#the adventures of ichabod crane

[thebarroomortheboy]

Speaking of fabulous characters, England has produced a bumper crop of them. But don't forget, over here in the colonies, we've managed to come up with a few of our own. How about Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed, Black Bart, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone and, of course, the one and only Ichabod Crane. Old Ichy, if you recall, was the country schoolmaster dreamed up by Washington Irving. Oh, he had a way with the yarn, good Mr. Irving.

THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD CRANE (1949) | dir. James Alger, Clyde Geronimi and Jack Kinney

[atomic-chronoscaph]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow background artwork (1949)

[capturingdisney]

By Mary Blair.

[adventurelandia]

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

[douglasbradburyverne]

Concept art from Disney legend Mary Blair, for "Ichabod and Mr. Toad" (released 75 years ago on Oct 5th, 1949)

[esqueletosgays]

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW (1949)

Director: Jack Kinney & Clyde Geronimi

[skittyagain]

yeah

[riphimopen]

PLEASE EXECUTE HIS DARK AMBIENT SWAG

[off-color-darkrai]

Spooky Fun fact for you:

Did you know that In Disney's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" there are TWO headless horsemen? Brom Bones, obviously, and the real one.

Don't believe me? Check this out!

So when animating all the characters in Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the Disney team made sure to animate each individual character as either Right or Left handed specifically.

Ichabod is consistently Right handed throughout the entire picture.

While Katrina van Tassel is Consistently Left Handed.

There's only one point where Katrina is drawn Right Handed, when she is writing, but seeing as we are watching her hands as she does this, it's clear the animators chose to show her writing in a way so that it wouldn't obscure the words.

Everyone else is either right or left handed specifically.

All, that is, except Brom Bones, who is specifically drawn to be Ambidextrous.

From his first appearance he is punching open things with his left hand, and maneuvering things with his right. He tosses things with both arms, and handles knives with both hands.

In the Headless Horseman song he repeatedly switches arms in his demonstrations. He even switches pointing arms from the beginning of the song to the end.

Now let's look over at old HH.

The first time Ichabod encounters him is in the cemetery, and we get this excellent pan up and dramatic shot.

Note, the sword is in his right hand.

Also that is not a pumpkin.

Ichabod runs, and the Headless Horseman gives chase, the entire time his sword arm remains on his Right.

Part way through Ichabod loses the Horseman for a hot minute by falling down a short cliff.

He eventually gets back on the road, spots the bridge, only to get jump-scared by the Horseman lunging out of the woods in front of him.

Ichabod, of course, turns and runs again, and the Horseman gives chase again, but this time he's changing sword arms every other shot.

And once Ichabod reaches the bridge he lobs his Jack-o'-lantern using his left arm.

That is not at all what he was holding earlier.

Also, if I was attempting to throw something, and I intended it to hit, I would definitely use my dominant arm for that. You know, the one you also use as your sword arm?

Unless you're ambidextrous.

Just saying.

So with that all laid out, I want to throw out a couple more things that support this.

1) Ichabod is shown to be completely alone in the graveyard moments before the First Horseman shows up. He even looks at the entire thing multiple times before having a laughing fit with his horse. Additionally, it's so quiet that Ichabod's laughter is echoing off everything. The sound design actively changes so there's nothing but the echoing sound of his laughter. No music, nothing. You don't hear the Horseman until he laughs too, and by then he's right behind Ichabod.

2) The way they draw the object the Horseman is holding in his first appearance vs. At the bridge is completely different. I mentioned this above, but the first object is dark, barely lit, and almost Smaller than the Horseman's hand. That is a skull. The one at the bridge is a jack-o'-lantern, well lit, not even the same shape, massive, and spitting flames. Both are pretty intimidating, but why bother drawing two different ones? It can't be something only Ichabod sees either, because he definitely sees the pumpkin at the end, and again, it's shooting flames. Imagine it's a skull all you want, I doubt he'd downplay the supposed hellfire spewing out.

3) Ichabod falls down two cliff faces in the first part of the chase. The first one he goes down and the Horseman jumps the entire cliff to go after him, not even breaking his gallop. The second cliff however, the horseman doesn't even attempt to follow Ichabod, instead letting him get away for a good amount of time. The horseman was literally right next to Ichabod and chose not to follow him. Why? If there was only one horsemen (Brom) and you were Ok jumping a cliff to keep up the chase once, why break off the second time? Why bother possibly losing Ichabod to go the long way around just so you can jump-scare him in front of the bridge?

A flesh and blood horseman would have followed, but an actual spectre? No. Why?

Because the Bottom of that cliff crashes straight into running water.

Folklore of the time stated that things such as Spirits and the Unholy couldn't cross running water (hence why crossing the bridge meant safe haven). So an actual ghostly horseman would be physically incapable of following Ichabod down the second cliff (metaphysically speaking).

In Conclusion, Disney's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a lot spookier than you probably thought, and the animators really did an excellent job.

Thank you for coming to my T.E.D. talk.

[disneytoonland]

[brokehorrorfan]

Funko has revealed a Headless Horseman Deluxe Pop from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Due out in September, the 6.25" vinyl figure costs $30.

[elfoscuro]

The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane (1858) by John Quidor

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) by Jack Kinney & Clyde Geronimi

Sleepy Hollow (1999) by Tim Burton

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The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

[disney-stuff]

poster for Walt Disney’s “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad”

[adventurelandia]

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

[rptv-drawings]

Nachtober 2024 Day 12: Headless Horseman

(skipped Day 11)