Sneezy

Inspiration

Sneezy is plagued by chronic hay fever, causing him to sneeze uncontrollably. His constant sniffles and sneezes make him a perpetual source of comedic relief. His voice, provided by Billy Gilbert, is nasally and congested, perfectly capturing his perpetually stuffy state.

Design

Animators Fred Moore and Vladimir Tytla, and concept artists Albert Hurter and Ferdinand Horvath, among others, were responsible for bringing Sneezy to life on the screen, infusing him with both humor and sympathy.

Sneezy (September 28, 1936 – sheet 1)
Snow White and Sneezy (1952)

Sneezy’s fame

Sneezy originally had a verse to sing in The Silly Song, as can be heard in the original soundtrack or found on the sheet music, but probably because it was eventually considered inappropriate, it was discarded. The line went: “A minute after I was born, I didn’t have a nightie. So, I tied my whiskers ’round my legs and I used them for a didie”.

His moment of glory, so to speak, is in sequence 4D, where a lot of the humor of the situation depends on his sneeze, when the dwarfs come home at night to find their house has been cleaned.

In 1952, one of the records that Dennis Day narrates is called “Snow White and Sneezy”, and there is a Portugese book called “O Espirro Salvador” (“Sneezy the savior”).