Pepé Le Pew (character)

Pepe Le Pew, often shortened to just "Pepe" (although he is referred to as "Henry" in his debut), is a fictional character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies film-short series. An anthropomorphic, French skunk, Pepe is continuously in search of romance, but is inhibited from getting it by his smell, self-delusion, and overly persistent manner.

Origin
Pepé Le Pew was introduced in 1945, debuting in the cartoon Odor-able Kitty. Chuck Jones, Pepé's creator, wrote that Pepé was based (loosely) on the personality of his Termite Terrace colleague, writer Tedd Pierce, a self-styled "ladies' man" who reportedly always assumed that his infatuations were requited. Pepé's voice, provided by Mel Blanc, was based on Charles Boyer's Pépé le Moko from Algiers, a remake of the 1937 French film Pépé Le Moko. Eddie Selzer, animation producer (and Chuck's bitterest foe) at Warners then once profanely commented that no one would laugh at those cartoons. However, this did not keep Eddie from accepting an award for one of Pepé's pictures several years later. There have been theories that Pepé was based on Maurice Chevalier. However, in the short film, Chuck Jones: Memories Of Childhood, Chuck says Pepé was actually based on himself, but that he was very shy with girls, and Pepé obviously was not. A prototype Pepe appears in 1947's Bugs Bunny Rides Again, but sounds similar to Porky Pig.

Voice
In the shorts, a kind of pseudo-French or Francais is spoken and written primarily by adding "le" to English words (example: "le skunk de pew"), or by more creative mangling of French expressions with English ones, such as "Sacre Maroon!", "my sweet peanut of brittle", "Come to me, my little melon-baby collie!" or "Ah, my little darling, it is love at first sight, is it not, no?", and "It is love at sight first!" The writer responsible for these malapropisms was Michael Maltese. Blanc's voice for the character closely resembles the one he used for "Professor Le Blanc", the harried violin instructor on The Jack Benny Program.

Design
Pepé sees himself as an attractive old-fashioned lover boy, but the ladies see him as a skunk who has problems "containing himself." His stench, in fact, is so bad, that many people, male and female, run away to avoid being sprayed. But Pepé's main attraction is Penelope Pussycat, who has been unfortunate enough to have a white stripe painted on her back. Pepé sees this cat as his love interest, and has often tried to woo her. But Penelope Pussycat runs away before the two can get to become better friends. When Pepé chases Penelope Pussycat, he doesn't run. He hops gracefully on all four legs in his pursuit, while the cat runs at full speed. Ironically, when the situation is reversed and Penelope pursues him, she mimics his hop while he runs.

Filmography

 * Odor-able Kitty (1945)
 * Scent-imental Over You (1947)
 * Odor of the Day (1948)
 * For Scent-imental Reasons (1949), Academy Award winner
 * Scent-imental Romeo (1951)
 * Little Beau Pepe (1952)
 * Wild Over You (1953)
 * The Cats Bah (1954)
 * Dog Pounded (1954), cameo
 * 2 Scent's Worth (1955)
 * Past Perfumance (1955)
 * Heaven Scent (1956)
 * Touche and Go (1957)
 * Really Scent (1959)
 * Who Scent You? (1960)
 * The Bugs Bunny Show (1960)
 * A Scent of the Matterhorn (1961)
 * Louvre, Come Back To Me! (1962)
 * The Porky Pig Show (1964)
 * Bugs Bunny's Easter Special (1977)
 * The Daffy Duck Show (1978)
 * Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol (1979)
 * Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979)
 * The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Movie (1979)
 * The Looney, Looney, Looney, Bugs Bunny Movie (1981)
 * Bugs Bunny's Mad World Of Television (1982)
 * Bugs Vs. Daffy: Battle Of The Music-Video Stars (1988)
 * Carrotblanca (1995), voiced by Greg Burson
 * Space Jam (1996), voiced by Maurice LaMarche
 * Tweety's High Flying Adventure (2000), voiced by Joe Alaskey
 * Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003), voiced by Bruce Lanoil
 * Baby Looney Tunes (2005), voiced by Dee Bradley Baker
 * It's A Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas-Special (December 6th, 1992), cameo
 * The Looney Tunes Show, voiced by Rene Auberjonois

Quotes

 * "You know, it's possible to be too attractive!" (from For Scent-Imental Reasons)
 * "'I'm playing it too cool, non?"
 * "Non, non, non. Not 'pew.' Le pew. 'Pepe Le Pew's' my name." (from Really Scent)
 * "Vair are you, my leetle Mona Lisa? I'm going to find you!" (from Louvre Come Back To Me)
 * "Lovely view, is it not?"
 * "Le bow wow wow! Le bow! Le wow! Le rowr! Le (Tarzan-like yell)! A screech to you is jungle love." (from Past Perfumance)
 * "Julio, Julio, herefore art me, Romiette." (from Past Perfumance)
 * "Ah, my leetle, Shvedish meatball, it's love at first sight, non?" (from Carrotblanca)
 * "Coffee, tea, or moi?" (from Carrotblanca)
 * "Baby darla!!"
 * "Vi is it zat venever un homme is captured by un femme, all he vish to do is get avay?" (from Little Beau Pepe)

Trivia

 * Pepe and Penelope are possibly the first to get frozen by Otto The Odd in The Hunter, in which the skunk is, once again, trying to woo the cat.