It's my thing

Her hobby is her bedrock

Nancy Kessler of Gibsonton owns 2,000 Flintstones artifacts. The appeal of Fred and Wilma? They never get old.

[Times photo: Skip O’Rourke]

Nancy Kessler, 48, collects Flintstones stuff: glasses, coffee cups, hats, shirts, socks, cookie jars, you name it. She has a tattoo of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm on her leg and another of Fred, Wilma and Dino on her left shoulder.

What does "Yabba Dabba Doo" mean to you? "Yabba Dabba Doo" is a phrase that I think of as a fun phrase. I'm a fun-loving person. Fred's a fun-loving person. He gets into mischief, and that's kind of the way I am, too.

Why do you find the Flintstones so appealing? Growing up, it was like an all-American family. They had Pebbles, the saber-toothed tiger, Dino - it was just like a family. Real-life situations would happen in that cartoon, and you think, "That's really happened."

What's your favorite item? My favorite one is the eyeglasses: Dino eyeglasses with the Flintstone case. I worked in a medical building, and one of the offices happened to be an optometrist's. They had all these glasses lined up, the different styles. I said, "Oh, look at that! Flintstone glasses! I collect those!" A couple of days later, the receptionist said, "We talked it over with the doctor, and he said we could give these to you."

Are any of these items valuable? I've seen in a book where some of the Pez dispensers, if they're still in the wrappers and have never been used, start at $1,500, depending on the condition they're in. Some of these still have the candy in them. They say if they're left in the original wrappers and have never been opened, they're worth more.

How much would you be willing to shell out for, say, a Fred and Barney salt and pepper set? If they was in good condition, I'd probably pay upwards of $500.

Where does one pick up Flintstones paraphernalia? You can go to almost any flea market. You have to look, because sometimes they're just buried in a barrel of toys.

How many items have you bought on eBay? About five. I don't own a computer, so I have to go to somebody that does. (She picks up a lunch box.) This one here, I bid on in Indianapolis a couple of months ago. A friend of mine called and said, "You won the bid. This is where the money goes."

The Flintstones always had these great tools and appliances made out of animals, such as a record player with a bird's beak for a needle. Did you ever wish you had something like that? I wish I had furniture like that. Nonbreakable furniture. When you move, something always gets broken. If you live in a stone house with no windows, what can get broken? It's bulletproof.

Fred wore a leopard-print dress with a blue tie. What was up with that? I think Fred had a femme side to him.

Explain your tattoos. There's Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm. These other ones are up here on my shoulder. Fred, Dino and Wilma.

Who hurt the most? Fred, because of the detail. When they do the orange with the black, like on his little outfit, the black hurts the most.

Have you noticed any similarities between Bedrock and Gibsonton? Kind of. Bedrock was a little-bitty community, and it was stuck out of the way. You had to drive forever to get to work or to go see the drive-in. That's basically the way it is here.

How would you have done in prehistoric times? I probably wouldn't have done well, because I'm not a fighter. I can't imagine myself ever carrying a club around. I enjoy animals, and I wouldn't have the heart to kill them. Even now, when I go fishing, if I get one, I throw it back as soon as I catch it.

As an adult who's fascinated by cartoons, can you share your philosophy on growing up and growing old? When you look at cartoons, they don't age. Fred and Wilma and all of them, they never age. They're always the same person. That's how I feel.

I think anybody that watches cartoons, or did when they were growing up, they have a little bit of child in them. I feel as long as I have toys, I'm always going to be young at heart.

-"It's My Thing" features people and their collections or treasured objects. Address submissions to "It's My Thing," Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. E-mail: features@sptimes.com No attachments. Photographs cannot be returned.

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