Release Date:

October 2, 1948

Main Character(s):

Pepe Le Pew

Summary:

On a snowy day, a homeless dog is having trouble finding a place to keep warm but eventually succeeds in finding a cozy house. Said house turns out to belong to Pepe Le Pew, and they battle over who gets to stay in the house. The dog later catches a cold from jumping into the frozen lake, leaving him unable to smell Pepe, so Pepe disguises as a doctor to rid him of the cold.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1093 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was produced in Cinecolor, resulting in it being finished early. It also uses the 1949 orange rings with the blue background. Like with “Dough Ray Me-Ow”, all circulating prints of this cartoon inexplicably use the 1957-1959 blue rings with the red background. Even more strangely, it uses the Merrie Melodies version of the end card, despite clearly being a Looney Tune.

This one is very notable for having Pepe portrayed as a completely different character. Here, he isn’t a lover nor does he have a French accent and actually uses his odor as a weapon. As Jerry Beck once put it, “When Arthur Davis did Pepe Le Pew…. Believe it or not, he did. It was his own strange Pepe Le Pew”. Some believe that this isn’t Pepe, but another skunk who shares his design, but it is confirmed that this IS Pepe as it was restored for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Pepe Le Pew Zee Best of Zee Best DVD set in 2011, where that DVD contains every single Pepe cartoon from the Golden Age, basically acting as a “Complete Pepe Le Pew”.

This is also the only Pepe cartoon made outside of Jones’ unit, not counting his cameo appearance in Freleng’s “Dog Pounded” (1954). “Really Scent” (1959) was directed by future Jones animator Abe Levitow, but it was still made by Jones’ unit.

The dog resembles Wellington from “Doggone Cats”.

The title is a pun for “order of the day”. (most commonly captioned on Instagram as “ootd”).

There is no dialogue in this cartoon except for both Pepe and the dog saying “Gesundheit” at the end.

“The Toy Trumpet” plays over the opening credits, and in my opinion, this is the absolute best rendition of it.

After the dog falls into the frozen lake, Pepe ice skates over to him to fish him out with an ice tong. As Bill Melendez animated that scene, this somewhat foreshadows the iconic opening scene of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965) where all the kids are seen ice skating.

What I Like About This One:

The awesome rendition of “The Toy Trumpet” over the opening credits as well as the image on the title card with Pepe looking up at the title with an annoyed expression.

The dog first sees a seemingly empty doghouse and runs into it but the bulldog who already lives in there angrily kicks him out and hangs a “No Vacancy” sign above the entrance. The dog then climbs up a tree (animated by Bill Melendez) into a nest but it turns out to belong to an eagle, who is peeved at the dog for stealing his home, so he zooms him down to the ground and beats him up. Then, a turtle who has just finished taking a dip in the frozen lake struggles to get into his shell and finds that the dog had gotten in there. He peeks his head out at the dog and gives him an “Are you kidding me?” look (animated by Don Williams).

The dog goes up to a house with a sign on it: “Back in 1 Hour”. As no one’s home, the dog scrambles in so fast that the sign is flipped around to its other side: “Do Not Disturb”. After the dog gets into the bed, Pepe marches into the house covered in snow in tune to a catchy rendition of “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” before standing in front of the fireplace to melt the snow off of him (animated by Basil Davidovich).

Once Pepe gets into the bed, the dog smells something funny, and after he is heard sniffing for a few seconds, he sees something wiggling under the covers. Becoming suspicious upon seeing its weird shape, he pulls the covers off and screams upon seeing Pepe. The dog then hilariously walks in time to the music with a cringing face and looking away from Pepe while holding him from the tip of his tail before throwing him out (animated by Emery Hawkins).

Upon returning to bed, the dog finds that Pepe is now on his head, so he runs to the closet and marches out with a clothespin on his nose. Pepe walks out of bed very slowly before making a run for it and then attempts to spray the dog, but finds this has no effect upon seeing the clothespin. He attempts to blow the clothespin off, before he is chased under the bed (animated by Williams). A fight under the bed ensues, ending with Pepe removing the clothespin, forcing the dog to tiptoe on his toes and fingers into the closet. Smelling something in the dark, the dog turns on the light and finds that Pepe is on his shoulders (animated by Melendez).

The dog runs out of the house in fear, but doesn’t look where he’s going as he trips over a log and falls into the frozen lake. In tune to “Jingle Bells”, Pepe ice skates over to the hole and then uses an ice tong to pull the dog encased in an ice block onto the surface. After Pepe draws an “X” on the ice, the dog shuts his eyes in fear as Pepe chops the ice block in two. The dog starts coughing and shivering as Pepe attempts to spray him again, before his nose turns red after sneezing, having caught a cold. Realizing his cold now prevents him from smelling Pepe, the dog inhales deeply and blows out a few rings as if he’s smoking with smoke also coming out of his ears while he grins (animated by Melendez).

Pepe realizes his tail is ineffective when it sputters like a car running out of gas with the dog fluttering his eyebrows at him causing him to faint. Going back to the house coughing, the dog sneezes three times before he can finally shut the door after going in (animated by Williams). Trying to think of something to get rid of the dog’s cold, Pepe paces back and forth before he gets an idea (animated by Davidovich).

A rock is thrown through the window and it hits the dog on the head. The dog sees the note attached to it, “Warning! A Cold Can Be Fatal! See Your Doctor Now!”. Horrified, the dog runs over to the phone book which shows the phone numbers for “Dr. Kildare”, “Dr. Jekyll”, “Oh! Doctor”, and “Dr. Gezunthett” (animated by Davidovich). As the dog phones for the latter, Pepe shows up immediately disguised as the very doctor, causing the dog to shrug (animated by Hawkins).

Pepe puts the dog on the bed and puts a mustard plaster on his back, but he sneezes, so Pepe flips him over and puts it on his chest but he sneezes again. He finally puts it on the dog’s face, which causes the dog to sneeze his face off! (animated by Hawkins)

Next, Pepe puts the dog in a steam cabinet and turns it on, which only shrinks the dog’s body except for his head. So he tries it again, but this time, the dog’s head is shrunken while the rest of his body is back to normal size. The last try leaves him compressed down to his feet (animated by Melendez), so Pepe puts him in a basin and pours hot water into it (animated by Davidovich), literally puts him through the wringer, dries him on a clothesline with his ears being suspended by clothespins (animated by Williams), and finally irons him out (animated by Davidovich).

It actually cures the cold! As the dog exhales contently at no longer having a cold, Pepe shakes his hand and exits. The doorknob immediately changes positions, as Pepe returns undisguised and sprays at the dog, using his tail as a machine gun. Realizing he can now smell Pepe (animated by Williams up to here), the dog jumps back into the frozen lake (animated by Melendez).

Returning encased in a block of ice, the dog pitter-patters (animated by Davidovich) up to the fireplace to thaw himself out and sneezes, which gives him his cold back. Pepe again tries to use his tail as a machine gun, but the dog simply slaps him away (animated by Melendez). Spraying himself with “Eau De Perfume”, the dog also uses it on Pepe when he walks up to him. Unable to stand the smell of perfume (animated by Williams), Pepe runs out and jumps into the frozen lake himself (animated by Melendez).

Pepe shortly returns encased in a block of ice, and he too pitter-patters up to the fireplace to thaw himself out, and also sneezes, catching a cold himself (animated by Melendez).

After firing their respective tail and perfume at each other, they both sneeze and realize that since they can no longer smell each other. Pepe and the dog get in the bed and decide to sleep together. After they both sneeze once more, they both tell each other in unison, “Gesundheit!” (animated by Hawkins)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