The Cats Bah

The title is a play on "casbah," a sort of fortress found in old citadels of North Africa; it is also connected to the character of Pepé Le Moko, who lived in the casbah of Algiers and was the focus of French novel "Pepe le Moko" by author Henri La Barthe and was made into a film three times: the 1937 French film "Pepé le Moko" (starring Jean Gabin), it's 1938 American remake "Algiers" (starring Charles Boyer), and the 1948 remake of "Algiers", merely called "Casbah" (starring Tony Martin). Pepé le Moko, particularly his take by Charles Boyer in "Algiers", is a basis for Pepé Le Pew; Pepé lives next to him in this short.

Plot[]

Pepé Le Pew tells a story about how he managed to get his "greatest love of [his] life".

In Casbah a long time ago, Pepé is preparing to find a date while an American petowner departs a cruise ship with her cat Penelope Pussycat. As the cat exits the boat, a ship painter accidentally drops a stripe of white paint atop of Penelope. Pepé sees the striped cat and immediately flirts with the "skunk", breaking Penelope off her pet owner's collar as the latter walks away without noticing. Penelope attempts to hide off inside several vases, but Pepé manages to pick the right one by luck. The cat tries to escape by camel, while Pepé rides on the camel's second hump. Penelope runs inside a casbah, while Pepé hides in a nearby woolen basket. As Penelope continues to escape, Pepé continues to quickly be in the same area as Penelope.

In the end, Pepé reveals that the two are now inseparable, as Pepé managed to chain himself to Penelope at the end of the chase. Stuck in the skunk's grasp, Penelope tries to file her way out of the chains.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

The version shown in ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show edits out the entire beginning in which the camera assumes the point of view of a reporter interviewing Pepe, due to the presence of alcohol and cigarettes^[1] (though ABC once aired the 1951 Pepé cartoon "Scent-imental Romeo" left in a similar scene of Pepe opening a bottle of champagne and serving it to the cat uncensored, and Cartoon Network, which censored the champagne part in "Scent-imental Romeo", aired this short uncut).

Notes[]

This is the first cartoon in which Penelope Pussycat is given her name, although her name was not canonized until the release of "Carrotblanca" (and the character design for the modern version of Penelope from "Carrotblanca" is the one from "For Scent-imental Reasons" and "Scent-imental Romeo"). After this cartoon's release, she went under different names/aliases in a few Pepe Le Pew shorts (such as Fifi in "Two Scent's Worth", Fabrette in "Really Scent", and although not actually mentioned by that name, the color guide for "Louvre Come Back to Me!" shows that Penelope was supposed to be named Felice).
The ship that Penelope disembarks from appears to be the "S.S. Phyllis Selzer". Producer Eddie Selzer's daughter is named Phyllis.
This short was featured in the last installment of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon that aired 11 September 1999, alongside "Porky in Wackyland", "The Daffy Duckaroo", "To Beep or Not to Beep", "Tree for Two", and "Of Rice and Hen".
The opening title card with Pepé's head and the font for the text reading "Pepe' Le Pew in" are reused from "Wild over You".
This is the last Pepé Le Pew cartoon to have Carl Stalling credited for music.

Gallery[]

TV Title Cards[]

References[]

↑ http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-c.aspx

Pepé Le Pew Cartoons
1945	Odor-able Kitty
1947	Scent-imental over You
1948	Odor of the Day
1949	For Scent-imental Reasons
1951	Scent-imental Romeo
1952	Little Beau Pepé
1953	Wild over You
1954	Dog Pounded • The Cats Bah
1955	Past Perfumance • Two Scent's Worth
1956	Heaven Scent
1957	Touché and Go
1959	Really Scent
1960	Who Scent You?
1961	A Scent of the Matterhorn
1962	Louvre Come Back to Me!
1995	Carrotblanca

[1] ttp://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-c.aspx

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