A prototype of Pepé appeared in 1947's "Bugs Bunny Rides Again", but sounded similar to Porky Pig. When the character of Pepé was more fully developed for cartoons of his own, Mel Blanc based Pepé's voice on Charles Boyer's Pépé le Moko from "Algiers" (1938), a remake of the 1937 French film "Pépé le Moko". Blanc's voice for the character closely resembled a voice he had used for "Professor Le Blanc", a harried violin instructor on "The Jack Benny Program". There have also been theories that Pepé's voice was based on singer Maurice Chevalier.