The 1940s was a tough decade for Disney Animation. At the beginning of the decade the studios was in the middle of its Golden Era with Classics such as Bambi and Dumbo. By 1949, the studio was doing all it could to stay afloat. The Second World War had taken its toll on many companies and on everyone involved. After the USA Government had commandeered the studio and many men had left to fight, the studios struggled to complete full length feature films. With distribution to other countries limited and the expense needed to make a film up to Disney’s standards the studio began making package films. These were usually multiple segments independent of each other but released under one title. Starting with Saludos Amigos this era of Disney ended with The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad before Cinderella became the first full length feature released in almost 10 years.
Before the Film
Many films were made up of planned material for other projects. The two segments for Ichabod and Mr Toad are adaptions of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Wind in the Willow. Written by Kenneth Graeme in 1908, The Wind in the Willows was pitched to Walt Disney on the back of the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The pitch included rough sketches and dialogue and was considered by the two men pitching the story as perfect for animation. The story included Animals that took the form of humans, with clothes, houses and cars. James Bodrero and Campbell Grant’s pitch was only semi-successful. Disney considered the idea too corny but attained the rights to make a film. The story had multiple re-writes but finally production begun with some animators who were finishing Bambi. By this point, 1941, The Wind in the Willows was intended to be a full length feature film similar to the likes of Pinocchio, Bambi and Dumbo. James Algar was appointed as director the same year but production halted after an animator’s strike at the studio. After the strike the Bank of America stated that they would restrict loans. Only shorts would be funded, although the films in production could continue to be produced. The Wind in the Willows, Bambi and Dumbo had survived the funding restrictions but when Walt reviewed the animation, he considered The Wind in the Willows to be below par. He shelved the project. As per the Bank of America’s instructions a new film could only be worked on when a previous film had been finished and recouped it’s cost. The studios stripped back work on Lady and the Tramp, and Alice in Wonderland, leaving just Dumbo and Bambi in production.
Production was picked up in 1946, but Walt had ordered that it should only be 25 minutes in length. The film had bits added to it to salvage the project. At this point many older projects were being reviewed so money could be brought into the studio. Disney took on making Ads and package films brought little revenue. The majority of the work went to the war effort. Bambi struggled to make a huge profit although Dumbo had been a success. The project was eventually shelved once more.
Many smaller projects, similar in length as The Wind in the Willows were in production. These included The Legend of Happy Valley, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Gremlins and Bongo. Bongo and The Legend of Happy Valley were eventually paired up but prior to this, The Wind and the Willows was planned to be partnered to both Happy Valley and Gremlins. This package film would be called Three Fabulous Characters. After Gremlins, a story by Roald Dahl, failed to flourish the film changed its name to Two Fabulous Characters. This was then moved around once more, replacing Happy Valley with Sleepy Hollow. This final version of the film was called The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad.
The Plots
The Wind in the Willows
Toad is the wealthy owner of Toad hall; however, his ridiculous need to follow the latest fad has started to shrink his fortune. His friends try to rally round and help him to stop spending recklessly. Angus MacBadger becomes his book keeper and orders Ratty and Mole to stop Toad from driving around in a horse drawn carriage as the damage costs could mount up and hit the already shrinking kitty.
As they stop their friend, Toad catches sight of a Motorcar and soon he forgets about the carriage and takes up motor-mania.
To cure Toads new mania, Ratty and Mole place him under house arrest, but he escapes and is then arrested on a charge of car theft.
At the trial, Toad’s horse testifies that the car was already stolen by the weasels and that Toad actually made a bargain with them. He states that Toad was willing to swap the motor car for Toad Hall. The judge doesn’t believe the statement, so Toad, who is representing himself, brings in the bartender. Unfortunately, Mr Winky the Bartender gives a false testament, stating that Toad tried to sell him the stolen car.
The Judge finds Toad guilty and he is sentenced to 20 years in the Tower of London.
Over the months Toad’s friends try to appeal his case but nothing seems to work. It is on Christmas Eve that Toad’s horse visits Toad and disguises his friend as Toad’s Grandmother. Toad makes his escape, hijacking a train when he runs into a station. The police are in pursuit as Toad heads towards his home.
Back at the Riverbank, MacBadger has found out that Mr Winky is actually the leader of the weasels and is now in possession of Toad Hall and the deeds. MacBadger knows that these deeds and Winky’s signature will prove that the car was genuinely traded, proving Toad’s innocence. Toad re-joins his friends and the four of them, after a harsh chase, manage to regain the deeds.
