by The Disney Purist

#11 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

  1. BACKGROUND
  2. STORY #1: THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
  3. STORY #2: THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW
  4. PRODUCTION
  5. RECEPTION
  6. LEGACY
  7. FINAL THOUGHTS
  8. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

After the Disney Studios had released their animated film Bambi in 1942, it became only too clear to Walt Disney that they would have to explore different ways of making movies.

When the US joined World War II in December 1941, the US Army tasked the Disney Studios with making propaganda films to help with the war effort. Many of the animators had also left the company to enlist in the army, so manpower was limited.

To deal with this, Disney Animation made a series of what became known as “package features”. Similarly to Fantasia (1940), these movies consisted of different animated segments joined together to make a full-length feature film. The Disney “package features” of the 1940s were sometimes made up of numerous short segments, often paired with musical accompaniments, and others consisted of just two longer stories.

That was the case for two of Disney’s movies: Fun and Fancy Free (1947) and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad also became the final film in what was to be known as Disney’s “Wartime Era”. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad consists of two different stories, each one just over thirty minutes long, which probably helps in terms of being able to focus on just two tales, instead of up to ten like in some of the previous package films.

These “package features”, although not generally remembered, either at all or for their animation quality, had a more important purpose: to keep the Disney Studios afloat. They are not be the best movies to have ever come out of the Disney Animation department, but they were good enough to keep money coming in to the Studios, and to keep the animators somewhat trained and entertained.

Despite the generally poor critical reception these package films receive, I do quite like The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and I like to watch it every Halloween for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow segment. That’s about as far and as “spooky” as I go in terms of “celebrating” Halloween! Many others also particularly like watching The Legend of Sleepy Hollow during the Halloween festivities, and the famous Disneyland ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride has kept the story of Mr. Toad, making The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad one of Disney’s more popular “package feature” films.

STORY #1: THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, going against its title, begins with Toad’s story. The movie begins with the usual opening credits and title song, before heading into a library, where character actor, Basil Rathbone, best known for playing Sherlock Holmes in fourteen films between 1939 and 1946, starts The Wind in the Willows section of the film. Rathbone asks: who is the most fabulous character in English Literature? He then lists a number of well-known characters, like Robin Hood, Oliver Twist, King Arthur. But no, he decides the answer to that question is J. Thaddeus Toad. I disagree with this decision.

We then go into the animated story, which follows J. Thaddeus Toad, owner of the Toad Hall estate in London, and his friends, MacBadger, Rat, and Mole, who try to keep Toad on the straight and narrow, and out of bankruptcy, but he becomes quickly obsessed with different “manias”, making him difficult to keep in line. To begin with, Toad is obsessed with his new gypsy cart which he drives around in with his horse, Cyril Proudbottom. Whilst out riding one day, Toad spots a shiny red car outside of a bar and begins a new obsession; he must have that car. Trying to stop Toad’s new mania, his friends shut him in his room and keep watch, but Toad manages to escape so he can get that car.

However, Toad is arrested for allegedly stealing this car. It turns out he actually bought it from a pack of weasels fair and square, trading Toad Hall for the vehicle, with a barman called Mr. Winky witnessing this event, but as the car was first stolen by the weasels, Toad has been blamed for the theft. Toad hopes that Mr. Winky will come to trial and resolve all of this, but that is not the case. Mr. Winky tells the court that Toad did steal the car, and Toad is found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower of London. Meanwhile, the weasels and Mr. Winky take over Toad Hall.

On Christmas Eve, Cyril Proudbottom goes to the Tower of London and, using a disguise, breaks Toad out of jail. He hijacks a steam train and uses that to get to his friend Rat’s house, whilst outrunning the police. At Rat’s house, Rat and Mole hope that Toad will get time off for “good behaviour” – oh please, don’t make me laugh – but when Toad shows up, they plan to prove Toad’s innocence, since the weasels do have the deed to Toad Hall so Toad must have been telling the truth about not stealing the car. They and MacBadger sneak into Toad Hall and manage to steal the deed back from the weasels and Mr. Winky, showing all the signatures on it, proving that a legitimate sale took place.

Toad is acquitted of his crimes and is free to return to Toad Hall. However, Toad has since developed a new obsession – for planes. On New Year’s Day, him and Cyril are seen flying over the estate as MacBadger, Rat, and Mole watch helplessly from the ground.

