User Reviews

. . . (given that Las Vegas has a popular betting line on which major sportsman will "come out" as female next), REALLY SCENT--featuring as it does the excising of a skunk's distinctive stink gland) seems way ahead of its time. The breath-challenged cat's mom seems just as meddlesome, strident and pushy here as any Modern Maternal Unit. Proud as Heck about her daughter's genetic defect (or, in cancel culture terms, anomaly--or have they switched yet to "event horizon"?), this off-putting feline is extremely fortunate that no one from the Decency League has noticed her, tied her in a plastic bag and tossed her into a river. Nevertheless, given all the fattened purses on the L. P. G. A. Tour, the smart money's on Tiger.

. . . as his closing comment at REALLY SCENT's O.Henry-twist finale is, "Oy Vey, what a day." No doubt by the late 1950s various American teachers' unions had pointed out to the usually enlightened Warner Bros. Studio that some rogue animators behind their Pepe Le Pew character had turned U.S. primary school playgrounds into messy tangles of young lads "playing Pepe" and girls fleeing in horror. REALLY SCENT probably is the very earliest Pepe cartoon that's actually suitable for kids. Though the black female feline "Fabrette" looks a lot like the hapless "Penelope" of most earlier Pepe episodes, Fabrette INHERITS the white stripe on her back from her dad Pierre, and does NOT acquire it in the sort of accident or vandalism constantly plaguing Penelope. When Pepe figures out for the FIRST TIME that Fabrette (and everyone else, including the sewer rat) find him offensively odoriferous, he looks up "Pew" in a Thesaurus. Then the mortified skunk gets himself Destunk (or "fixed," with the removal of his stink gland) for Fabrette! Meanwhile, his mutant crush bathes herself in "150% proof" liquefied Limburger cheese to prepare herself--willingly!--for an inter-species fling with Pepe! Oy Vey!

In one of the stranger Pepe Le Pew cartoons, the famous skunk comes to New Orleans, where Fabrette the cat is looking for a lover. Pepe is of course perfect except for his scent.

What I mean about "Really Scent" being one of the stranger cartoons is that Pepe comes to understand that he smells terrible. What made these cartoons great is that he always believed himself to be irresistible, despite the obvious fact that he repelled everyone. So why have him realize that he stinks? Oh well, at least they also have Fabrette change herself. Not a bad cartoon, but not the first one that I would recommend (as a director, Abe Levitow just couldn't equal Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng).

And of course, this cartoon is also a look at the New Orleans of long ago, before Hurricane Katrina irrevocably changed it. I know that that's not related to the events portrayed in the cartoon, but I notice it.