By New Years, Toad has returned to Toad Hall and, it seems, has given up on his various different obsessions. However, they soon notice that Toad, and his horse, are flying a plane. Toad now had Plane-Mania.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Ichabod Crane arrives at the notoriously Haunted Sleepy Hollow to be their new Schoolmaster. Crane is highly superstitious. Despite his odd appearance, mannerisms and behaviour, Crane manages to woo the female residents of the area. This annoys some of the men, most noticeable Brom Bones. Bones starts to bully Ichabod, who ignores him and continues to form a good relationship with Katrina Van Tassel, the beautiful and only child of the richest man in town. The money helps to sway his affection for her and he begins to woo her. This annoys Brom Bones as he is also in love with her. It is a full tale of deceit as Katrina only continues with Crane to make Bones up his game and show more affection towards her.
At a party, Bones tries to separate Katrina and Ichabod; he tries to switch Katrina with another woman from the village who is happy to dance with Crane. As the feud continues, Bones watches Crane as he drops some salt. The suspicious schoolmaster throws some over his shoulder which gives Bones an idea.
Bones starts to tell a story of the Headless Horseman. Bones sings about how the horseman’s head was knocked off by a cannonball. His ghost then returns each year to find a new head; the only way to escape him is to cross an old bridge over the brook. The locals take the story for what it is, but Ichabod begins to fear for his life.
On his way home from the party, Ichabod mistakes some cattails banging on a log for the hoofs of a horse. He fears it is the huntsman so he gets nervous. When he finds out the real reason behind the noise he and his horse begin to laugh. He isn’t laughing for long as he soon catches sight of the Headless Horseman.
The Headless Horseman follows him through the forest until Ichabod remembers Bone’s Story. He finds the bridge and crosses it. The Horseman stops but throws his pumpkin head at Crane. Crane doesn’t duck in time and is hit, sending him headlong into the dust.
Ichabod Crane is never seen again, some believe the Schoolteacher married a wealthy widow and has several children that all look like him; others say that he was spirited away. But wherever he went, he left the door open for Brom Bones to Marry Katrina.
Production
The story behind the making of the film starts with The Wind in the Willows segment. Published in 1908, the story was read and put forward to Walt Disney by Campbell Grant and James Bodrero in 1938. The production of Snow White had finished and the film was a huge success. Disney was looking for other stories that he could acquire the rights to with the end goal being making an animated feature. With the anamorphic animals, it was considered as a great production for animation, but Walt felt that it would be too corny. The character of Toad is quite different from those being looked into at this time. Characters like this were always cute rather than comedic. It wouldn’t be until The Jungle Book that characters would act as carefree as Toad. Never the less, Walt purchased the film rights and the film was left in development. By the early 1940s, Disney was told by the bankers that he wouldn’t receive any more money for future films until the existing films in production were finished and the money made back. He was told to focus on shorts. This was mainly due to the Second World War, but at this time, it seemed that Walt had many pictures in production. Along Side Wind in the Willows, production had already started on Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Alice in Wonderland, Bambi and Dumbo. The former three were put on hold but The Wind in the Willows, along with Bambi and Dumbo continued. At this point animation has already begun, whereas it hadn’t started with the shelved films.
Different animators worked on the film, many of which from Bambi after that finished production. Upon seeing it, Walt decided that the animation and film as a whole was below the standard that would be successful on the market. The production was shelved.
Work restarted in early 1946, James Algar, who was signed to direct when the original work was done on the film, returned alongside Frank Thomas. Thomas would become known as one of the nine old men, he is responsible for some of the most noted scenes in Disney Animated Classics at the time, including the Spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp, and the dwarfs crying beside Snow White’s glass coffin.
This time, the full length feature film would be shortened to just 25 minutes. Walt must have wanted to salvage the project to release in a package film similar to the other releases at the time.
The company was struggling at the time due to the War efforts. The packaged films were keeping the company afloat along with other small projects. Due to hard times, layoffs were made in August 1946; The Wind in the Willows was shelved once more.
Four months later, work was beginning on another project. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow began production in December 1946 and would be co-directed by Jack Kinney and Clyde Geronimi. Kinney, at the time, mainly directed shorts and was the main director for the Goofy Shorts. Geromini had yet to work on a full length feature film, but would direct many classic Animated Feature films including Cinderella and 101 Dalmatians.