In all honestly, I don’t really like the Mr. Toad part of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad but I still make myself watch it, just to get to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It’s a good thing they save Ichabod Crane until last or I wouldn’t bother with the first half of the movie, because Toad is so unlikeable.

Toad is nothing but a brat of an aristocrat, with no responsibility, no career, no purpose in life. So instead of actually helping to keep Toad Hall, his ancestral home and bright light of the community, by keeping it and himself out of financial ruin, he decides to continue spending ridiculous amounts of money, and getting himself into trouble, destroying public property, that then needs to be paid for. He’s a mess of a character. There is nothing I find likeable about him. He’s selfish, childish, naïve, irresponsible, reckless, arrogant – need I go on? Ultimately, Toad learns absolutely nothing and instead of his road mania, where he owned a bright yellow gypsy cart, and then his “motor mania” which led to him trading Toad Hall, a £100,000 estate, for a shiny red car, he ends up being obsessed with planes, and flies off on a Wright Flyer. It was all completely pointless, really. The character of Toad was voiced by Eric Blore, who appeared in numerous musical movies, including those starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, such as Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934) and Top Hat (1935). 

To their credit, Rat, Mole, and MacBadger do an awful lot for Toad, whether he deserves it or not. They try to keep him on the straight and narrow, but Toad is so difficult to communicate with that their advice falls on deaf ears. Toad’s horse friend, Cyril, even busts him out of jail. Cyril was voiced by J. Pat O’Malley. His voice might sound familiar as he went on to voice many Disney characters, including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, plus the Walrus and the Carpenter, in Alice in Wonderland (1951); Jasper and Colonel in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961); and Colonel Hathi in The Jungle Book (1967). Claud Allister voiced the part of Rat. Allister had previously voiced the character of Sir Giles in the live-action/animated Disney movie The Reluctant Dragon (1941), and also appeared as Paul in the movie Kiss Me Kate (1953). MacBadger was voiced by Disney animator and writer Campbell Grant, whilst Mole’s voice actor was Colin Campbell.

Disney’s Toad seems to be a lot less apologetic and friendly than he is in the original story. Originally, he doesn’t develop a mania for planes at the end, instead righting his wrongs and compensating for his bad ways. I have no idea why Disney wouldn’t have wanted Toad to learn from his mistakes at the end. It hardly sets a good example for children but there you go! The main basis of Disney’s story is more or less the same as Kenneth Grahame’s original novel, The Wind in the Willows, though the additional short stories included in the original book were omitted.

In terms of music, the only original song in Disney’s story of The Wind in the Willows is “The Merrily Song”, where Toad and Cyril Proudbottom both sing that they are “merrily, merrily on our way to nowhere in particular”. It’s actually quite a catchy song, and it sums up Toad’s whole life well: that he has no reason to get anywhere, or do anything useful. The popular New Year’s Eve song “Auld Lang Syne” also appears in this story.

All the music for the songs in The Wind in the Willows were written by Frank Churchill and Charles Wolcott. Churchill had won the Oscar for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Baby Mine” for Dumbo (1941) and he also co-composed the score for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). He died by suicide in May 1942, before the release of Bambi (1942) for which he also wrote the music. Wolcott had previously worked as the General Musical Director for many of the “package features” at Disney, including Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944). The lyrics were written by Larry Morey and Ray Gilbert. Morey had previously co-composed the score for Bambi with Frank Churchill and worked on the music for the Disney live-action film So Dear to My Heart (1948). Gilbert had written the lyrics to the Oscar-winning song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Song of the South (1946) and written the lyrics for the songs in The Three Caballeros (1944) prior to this film.

It seems that The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad might have been the first adaptation of The Wind and the Willows on screen, but there have been numerous adaptations since. Julian Fellowes, creator of the period drama series’ Downton Abbey (2010-15) and The Gilded Age (2022-present) wrote a musical version of the novel in 2016, and Alan Bennett wrote a 1990 play of the novel. On screen, some adaptations include a live-action film which aired in 2006, starring Matt Lucas as Mr. Toad, Bob Hoskins as Badger, and Mark Gatiss as Ratty, as well as a 1995 animated film with Rik Mayall as the voice of Mr. Toad, Michael Gambon as the voice of Badger, and Michael Palin as Rat, with live-action sequences with Vanessa Redgrave as the Narrator.

STORY #2: THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW

For this story, we return to the library from the opening, and move on to American literature. The story of Ichabod Crane is narrated by famed singer and actor Bing Crosby, known for starring roles in such movie musicals as Holiday Inn (1942), alongside Fred Astaire; White Christmas (1954) with Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney; and High Society (1956), where he shared the screen with Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong.

