Release Date:

October 12, 1957

Main Character(s):

Pepe Le Pew, Penelope

Summary:

Fleeing from a dog, Penelope ends up getting the white stripe from a highwayman’s paint wagon. Having stowed away on a cargo ship being unloaded on the seashore, Pepe Le Pew senses Penelope’s presence and chases her all around the shore.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1482 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is the first cartoon to use the 1957-1959 blue rings with the red background, but only in the intro. This one along with “Mouse-Taken Identity” and “Rabbit Romeo” all use the 1955-1956 green rings with the red background for their respective “That’s all, Folks!” closing cards.

This is the only time where Pepe is cast as a lover where he uses his odor as a weapon (he also did this in “Odor of the Day” where he was portrayed differently).

The title is a pun for “touch and go”.

In one scene, Pepe claims to never drink water himself.

Favorite Scene:

After smooching her underwater from lifting their masks up to enable him to do so, Pepe sees a tiger shark swimming by and hides Penelope in a giant clam to protect her. Pepe then swings his fists and allows the shark to swallow him whole. His odor then takes effect, causing the shark to run out of the water onto the shore while using its tail as legs!

What Happens in This One:

The title card and credits are shown across a camera pan while an initially offscreen voice sings a catchy rendition of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” in fractured French. It turns out to be a highwayman singing it, doing so while he’s using a paint wagon, “Painte Blanc DSC”, in order to paint a white stripe on the road. Approaching him is Penelope being chased by a dog. The highwayman leaps up to the top of the wagon in fear, with Penelope passing under it and getting some paint slathered on her back, forming the stripe. The dog crashes right into the wagon, resulting in an offscreen crash. With both now covered head to toe in white paint, the highwayman asks the dog, “Por qua vous may splash avec white paint, ce vous plait?” The dog gives a sheepish smile, before the highwayman becomes angry at him for ruining his work, kicking him down the street and mostly raving in fractured French, but also among other things, “Pig dog!” and “Lousy flea-bitten-!” Panting for breath while watching this, Penelope gives a sigh of relief, and walks off with the stripe on her back in full view (animated by Richard Thompson).

Meanwhile, a ship docked on the seashore is being unloaded with the captain using a rope and pulley system to pull a crate below deck out. Standing atop said crate is Pepe singing “Alouette”. Once he and the crate rise up into full view, Pepe greets him, “Allay, Mon capitan outrageous! Merci beaucoup por un voyage tres pleasant!”, and blows him a kiss. The captain is horrified at his presence, “Monumental! Un skunk a de pew!” He lowers the crate back down so quickly, it and Pepe, and then the rest of the ship barring the masts and sails, plunge into the water. The captain runs off as he continues shouting, “Un skunk a du smell-ay to high heaven!” (animated by Ken Harris)

Pepe’s tail emerges from the water like a periscope before it spots Penelope walking across the shore on all four’s. With several hearts appearing above Pepe’s tail and a heart ripple in the water appearing around said tail, he zooms all the way to shore like a submarine and with his tail still acting like a periscope. Once on shore, Pepe grabs Penelope in an embrace and sings in tune to “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”, “The arms of Pepe are about you, all the day live long! The lips of Pepe are upon you! (smooches) Pepe’s love is strong!” She begins running off, only for him to grab onto her tail as he hangs on and continues in the same tune, “Darling, can’t you hear me asking, ‘You are going now to where?’” From holding on, Pepe ends up flying smack into a telephone pole in the way as he finishes singing in tune, “Do you think she’s gone and left me?” He then decides, “Ah, well! C’est le guerre!” as he lies down on the sand and starts scatting to “Alouette”. He stops to confide, “There are plenty of other fish in the ocean!”, then “If you like fish!” Pepe stands up and decides, “Personally, I prefer girls! Hmm. Call it a weakness” (animated by Abe Levitow).

Still running, Penelope stops to catch her breath, “Le pant. Le pant. Le puff. Le puff. Le pant. Le-”. The camera pans across to reveal she stopped near where Pepe was hiding in the sand near an opened “Le Times” newspaper. He pops out with, “You smelled me out, you little sandy witch!” Penelope runs off again, with Pepe catching up to her by burrowing through the sand and then popping up, “I have a perfectly splendid idea, flowerpot! Let’s get married!” She skids to a stop and runs back the other way, while Pepe continues skidding backwards and eventually off a cliff, “Oh, I realize that our parents will object at first, but since we love each other so much, then we’ll soon-”. In the midst of falling, Pepe tells us, “You know what? I’m afraid I may be falling for her”. He continues literally falling all the way into the sea below (animated by Levitow).

Penelope runs all the way down to a nearby rock, again stopping to catch her breath, “Le gasp. Le phew. Le pant”. Pepe suddenly jumps up out of the water and continues the romance, “Darling! Are you alright? Eh, you look pale. Uh, do not move. I will get you a glass of water”. He races into the water and back onto land, coming back with said glass of water by holding it above him out of the water- presumably to avoid getting seawater in it. When he returns, he finds Penelope gone, “Here we are, dar- ling? She’s gone?” Pepe then states, “Never underestimate the recuperative powers of a woman!”, before pouring the entire glass out on the rock as he claims, “I never touch the stuff myself” (animated by Levitow).

Penelope then runs all the way to another docked ship, “L’Ardent Octopus” and peeks over the middle part of the ship where the mast stands to find Pepe disguised as the captain. “Mind if I smoke?”, he asks before puffing out of the pipe he’s using as part of his disguise to form both a heart and an arrow out of smoke (animated by Harris). Penelope’s attempt to run off is thwarted by Pepe no longer wearing the captain outfit and grabbing her by hanging by his toes off the mast area, “I am the captain and you, darling, are my first mate! Eh, promotions will follow quickly!” She repeatedly kicks him in the face before running off once more. Pepe remarks, “Love is a many splintered thing” (animated by Levitow).

Donning a scuba mask and oxygen tank, Penelope goes underwater to get away. Pepe follows with both a mask and flippers, but no tank, as he confides, “If you are a skunk, you learn to hold your breath for a long time!” He catches her, “Hello, baby!”, and lifts up both their masks so he can smooch her on the lips, “You’ve got to be quick!” Pepe then spots a tiger shark swimming nearby, so he carries Penelope off, and knocks on a giant clam to get it to open. Once it does, Pepe places Penelope in there for her to hide. Pepe goes back out into the open swinging his fists and allows the shark to consume him whole. Seconds later, the shark’s eye becomes bloodshot with Pepe having used his odor on the interior of the shark’s mouth. This causes the shark to run across the water and out onto shore, yelping like a dog and standing up by all the way by using his tail like legs! (animated by Thompson)

Pepe, carrying a small patch of red seaweed as a gift, knocks on the clam for it to open only to find, “My little pearl has vanished!” He goes back up to the surface and lifts up his mask while swimming above the water and calling, “Where are you, my little she-anemone? Yoo the hoo, baby! Yoo the hoo!” Penelope, revealed to be hiding under a large rock on the sea floor, witnesses Pepe swimming away so she swims in the opposite direction. By sunset, she spots a seemingly isolated island in the distance. Having arrived there and removing her gear- with her white stripe oddly not having been washed off-, she finds Pepe already there, disguised as Robinson Crusoe, as he asks, “Friday? Monday? Right now?” She runs off once more, with Pepe hopping after her on all four’s in tune to a jaunty instrumental of “Alouette”. In the midst of this chase, Pepe asides, “One nice thing is, the game of love is never called on account of darkness!” The camera pans out to a birds’-eye view to reveal the island as a heart-shaped one (animated by Levitow).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