 she told the Los Angeles Times, "Nobody knew that TV shows would
go on forever, so our old contracts didn't call for much in the way of
residuals. That's why I'm not wealthy."
3. Jane was a blondie! The Jetsons mom, Jane, was voiced by none other than actress Penny Singleton.
Singleton was famous for her role as Blondie Bumstead in the iconic series of 28 big screen Blondie movies produced from 1938 to 1950.
4. In an interview
with Archive
of American Television, Jetsons creator Joseph Barbera revealed how he
came up with the idea of the Jetson family's jet-setting digs, the Sky Pad Apartments.
“I created a living quarters that were
based on the remnants of the 1936 New York City World Fair,” he said. Barbera told the Cartoon
Network: "I saw round buildings kind of on a pedestal. I decided to
add hydraulics to the pedestal so you could lift the apartment above the smog
of clouds into the fresh, clean air."
5. In 2007, The Jetsons made Forbes list of
the 25
Largest Fictional Companies. Cosmo G. Spacely’s capital goods biz was
dubbed the “perfection of one-button sprocket manufacturing,” with estimated 2007
sales of $1.3 billion. Clampett Oil ( The Beverly Hillbillies) and Wonka Industries (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory) also made the list.
6. Talk about Jetson’s placement! The show’s characters have
appeared in a bevy of TV commercials. George Jetson starred in a commercial for Tums--
after he devoured a chili dog with the works – and he was seen pluging Sran Wrap on an early episode of the show. The family was featured in ads fro Electrosol and
Radio Shack. And Jane Jetson appeared alongside two more of Hanna-Barbera's
most famous classic cartoon females --Wilma Flintstone and Scooby Doo’s Velma
Dinkley-- in an ad for Dove shampoo.
7. Large portraits of
Jetsons characters George, Jane, Judy,
Elroy, Astro, and Rosie are featured in the the animated music video for Kanye West’s “Heartless.” According to the Daily Mail, the pop culture-loving West boasts specially commissioned pop-art
portraits of the Jetson clan in his L.A.
home. Look for The Jetsons imagery around the 2:20 mark in West's "Heartless" video:
8. The Season 1 episode, “A Date With Jet Screamer,”
features Judy Jetson’s memorable song contest entry, "Eep, Opp, Ork,
Ah-ah!" The song was later recorded by the Violent Femmes for the “Saturday Morning Cartoons’
Greatest Hits” compilation. (The Butthole Surfers sang the Underdog theme and
Sublime sang about Hong Kong Phooey, so go figure!)
9. Probably the biggest Jetsons “scandal” was the
replacement of original Judy Jetson-- Janet Waldo—in the 1990 movie version of the
series. The voice of then-popular teen star, Tiffany, was used in the role
instead— after Waldo had already recorded
the voice track. Waldo told the Los Angeles Times she was “totally
crushed” by the incident. “I originated the character, and I feel very
sentimental about Judy,” she said. “If they had recast the whole show, there
wouldn't have been any problem at all. But the fact that my part was the only
one that was changed just threw me."
10. Plans for a live action movie version of The
Jetsons have long been on the table. According to MTV,
Jetsons superfan Kanye West was even in talks to be the flick’s creative director,
while Variety reported that writers
Van Robichaux and Evan Susser have been hired to rework an existing script. With
any luck fans will see the project come to fruition before 2062—the year the
original Jetsons series was set in!
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