Sniffles

Sniffles
Looney Tunes character
Sniffles the mouse, in his debut short, Naughty But Mice.
First appearance	Naughty but Mice (1939)
Created by	Chuck Jones (original), Charles Thorson (inspirer)
Voiced by	Margaret Hill-Talbot (1939–1941) Sara Berner (1943, 1946) Marjorie Talton (1944) Kath Soucie (1995) Colleen Wainwright (1996)
Information
Species	Mouse

Sniffles is an animated cartoon and comic-book character in the Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies series of cartoons and comics.

Director Chuck Jones created Sniffles as a potential new star for the studio in 1939. The character was designed by Disney veteran Charles 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, a red shirt, blue pants, a yellow scarf, and tan shoes. His fur is brown with light markings on the face.

Jones debuted the character in the 1939 short Naughty but Mice (which is quite similar to Disney's "The Country Cousin" itself) though he has nearly identical traits to the hero kitten in the 1938 short The Night Watchman. 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 Gay Seabrook,Bernice Hansen, and Sara Berner.

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, 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. Others simply focus on the inescapable sweetness of the character.