The plot for this segment follows Ichabod Crane, a tall, lanky man, arriving at the small village of Sleepy Hollow, outside of Tarrytown, New York, to become the next schoolmaster. Despite Ichabod’s strange appearance, he still finds himself able to charm the women of the village, however, the men, led by hard-man Brom Bones, do not warm to him, especially once Katrina Van Tassel, daughter of the richest farmer in the area, comes to town and starts flirting with Ichabod, making Brom, her unofficial fiancé, furious and incredibly jealous. Though Ichabod is entranced by Katrina’s beauty, he’s more interested in her family money, so is determined to win her hand – that sneaky gold-digger.

At the annual Van Tassel Halloween party, to which both men are invited, Brom tries to keep Katrina away from Ichabod, but to no avail. So, Brom decides that he’ll tell the spooky tale of the Headless Horseman, to scare Ichabod, who is incredibly superstitious and jumpy with things like that. The Headless Horseman supposedly waits in the woods on Halloween night trying to find a living head to replace his; the victim can only escape by crossing the covered bridge. Nobody else at the party is scared, but it works on Ichabod.

On Ichabod’s ride home, he is incredibly jumpy and his slow, old horse Gunpowder does nothing to speed along his journey. Consumed by fear, Ichabod’s imagination goes into overdrive, and he does encounter the Headless Horseman. After a chase through the woods as Ichabod attempts to reach the end of the bridge, we see the Horseman throw a jack-o’-lantern at Ichabod’s head, and the screen goes black…

The character of Ichabod Crane isn’t much better than Mr. Toad, since he is greedy and selfish, using Katrina to get her father’s money and to annoy Brom Bones. Before he meets her, he was using his students to get to their mothers to cook for him, so he could get free dinners, so that shows the type of man Ichabod Crane is. Even his horse doesn’t seem to think much of him! Animator Frank Thomas used his precarious experiences of horse riding to animate the scene of Ichabod riding Gunpowder at night.

Brom Bones is a typical man’s man, who thinks he deserves the respect of everyone in the town and to be able to marry the richest, most beautiful woman in the town – that being Katrina. Disney animator Andreas Deja used Brom Bones as an inspiration for his character design of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast (1991), so if you know Gaston, you can imagine what Brom Bones is like without even watching the film! Katrina is flirtatious and takes advantage of her beauty, watching as men fawn all over her. She’s a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to take it.

Other than a few brief sound effects, the whole story is spoken and sung by Bing Crosby. Some of these brief lines of dialogue include a “yoo-hoo”, by Katrina Van Tassel, apparently voiced by Bea Benaderet, the voice of Betty Rubble in The Flintstones (1960-63).  There is also the laugh of the Headless Horseman which was provided by Billy Bletcher, the original voice artist behind Pete, the antagonist in many Mickey Mouse shorts, and the Big Bad Wolf in Three Little Pigs (1933). The animation of this character was primarily completed by Woolie Reitherman and John Sibley. Clarence Nash, original voice of Donald Duck, made many of the animals in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Pinto Colvig, original voice of Goofy, did Ichabod’s scream[1].

Some aspects of Disney’s version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are quite different to the original story by Washington Irving. One of these is that it is strongly implied that the Headless Horseman was in fact Brom Bones in disguise, playing a prank on Ichabod Crane, and that Ichabod fled the town in fear for his life. Though we are meant to be watching the events of that night play out as they did in Ichabod’s terror-stricken mind, it would appear to the audience that the Headless Horseman was in fact real. Gunpowder, Ichabod’s horse, is also found the next day, whereas in the Disney story, he seems to have vanished too to make it seem even more likely that they were taken, or killed, by the Headless Horseman. Another change is that Ichabod is rejected by Katrina in the book at her family’s party, whereas that doesn’t seem to happen in Disney’s story. Also, the ghost has a full backstory in the original story, with the Headless Horseman being the ghost of a trooper who was decapitated during the Revolutionary War.

In terms of animation, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow section used concept art from Mary Blair, who created the artwork for such places as the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World Resort, and the it’s a small world attractionand would later draw concept art for some of the “Silver Age” of Disney movies[2]. Mary Blair was a very famous artist for the Disney company, and her artwork is revered by many Disney artists and fans today. Walt Disney also visited Tarrytown to research the area, so that the animators could accurately replicate the clothing, buildings and landscapes. The church in the opening shot was made to represent the actual Old Dutch Church built in the area in the 1660s.

