The Genetics of Hanna-Barbera

When I was studying genetics at university, I found Mendelian inheritance incredibly satisfying. It logically and neatly explains how simple characteristics are passed on from one generation to the next. Gregor Mendel was the clever clogs who discovered how genes work in the 1860s (long before anyone knew about DNA) by studying his pea plants. He was the first to realise that some characteristics are “dominant” and some are “recessive”.

Whilst peas are awesome (popped straight from the pod they are a healthy taste sensation), I am more interested in human genes – so much so that when watching TV or films I often start to think about the genotypes of the characters. Sometimes this can make me really angry (the mutant gene in the X Men movies doesn’t make any sense!) but sometimes it can be (for want of a better word) “fun”.

For example, Hanna-Barbera got it right when they made the Flintstones (apart from having dinosaurs and humans co-existing of course, but we’ll just gloss over that for now). With the Flintstones you have a lovely little family pedigree for the red hair gene, which just happens to be my favourite Mendelian trait (what’s yours?). I am a card-carrying member of the SPF 50 Club myself, y’see. Strawberry blond and proud.

Red hair is recessive, meaning that you need to inherit two copies of the gene to have it – one from each parent. It’s caused by the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1-R) gene, which usually makes cells produce the black pigment eumelanin. Redheads have two broken versions of this gene so instead make the red pigment pheomelanin.

If you inherit one normal copy of the gene and one red version, you will have black, brown or blond hair. You will be a “carrier”, though, and could have a ginger child (you have been warned). As the first redhead in my family, I am the product of two such carriers.

Wilma Flintstone’s elegant ginger up-do shows that she has two copies of the red-headed gene. We can be confident that this is her natural colour because although she has lots of animals around the house to act as dryers, combs and curling tongs, it would be pushing the bounds of Stone Age technology to produce permanent colourants which leave your hair that manageable.

Fred has a handsome crop of black hair, so he either has two normal copies or is a carrier. Up until the end of season 3, it was impossible to know his genetic status. But when lovely little Pebbles came along, her red hair revealed that Fred must be a carrier. Don’t you feel better now that you know? Oh how satisfying to be able to fill in their family tree with their genotypes!

It would be nice to do the same exercise for the Rubbles family, but since Bamm-Bamm was adopted, it’s just not possible. So let’s look at the Jetsons instead.

George and Jane Jetson (the Space Age couple with a supercool flying car) are both redheads so can only pass on red hair genes to their children. Therefore their kids should all be ginger.

Hang on a minute, Judy and Elroy are both blond! How can this be?

I have come up with a few explanations:

1. The children are not George’s. I don’t like to think of Jane cheating, but she has a lot of time on her hands, what with being a housewife in an era when all the cleaning is done by robots.
2. Hair dye is involved. I’d say that the most likely culprit would be Jane (again, she has a lot of time to visit the salon), but Judy’s platinum ponytail looks quite suspicious. We can’t rule anyone out – in the future, social norms may have changed so much that a straight guy like George or a boy as young as Elroy might opt for a few flattering highlights. 
3. Judy and Elroy are the product of genetic engineering and their parents ticked “blond” on the order forms. They were probably grown in some sort of stylish womb-pod.

It’s disappointing that the Jetsons don’t follow the pattern, but perhaps the genetics of hair colour wasn’t a primary consideration for William Hanna and Joseph Barbera when they created their characters – just look at Huckleberry Hound’s blue coat or Snagglepuss’s pink fur. Neither of these colours is seen in nature.

I would repeat this exercise looking at eye colour, but they all just have black dots.