ComiColor Cartoon, directed by Ub Iwerks, based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Released to theatres 1 Oct 1934. Music by the legendary Carl Stalling.
The horseman was a Hessian mercenary, sent to these shores by German princes to keep Americans under the yoke of England, but unlike his compatriots who came for money, the Horseman came for the love of carnage. When battle was joined, there you'd find him. - Baltus van Tassel, Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Interesting little short, I really had no idea that there was any other animated version of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow besides the 1949 Disney one, Thanks for sharing it with us.
The music for this cartoon was done by Carl Stalling who did the score for this and other ComiColor before he joined WB for the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" cartoons to do the music for all of the cartoons. This musical score was one of his early efforts before he joined the WB bandwagon. Part of the music from 1:14 to 1:24 was also used in a Bugs Bunny cartoon "Rabbit Seasoning" with Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd.
Ub Iwerks, Disney's original go to animator and the father of Mickey Mouse, worked on this and when he returned to Disney studios, he also worked on Disney's version of The legend of Sleepy Hollow. The man worked on 2 versions of this story. Pretty awesome.
This is by no means a slam against Disney, but in some respects, the ending was more positive than Disney's version, as well as the original book. Not only does Ichabod survive his encounter with the Headless Horseman but he gets the upper hand on his tormentors in the end. To this I must say #ScoreOneForIchabod
8:01 Honestly, the singing bells with the creepy mouths are far more terrifying than the supposedly scary headless horseman chase scene in this cartoon. 🤣
I would have liked more of the headless horseman sequence. Oh, well: we do have a great animated version of the story from Disney. (Ub Iwerks is credited for "special processes" on that 1949 film.)
I just randomly found this while watching the song scene from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." .................man the 30s were fucking weird.... Also, why is Katrina so.........ya know..........um......busty? :P
the original novel of sleepy hollow written by irving was created on 1820,so maybe on that era the curvy and fat woman considered attractive and beautiful
Washington Irving indeed describes Katrina as "plump as a partridge." Plus Mothman, Washington Irving was a bit racially insensitive too. Given the times for the cartoon 1934, and the Legend f Sleepy Hollow 1819, they were products of their times.
the reason katrina is so plump here is because back then plump females were considered the ideal woman because thy were capable of bareing childeren some even thought the that if u married a plump lady it was a gr8 chance of her giving her husband a male arre to his estate
I see how common the derogatory depiction of black people were back then. A constant cultivation of negative imagery to cultivate racism. I cannot over look it even though I love the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Actually, I thought this depiction wasn't nearly as bad as you'd usually find in older cartoons. Outside of the typical stereotypical appearance there not mocked or made fun of.
@soniamarieruvalcaba5121 In my head-canon, Ichabod tries to touch her face with the tip of his nose. The head-canon of 2-year-old me, he tried to poke holes in her face with his nose.
This is lots of famous theme tunes (1:39, 2:33, 2:59, 3:29, 4:40, 6:13 and 6:18), can someone tell me name of them? 8D P.S. I know the last one (8:01)... :)
Its been nearly a year since you posted this question- any chance you ever located or found more info on the 16mm print in question? I would love to obtain it
It's not "Anime". "Anime" is Japanese production line animation, with a distinctive style of its own (detailed backgrounds, and laughably unanimated foregrounds).
Well, it's hinted at that the Headless Horseman MIGHT have been Brom Bones in disguise to scare away Ichabod so he could win over Katrina. The fate of Ichabod in the book is ambigious (which the Disney version in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad follows a bit more faithfully) as the only trace left was Ichabod's hat and a smashed up pumpkin which was thrown from The Headless Horseman. So it could either be that The Horseman got Ichabod and took him away (presumbly taking him to the afterlife), OR that Ichabod got so frightened that he fled from Sleepy Hollow, never to return and eventually married a rich widow, according to rumor that the Sleepy Hollow Residences don't believe but rather think it's the former.
It is implied that Bones did it. It is up to the viewer/reader to decide whether the Horseman is real or not. This one just flat out says that it was bones.
Technicolor was introduced in 1915, and the first full-length feature in Technicolor was 1922 The Toll Of The Sea. And throughout the 1920s silent movies had partial scenes of color and a few feature films were entirely in Technicolor. Animation had Technicolor since 1930, but this cartoon is in a process called Cinecolor. Color in cartoons became more prevalent from 1935 on.
i really like Brom instead of Ichabod, cause Brom loves Katherin!!! and Ichabod (although likes katherin) wants her money more!!! Brom is never at all hinted to wanting Katherin's money, just that he loves Katherin.
I thought I'd seen bad versions of the story before. This one might top some of the others. You can tell it was made in the '30s just looking at the cultural depictions of black people in it. Were their black people in Irving's story? Absolutely, so they should appear in adaptations of it, though this is the first one I've seen to acknowledge they were there. Which I'm not sure was a good thing given how they were depicted as looking more animal than human. Also Katrina looked much more like one of the housewives than the young coquette of the story. She should have been plumb, but she was more than plumb here. And Brom as the Horseman, Irving certainly suggests that possibility when he has Brom have a knowing look and a laugh about Ichabod's disappearance, though I much prefer the idea the Dutch housewives were right and it was a spirit that carried Ichabod off.
There was at least one black person in the original story, but he was a servant for Katrina's father, and he only appears to deliver Ichabod his boss's invitation to the fateful party that leads to his encounter with the Horseman.
These racist depictions of African-Americans were prevalent in the "Great America" these MAGA supporters are envisioning. A time you could enjoy this type of disrespect of minorities and not feel bad about it. This is why there's a need for diversity. Because generations of our country find comfort in seeing what they grew up with, and see any change as evil.