As well as this, some areas of the short film use recycled animation from previous Disney projects. These include images of the reeds swaying being taken from the Silly Symphony short The Old Mill (1937), and the character of Katrina Van Tassel being from the same model sheet as Grace Martin from The Martins and the Coys segment of Make Mine Music (1946). Ichabod’s horse also bears some resemblance to Cyril Proudbottom, Mr. Toad’s horse friend.

The reason I like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow isn’t for its story so much, though I do like it, but actually for its songs, all three of which are performed by Bing Crosby, with accompaniment by Jud Conlon’s Rhythmaires, who frequently collaborated with Crosby. All three numbers were written by Don Raye and Gene de Paul. Raye had written many songs for The Andrew Sisters, including “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and went on to write the song “Beware the Jabberwock” with Gene de Paul for Alice in Wonderland (1951). De Paul later contributed to the music in the 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

The first song “Ichabod Crane” introduces this odd-looking character to the audience, as he walks into Sleepy Hollow for the first time, nose in a book, not noticing everyone staring at him initially. It also shows how superstitious he is, avoiding black cats and not walking under ladders. Though he looks strange, many of the women seem to like him straight away – Brom and his lads aren’t too sure though. The next song is all about Katrina, so naturally it’s called “Katrina”. The lyrics frequently refer to her as “that little coquette, Katrina” and that she is, as we see all the men chasing after her, doing things for her without so much as a “thank you”. She’s just a flirt, and quickly gets her hooks into Ichabod.

Both of these songs are pleasant to listen to, but they are just introducing characters. The big song is “The Headless Horseman”, Brom’s story about the scary ghost that might come and get Ichabod if he’s not careful this Halloween night. It’s a very bouncy, jazzy tune, considering it’s meant to be about such a terrifying ghost. It’s a favourite of many Disney fans. Thurl Ravenscroft, original voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s, as well as one of the five singing busts in The Haunted Mansion attraction, was meant to sing “The Headless Horseman” for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Known for his deep, bass voice, it certainly made it sound spookier than Bing Crosby’s version, but for consistency they felt it was best to leave it to Crosby. Ravenscroft did later record the song though.

Oliver Wallace composed the score for all of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, having composed the scores for Dumbo (1941), The Three Caballeros (1944), Make Mine Music (1946), and Fun and Fancy Free (1947) for Disney previously. Wallace also whistled for Ichabod Crane as he is riding through the woods[3].

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was adapted into a 1922 silent film, which is believed to have inspired Disney’s take on the story. In more recent years, there was a 1980 television movie, starring Jeff Goldblum as Ichabod Crane, as well as Tim Burton’s 1999 film Sleepy Hollow, which starred Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, Christina Ricci as Katrina, and Michael Gambon and Miranda Richardson as her parents. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction in 2000, and two BAFTA awards for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. From 2013 to 2017, FOX also made a crime horror series based on Irving’s story, also titled Sleepy Hollow.

PRODUCTION

Although not a particularly popular form of Disney animated movie, either with the general public or with Walt Disney himself, the package films were a “necessary evil” in order for the Disney Studios to continue to generate some much-needed income during the wartime era.

The rights to The Wind in the Willows, written by British author Kenneth Grahame and first published in 1908, were acquired by Disney in June 1938. A basic script and the song “The Merrily Song” were already developed by 1941, however, the project was then put on hold in October of that year. Development would not resume on this story until World War II ended in 1945[4].

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a short story published by American writer Washington Irving in 1820. It is based on a German folk tale, with the setting being moved to 1790 upstate New York. Disney began adapting Irving’s work in the early 1940s, but, like The Wind in the Willows adaptation, this was also put on hold when the United States joined World War II in 1941. Work later resumed once war ended.

These two stories were meant to become feature-length films; however, they did not contain enough content to make them the desired length so in 1947, following the format of previous 1940s Disney animated movies, they were paired together. The original title for this movie was to be Two Fabulous Characters, with the character of Jiminy Cricket acting as a host and introducer of the two stories, as per his role in Fun and Fancy Free (1947)[5].

This ultimately didn’t happen, and celebrity narrators were chosen instead, potentially as a way of increasing viewership. Basil Rathbone, well-spoken and eloquent, pairs well with the quintessentially British tale of The Wind in the Willows, whilst Bing Crosby’s warm voice and strange ad-libs, such as calling Ichabod “Old Ichy”, lightens the slightly dark material of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was also announced in 1948 that Bing Crosby and his four sons would be filmed in live-action, gathering around a radio to listen to their father tell the tale of the Headless Horseman as an introduction to the story within the film. This introduction was never filmed[6].

