Release Date:

March 29, 1952

Main Character(s):

Pepe Le Pew, Penelope

Summary:

Heartbroken from a failed romance, Pepe Le Pew attempts to enlist in the Foreign Legion, but once the recruiting officer gets a whiff of him, he and everyone else flees, leaving Pepe to believe he has been assigned to defend the fort. Their mascot, Penelope, mistakenly gets a white stripe on her back from walking under a freshly painted ladder and Pepe pursues her.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1200 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the first cartoon where Pepe is given his official name. He even gets a “Pepe Le Pew in” title card that is exclusive to this cartoon.

This is also the first Pepe cartoon to not feature a pun containing either “odor” or “scent”.

The cartoon was considered for an Academy Award, but was not nominated.

The title is a pun for both “Beau Geste” and “Little Bo Peep”.

This is the second Pepe cartoon where the roles are reversed in the end, with the first being in “For Scent-imental Reasons”.

The Foreign Legion troops from this cartoon would later appear in the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode, “Mirage Sale”.

When the cartoon was featured in the 1979 TV special, “Bugs Bunny’s Valentine”, the ending was edited to make it look like Cupid’s (played by Elmer revising his role from “The Stupid Cupid”) arrow made Penelope fall for Pepe in this one while in the actual cartoon, it’s Pepe’s Egyptian-like number and perfume concoction he sprays himself with that causes her to fall for him.

Uncle Sam is parodied with a French equivalent of the recruitment poster, “Uncle Francois Wants You”.

I love the combination of “The Latin Quarter” and “On the Rue de La Paix” over the opening credits.

Favorite Scene:

The entire bit with Pepe and the recruiting officer, especially when the latter realizes Pepe is a skunk, upon getting a whiff of his odor.

What Happens in This One:

In “Le Desert Sahara”, the Foreign Legion’s fort is shown with a sign in fractured French warning against trespassing. The troops, who all look very different and are all sorts of different sizes, practice marching from the orders of their drill sargeant speaking in fractured French. While marching, they all sing their fight song in fractured French in unison (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

After they are “dismiss-ay vou!” (animated by Vaughan), they run past Penelope’s small house in the fort that she sleeps in labeled “La Mascot Femme Pussee Cat”. She walks out as two French painters are painting a ladder white and the one who is not painting the ladder gives Penelope a scratch on her back, which causes her to sigh, “Le purr” (animated by Ben Washam).

Meanwhile, a distressed Pepe knocks on the enlistment door and is permitted entrance by the recruiting officer who never turns around to look at who this newcomer is. Pepe comes in with two suitcases and begins to explain sadly, “I am zee broken heart of love. I am zee disillusioned. I am wish to enlist in the Foreign Legion so I may forget. Take me”. The recruiting officer starts the questionnaire, such as his name, which Pepe answers, “Pepe Le Pew” and asides to the audience, “A pitiful case, am I not?” The recruiting officer then asks Pepe his social security number just as he gets a whiff of Pepe’s odor and finally turns around in horror to see who he’s been talking to: “Holay un smoke!” and runs out. Confused, Pepe asks, “Something?” (animated by Washam)

Running out of the fort, the recruiting officer calls out to everyone, “Le skunk de pew! Le kitty quell terriblay odair!” , to which they all run out in fear, leaving only Pepe in the fort. Pepe wonders, “Why have they all go? Why do they leave the fort?”, and then assumes, “Oh, ho, ho. But of course! Already I have achieve the post of great honor! I have been left to defend the fort! Vive le republic!” (animated by Phil Monroe)

Dressed as a solider, Pepe starts marching back and forth with a bayonet and counting in fractured French. “Dashing, no?” (animated by Monroe). Meanwhile, unaware of everyone else’s departure, Penelope wakes up and goes out, obliviously walking under the freshly painted ladder, giving her the white stripe. Pepe notices her presence and assumes she is “Ah ha! Le petite femme skunk fatale!” He decides, “The post of honor can wait, no?” and clicks his tongue before running down to her (animated by Washam).

Pepe catches Penelope in an embrace and starts flirting with her, “Ah, mon cherie. It is an affair d’amour, is it not? It is an affair of we love each other madly! Ah, my little aide-de-camp! Ah, my ou de monde! Ah, my-”, before she runs off in fear. Pepe wonders, “Huh? What is this?” and then figures, “Oh, but of course! This small one she is wish to put on her face before we continue with ze wooing. Such dainty rabbits these ladies! I love them” (animated by Monroe).

Pepe walks along, calling out, “Are you lipsticked and mascaraed now, little one?” He finds Penelope on a staircase, “Oh, there you are!”, to which she runs away. Pepe tells her, “But darling, tomorrow, I may be shipped overseas!” (animated by Monroe) He starts chasing her around the top story of the fort before he stops to aside, “You know, one of the mysteries of my life is why a woman run away when all she really wish is to be captured”. Penelope eventually stops running upon seeing Pepe in front of her disguised as Napoleon and saying, “Josephine”. She then runs back down the stairs and hides in a barrel only to find Pepe already in there preparing some wine, causing her to run out of the barrel like a bullet. Pepe confides, “Almost like shooting fish in a barrel” (animated by Ken Harris).

Penelope runs out of the fort and across the sand dunes, with Pepe hopping after her. The desert heat eventually tires Penelope out, so she goes to an oasis in front of her, but due to looking like a skunk, scares the Foreign Legion troops away, revealing that they have been hiding there after running out of the fort. Penelope begins to go to the water to drink it, only to see Pepe’s reflection in the water, and him greeting her with, “Hello, baby”, while wearing an Arab headdress. (animated by Harris). She is too exhausted to run away, so she just passes out. Pepe picks her up, “Ah, zis impetuous one. She is overcome by her emotions at seeing me again” (animated by Washam), and takes her into one of the tents in the oasis. “I am ze sheik, no?” (animated by Vaughan)

Inside the tent, Pepe observes Penelope resting on one of the pillows, “How strange it is this innocent one, she can rest when I am so near. We must restoke the furnace of love, must we not, yes?” Pepe finds several perfumes on a table, complete with a shot of three respective perfume bottles being labeled “L’amour”, “Toujours”, and “L’amour”, with “L’amour Toujours” playing in the background (animated by Washam).

Having mixed several perfumes together in one large bottle, Pepe decides, “A little subtle perhaps, but-” and then sprays himself with his perfume concoction. He then dashes over to a mandolin and starts playing an alluring Egyptian-like love song, “Sweetheart, Pepe Le Pew loves you. Sweetheart, fortunate lucky you. Sweetheart, wake up and you will find. Pepe, he’s got you on his mind”. The fumes of the perfume wake Penelope up, and cause her to become lovestruck with Pepe with hearts replacing her pupils. With her valentine-shaped heart beating in her chest, she runs over to Pepe (animated by Washam up to here) and starts attempting to smooch him. Pepe tries to get out of her grasp, “But madam!” and realizes, “I have overstoked the furnace, yes?” Attempting to get her to stop, Pepe pleads, “Madam! Control yourself! Your conduct is unseemly! Control yourself! Madam!”, and then runs out in horror back out into the desert, with Penelope hopping after him, and giving the audience a “Le-rowr-rowr!” In the midst of running, Pepe wonders to us, “Why is it that whenever a man is captured by a woman, all he wish to do is get away?” (animated by Monroe)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½