Release Date:

April 17, 1943

Main Character(s):

Sniffles

Summary:

A British fox burglar attempts to rob the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bear. Mr. Bear is a police officer who has returned home late from drinking and tries to catch the fox without waking up his nagging wife who is sleepwalking. Sniffles also shows up throughout the cartoon now as a fast-talking blabbermouth.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “Big Fat Mama” played under the opening credits. Additionally, cels of the original title card and credits were found in June 2021.

Now that he was no longer doing slow-paced, cutesy cartoons, Jones made Sniffles into a much funnier character as he’s now a chatterbox in his remaining appearances. This persona would also carry over to Sniffles’ brief appearance in “Space Jam” (1996).

This also marks June Foray’s first appearance in a Warner cartoon. She would become much more prominent with the studio in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.

For the remainder of his Golden Age appearances, Sniffles is voiced by Marjorie Tarlton, who had voiced Batty in “The Brave Little Bat”.

This is the 400th Warner cartoon overall.

This is the only Sniffles cartoon written by Michael Maltese.

What I Like About This One:

The very stylized layouts by John McGrew.

The fox’s reaction to seeing that Mr. Bear is a cop via his photo: “Blimey! A bloomin’ copper’s house!” (animated by Phil DeLara)

Mrs. Bear muttering in the middle of her snoring while armed with a rolling pin: “Wait until I get my hands on that brute. I’ll teach him to stay out all night gallivanting around” and also “I’ll show him who’s boss in this house, the big lummox. That’s the thanks I get for slaving over a hot stove all day” (animated by DeLara).

The fox’s attempt to open the safe is interrupted by Sniffles asking what he’s doing, telling him it’s against the law to be a burglar. The fox tells him he’s Robin Hood, robbing from the rich and giving it to the poor. Sniffles seemingly believes him as “Robin Hood wouldn’t tell a lie” and offers to warn him that if either of the bears come by, he’ll bang a metal pot to warn the fox. Sniffles’ demonstration already makes enough noise so the fox grabs his spoon and pot away and nearly blows his identity when he threatens, “Stop it, ya bloomin’ little-!” before correcting himself to saying, “Take it easy, sonny. You wouldn’t want to rouse the household and have them harm Robin Hood, would ya?” (animated by Robert Cannon)

Sniffles then turns on a radio, claiming it’s another safe (animated by Cannon). Realizing Sniffles is a burden in his robbery, the fox ties him up and muffles the radio with a bunch of pillows tied to it (animated by Ben Washam).

A plastered Mr. Bear then comes in, tiptoeing very loudly and then shushing the terrified fox and says “Good night” to him when the fox hides in a box before realizing he just shushed and said good night to someone attempting to rob his home (animated by Washam).

Mr. Bear zooming in to the box and holding the fox by the throat while having his gun poised to shoot him in the mouth. Just then, Mrs. Bear exits the bedroom sleepwalking and slides backwards down the stairs. While Mr. Bear instructs the fox to keep quiet, Sniffles attempts to ask Mrs. Bear if “lady bears always walk with their arms out like that”. When he threatens to shoot with a bow and arrow if she harms “my friend, Robin Hood”, Mr. Bear immediately grabs the teeny arrow while the fox grabs Sniffles (animated by Cannon).

In the fox’s hands, Sniffles starts to ask him why he was tied up in all those ropes and that he had an awful time trying to get out of them before Mr. Bear puts his hand over Sniffles’ mouth (animated by Ken Harris).

Still sleepwalking, Mrs. Bear unknowingly grabs the fox and washes him like laundry. Sniffles then wonders why the fox is hanging by his ears like that (animated by Harris).

During a chase involving Mr. Bear and the fox, Mr. Bear grabs an ax used in case of fires only and attempts to attack the fox with it but almost hits his wife (animated by Washam).

Sniffles shooting Mr. Bear in the behind with his bow and arrow, causing Mr. Bear to jump upward into some dishes, which stop in mid-air when Mrs. Bear passes by (animated by Washam).

After falling down a few stories, Mr. Bear is brought back up by the still sleepwalking Mrs. Bear and placed down as a bearskin rug where the fox runs him over several times (animated by Washam).

Mr. Bear then grabs an umbrella from the umbrella stand to attack the fox unaware that the fox is clinging to that very umbrella. He ends up hitting his wife, with the attack waking her up. Seeing her husband was responsible, she’s about to let him have it before feeling the unconscious fox around her neck, making her think he got her a fox fur. When the fox regains consciousness, Mr. Bear knocks him out again. As they’ve reconciled, Sniffles nearly reveals the truth: “Why have you got that burglar around your neck, Mrs. Bear? That’s a funny place to have a burglar. Aren’t you going to hit Mr. Bear in the head for coming in at 3 o’clock in the morning with his shoes off and all tipsy?-” Mr. Bear shuts him up by putting his hat over him (animated by Washam).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