RECEPTION

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was released on 5th October 1949 in the US. As with many of Disney’s “package features”, it received mixed reviews. Much of the public felt that, although the majority of these movies were fine to watch and entertaining enough, they were not fully satisfying, and the animation was generally not particularly impressive.

In the case of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, it seemed to be one of Disney’s better “package features” at the time, with critics enjoying the narration of both Crosby and Rathbone and felt that it was an entertaining film, overall. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad even succeeded in winning an award; it won the Golden Globe for Best Cinematography – Color in 1950.

Viewers from both then and now are split over which story of the two is “the best”. Some prefer The Wind in the Willows’ mayhem and colour over The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; however, others feel the opposite way, preferring the spookiness of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – which also happens to match my own opinion. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’s Halloween setting allows it to be watched annually at a set time of year, so it is a regular viewing event for some, but the cult classic ride of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland has kept that story alive in the mind of others.

In 1955, The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow stories were both shown separately on the television series Disneyland, with The Wind in the Willows being shown first in February 1955, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow airing in October of that year, likely to coincide with Halloween. A 14-minute segment all about the life of author Washington Irving was shown alongside it. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was later released as a 33-minute feature in theatres in September 1963[7]. The Wind in the Willow was then re-released to theatres in 1978, retitled The Madcap Adventures of Mr. Toad, to accompany the theatrical release of the Disney movie Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978).

In the 1980s and 1990s, the two stories were then paired back together and released on VHS, before being released on DVD in 2000, and subsequently re-released numerous times on DVD and Blu-Ray, usually around a milestone anniversary.

LEGACY

On screen, the characters of Mr. Toad, Mole, and Rat later ended up in Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983). Mole and Rat appear as collectors for the poor, whilst Mr. Toad was cast as Fezzywig, Scrooge’s first employer. Mr. Toad also appeared in a couple of episodes of the House of Mouse (2001-03).

At the Disney Parks, the biggest reference to any story within The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, a dark ride attraction. It was an opening day attraction at Disneyland on 17th July 1955, and continues to operate today, being a cult favourite of many park-goers. It consists of guests boarding 1900s era motorcars and driving recklessly around the English countryside like Mr. Toad. The journey begins with the cars careening through set pieces designed to represent areas from the movie, such as Toad Hall itself, through the village streets, across railway tracks as you’re chased by the police, through Mr. Winky’s pub, and then into a courtroom where you are sentenced to imprisonment. However, that was never good enough for Mr. Toad, so the vehicles escape their prison cells and drive back through the village, coming to the railway again where the drivers are not so lucky and they proceed to end their journey in a Disney depiction of hell. It’s a strange route through events of the movie as it doesn’t recreate them particularly faithfully, with the scene of Hell being completely new to this story. This scene was added to the ride to show the dangers of reckless driving – and that’s one way to put some people off driving for life! Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was later updated in 1983 to add new effects. Also at Disneyland, a miniature version of Toad Hall can be seen on the Storybook Land Canal Boats and the Casey Jr. Circus Train attractions.

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride then became an opening day attraction at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, opening on 1st October 1971. However, due to the popularity of Disneyland’s version, Magic Kingdom’s ride opened with two completely separate tracks which gave guests different experiences of the attraction. For example, one track followed a similar version to Disneyland’s attraction, ending in a recreation of hell after being hit by a train. The other track passed through three original scenes, those being Toad’s trophy room, the kitchen, and a gypsy camp – but it still ended with the vehicle being “struck” by a train and proceeding to take a ride through hell. Walt Disney World later added four-person vehicles to the attraction, instead of the two-person cars that Disneyland has.

In 1997, at Walt Disney World, it was announced that Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride would be replaced with a dark ride attraction based on Winnie the Pooh and his friends, since these characters were incredibly popular at the time, with their merchandise even outselling that of Mickey Mouse. This announcement did not go down well with some people who fought to save Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, with actual demonstrations, petitions, and media attention being brought to the fight. But it was to no avail as Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride officially closed at Walt Disney World in September 1998, with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh opening in its place in June 1999. Within The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride, during the scene of Owl’s house, you can see a picture of Mr. Toad handing over the deed to “the property” to Owl, as well as another picture of Mole tipping his hat to Winnie the Pooh, just to show that this was all a legitimate transaction and that Mr. Toad was happy to make the move! A statue of Mr. Toad can also be found in the Haunted Mansion pet cemetery. What a fun way to really annoy and taunt all those that wanted Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride to stay!

