Pepé Le Pew (character)

Pepé Le Pew is a rancid skunk in Looney Tunes.

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 Jones' bitterest foe) at Warners then once profanely commented that no one would laugh at those cartoons. However, this did not keep Selzer 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, Jones 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 of Pepé Le Pew

 * Odor-able Kitty (1945)
 * Scent-imental Over You (1947)
 * Odor of the Day (1948)
 * For Scent-imental Reasons (1949), Academy Award
 * Scent-imental Romeo (1951)
 * Little Beau Pepe (1952)
 * Wild Over You (1953)
 * The Cats Bah (1954)
 * Dog Pounded (1954): a guest appearance in a Sylvester and Tweety movie
 * Two 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, television series)
 * A Scent of the Matterhorn (1961)
 * Louvre Come Back to Me! (1962)
 * The Porky Pig Show (1964, television series)
 * Bugs Bunny's Easter Special (1977, television special)
 * The Daffy Duck Show (1978, television series)
 * Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol (1979, television special)
 * Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979, television special)
 * The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
 * The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981)
 * Bugs Bunny's Mad World of Television (1982, television special)
 * Bugs vs. Daffy: Battle of the Music Video Stars (1988, television special)
 * 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

Quotes

 * "Vous connais, c'est possible to be too attractive!" (from For Scent-Imental Reasons)
 * "Je am playing il too cool, non?"
 * "Non, non, non. Not 'pew.' Le pew. Pepe Le Pew's my name."
 * "Vair are vous, mon little Lona Misa? J'ai going to find vous."
 * "Lovely view, non?"
 * "Le bow wow wow! Le bow! Le wow! Le rararr. Le AAAAA-WAA-AAAA-WAA-AAAAA-WAA-AAA-WAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
 * "Julio. Julio, Herefore art moi, Romiette." (from Past Perfumance)
 * "Ah, mon little Shvedish meatball, c'est amour at first sight, non?" (from For Scent-Imental Reasons)
 * "Coffee, tea, or moi?"
 * "Baby darla!!"

Trivia

 * Pepe Le Pew and Penelope Pussycat are possibly the first to get frozen by Otto the Odd in The Hunter, in which the skunk is trying to get affectionate with the cat.