Penelope Pussycat
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Penelope Pussycat is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic cat featured in the Warner Brothers classic Looney Tunes animated shorts. Though typically a non-speaker, her "meows" and "purs" were most often provided by Mel Blanc using a feminine voice. In the 1959 short "Really Scent", she was voiced by June Foray. And in her only real speaking role, she was voiced by Tress MacNeille in the 1995 straight-to-video movie, Carrotblanca.
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[edit] Character history and personality
Penelope Pussycat is best known as the often bewildered love interest of Looney Tunes star-skunk, Pepe Le Pew. Penelope is a typical black and white pussycat, though by some means or another, she often finds herself with a white stripe down her back. She talks very seldomly, and has a somewhat shy personality...until she falls in love. When Penelope falls in love, and there is nothing to get in her way, she can be just as passionate and unstoppable as Pepe. Penelope is always on the lookout for romance, but often that romance comes paired with a disturbingly foul odor.
While she finds herself constantly being chased by the overly enthusiastic Pepe, their relationship is certainly not a one-sided attraction. On more than one occasion she has been shown to harbor an equally powerful desire to chase, capture and smother Pepe in overwhelming amounts of passion and romance (much to Pepe's fright, as he, for some unexplained reason, has an ironic phobia of women trying to capture him). However, while she does find Pepe to be attractive, it is his smell that she cannot stand.
Despite their differences, and a smell strong enough to kill plants where they stand, Penelope is very much in love with Pepe when given the proper opportunity to be with him. On many occasions she will go to great lengths to separate Pepe from his odor, and in the moments where she succeeds, she easily turns the tables on him and amorously hunts him down with reckless abandon.
[edit] Name controversy
For many years, Penelope remained a nameless character, simply referred to as "the black cat". She was eventually given a name in the 1954 short, "The Cat's Bah", where her master referred to her as "Penelope". The name was later contradicted in 1959 in the short, "Really Scent", where she was referred to as "Fahrberet". She remained without an official name for many years, up until "Carrotblanca" (a parody of Casablanca) was released in 1995. Her name was then canonized as "Penelope Pussycat", as many advertisements for the short credited her as "Penelope Pussycat in her first speaking role".
[edit] Most notable appearances
[edit] "For Scent-imental Reasons"
Her first appearance was in the 1949 Academy Award-winning short, "For Scent-imental Reasons". In that short, the owner of a French perfume shop is horrified to find Pepe Le Pew inside, trying on various colognes. With the police too afraid to help the man, he tosses a bewildered Penelope Pussycat into the shop, hoping she would fight Pepe off. Instead, Penelope accidentally crashes into a table with a bottle of white paint on it, tipping the bottle over and dribbling a white stripe down her back. Pepe mistakes her for a skunk and immediately chases her throughout the shop. Though annoyed by the stench, Penelope shows some affection and concern for Pepe when he leaves her to think he is going to commit suicide. Penelope exits her hiding place and grabs Pepe tightly to stop him, but quickly runs away again once she gets a whiff of his odor.
However, by the episode's end, both Penelope and Pepe fall out of a window on the second story. Penelope drops directly into barrel of dirty water, which not only washes away the white stripe, but leaves her with a ratty appearance and a bad cold. Pepe, on the other hand, falls into a can of blue paint, which seals off his odor and (unknowingly to him) disguises him as a cat. Penelope gets a good look at his muscular frame and falls madly in love. Reinvigorated, she chases a frightened Pepe (who isn't very fond of her wet and sickly appearance) back inside the perfume shop. Once inside, she locks the door behind herself, lovingly drops the key down her chest to ensure he can't escape and continues to chase the terrified, and now completely trapped, Pepe. Pepe's final, frightened remark is, "You know, it eez possible to be TOO attractive," as he desperately runs away in fear with Penelope hopping closely behind him, bound to catch him sooner or later.
[edit] "Little Beau-Pepe"
Another of her more forward appearances was in the 1952 short, "Little Beau-Pepe". In this one, Pepe joins the French Foreign Legion out in a desert base, and immediately scares all the Legionaires off the premises. Penelope, the Legion's mascot, accidentally rubs her back beneath the bottom rung of a ladder with fresh white paint on it, and ends up with the appearance of a skunk. Pepe immediately goes for her and chases her out into the desert. After finding an oasis (which is quickly abandoned by the resident Legionaires at the sight of two skunks), she collapses from exhaustion. Pepe takes her into a tent to rest up while he tries to find the right perfume to arouse her with. He decides to combine them all and subsequently sprays himself with the mixture.
The scent works as an effective love potion and Penelope awakes from her nap in an explosion of hearts. She tackles the unknowing Pepe in a heart-shaped cloud of dust, much to his terror. Capturing Pepe and locking him up tightly in her arms, she proceeds to smother him in numerous kisses. Ironically having a fear of overly-affectionate women, the horrified Pepe shouts "Madame! T-t-try to control yourself!" as he desperately, and futiley, tries to escape her. Penelope does not seem interested in controlling herself and continues to kiss him. Pepe tries and tries to push her away, but Penelope will not let go and will not stop smooching him, either. Eventually, Pepe escapes her overwhelming embrace and runs out into the desert with Penelope hopping quickly after him. Pepe laments, "How come whenever it eez zee man who eez to be captured, all he wants to do eez run away!?" As Penelope chases directly behind him, she flirtatiously meows "Le rowr. Le rowr. Le rowr rowr rowr!!", determined to recapture him.
[edit] "Really Scent"
In possibly the most famous and most popular Pepe Le Pew short, the 1959 "Really Scent", Pepe and Penelope (who seems to have a natural white stripe this time, and is named Fahrberet by the narrator) spend the cartoon actually pursuing each other. However, Penelope's (Fahrberet's) pursuit of Pepe is not easy, as she pines to get through his foul odor so they can be together. She attempts to use perfume to cover his stink and even tries to hold her breath so they can hold hands, but all these plots fail miserably. At the end of the short, Pepe realizes that it is his smell that she is afraid of and declares "For her, I will make myself dainty!" and locks himself into a deodorant plant. Penelope, on the other hand, is prepared to drown herself in a lake out of loneliness until the narrator reminds her there is another way. Inspired by love, Penelope locks herself inside a Limburger cheese factory.
When both characters emerge from their isolation, Pepe is without stench and Penelope is absolutely reeking. Penelope, showing a distinctly more forceful and overpowering personality, immediately snatches Pepe up in her arms and begins cuddling him fiercely. Pepe quickly notices her putrid smell and tries to break free. Penelope refuses to let him go and Pepe has a difficult time escaping. Not to be denied, Penelope runs after him at full speed with her arms outstretched, attempting to grab him. Pepe sighs "Oy vey, what a day!" as he desperately tries to avoid the swiping arms of the amorous Penelope who is only inches behind him. Penelope chases Pepe into a heart-shaped opening of a nearby forest, with no intention of ever letting him escape. As the heart-shaped opening glows bright red, the narrator says "And that is love in New Orleans; laugh a little, cry a little. Au revoir."
