Release Date:

May 21, 1955

Main Character(s):

Pepe Le Pew, Penelope

Summary:

At a Paris movie studio in 1913, the casting director can’t find an odorless skunk for “Le Cinema D’Animale Adventure”. When Penelope rubs up against him, he gets the idea to paint a white stripe down her back and pass her off as one. Meanwhile, Pepe Le Pew, who is initially hunting for autographs, scares everyone off and then pursues Penelope around the studio.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1329 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is the penultimate cartoon to use the 1945-1955 Merrie Melodies opening theme and the 1941-1955 Merrie Melodies closing theme.

This is one of the few non-Elmer cartoons that Arthur Q. Bryan appears in. In this case, he voices the casting director, giving Bryan a rare chance to speak fractured French (he also does this in the 1952 Oscar-winning Tom and Jerry cartoon, “The Two Mouseketeers” at MGM).

The title is a pun for the phrase “past performance”.

This is the only time that Pepe finds out that Penelope is not a skunk, and the second time overall that Pepe finds out who he was chasing isn’t a skunk. The first was in his second appearance, “Scent-imental Over You”.

Robert Givens did the layouts for this one rather than Maurice Noble.

This is the final Warner cartoon to have animation by Lloyd Vaughan.

This is the only time that Pepe paints over his white stripes with black paint (“If you cannot beat them, join them”).

Favorite Scene:

The characters in an Arabian-like silent movie notice Pepe in the audience and the words appear on the movie screen, “Un pole cat de pew es en le audience! Take it vous on le lam!”

Runner-up is the scene with Pepe subbing for Aramis in a “Three Musketeers” shooting; “Chemin moi, Athos!”; “Chemin moi, Porthos!”; “Chemin moi, Pepe!” The other two shout, “Le YIPE!” upon seeing him.

What Happens in This One:

The setting is Paris in 1913 at “Studios d’ Le Picteurs Motion”- “Super Magnifique Productiones”. There is a studio guard standing next to a sign, “No Est Ce Pass!” and who greets actress Clara Beaux, “Bonjour, Mamselle Beaux!”, who is being driven around by a chauffeur and with her vehicle reading, “Clara Beaux. La “It” Fille (Row-Rowr)”. Two studio workers, one short and one tall, carry a trunk labeled “Macque Sennette Beauties d’ Bath” before a line of five chorus girls dances past. The “Castingue Office” has several costumed people in line that include an Indian, a Roman soldier, a pirate, a cop holding a pie for slapstick, a bear, a cowboy, a mustached bear, a cowboy, a woman whose mouth is obscured by her large outfit, and a Chinaman (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

In “David Butlaire Co. Shooting Le Cinema D’ Animale Adventure”, the casting director is checking the list of animals required, which include 4 gazelle, 3 giraffes, 12 “camelle” (camels), 14 “leons” (lions), 13 “el elephante” (elephants), 6 “chimps Elysees” (chimps), and 2 “Racoone” (raccoons). The only one missing is “1 Skunk- Avec Le Smell Remove D’Mwa”. A royal subject comes into the studio blowing a trumpet with the banner, “M’sieu Le Directeur” before the director himself comes in, accompanied by his secretary and several assistant directors who repeatedly say, “Oui” in unison. When the lion roars, the director yells at him through a megaphone, “Le quiet!”, causing the lion to look at the audience in embarrassment (animated by Vaughan).

The director then faces the casting director and demands, “Quelle es le skunk sans pew!?”, to which the casting director nervously tells him the truth, “No can locate a vous un skunk, Monsieur Le Director”. The director shouts, “Le what!?”, which the assistant directors all repeat in unison. The casting director attempts to explain, “I am prostrate, monsieur. I try, I try-”, before feeling Penelope affectionately rubbing against him while letting out realistic meowing noises. Upon noticing her, he gets an idea, “Oh, ho!”, before hiding her in his shirt and running into the paint department, “Patience, Mon director! One skunk sans pew coming right up a vous!” While painting the white stripe on Penelope’s back, he assures, “No le move, mamselle kitty, c’est vous play. No le hurt” (animated by Richard Thompson).

