Penelope Pussycat
Penelope Pussycat | |
---|---|
Looney Tunes character | |
First appearance | For Scent-imental Reasons (November 12, 1949 ) |
Created by | Chuck Jones |
Voiced by |
|
In-universe information | |
Species | Cat |
Gender | Female |
Significant other | Pepé Le Pew |
Penelope Pussycat is an animated cartoon character, 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. The character did not originally have a permanent name; she was alternately referred to as "Penelope", "Fifi", "Pussycat Purr", and "Fabrette", and animator Chuck Jones' 1960 model sheet simply calls her "Le Cat".[1] The name Penelope Pussycat was created retroactively for Warner Bros. marketing.
The character first appeared in the 1949 short
In the 1959 short
History
Penelope Pussycat is best known as the often bewildered love interest of Looney Tunes' anthropomorphic skunk, Pepé Le Pew. Penelope is a black and white cat, who often finds herself with a white stripe down her back, whether painted intentionally or by accident.[1]
She often finds herself being chased by the overly enthusiastic Pepé, but when the occasion has presented itself, Penelope has been portrayed as the pursuer.
In current Warner Bros. merchandise, Penelope and Pepé are portrayed as sharing a mutual attraction towards each other, whereas the Looney Tunes comic book series maintains their chasing relationship. Carrotblanca featured her as the Ilsa analogue to Bugs Bunny's Rick, with Sylvester portraying her husband and Pepe being a minor pursuer.
Penelope Pussycat partly inspired the Tiny Toon Adventures character Furrball, a male cat who, in one episode, is chased by an amorous female skunk (Fifi La Fume) due to getting a white stripe painted down his back and tail.
Penelope remained without an official name for many years. In the 1954 short,
Appearances
Classic shorts
- For Scent-imental Reasons (1949)
- Scent-imental Romeo (1951)
- Little Beau Pepé(1952)
- The Cats Bah(1954)
- Past Perfumance(1955)
- Two Scent's Worth (1955)
- Heaven Scent(1956)
- Touché and Go (1957)
- Really Scent(1959)
- Who Scent You? (1960)
- A Scent of the Matterhorn (1961)
- Louvre Come Back to Me! (1962)
Other media
- Tiny Toon Adventures (1990–1992)
- Carrotblanca (1995)
- Space Jam (1996) (cameo)
- Tweety's High-Flying Adventure (2000)
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (video game) (2003) (cameo)
- Loonatics Unleashed (2005–2007) (cameo)
- Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006)
- The Looney Tunes Show (2011–2014)
- Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) (teaser advertisement only)
- Looney Tunes World of Mayhem (video game) (2018) (as several characters)
- Bugs Bunny Builders (2023)
References
- ^ ISBN 9780813525389. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
- ISBN 0-8050-0889-6.