By: Annna
[2001-07-05]
The Complete Petey, Part Four
January 1967 - April 1967
January, 1967 - Petey's facial features are still looking mainstream. I believe this is the greatest angle ever on his antennae - it's only a few degrees shy of right. He also has an unprecedented five hairs.
Not only is there no dialogue balloon, but the caption is in quotation marks. Perhaps the caption was meant to be the sort of thing one would find in a company holiday card, appended to a candid snap of Petey grinning and running his hand down Patty's back as the two of them stood alone at the New Year's party. This is not the public Petey.
February, 1967 - Petey's proportions are back to cartoonish and his shorts are pure white as he brings in a long line of other boys, licking their lips, to eat the rabbit meat while he watches. This is the only time Patty's name is used.
April, 1967 - Petey's expression is pure bliss. The interlopers have been dealt with, he has a knee-mounted platform covered with rabbit meat and all is right with the world.
Patty is less nerdy and has a sort of amused/exasperated look on her face in the third panel. much shorter skirt, as well. perhaps they're trying to make her into a sort of Beth on Newsradio, or any other saucy redhead. the secretary (Geena Davis?) in Ghostbusters is called to mind, too. I misread the second one as "Valiumtime Kisses" - what need is there for kissin' if you've got valium?
There is unquestionably a change in Patty in these panels, as opposed to her previous, much more innocent appearances. No, in Patty they are making it crystal clear: Rabbit = Sexual Gratification.
It should be observed that these are the ads in effect at the time of my birth. I submit that, to those of us born in the lucky six-year span from 1965 to 1971, Petey ads can be used for astrological divinations. March 1967 would correspond to the middle ad, I should imagine; the driving theme there is the recognition of dualities and choosing one path while shunning another. And lo, as foreordained by Petey, so has been my life.
'Twas Annie Potts in "Ghostbusters", I believe.
a fitting follow-up to Petey week would be a CGI that wraps portions of years outside the peak Petey production period, so that anyone born anytime can have a Petey chart drawn. I must contact someone who knows how to do things, now. but I know none.
By "CGI", do you mean like a Web CGI script? Then I may well be yer man.
I dunno who they'd get to play "Petey," but the thought of Annie Potts as "Patty" kinda creeps me out!
This just occurred to me now: that the person whose existence is devoted to selling rabbits for human consumption is named Petey. I assume the Pel-Freez company and the Beatrix Potter estate probably don't get along too well.
I particularly like his little dish of bones. Kinda gruesome - I mean, these are *bunnies* we're talking about! And we get treated to pictures of this blobby-skulled antennae-wearing mutant gleefully chowing down on muscle and sinew, and lovingly stacking the polished bones in a festive (possibly bejewled) bowl, while his sister/girlfriend (possibly both?) looks on, her wry expression saying "Oh, that *Petey*! He just loves to eat cute things! Tee-hee!"
Actually, she reminds me of Peppermint Patty's sidekick, Whatsername. Marcie.
Oh, and what's with her knee? It appears to be bending -sideways-.
I suppose this is merely a poor graphical representation of the "cute little girl stance", best represented in recent memory by Lucy Liu, pretending to be a leather-clad dominatrix efficiancy expert in "Charlie's Angels" (quote: "...or better yet, can anybody *show* me?" The *'s mark where the move comes into play, quite expertly too I might add.) This maneuver, although difficult to perform with proper style and precision, is one of the most potent weapons of the woman in Kung-Fu of the Libido. Usually it requres the correct costume as well, generally some form of schoolgirl's outfit. The fact that Lucy Liu can pull it off to such devastating effect whilst wearing what is essentially the -opposite- of a schoolgirl's outfit, is just another brick of evidence in the Great Wall of Fact: namely, that Lucy Liu is Fucking Hot.
I, too, noticed Patty striking a flirty pose. I wonder if somewhere there isn't a file of letters written to Pel-Freez similar to the letters written to Nelex?
I liked it blue.
I would definitely not call the new background colour "pink", but more of a fleshy colour. Perhaps "peach".
I think it's tan, maybe with a small pink or peach component. you have obviously been away for some time, jrand - it was black from the day Joey Ramone died up til a short while ago.
Lou, I sent you mail about the web CGI Petey Astrology idea... pointing it out here just in case that's your junkmail box or something.
I would definitely call this colour tan; maybe sepia? I just saw O Brother, Where Art Thou? last night, so I'm down with the sepia filters right now. Plus the soundtrack's pretty sweet. It's kill.
Hey Sean, how about an automatic refresh to the index page on the "Comment posted" page? That would really save us a click.
