Release Date:

January 6, 1945

Main Character(s):

Pepe Le Pew

Summary:

Fed up with being abused, an orange alley cat disguises as a skunk to scare off his tormentors and get food from the meat market. His plan works too well when Pepe Le Pew mistakes him for a female skunk and chases him all over the countryside. In the end, the cat decides he’d much rather endure the abuse than be with an actual skunk.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 11-14, the 11th Looney Tune in the 14th release season.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “How Sweet You Are” played under the opening credits:

Direction: Charles M. Jones

Story: Tedd Pierce

Animation: Robert Cannon

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

This is the first appearance of Pepe Le Pew, and he has one of the most interesting debuts out of most characters as in the end, he is revealed to be an American skunk named Henry who has a wife and kids and his French accent was fake. All later cartoons have Pepe’s French accent be genuine.

Pepe was based off of Tedd Pierce, who was a self-proclaimed ladies’ man.

Another point of interest in this cartoon is that the cat in this cartoon is a male. With the exception of Pepe making a cameo appearance in the Tweety and Sylvester cartoon “Dog Pounded” (1954) (where Sylvester attempts to get Tweety who is residing in the city dog pound with his final attempt in that one being painting a white stripe down his back to look like a skunk in order to scare the dogs off, only for Pepe to show up out of nowhere), every future fake skunk he chases is female.

The title is a pun for “adorable kitty”.

This is the first cartoon to use the 1945-mid 1946 red rings with the black background.

With this cartoon onwards, every Warner cartoon has the simple byline, “A Warner Bros. Cartoon”.

“War Dance for Wooden Indians” plays when the skunk-disguised cat scares off his tormentors.

This is the only Pepe cartoon to end with the Porky drum ending (in the original titles).

While he wouldn’t leave until early 1946, this was Robert Cannon’s last animation credit for Warner Bros.

What I Like About This One:

The cat sighing contentedly at the meats in the market before the store owner kicks him across to to the house of a lady with a broom, who swats him into a fence. Pulling himself free, the cat rolls a bit before falling face first on the ground. A bulldog then picks a fight with him, but the cat manages to escape while panting heavily and then running off once the bulldog realizes he’s fighting nothing (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Sitting among a pile of tin cans in the junkyard, the cat wonders, “Why does everyone push me around? Sometimes I wish I was a skunk. Then they’d leave me alone”. This gives him an idea: “Skunk? Hmmmmm” (animated by Ken Harris)

Having used black paint, white paint, limburger, onions, and garlic, the cat looks at his convincing disguise in the mirror while singing “Angel in Disguise”. The cat then gets the bulldog’s attention, who starts after him while barking ferociously, only to skid to a stop and run away yelping in terror once he sees this is apparently a skunk. The cat then tugs on the lady’s outfit and uses his tail to point to his body as if to say “Don’t hit me. I’m a skunk”. She screams and runs off. Finally, the cat goes into the meat market scaring the owner, employees, and customers away. A mouse resembling Hubie and Bertie then comes out and squeaks, “Skunk!” before the cat comes out with more than enough meat to satisfy his hunger (animated by Harris).

The next scene irises in on a pile of bones as the cat happily lies down for a nap in the field sighing, “Ah, this is the life. So peaceful, so si-rene. No one to bother me”. With only his tail being seen amidst the flowers, Pepe gets a whiff of the cat’s disguise and believing this is a female skunk, runs over to him and starts making love: “Ah, my darling. I love you. Where have I been all your life? You are ze aroma of spring flowers that bloom in the spring. You are the fragrance of wonders and exotic perfumes. You are the-”. When the cat runs off, Pepe assumes, “For some strange reason, this little orchid is shy” (animated by Robert Cannon).

After hearing Pepe pass by the tree he’s hiding in and saying, “Where are you, shy one? Where are you?”, the cat smells a stench and finds himself in Pepe’s arms again. “Eh, come to my arms, my little pigeon. Do not be afraid of ze love” (animated by Ben Washam).

The cat grabbing a stuffed skunk from a dress on display in front of a clothing store and taking it with him (animated by Cannon). Finding the cat atop a silo, Pepe is warned by the cat that “if you take another step, I’ll- I’ll jump!” Pepe thinks he won’t actually do it, and says, “Come to me, cherie. Come down, little rabbit. You will not do this foolish thing” “Oh, yes I will”, answers the cat as he shoves the skunk fur off the silo and screams as if he’s falling (animated by Washam).

Pepe sadly believing the cat has actually jumped and is dead. “Oh, may oui. She has done this terrible thing. And it is all my fault. Poor little tail. All broken to pieces. Ah, pou foolish that I am. What have I done to my little pigeon?” The cat then sneaks down off the silo but Pepe realizes the ruse, stops sobbing and drops the skunk fur running toward him (animated by Cannon).

Getting out of Pepe’s arms once more, the cat then runs into another bulldog who scares him off. He then flees upon jumping into Pepe’s arms, and after seeing the cat’s skunk disguise, the bulldog jumps in Pepe’s arms, and then faints upon realizing Pepe is a skunk (animated by Vaughan).

Pepe then encounters Bugs Bunny asking him, “What’s up, doc?” but he pulls the head off, revealing that the cat was disguised as Bugs. To the tune of “It Had to Be You”, Pepe continues with the lovemaking: “Come to my tender embrace, my little I love you. My little deceiver. Let us breeze through life together. Without you, I am not worth a scent!” (animated by Harris)

The cat flees again with Pepe doing his hop for the first time (animated by Harris). He eventually collapses in exhaustion as Pepe grabs him once more and starts up again: “Ah, the wonderful love. Ah, the adoration. Ah, the I love you truly. Ah, the June moon. Ah, the-” He is then tapped on the shoulder by a female voice saying, “Henry!” It turns out to be his wife, who has showed up with his two kids, who seem amused at what they’re seeing (animated by Cannon).

Pepe suddenly drops his French accent and starts speaking in an American accent as he tries to make up an excuse. “Just, uh- just trying to remove a cinder from- from a lady’s eye, dearie” before stammering upon realizing this is futile “Ju-just trying remove from eye”. For allegedly cheating on her with someone else, Pepe’s wife clobbers him with her umbrella as the cat sneaks off (animated by Cannon).

Deciding his old life wasn’t bad at all, the cat washes his disguise off and gladly takes the booting out of the meat market, being swatted at by the lady’s broom, and getting into a fight with the bulldog. In the midst of the fight, the cat happily sighs, “Ah, this is the life” (animated by Washam).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