Penelope Pussycat

Penelope Pussycat

Penelope trying to wash her stripe off in For Scent-imental Reasons
First appearance For Scent-imental Reasons (November 12, 1949)
Created by Chuck Jones
Voiced by Mel Blanc (1949-1989)
June Foray (Really Scent) (1959)
Tress MacNeille (Carrotblanca) (speaking role) (1995)
Information
Species Cat
Gender Female
Significant other(s) Pepé Le Pew

Penelope Pussycat is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic cat featured in the Warner Bros. classic Looney Tunes animated shorts. Although she is typically a non-speaker, her "meows" and "purrs" (or "le mews" and "le purrs") were most often provided by Mel Blanc using a feminine voice. In the 1959 short Really Scent, she was voiced by June Foray. As of 2012, her first speaking role was in the 1995 short Carrotblanca, where she was voiced by Tress MacNeille. It can be postulated with the inconsistencies in her naming that every sighting of her is simply a random black cat until "Penelope Pussycat" was named on screen in Carrotblanca using the black cat animation.

Character history and personality

Penelope Pussycat is best known as the often bewildered love interest of Looney Tunes' anthropomorphic skunk, Pepé 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, whether painted intentionally or (mostly) by accident.

She often finds herself constantly being chased by the overly enthusiastic Pepé, but when the occasion has presented itself, Penelope has been portrayed as the pursuer. For Scent-imental Reasons, Little Beau Pepe, and Really Scent have all shown Penelope to harbor an attraction to Pepe whenever his scent is neutralized (though in each cited instance, extenuating circumstances have caused Pepe to become repulsed by her, inciting Penelope to reverse the roles).

In more recent years, merchandising from Warner Bros (such as ornaments, glass wear, statuettes and children's activity books) has portrayed Penelope and Pepe as mutually attracted "sweethearts", though other modern media (such as The Looney Tunes Show and the current Looney Tunes comic book series) has maintained their classic "chasing" relationship.

Penelope Pussycat partly inspired the Tiny Toon Adventures character Furrball, a male cat who sees himself chased by an amorous female skunk (Fifi La Fume) whenever he has a white stripe painted down his back.

Name confusion

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 mistress referred to her as "Penelope". The name was later contradicted in the 1955 short, Two Scent's Worth, where she was identified as "Fifi". In the 1959 short, Really Scent, she was referred to as "Fabrette". Confusingly, her mother was named "Fifi" in that short. In a model sheet from the early 1990s, she was referred to simply as "Le Cat".

She remained without an official name for many years, until the 1995 release of Carrotblanca (a parody of Casablanca). Her name was then canonized as "Penelope Pussycat", as many advertisements for the short credited her as "Penelope Pussycat in her first speaking role".

Appearances

Classic shorts

Other media