A Halloween Classic: Disney's Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman
A little summertime Halloween cheer
I've always liked Halloween. As a kid, it was sacred. Christmas was about gift grubbing and sure the 4th of July was cool, but nothing compared to the month long countdown of Halloween. Maybe its because the TV specials were better,
or the fact that you got to dress up for school- whatever it was, Halloween was just one of the holidays where the whole was much greater than the sum of the parts. As a child, I had one particular Halloween tradition that was particularly important.
Every Halloween, after trick or treating, it was time to head home for the best Halloween special of the year: Disney's Halloween night cartoons.
 Each Halloween, the Disney channel (I know, but this was seriously cool), would devote the entire night to non-stop Halloween cartoon classics, hosted by the magical mirror. It was amazing, they played their clips from Halloween songs, the classic Mickey and Donald cartoons and creepy clips from their movies. But the one
thing that always made the whole evening worth while was their classic story of Ichabod Crane. THis is a marvelous short Disney made in the 1940s that's got their classic animation look and its even narrarated by Bing Crosby. This was what Halloween was all about as a child, the crescendo to a month's worth of anticipation: and I was never disappointed.
Needing a psychological break from the sunshine and fair weather, we made a trip to the video store last night in search of a little Halloween cheer. I was shocked to find that Disney has finally released the Ichabod and Mr. Toad short to DVD. This is too good for words- it even comes with a short entitled The Lonesome Ghosts. Of course, the only thing better would have been the entire Halloween special, but
I will take what I can get here. Nothing beats a little Halloween in June.
The story opens with Ichabod Crane making his arrival to the quaint, but remote town of Sleepy Hollow. In the Disney version, they make Ichabod extremely gawky but somehow graceful as he strolls along with his nose buried deep within a book. The small townsfolk are all curious and there is a great musical number here, something about "who's that coming into town, why it's Ichabod Crane" only it rhymes and there's a melody. This is also where they introduce
Brom Bones, the story's antagonist. Brom is the exact opposite of Ichabod in every way, he's young and full of life. He's the jock, the Jake Ryan to Ichabod's Ted.
From here the story settles in, with Brom playing some pranks on Ichabod, a few musical numbers and, finally, the introdution of the femme fatale: Katrina Van Tassel. Katrina's the wealthy debutante in the story, and she's captured the hearts of all the men in town. Of course, Brom has made it clear that he is interested, so the other guys just back off. But not Ichabod, he manages to catch Katrina's eye in his own aloof sort of way. Well, this just sets Brom off and he responds by chasing Ichabod
in an attempt to kill him, or maim him. There's no dialogue, so it's hard to tell what he's thinking.
Well, to make matters more interesting, it's Halloween and Katrina invites everyone to her gigantic house to celebrate. There's plenty of food and dancing, and Ichabod takes this opportunity to wow everyone with his terpsichorean aptitude. Now, Brom isn't taking this lightly, so he's forced to dance with a fatty in hopes of getting Katrina's attention. But this backfires when the fatty gets over-excited and starts leading Brom up and down the dancefloor. Of course, people didn't like fatties, even back then, so Brom manages to lose her after he is once
again outdone by Ichabod.
But it's no matter, the dancing is over and now it is time to tell ghost stories. Well, Brom knows that Ichabod is extremely superstitious, so he breaks out into a song about how the Headless Horseman is right outside, looking to decapitate someone. It's a great song and the audience goes wild, especially Ichabod, who begins shaking and sweating. So the festivities come to an end and everyone begins to leave. The cartoon then cuts to Ichabod riding his pathetic horse through the eerie hollow. There are noises, there's fog, and Ichabod is scared. To make matters
worse, his horse is narcoleptic and keeps dosing off. It's clear that Ichabod isn't going anywhere. Of course, that changes when he comes face to face with the headless horseman.
The chase is done with the usual Disney flare. There are scenes with Ichabod riding the horse, the horse riding him, and so on. But then the climax comes, Ichabod spots the bridge and knows he's safe if he can only make it across. For some reason, the headless horseman can't cross it. Ichabod rides and rides until he finally crosses the bridge. But this being a scary tale, Ichabod has to stop and look at the Headless Horseman. This pisses the Headless Horseman off and he responds by throwing a lit jack-o-lantern at Ichabod.
The cartoon the cuts to the next morning with a scene of a smashed pumpkin and Ichabod's hat. Bing Crosby then says that nobody knows what happened to Ichabod. Some think he was killed, and others believe he moved over a town and married a wealthy widow. It's not clear. Personally, I think Brom Killed him, but that's just speculation.
The point is that this is a great Halloween-time movie and I highly recommend renting it for a bit of Halloween cheer. Even if it is the middle of June.
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