Combinations of existing and newly developed shorts had unfortunately become commonplace. The Wind in the Willows was noted to be packaged with two other films, one of which was Gremlins, written by Roald Dahl. Issues with that production and a shuffle in the pairings meant that The Wind in the Willows was left on its own again. By 1947, the year Fun and Fancy Free was released; Disney decided to pair up The Wind in the Willows with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It would seem that the troubled production of nearly a decade would be at and end and The Wind in the Willows would finally see the light of day.
Changes would have to be made to both features but in 1949, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad was released in the October.
The Tale of Ratty, Mole, Bader and Toad
The Wind in the Willows is a sweet story of English Aristocracy, published in 1908, the story has charmed millions. It has had multiple adaptions across its life from 2D animation, stop motion animation and live action. It seems that this story will always be part of British culture. Walt Disney did feel that the story was too corny but full feature films with only anamorphic animals will become more popular in furture releases such as Robin Hood and Zootopia. The Characteristics would also be adopted in films such as The Rescuers, Mulan, Hercules and Cinderella. Kenneth Grahame, the Author was born in 1859, he passed away 6 years before the film was brought to Walt Disney’s attention. The book was on its 31st printing when it was adapted for stage by A.A.Milne. Milne would be known as the author of Winnie the Pooh. In an interesting link, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad was the last Package film until 1977’s The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
The Headless Horseman
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was written by Washington Irving. It was whilst Irving was living in England that he published his story as part of a collection of Essays and short stories in 1820. Although known as a truly American story, parts of the tale can be traced back to legends in Europe, including Germany and England. The story would rise in popularity at the time and continue to do so around the world. The Headless horseman theme would reappear in many cultural references, e.g. Scooby Doo, and it part of Halloween celebrations across different cultures.
Linking the two
Disney’s packaged films are all slightly different in content and some variation has been done to link the individual stories. Whereas the similarities between Make Mine Music and Melody Time, and, Saludos Amigos and The Three Calleberos, can be made, the link between Sleepy Hollow and Wind in the Willows is different for its era. It is then charming that the story book link would become such a staple of Disney films, most noticeably Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book. The narration takes part in a Library but the Narrator changes in the middle of the film. Whereas Bing Crosby will be most recognised form his section. Basil Rathbone narrated The Wind in the Willows Segment. Rathbone will be most remembered for his performances as Sherlock Holmes. In Basil, The Great Mouse Detective, Rathbone’s voice can be heard as Sherlock Holmes. Bing Crosby, will always be known as one of the greatest singers of all time. Originally, he and his family were paid a lump sum to appear at the start of the film, the story of the scene would be Cosby reading the story to his children. This element was eventually dropped but the Cosby’s each received their payment.
Interestingly, Rathbone would feature as a policeman in the Willows segment as well as Narrate it. Pinto Colvig, the voice behind Pluto, Goofy and an array of Disney Characters of the time, would lend his voice to Ichabod Crane, but only his screams, all the voice work was done by Crosby.
Cast
Bing Crosby had a great career, at the time of this film’s release Crosby has been declared as the ‘Most Admired Man Alive’ by American Polls in 1948. Music Digest has suggested that his recording s filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music and had won the Oscar for Best Actor, Nominated again for a reprisal of the role he had won it for previously. White Christmas, the song that is consistently played throughout festive seasons even 70+ years later, would become the bestselling single of all time. Although he was dismissive of his role in the song’s success, he was required to rerecord the song in 1947 as the original master had become damaged. He died in 1977
Eric Blore was at the height of his film career when he voiced the role of Toad. He would die just a decade after the film’s release. He was best known for his comic roles and work with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. At the time of his death a newspaper has mistakenly written the ‘Late Eric Blore’ however Blore hadn’t passed away. A retraction was ordered and passed through. Unfortunately, during this time, Blore had passed away and whilst all other papers were reporting of his death, The New Yorker apologised for any insult caused through their erroneous report of his demise.
J. Pat O’Malley had a long career in television, films and on stage. Although his work covers a vast array of films in the era, Disney fans will be most interested to know that as well as voicing Winky and the horse in The Wind in the Willows Segment, he was also the voice of the Cockney Coster in Mary Poppins, he appears during the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious segment, He was also Colonel Hathi and one of the Vultures in The Jungle Book. He also voices all of the characters in the Walrus and the Carpenter Segment of Alice in Wonderland, including Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dee. He was also the voice of Br’er Fox in Song of the South.