Meanwhile, Pepe enters the studio, intending to get autographs, and asks the guard in fractured French about autographs and his nommage (“name” in French). Initially unaware of what Pepe is, the guard tells him to go away, “Avec, peasant! No allow a vous loitering!”, but then gets a whiff of his odor and exclaims while running off- with his hair briefly flying off of his head as well-, “Leaping lizards! Le pew!” Pepe shrugs, “Flattering, yes?” He then walks into the studio and comes up to the director, asking him his nommage. The director is initially delighted to see a skunk as he picks him up, “Ah ha! Un skunk sans pew! Seemay vous just like ze real thing!” He then gets a whiff of Pepe and realizes he has NOT been deodorized, “Holy smoke! Quelle IS le real thing!” Everyone and all the animals run out just as the casting director returns with Penelope. Upon coming up to the director’s chair with her, he presents, “Un skunk sans pew, monsieur le director!” Pepe, who’s reading “Le Script” in the director’s chair, is delighted with this, “For me!? Por thank, monsieur. Merci beaucoup, por thank”. The casting director is also horrified to see a real skunk and he lets out a small “Le yipe” before he runs away too. Pepe greets Penelope with “Hello, cherie” (animated by Vaughan).

With everyone out of the way, Pepe begins making love, “And now, my little obleige of o-place! We shall make it together ze drama mellow! Ah, ze birth of a notion! Ah, ze grand illusion! Ah,-” He then realizes she has run out of his grasp and decides, “This small romantic pigeon. She seeks a more, uh, appropriate setting for our romance. (chuckles) How sweet! How tout sweet!” (animated by Ken Harris)

Penelope runs up the balcony backdrop for the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet. Pepe sees her up there and believes, “Ah! The sentimental one. She’s wish to play ‘Julio and Romiette”. Running into a dressing room, Pepe comes out dressed in Shakespearean garb and calls from below, “Julio! Julio! Herefore art me, Romiette!” He then leaps up to the balcony and starts romancing Penelope while leaning over said balcony, “Ah, my little much ado about something! Ah, my little lost labors loved!” She runs off again while Pepe appears with a clapboard, “Print that!” (animated by Harris)

Walking past a merry go round set, Pepe looks around for Penelope, “Where are you, pink rabbit? I am ready to find you!” He wanders into an area where a filming for “Le Trey Musketeers” is in the process, followed by three “Le Quiet!”’s with each louder than the previous. The first two appear with swords while Pepe replaces Aramis while wielding a sword of his own, “Chemin moi, Athos!”; “Chemin moi, Porthos!”, “Chemin moi, Pepe!” Athos and Porthos shout “Le YIPE!” in unison and run off upon noticing Pepe. Pepe then finds Penelope hiding in the projection reel and assures her, “You can come out now, darling. They are all gone”, but she runs off again. Pepe confides, “The best things in life are worth waiting for!” (animated by Thompson)

Pepe walks along and heads into a projection room while singing an original tune, “We had no place to go, so I took her to a show. I don’t know what was on the screen, ‘cause I loved her on the mezzanine-”. Once he walks in, two disgusted projectionists walk out holding their noses as one exclaims, “Sacre pew! Zat picture stink!” An Arabian-like silent film with the woman with the large outfit obscuring her mouth being romanced by a shiek is being shown before the characters themselves notice Pepe, with their words being translated by subtitles, “Un pole cat de pew es en le audience! Take it vous on le lam!” They run off before Pepe offers, “Popcorn, darling?” Penelope, who happened to be in the seat next to him, faints (animated by Thompson).

Chasing Penelope along a set of “Uncle Tom’s Chalet” and then across the ice flows from it, Pepe hops on all four’s after her while imitating a dog, “Le bow-wow-wow! Le bow! Le wow!” before giving the audience a “Le rowr-rowr!” (animated by Harris) Penelope then encounters Pepe swinging like Tarzan and also dressed up like him while doing his yell. “I screech to you with jungle love, yes?” (animated by Thompson)

Penelope then runs up a ladder to another set. Dressed in a red-striped outfit, Pepe swings towards her by his feet on a trapeze, “I am ze daring young flea on ze manly trapeze, no?” He follows her and this set leads to the end of a cliff set for “Pearls d’ Pauline”. Pepe informs her, “Alright, darling! Enough is becoming enough! Let us proceed!” She then jumps off the edge, much to Pepe’s shock, “Darling!”, before an offscreen splash is heard. It turns out Penelope landed in a water bucket below the cliff, which has removed the stripe. Pepe realizes, “What is this? The stripe. It washes off. It is gone. This small one, she is not a skunk at all”. He runs into the paint department himself and covers up his white stripes with black paint, “If you cannot beat them, join them”. Continuing the chase across “What’s Your Price Glory Co.”, Pepe runs after Penelope hopping on all four’s as he calls out, “Wait for baby!” (animated by Harris)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½