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Odor-able Kitty is a 1945 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones.

Title[]

The title is an appropriate play on an "adorable kitty", foreshadowing the cat's disguise as a skunk.

Plot[]

After so much abuse (being kicked by a butcher for looking at the meat in the windows, swatted with a broom by a housewife, and beaten up by a bulldog), a cat decides to pose as a skunk using black and white paint, Limburger cheese, onions and garlic so he can scare off his bullies, which all turned out to be successful.

After raiding a meat shop, the cat relaxes on a field, happy and full. Unfortunately, its stench attracts the unwanted attention of a French-speaking skunk named Henry, who falls for him. The cat runs from him and hides in a tree, which the skunk manages to find with ease.

The cat runs into town, grabbing a skunk fur to trick the skunk into thinking that it is him instead. The cat climbs onto a tall pillar and warns him that if he takes one step closer, he'll jump to his death. The skunk doesn't listen, and the cat tosses the fur off. As the skunk mourns the death of the supposed skunk, the cat sneaks away. This doesn't work, for as soon as he spots the cat, he cuddles it. Continuing to run, a dog believes that the cat is a skunk, and faints when it sees the real skunk. Finally, the cat disguises itself as Bugs Bunny to fool the skunk. A chase ensues. Running is no use as the cat soon finds itself tired and worn out.

The skunk finally captures the painted cat and cuddles with him until his wife taps on his shoulder and screams, "Henry!" Not only is the amorous skunk already married with children, but his French accent disappears when he tries to explain himself to his wife and makes up a poor excuse, but it isn't believed, and he is whacked on his head. As Henry's wife clobbers her unfaithful husband, the cat wakes up and notices the scene and quickly crawls away. Realizing that his old life wasn't all bad, he cleans himself up, and happily goes back to a life of being kicked, swatted, and beaten. He contentedly states "Ah, this is the life."

Caricatures[]

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • This is the first appearance of PepĆ© Le Pew.[4][5]
  • Chuck Jones, a co-creator for the character, also credited Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce with contributing to the character concept.[6]
  • PepĆ© is known as Henry in this short. He would not get his name until "For Scent-imental Reasons".
  • In this cartoon, PepĆ© has a wife and two children, and fakes his French accent. This is the only time this happens; in all other cartoons he is a bachelor and his French accent is genuine.
  • Bugs Bunny makes a cameo near the ending, but this is only a costume.
  • In this cartoon and "Scent-imental over You", PepĆ© lived in America instead of France.
  • This is the last cartoon to have the PRODUCED BY WARNER BROS. CARTOONS at the ending and RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC.
    • This is also the final cartoon to use the blue Color Rings of the 1944-45 season.
  • A mouse resembling Hubie appears in this cartoon, running out of the butcher's shop yelling "SKUUNKKK!!!!" when the cat (disguised as a skunk) enters the butcher's shop.
  • This is not part of the typical formula for the PepĆ© Le Pew series of cartoons, since the character is "unknowingly" attracted to a male cat. Most of the films in the series are "Picaresque stories of seduction and sexual conquest or its failure".[6] Part of the film's twist ending is that PepĆ© is revealed as an American skunk who fakes his French accent. Given the theme of a married man/skunk attempting the seduction of another male, Ken Jennings suggests this film could be of interest to queer studies. Jennings sees the cat as a cross-dresser.[7]
  • The cat in this short resembles Claude Cat.
  • This short is one of seven Pepe Le Pew cartoons not written by Michael Maltese, instead it's written by Tedd Pierce. The others are "Odor of the Day" (written by Lloyd Turner), "Dog Pounded" (written by Warren Foster, though this is debatable, as "Dog Pounded" is a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon with Pepe Le Pew in a cameo role near the end), "Two Scent's Worth", "Heaven Scent", "A Scent of The Matterhorn" (all written by Chuck Jones) and "Louvre, Come Back to Me" (written by John Dunn). The next Pepe short "Scent-imental Over You" has both Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce credited as writers, and as such doesn't count as one of the Pepe cartoons not written by Maltese.
  • Vitaphone release number: 1293[8]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ā†‘ https://archive.org/details/catalogofc19723261213libr/page/146/mode/1up?view=theater
  2. ā†‘ Jones, Chuck (1989). "The Writers: The Slum Kid, the Scion, and Me", Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist (in en). Farrar Straus Giroux, page 115. ISBN 978-0374123482. 
  3. ā†‘ 3.0 3.1 https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2013/08/odor-able-backgrounds.html
  4. ā†‘ Pepe Le Pew. A Looney Webpage. Retrieved on November 2, 2013.
  5. ā†‘ Pepe Le Pew: Stinky. Chuck Jones.com. Retrieved on November 2, 2013.
  6. ā†‘ 6.0 6.1 Sandler, Kevin S. (1998). "Notes to Pages 134-137", Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation (in en). Rutgers University Press, page 240-241. ISBN 978-0813525389. 
  7. ā†‘ Jennings, Ken (2008). Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days (in en). Villard, page 7. ISBN 978-0345499974. 
  8. ā†‘ https://web.archive.org/web/20140224035635/http://www.davemackey.com:80/animation/wb/vitaphonenos.html
PepƩ 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 PepƩ
1953 Wild over You
1954 Dog Pounded ā€¢ The Cats Bah
1955 Past Perfumance ā€¢ Two Scent's Worth
1956 Heaven Scent
1957 TouchƩ and Go
1959 Really Scent
1960 Who Scent You?
1961 A Scent of the Matterhorn
1962 Louvre Come Back to Me!
1995 Carrotblanca
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