A life on Television
It is interesting that even though the story struggled to get through production stages for 10 years, The Wind in the Willows would become the first segment of the film to be broadcasted on Television. In February 1955, Disneyland would air the story along with The Reluctant Dragon. The Latter is a short by Disney that was also based on a Kenneth Grahame story. Later that year, in October, Ichabod’s section was released along with an animated 14 minute segment that looked at the life of Author Washington Irving. Whereas for all future Television airings, this segment was attached, it has never been released on Home Media. Both had further airings on television, but they were named differently for these segments. Ichabod became The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Mr Toad became The Wind in the Willows. Both segments were also released in theatres to accompany other features. The Wind in the Willows segment changed its name to The Madcap Adventures of Mr Toad in 1978’s theatre release.
The two segments were, seemingly, forever split. Some scenes for The Wind in the Willows were shortened or removed, included some of the newspaper articles where Toad’s friends try to help him, the ball and chain in the riverbed and an angry response from MacBadger. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow only lost the bookcase linking segment.
Although released in other medium, the first home media release of the complete Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad was in the UK in 1991; subsequently it was released in the US in 1992. Fans could get copies of the segments during the 1980s but it wasn’t until then that they could watch the film in its entirety.
Reviews
The film received positive feedback during its original release and continues to receive positive reponses today. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Cinematography Colour, which it won. To Tie in with the release of the film, Decca Records released a record in 1949 titled Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The release featured Crosby’s narration but not the one used in the film. Songs were written by Don Raye and Gene De Paul. On the B side was another Washington Irving story called Rip Van Winkle. The B side was not narrated by Crosby, but instead Walter Huston. For the reviews of both film and the album, critics agreed that The Wind in the Willows was the better segment, although both provided fun entertainment. One critic also stated that the film showed that Walt Disney had not lost what he had before the war.
After the Film
The film, as noted above, was separated and released in split forms up until the 1991 VHS release. It hasn’t spawned any sequels and merchandise for the film is few and far between. As part of the 70th Anniversary, Shop Disney released a Mr Toad Mug and Tree decoration. A Headless Horseman was also released but not as an anniversary product. In 2000, a Statue and Pin set was released as part of a Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection, the original price for the set was $695 but since it has retired the 3500 statues part of the release have dramatically increased in price and continue to do so.
In Walt Disney World in Florida, before Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween parade, the Headless Horseman can often be seen riding the parade route before the actual start of the parade. In the Frightfully Fun Parade of 2017, two town’s people appear with Ichabod, but then the Headless Horseman follows closely behind. The Headless Horseman was also the focus of the 2011 Haunted Halloween Celebration at Hong Kong Disneyland. An opening day attraction for Both Disneyland and Disney World was Mr Toad’s Wild Ride. The ride, as featured in Fantasyland, is a dark ride. It isn’t a full retelling of the story but favours on Toad’s love for motor cars. In 1983, the Disneyland version went under an update that changed the outside to look more like Toad Hall. In Walt Disney World, the ride was replaced in 1998 by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. This wasn’t considered a good move by fans. Mr Toad still has traces in The Haunted Mansion’s Pet Cemetery and the Pooh attraction. Both he and The Headless Horseman have cards in the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Game.
Toad Hall also has a restaurant in Disneyland Paris.
Cameo appearances include being one of the guests in House of Mouse, He also features on Halloween with Hades, although he appears nervous sitting next to the Headless Horseman. He also makes a cameo in ‘This is Your Life, Donald Duck, along with other characters.
Legacy
Although not a huge success like Cinderella and The Lady and the tramp, these two segments for the Classic feature paved the way between the war years and the 1950s. The animation may not be as detailed as Cinderella but it was fun and steered away from the shorter segments bundled together for a number of years up to that point. The Wind in the Willows lives on as a ride whereas the Halloween aspect of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow will always be celebrated in the parks and by Disney fans. The stories are not deemed some of the best work, but each is enjoyable. It is important to remember that these packaged films are what kept the studios alive during the 1940s, without them we wouldn’t be enjoying Disney films to this day. The revenue earned of just over $1.5million may not seem a lot now but it was important enough to sow that Disney was still on the movie forefront. From the following year’s Cinderella, the studios would release some of the most loved and best regarded films, many of which are heralded classics, albeit retrospectively for some.
As the decades go on, the imprint of the film fades away, Disney Villains take centre stage alongside Jack Skeleton for Halloween parades and events and most Disney fans will have not heard of the films. The Wind and the Willows would be adapted for many times after the release of this film and everyone has their favourites. It seems a shame that this version rarely makes high ranks. One day the film will fade into the void alongside other films of the era. Already it became one of the last films not to be available on Blu-Ray and there is very little Merchandise. What came after was the beginning of a new Era for Disney, an era of theme parks, huge animated hits and live action films.