For Scent-imental Reasons
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''For Scent-imental Reasons'' (stylized as for Scent-imental Reasons)is a 1949
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
''
Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
'' short directed by
Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...
and written by
Michael Maltese Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American screenwriter and storyboard artist for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons with director ...
. The short was released on November 12, 1949, and featured the debut of Penelope Pussycat (who is unnamed in this cartoon). It won the
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...
in
1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...
and was the first
Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...
-directed cartoon and the second short produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons to win this award (after '' Tweetie Pie'' won in
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
).


Plot

A Parisian perfume shop owner is horrified to find a skunk, Pepé Le Pew, sampling his fragrances. The man calls upon a gendarme for assistance. Unhelpfully, the officer also recoils from Pepé's scent and flees the scene. A black-and-white stray cat winds around the shop owner’s legs, trying to comfort him. Deciding to have her remove Pepé, he tosses her into the store. She slides across the floor, slams into a table, and overturns a bottle of white hair dye. This leads to a white stripe down her back and tail. Pepé immediately mistakes the cat for a skunk and falls for her. Despite her clear aversion to his smell, he persistently tries to woo her. After failing to scrub off the dye, she locks herself in a glass case (much to his annoyance). Eventually, she mimed through the glass that she won’t come out because he stinks. Heartbroken, he pulls out a gun, puts it to his head, and walks out of the frame. A “bang” is heard, so she frantically rushes out—only to find that he’d tricked her (“I missed, fortunately for you!”). The chase resumes, with Pepé leisurely hopping after the hightailing cat. The pursuit ends on the second story, where she jumps onto a window ledge. Believing that she is about to end her life out of love for him, he tries to save her. When she slips from his grasp, he dramatically leaps after her. She lands in a barrel of rainwater, and he in a can of blue paint. Not only has the water washed away the cat’s stripe, but it has also given her a cold. She looks so bedraggled that Pepé (who is completely blue) doesn’t recognize her. So, he wanders off to search for his “young lady skunk.” As he walks away, the cat notices how muscular the paint makes him look. Coupled with the fact that her sinuses are now blocked, she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Pepé goes back inside the shop. As soon as he crosses the threshold, the door slams and locks. He turns to see the cat leering at him. She pockets the key in her fur and begins to approach him. Realizing that the tables have turned, he starts running for his life. The cat follows, using his trademark hop, and Pepé ends the cartoon by remarking "is it possible to be too attractive?"


Notes

In 1957, this cartoon was reissued as a Blue Ribbon ''Merrie Melodies''. However, like all cartoons reissued between 1956 and 1959, the opening title ('' The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down'') music still plays and the original ending title was kept.


Home media

*This cartoon can be seen with the Blue Ribbon reissue on the first volume of the '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1'' DVD set (disc 3) and '' Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection'' (disc 1). In 2011, it also appeared in '' Looney Tunes Super Stars' Pepe Le Pew: Zee Best of Zee Best'' and '' Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1''. *The oft-censored glass case/suicide sequence was used in both the Chuck Jones compilation movie '' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie'' and '' Chuck Amuck: The Movie'', though in the former, the scene with Penelope attempting to wash the stripe off her back is left out. *This short was featured on the UK Rental VHS release of Singles. *This short was included as a bonus feature on the Blu-ray release of '' Gay Purr-ee''.


See also

*" (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons", the song for which the cartoon is named.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:For Scent-Imental Reasons 1949 films 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films Best Animated Short Academy Award winners Short films directed by Chuck Jones Animated films set in Paris Looney Tunes shorts Films scored by Carl Stalling Animated films about cats 1949 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Penelope Pussycat films Pepé Le Pew films Films with screenplays by Michael Maltese 1949 animated short films