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 Mickey Mouse. The character wears a blue sailor cap, a red shirt, blue pants, a yellow scarf, white gloves and tan shoes. His fur is brown with light markings on the face.
History
Director Chuck Jones created Sniffles as a potential new star for the studio in 1939.[2]
Jones debuted the character in the short Naughty but Mice (1939).[3] In Naughty but Mice, 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 was played by voice actresses Margaret Hill-Talbot and Marjorie Tarlton.
Jones went on to direct 12 cartoons featuring Sniffles, most of which showcase the 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 awed by his surroundings. Some of Sniffles' films pair him with a bookworm character who accompanies the mouse into a sort of fantasyland where books and toys come to life, such as Toy Trouble (1941). Others simply focus on the inescapable sweetness of the character. In Bedtime for Sniffles (1940), for example, he struggles to stay awake into the wee hours on Christmas Eve in order to glimpse Santa Claus. This scene is a showcase for Jones' facility of realizing character through facial expression.
By the end of the series, Jones transformed Sniffles into an incessant chatterbox who serves more as a nuisance than a cute protagonist. For example, in The Unbearable Bear (1943), Sniffles foils a robbery attempt by perpetually pestering the perpetrator. Theses traits were originally part of Little Blabbermouse, another Merrie Melodies character that appeared in two shorts, directed by Friz Freleng (Little Blabbermouse (1940) and Shop, Look, and Listen (1940)) before been retired. Jones was moving out of his Disney-esque stage in the late 1940s, and Sniffles was retired in 1946 as the director took to more sadistic characters such as the Three Bears, fellow mice Hubie and Bertie, Marvin the Martian, and Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. The mouse's final cartoon was Hush My Mouse (his only entry in the Looney Tunes series) in 1946.
Sniffles faded into obscurity in the animation arena. However, he would find new life in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics begun in 1940 by Dell Comics (writer Chase Craig used several minor Warner Bros. characters to fill pages).[4] These comics teamed Sniffles with a little girl named Mary Jane who could shrink herself to mouse size, originally by sprinkling magic sand borrowed from the Sandman.[5] Throughout most of the series, she could shrink just by reciting "First I close my eyes real tight / Then I wish with all my might / Magic words of poof poof piffles / Make me just as small as Sniffles." By now Sniffles had lost most of his animated film personality and was just a companion to Mary Jane as she explored something found in a garden or entered a sort of magical toyland. Mary Jane surpassed the mouse in popularity, and 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. This series was resurrected in 2006 for a story in issue #140 of the Looney Tunes comic book published by DC Comics.
The 1990 television series Tiny Toon Adventures features a younger counterpart to Sniffles named Li'l Sneezer, a baby mouse with a propensity for having hurricane-force sneezes.
Sniffles has a cameo in the movie Space Jam, voiced by Colleen Wainwright. He plays for the Looney Tunes team and is squashed flat by one of the Monstars after he chats very quickly and very annoyingly to one of them.
He appears in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, voiced by Kath Soucie. In the episode "The Tail End", he is depicted as a scientifically created Manx mouse with no tail, and unlike his other appearances in this episode, he does not wear any clothes except for a cap.
Sniffles appears in the New Looney Tunes segments "DarkBat", "Bonjour, DarkBat" and "Smoothie Operator", voiced again by Kath Soucie. He has a superhero alter-ego called DarkBat (voiced by Daran Norris) who is a parody of Batman.
Sniffles appears in Bugs Bunny Builders, where he is voiced by Dawson Griffin.
Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast, being quick-witted and heroic while speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent. He usually wears a yellow sombrero, white shirt and trousers, and a red kerchief, similar to that of some traditional Mexican attires. There have been 46 theatrical shorts made either starring or featuring the character.
Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the partner series to Looney Tunes and featured many of the same characters. It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it was revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black-and-white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.
Hippety Hopper is a young kangaroo character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons. Robert McKimson introduced Hippety Hopper in Hop, Look and Listen (1948), which established the pattern for future Hippety Hopper cartoons. The character appeared in 14 theatrical cartoons between 1948 and 1964.
Inki is the lead character in an animated cartoon series of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies short films by animator Chuck Jones. Five Inki cartoons were made between 1939 and 1950.
Hubie and Bertie are animated cartoon rodent characters in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Hubie and Bertie represent some of animator Chuck Jones' earliest work that was intended to be funny rather than cute. Seven Hubie and Bertie cartoons were produced between 1943 and 1952.
Claude Cat is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Brothers.
Petunia Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. She looks much like her significant other, Porky Pig, except that she wears a dress and has pigtailed black hair.
Goopy Geer is an animated cartoon character created in 1932 for the Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. He is a singing, dancing, piano-playing dog who is considered to be "the first Merrie Melodies star", although he only starred in three cartoons.
Piggy is the name of two animated cartoon characters in the Merrie Melodies series of films distributed by Warner Bros. The first character was a fat, black pig wearing a pair of shorts with two large buttons in the front, and his first film was You Don't Know What You're Doin'!
Foxy is an animated cartoon character featured in the first three animated shorts in the Merrie Melodies series, all distributed by Warner Bros. in 1931. He was the creation of animator Rudolf Ising, who had worked for Walt Disney in the 1920s.
Cool Cat is a fictional cartoon character created by director Alex Lovy for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation. He was the final star of the original Warner Bros. theatrical cartoons. His first appearance was in an eponymous short in 1967. He was voiced by Larry Storch. Robert McKimson took over as director for the last two cartoons in this series.
Berneice Edna Hansell, known as Bernice Hansen, was an American voice actress. She was best known for providing the voices for both female and young male characters in the mid to late 1930s for various cartoon studios, most notably Warner Bros. Cartoons, where she played Little Kitty in I Haven't Got a Hat (1935).
This is a list of all cartoons featuring Porky Pig. Directors are listed in parentheses.
Naughty but Mice is a 1939 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on May 20, 1939, and stars Sniffles in his cartoon debut.
Sniffles and the Bookworm is a 1939 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on December 2, 1939, and stars Sniffles the mouse.
Boyhood Daze is a 1957 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The script was written by Michael Maltese, and the film score was composed by Milt Franklyn. The film was produced by Edward Selzer. The voices were provided by Dick Beals, Daws Butler and Marian Richman. It contains the science fiction element of an alien invasion.
Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection is a DVD and Blu-ray set featuring cartoons focusing on Hubie and Bertie and Sniffles and featuring various other mouse characters in Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes shorts. It was released on August 28, 2012.
Sniffles Takes a Trip is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on May 22, 1940, and stars Sniffles the mouse.
The Egg Collector is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on July 20, 1940, and stars Sniffles.
Little Pancho Vanilla is a 1938 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin, with story by Tedd Pierce. The short was released on October 8, 1938.
↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. pp.87–88. ISBN0-8050-0894-2.
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