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Sniffles is an animated cartoon and comic book character in the Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies series of cartoons and comics. He is the cousin of Li'l Sneezer.

Every cartoon in his series except "Naughty but Mice" was given a Blue Ribbon reissue and all were sold to Associated Artists Productions. "Hush My Mouse" was his only cartoon in the Looney Tunes series.

Design[]

Director Chuck Jones created Sniffles as a potential new star for the studio in 1939. The character was designed by Disney veteran Charlie Thorson, an old hand at designing cute characters for Disney's Silly Symphonies. Thorson's design was highly derivative of a character he had designed for Disney in 1936, the country mouse from the Oscar-winning short "The Country Cousin". Both the country mouse and Sniffles are, in a word, cute.

Sniffles' head is almost as large as his body, which allows his infant-like face to dominate his look. He has large, baby-like eyes, a small bewhiskered nose, and a perpetual smile. His ears grow from the sides of his head, placed so as to hearken more to a human infant than to Disney's top star, Mickey Mouse. The character wears a blue sailor cap, blue pants, a yellow scarf, and tan shoes. His fur is brown with a light marking on his mouth.

Debut[]

Chuck debuted the character in the 1939 short "Naughty but Mice" (which is quite similar to Disney's "The Country Cousin" itself). In the cartoon, Sniffles has a cold and is searching for a remedy. He eventually stumbles upon an alcoholic cold medicine, drinks it, and becomes intoxicated. He then pals around with an electric shaver, which eventually saves him from a hungry cat. Sniffles is played by voice actress Margaret Hill-Talbot. According to the Toonheads episode "The Early Works of Chuck Jones", Sniffles received his name when Jones decided to give the little mouse a run-on cold.

Evolution[]

Due to Sniffles becoming a surprise hit with children at the time,[1] Chuck went on to direct eleven more cartoons featuring the character, most of which showcase the curiosity and childlike naïveté of Sniffles by placing him in a dangerous world. For example, in "Sniffles Takes a Trip" (1940), a simple drive into the country turns into a nightmare as Sniffles is constantly frightened and awestruck by his surroundings.

Some of Sniffles' films pair him with a bookworm character who accompanies the mouse into a sort of fantasy land where books and toys come to life, such as "Sniffles and the Bookworm" (1939) and "Toy Trouble" (1941). Others simply focus on the inescapable sweetness of the character. In "Bedtime for Sniffles" (1940), for example, the little mouse struggles to stay up until Christmas to see Santa Claus. "The Brave Little Bat" was the last Sniffles cartoon Margaret Hill-Talbot did, and Marjorie Tarlton, who did the voice of Batty, took over Sniffles' voice role.

By the end of the series, Chuck transformed Sniffles into an incessant chatterbox who serves more as a nuisance than a cute main character, borrowing influences from Friz Freleng's discarded Little Blabbermouse character. For example, in "The Unbearable Bear", Sniffles foils a robbery attempt by perpetually pestering the perpetrator. Chuck was moving out of his Disney-like stage by the late-1940s, and Sniffles was retired as the director took to funnier characters such as the Three Bears and the mice Hubie and Bertie. The mouse's final cartoon was "Hush My Mouse" in 1946.

Sniffles quickly faded into obscurity in the animation arena. However, he would find new life in the Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics begun in 1940 by Dell Comics (cartoonist Chase Craig used several minor Warner Bros. characters to fill pages). These comics teamed Sniffles with a little girl named "Mary Jane" who could shrink herself to mouse size by sprinkling magic sand or simply by wishing it. Sniffles and Mary Jane would then adventure in a sort of magical toyland. Mary Jane soon surpassed the mouse in popularity, and she got top billing in later issues. Artist Roger Armstrong drew the series until Al Hubbard took over in the 1950s. These adventures proved a favorite with readers, and the series continued until 1961.

The 1990 television series Tiny Toon Adventures features a younger counterpart to Sniffles named "Li'l Sneezer," a baby mouse with a propensity for achooing hurricane-force sneezes.

Sniffles also has cameos in the movie Space Jam (1996) and television series The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995).

Sniffles appears in The Looney Tunes Show opening and in season 3 of New Looney Tunes.

Sniffles appears in Bugs Bunny Builders. This is the first Looney Tune production in where he is voiced by an actual child rather than an adult woman.

In Looney Tunes Cartoons, Sniffles makes cameo appearances in "Happy Birthday Bugs Bunny!" and "Kitty Krashers", and is mentioned on a tombstone in "Graveyard Goofs".