Disneyland Paris was meant to have a version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride when its park opened in April 1992, which would have supposedly been truer to the events of the actual film, with no mention of hell and just Toad flying in his plane as the ending, but it was never built. Instead, Disneyland Paris just got the Toad Hall restaurant, which serves the typically British dish of fish and chips, with its building designed to look just like the attraction building at Disneyland, i.e., a recreation of Toad Hall[8].

But don’t think The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has been forgotten at the Disney Parks, because it hasn’t, though it’s only really the US Parks that reference it. At Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, at the Liberty Square area of the park, you can eat at a quick-service location called Sleepy Hollow Refreshments. It doesn’t serve anything spooky, mostly variations on waffles and funnel cakes, but its exterior building was made to resemble the two-room cottage that Washington Irving purchased in Tarrytown, the location that inspired his story. You might see outside Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe a sign for a neighbouring building that highlights the location of “Music & Voice Lessons by appointment, Ichabod Crane, Instructor”, as per one of his jobs in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

At Halloween, during Disney’s events, they like to make sure the Headless Horseman gets his moment in the spotlight. Every year, during both Mickey’s Boo To You Halloween Parade at Walt Disney World and during Disneyland’s Frightfully Fun Parade, the Headless Horseman, riding a horse and carrying a jack-o’-lantern rides down the parade route to signal the official start of the parade. There is one difference between these two appearances, and that is that Ichabod Crane can be seen ahead of the Headless Horseman, running in fear, at the beginning of Disneyland’s Halloween parade. Ichabod Crane does not seem to have ever done this at Walt Disney World for some reason.

At Walt Disney World, there also used to be an event held during the Halloween season at Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground, where The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was shown inside the Tri-Circle-D Ranch stables. The event even included a meet-and-greet with the Headless Horseman. This ticketed event began in 2017 and returned in 2018, but it is not a regular event now. There’s hope that it may come back one day. In the same area, there used to be a Haunted Hayride event which had the Horseman chasing the carriages into the night. These later became known as Haunted Carriage Rides, before being discontinued completely from 2012.

There were also experiences related to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that never happened. One of these was an idea submitted by Imagineer Ken Anderson in 1957 to use the Headless Horseman in the scary finale scene of the haunted house attraction that was being devised for Disneyland. This ultimately didn’t happen, and the haunted house later became The Haunted Mansion. When Liberty Square was being built in 1970 for Walt Disney World, Imagineer Tony Baxter pitched the idea of a whole dark ride based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for the new land. Guests would have ridden through scenes from the story whilst sitting in hollowed out jack-o’-lanterns apparently[9].

Shanghai Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland do not seem to reference the characters of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, not even during the Halloween season, which is perhaps not surprising. More surprising is that at Hong Kong Disneyland, there was a scary walkthrough attraction for Halloween named The Revenge of the Headless Horseman, which ran for Halloween from 2011 to 2014.

Merchandise for The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is not overly prevalent, however, for the Disney100 event as part of their Disney Decades Collection, for the 1940s, there were two toy sets available to purchase; one of Mr. Toad, and another of the Headless Horseman. Halloween is a good time to try and find something relating to the characters of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and milestone anniversaries of the release of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad should lead to new merchandise lines.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After the wartime era of Disney had ended with the release of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949, some felt that Walt Disney had lost his vision and direction, and that he was no longer relevant on the film-making stage. He was even called a “hack” by some. Fortunately, he would recover his reputation with Cinderella in 1950, which would be a critical and financial success.

Though the animation in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad film lacks detail and realism, clearly showing it was cheaper to make, I don’t think that is a bad thing, as it doesn’t take anything away from the story, and is bright and cheerful. I don’t think The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad should be overlooked and anyone that hasn’t seen it should go and give it a watch.

It might be just another Disney “package feature” but it’s definitely the best one.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1949)’, CartoonResearch.com, 30th October 2020.

[2] Credit: Eric Goldberg, ‘D23 Creepy Classics: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, part of Halloween Hullabaloo’, D23 YouTube Channel, uploaded 15th October 2020.

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1949)’, CartoonResearch.com, 30th October 2020.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)’, pp. 31-33.

[5] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 5 (2016), ‘The Disney Package Features’, pp. 65-73.

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)’, pp. 31-33.

[7] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1949)’, CartoonResearch.com, 30th October 2020.

[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.

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