Little Beau Pepé

Little Beau Pepé is a 1952 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles M. Jones.
== Title ==
The title and the cartoon are a play on the 1924 book Beau Geste and its multiple film adaptations. The title also plays on the nursery rhyme "Little Bo Peep". 
== Plot ==
At Le Desert Sahara a sign in front of the fortress reads, "No Le Pouf Trespasse'" Inside the fortress a group of French soldiers are training for war. They march off singing a song. The leader dismisses them all, and they run off. As they walk we are shown the place that Penelope Pussycat is sleeping in. Penelope moves up and two painters are talking to each other. When Penelope arrives the two painters pet her. Pepe Le Pew arrives at the door, declaring that he is “the broken heart of love". He wishes to enlist in the foreign legion. He has to fill out a questionnaire, but before he can finish, the enlistment officer is scared off by Pepe's smell, and tells everyone else in the fortress, and they all run screaming out except for Penelope.
Pepe believes that they have left him because they think he'd be perfect for defending the port. As Pepe defends the fort, or so he thinks, Penelope gets up. She goes over to “Le Painte Dampe” ladder and gets a white stripe down her back. As she's walking Pepe spots her, and as usual mistakes for her a female skunk. He goes down to hold and kiss her. But as usual she tries to get away from him. Pepe thinks “she is wish to put on her face before we continue with the wooing”. He catches her sitting on the stairs, and when she sees him, she runs off, whereupon Pepe says, "But, darling, tomorrow I may be shipped overseas!" A chase ensues, during which Pepe remarks, "You know, one of the mysteries of my life is why a woman run away when all she really wish is to be captured." As Penelope is running she runs into Pepe who says the name "Josephine" in a Napoleon Bonaparte costume.
A horrified Penelope runs to a barrel hoping to hide but when she gets there Pepe is already under it, preparing a bottle of champagne. She immediately runs out of the barrel, whereupon Pepe says, "Almost like shooting fish in a barrel!" Penelope runs out to the desert, but Pepe hops after her. Penelope gets tired and thirsty, but as usual Pepe shows no signs of stopping. As Penelope runs she spots an oasis. She runs over to it, in the process causing everyone to run out because they mistake her for a skunk. As she struggles to get to the water for a much needed drink, she spots Pepe's reflection as the skunk says, "Hello, baby." Terrified, Penelope turns to run, but she is too exhausted from all her running in the desert that she passes out from the fatigue.
Pepe runs over to her and picks her up, believing that she "must have become so overwhelmed by her emotions at seeing me again." He takes her into a tent and waits for her to wake up. While he's waiting he sees a bunch of bottles of cologne and ponders over which one he should use in order to "restoke the furnace of love." He decides to use them all and mixes them up. He goes over to a guitar and starts playing a song. Penelope then smells the cologne, causing her to instantly wake up with hearts in her eyes, set on Pepe. She goes over to Pepe and starts kissing him, causing the roles to be reversed. While he runs away from her, Pepe says, "Why is it that whenever a man is captured by a woman, all he wish to do is get away?"
== Availability ==
W UK10550 LooneyTunesVideoShowNo15The.jpg|(1984) VHS The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 15
512SSDZ33BL.jpg|(1990) VHS Pepe Le Pew (1990)
lt longitude.jpg|(1994) LaserDisc Longitude and Looneytude: Globetrotting Looney Tunes Favorites
Pepeltcollectionafdsbfjawe.jpg|(1996) VHS Looney Tunes Collection - Pepe le Pew
Bumper03.jpg|(1996) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 3)
Zee Best Of Zee Best Correct Cover.jpg|(2011) DVD Looney Tunes Super Stars' Pepé Le Pew: Zee Best of Zee Best
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang ( - )
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max Latin America / Brazil (2021 - 2024)
lt max.jpg|Max Latin America / Brazil (2024 - )
== Notes ==
* This cartoon was featured in Bugs Bunny's Valentine.
* The French Foreign Legion from this cartoon, as well as it's soldiers, would later reappear in the The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode "Mirage Sale", except that in that episode the soldiers have different-colored uniforms, and Pepé Le Pew and Penelope Pussycat are noticeably absent.
*This short, along with the Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon "Ballot Box Bunny" and the Tweety and Sylvester cartoon "Gift Wrapped", were submitted for an Academy Award in 1952 but were not nominated.https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/cartoons-considered-for-an-academy-award-1951/
==Gallery==
LittleBeauPepeCredits1.png
LittleBeauPepeCredits2.png
LittleBeauPepeCredits3.png
Oscar-nom-1951.jpg|Oscar nomination sheet from 1952, showing that this short (along with the Sylvester and Tweety cartoon "Gift Wrapped" and the Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon "Ballot Box Bunny") was in the running to be nominated
Little-beau-pepe.jpg|Lobby card
Ltajw&m-18.png|Pepe asiding to the audience
Ltajw&m-19.png|Penelope overcome by Pepe's aphrodisiac perfume
Little Beau Pepe (1952) - Legion.jpg|Line of French Foreign Legion soldiers
===TV Title Cards ===
Screenshot 2020-12-27 at 7.14.41 PM.png|The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (Final Season)
==References==
==External links==
*"Little Beau Pepé" on the SFX Resource
Category:Pepe Le Pew Cartoons
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:1952
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer