Day 10: Ride, Ichabod, Ride!
October 10, 2022
Dear Disney,
When I was little Pre-School Jim, I did not know today’s feature was anything more than a quick, 30 minute short. A short that was beautiful, and scary, and filled with the sounds of an amazing singer, Bing Crosby. For many, Bing Crosby is synonymous with Christmas, with White Christmas and Holiday Inn being Christmas-time American classics. I fell in love with Bing Crosby’s voice in this film, Walt Disney’s 11th animated classic The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was released on October 5, 1949, as the last of the studio’s package films of the 1940’s war era. After the initial theatrical release, Walt Disney decided to break up the feature into two shorter pieces: The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the former released in February 1955 and the latter in October 1955. This is how I knew today’s feature as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I think that it was love at first sight.
The plot of Legend of Sleepy Hollow follows the Washington Irving story of the same name. There is a schoolteacher named Ichabod Crane. Ichabod is new to Sleepy Hollow, a hamlet in the Northeastern United States, and he is described as being unusual looking. There is also a mischievous brute by the name of Brom Bones. Brom Bones and Ichabod both found themselves trying to do anything they could to have the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel fall in love with them. For the first two-thirds of the short, Ichabod seems to be doing everything right and Katrina appears to be enjoying his attentions. This drives Brom crazy. The Van Tassel’s put on an annual Halloween party. At the end of the party, Mr. Van Tassel has people tell him ghosts stories. Brom knows that Ichabod is superstitious, so he decides to tell a ghost story that would scare Ichabod away from Katrina. Brom tells the story of the Headless Horseman, a horseman who, on Halloween, searches for his, or anyone’s, head to replace the fiery pumpkin that he had. On the way home from Van Tassel’s party, Ichabod meets up with the Headless Horseman. The Headless Horseman chases Ichabod. At the end of the chase, the Horseman throws his fiery head at Ichabod. The next scene, the narrator stats that Ichabod is gone. Brom Bones marries Katrina Von Tassel, but Ichabod is never heard from again.
Mary Blair, of Cinderella and “It’s a small world” fame, drew much of the inspiration of the art for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The artwork is beautiful, the colors are amazing. Mary Blair has a tendency not to have outlines, but rather shadows and lighting to define the shapes of the characters and backgrounds. Once I saw that, I was astounded. The color-blocking technique is quintessential Mary Blair and I love it.
One of the best examples of this is during the chase scene, anytime Ichabod is the main character, the sky is dark blue: however, anytime the Horseman is the main character, the sky is dark red/maroon. This observation is not solely mine as I frequently get lost in the scenes. During my research, this color scheme observation was had by Channel Awesome in their Dark Toon series. No other reviewers have made that observation.
I think this film, coupled with my early childhood, is what cemented the idea of what Halloween should look like. I loved this short when I was young, and every time I watch it, I am transported back to a time I have never known and may have never existed.
Disney, thank you.
Sincerely,
Jim Dear
