Penelope Pitstop

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Penelope Pitstop, as seen on The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

Penelope Pitstop is a fictional character who has appeared in various animated cartoons.

1 Background
- 1.1 Compact Pussycat
2 References to Penelope in other shows and media
3 Penelope Pitstop in other languages
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Background

Penelope Pitstop originated in the Wacky Races cartoon series, produced by the Hanna-Barbera Productions animation studio. In many ways a traditional "damsel in distress" stock character as in the old serial The Perils of Pauline, she is best remembered for shouting "Help, help!" (which sounded more like "Hayulp, hayulp!" in an affected upper-class U.S. South accent). In Wacky Races, Penelope drove "The Compact Pussycat", a pink, stereotypically feminine car with personal grooming facilities. She was called by the race announcer as the "Gal of the Gas Pedal."

According to Iwao Takamoto, Penelope was an afterthought in the development of Wacky Races. Joseph Barbera requested that a woman be added among the racers, so Takamoto and Jerry Eisenberg designed Penelope and her car in about two hours. ^[1]

Penelope also starred in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, a direct spinoff from Wacky Races, but set in the 1920s. Here she displays a curious combination of ingenuity and helplessness. She often figured out clever ways to get out of perils, and was very athletic; if any sport happened to be mentioned, it was revealed that she was the women's champion in said sport in college. Nonetheless, when the villain "The Hooded Claw" grabbed her and held her supine over his head, she would somehow be incapable of doing anything other than yelling "Hayulp!", and flailing her legs helplessly above her like an upside down turtle.

More recently, she has appeared in the web-based Shockwave cartoon Penelope Pitstop GT, featuring a formidable modern-day Penelope who is physically more than a match for any male competitor. Janet Waldo reprised her role in the Wacky Races video game.

[edit] Compact Pussycat

In the series, Penelope's car is called the Compact Pussycat. It is pink, with front bumpers that look like a pair of red lips. It has an umbrella on the top and is equipped with various beauty machines, making it essentially a beauty salon on wheels.

[edit] References to Penelope in other shows and media

Recently, Penelope has been referenced and spoofed in many other works of fiction. One example was an episode of ReBoot, which had a Dick Dastardly reference as well.