Filmography[]

Cartoons[]

  1. Merrie Melodies "Naughty but Mice" (1939)
  2. Merrie Melodies "Little Brother Rat" (1939) Blue Ribbon
  3. Merrie Melodies "Sniffles and the Bookworm" (1939) Blue Ribbon
  4. Merrie Melodies "Sniffles Takes a Trip" (1940) Blue Ribbon
  5. Merrie Melodies "The Egg Collector" (1940) Blue Ribbon
  6. Merrie Melodies "Bedtime for Sniffles" (1940) Blue Ribbon
  7. Merrie Melodies "Sniffles Bells the Cat" (1941) Blue Ribbon
  8. Merrie Melodies "Toy Trouble" (1941) Blue Ribbon
  9. Merrie Melodies "The Brave Little Bat" (1941) Blue Ribbon
  10. Merrie Melodies "The Unbearable Bear" (1943) Blue Ribbon
  11. Merrie Melodies "Lost and Foundling" (1944) Blue Ribbon
  12. Looney Tunes "Hush My Mouse" (1946) Blue Ribbon

In other media[]

The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995)

Tiny Toon Adventures

The film:

New Looney Tunes (2015-2020)

Looney Tunes Cartoons shorts:

Bugs Bunny Builders

Gallery[]

References[]

Characters
Main Characters
Bugs Bunny (Prototype Bugs Bunny) Daffy Duck Elmer Fudd Foghorn Leghorn Lola Bunny (Honey Bunny) Marvin the Martian (K-9) Pepé Le Pew (Penelope Pussycat) Porky Pig Road Runner Speedy Gonzales Sylvester (Sylvester Jr.) Taz Tweety Wile E. Coyote Yosemite Sam
Recurring Golden Age Characters
1930s debuts

Bosko Honey Bruno Foxy Piggy Goopy Geer Buddy Cookie Beans Little Kitty Oliver Owl Ham and Ex Petunia Pig Piggy Hamhock Gabby Goat Egghead Big Bad Wolf Little Red Riding Hood Yoyo Dodo Mrs. Daffy Duck The Two Curious Puppies Sniffles Inki Minah Bird

1940s debuts

Willoughby Three Little Pigs Cecil Turtle Beaky Buzzard Mama Buzzard Leo the Lion Babbit and Catstello Conrad the Cat Hubie and Bertie Claude Cat A. Flea Three Bears Schnooks Hector the Bulldog The Drunk Stork Gossamer Rocky Barnyard Dawg Henery Hawk Charlie Dog Bobo the Elephant Goofy Gophers The Dog Wellington Gruesome Gorilla Hippety Hopper The Talking Bulldog The Crusher The Supreme Cat Playboy Penguin

1950s debuts

Melissa Duck Frisky Puppy Granny (Proto-Granny) Miss Prissy (Emily the Chicken) Sam Cat Nasty Canasta Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot Spike and Chester Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog The Weasel Witch Hazel Tasmanian She-Devil Ralph Phillips Egghead Jr. Mugsy Jose and Manuel The Honey-Mousers (Ralph Crumden, Ned Morton, Alice Crumden, Trixie Morton) Instant Martians Slowpoke Rodriguez Pappy and Elvis Blacque Jacque Shellacque

1960s debuts

Cool Cat Colonel Rimfire Merlin the Magic Mouse Second Banana Bunny and Claude

One-Off Golden Age Characters
1930s debuts

Owl Jolson

1940s debuts

The Gremlin The Dover Boys (Tom Dover, Dick Dover, Larry Dover, Dora Standpipe, Dan Backslide) Mr. Meek Russian Dog The Little Man from the Draft Board Colonel Shuffle Giovanni Jones

1950s debuts

The Martin Brothers Pete Puma George and Benny Toro the Bull Babyface Finster Michigan J. Frog Shropshire Slasher Mot Pablo and Fernando Charles M. Wolf Señor Vulturo Mighty Angelo

1960s debuts

Hugo the Abominable Snowman Nelly the Giraffe Count Bloodcount Spooky Rapid Rabbit and Quick Brown Fox

Post-Golden Age Characters
Tiny Toon Adventures

Buster Bunny Babs Bunny Plucky Duck Hamton J. Pig Fifi La Fume Shirley the Loon Sweetie Bird Elmyra Duff Montana Max

Taz-Mania

Jean Hugh Molly Jake Dog the Turtle Drew

Pinky and the Brain

Pinky The Brain

Baby Looney Tunes

Floyd Minton

Duck Dodgers

Dr. I.Q. Hi Captain Star Johnson Commander X2

Loonatics Unleashed

Ace Bunny Lexi Bunny Danger Duck Slam Tasmanian Tech E. Coyote Rev Runner

The Looney Tunes Show

Tina Russo

New Looney Tunes

Squeaks the Squirrel Bigfoot Barbarian Boyd Cal Carl the Grim Rabbit Claudette Dupri Dr. Clovenhoof Eagle Scout Elliot Sampson Horace the Horse Ivana Jack Thes Leslie P. Lilylegs Miss Cougar Pampreen Perdy and Paul Perdy Rhoda Roundhouse Shameless O'Scanty Sir Littlechin Slugsworthy the First Squint Eatswood Tad Tucker Trey Hugger Viktor Winter Stag

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