Release Date:

March 20, 1954

Main Character(s):

Pepe Le Pew, Penelope

Summary:

Pepe Le Pew recounts the greatest love of his life he met at the Casbah- American tourist Penelope, who got the white stripe from dripping paint while a ship was being painted.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1285 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon is a spoof of the Pepe Le Moko films, which is where Pepe got his name from. Coincidentally, he lives next to Le Moko in his flashback.

This is also the cartoon where Penelope gets her name (and is the only time she is referred to as such).

The title is a pun for “Casbah”.

This cartoon is not to be confused with the Bugs Bunny Show episode of the same name (although that one is spelled as “The Cat’s Bah” with an apostrophe).

The ship that Penelope gets off (and that is in the middle of being painted white) from is called the “S.S. Phyllis Selzer”. Phyllis was the name of Eddie Selzer’s daughter.

Lloyd Vaughan and Ben Washam are the sole animators on the cartoon.

This is the second and final usage of the “Pepe Le Pew in” title card from “Wild Over You”.

I love the rendition of “O Nene” over the opening credits.

Favorite Scene:

Penelope hides in one of several hundred vases, but Pepe manages to easily find her by playing, “Eenie Meenie Miney Mo”, and then managing to locate the one she’s hiding in by adding, “O-U-T spells ‘I love you!’”

What Happens in This One:

Pepe prepares some champagne in two glasses while singing, “Cherie, I Love You”. He eventually takes notice of the audience and greets us, “Oh! Hello there! I am so glad you could come. You have never looked more ravishing. Uh, do you mind waiting just one minute, uh, golden girl while I slip into something, eh, more comfortable?” He puts on a robe while scatting to “Cherie, I Love You”. “Intimate, no?” After finishing putting his robe on, Pepe continues, “Now then. I-I am quite ready”, before going to a sofa and sitting down on it. Presumably speaking to a random female audience member, he pats the spot to his right, “Sit down, darling”. When the camera slowly zooms in up to him, Pepe comments, “That’s better”. He then offers, “Gold champagne to warm you, cherie?” From the “female”’s point of view, the glass is actually drunken out of (and then a cigarette is shown sticking out of “her” mouth in “her” point of view). Pepe admits, “You know, for myself, I have never found champagne necessary. Eh, but come. You are here to interview me about the greatest love of my life, yes? Very well”. Pepe inhales deeply as he smokes his cigarette and says, “Come with me to ze Casbah a very long time ago” as a flashback begins (animated by Ben Washam).

“I had just set up Bachelors’ Quarters at Number 15 and One Quarter Rue De La Mangy Dragon”. His small door is to the left of Pepe Le Moko’s whose address is 15. Pepe continues as he is seen putting on a Middle Eastern outfit, “I was putting the finishing touches to my toilette before setting forth for amorous adventure when- in another part of the city, a charming American girl was even then disembarking to visit this selfsame Casbah”. Penelope and her woman owner exit off the gangplank of the “S.S. Phyllis Selzer”, which is also being painted white. One of the painters obliviously drips a bit of paint from his brush which lands directly on Penelope’s back, causing her to meow in confusion. Believing she’s stalling, her owner from offscreen scolds as she drags her by the string holding the pink ribbon on her neck, “Come on, Penelope. Don’t be a naughty kitty” (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Meanwhile, Pepe exits his place and walks out excited and ready for romance. “En garde, Mon Cheries, wherever you are!” He stops and becomes love-struck upon seeing Penelope, believing she is “Ah ha! A belle American tourist femme skunk!” and dashes off, leaving his Middle Eastern outfit behind. Pepe runs in from behind her and holds her up, “Darling! I have waited for you!” He then takes the ribbon off her neck and tells her, “I remove them from you the bonds of slavery! Viola!” (uses the instrument pronunciation) The woman owner continues walking, completely oblivious that Pepe has liberated Penelope from her. Pepe then starts romancing her, “Just to think, radiant flower. You do not have to come with me to the Casbah… we are already here! And so, Mon Cherie, we can do away with the dull preliminaries! And make love right away! We can spend the rest of our lives making love! We shall flee to Capri!” Penelope runs out of his arms and into the distance. Pepe confides, “This small coquette. She’s think by running away, she can make herself more attractive to me. How right she is!” (animated by Vaughan)

Penelope runs past the shop of “Peter the Potter” and hides in one of several hundred vases. Pepe is heard approaching, “Yoo the hoo, baby! Yoo the hoo!”, before coming into view while holding a flower, “Come, pink pigeon! We are wasting valuable time-” Upon seeing the vases, Pepe figures as he tosses the flower aside, “Oh ho! We are going to play Ali Thief and the 40 Babas, yes?” Penelope shakes in fear from inside the vase she’s in as Pepe announces, “En garde, rabbit! I am going to find you!” He then plays “Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo” but with a variant, “Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo. Catch your lover by the toe. If she holler, hold her closer. Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moser”, and ends up finding out the vase Penelope’s in by adding, “O-U-T spells ‘I love you’!” Pepe runs into the vase she’s in and says while inside, “Love will find a way, yes?” before smooching. Penelope jumps out in fright and runs off again. Pepe gives another aside, “You know, most men would get discouraged about now. (chuckles) Fortunately for her, I am not most men” (animated by Washam).

Penelope runs up to a grazing camel and climbs up to one of the humps on his back. She grabs his harness and attempts to get him to start walking only to find Pepe sitting on the hump behind her, “Hello, baby. You look sweet upon the seat of a camel that’s built for two”. She runs off again, to which Pepe follows, “I am going to follow you”. The camel, who is completely and utterly calm, about a skunk having sat atop him, informs us, “If you’re a camel, you soon learn to put up with anything” (animated by Washam).

Penelope hides in the residence of a snake charmer and shuts the window while panting. Pepe rises up out of the basket to her left and imitates a snake, “Le hiss. Hiss. I am a snake and you have charmed me, no?” After Penelope runs out, Pepe asides, “This American girls, always on the go!” Penelope runs into “Omar Tents” and encounters Pepe lolling on a pillow and wearing a fez as he misquotes, “A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and me”. Penelope then runs into “Le Cabaret Tres Vicious”. As she pants in fear while hiding under a tablecloth, she finds Pepe playing the piano while singing, “As Time Goes By” before the flashback ends (animated by Vaughan).

Back in the present, Pepe concludes, “So you see, at first, she was shy, so we had our little difficulties. A lovers’ misunderstandings. But now, we are inseparable”. The camera pans sideways to reveal a shackle on his foot and then pans across as he is heard asking, “Are we not, darling?” Penelope, who has the other shackle on her foot, nods in agreement but then immediately starts attempting to cut the chain with a file as the cartoon irises out (animated by Washam).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½