The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a 1949 American animated package film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film consists of two segments — the first of which is based on the 1908 children's novel The Wind in the Willows by Scottish author Kenneth Grahame, and the second is based on the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," called Ichabod Crane in the film, by American author Washington Irving. HEAR BING SING: "THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN" "KATRINA" "ICHABOD CRANE" (taglines)

Mr. Toad

 * We'll go for a jolly ride! [begins to jump rope on the rump of his horse with his buggy whip]
 * Hello, you fellows! You're the very animals I was coming to see! Come along! Hop up here! We'll go for a jolly ride! The open road! The dusty highway! Come! I'll show you the world! Travel! Change! Excitement! Ha ha ha!

The Wind in the Willows

 * [first lines]
 * The Narrator: If you were asked to choose the most fabulous character in English literature, who would it be? Robin Hood? King Arthur? Becky Sharp? Sherlock Holmes? Oliver Twist, perhaps? Well, any one of them would be an excellent choice. Still, for the most fabulous character of all, I would nominate... a toad - J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. Have you ever met him? You'll find his story in this delightful little book, "The Wind In the Willows". Toad, you might say, was the one disturbing element: incurable adventurer, mad, reckless, tried everything, positive mania for fads, and he never countered the cost. Had a host of fair-weather friends, of course, but there were only three who had his best interests at heart. One was a badger, MacBadger. Another was a water rat; a bit stuffy, perhaps, but really a fine fellow. And a mole; gentle creature, kind and sympathetic.


 * [Water Rat and Mole have interrupted Toad's rampage with Cyril and the cart]
 * Water Rat: Toad, we want to have a talk with you.
 * Mr. Toad: Oh, a visit? Splendid! [hops down onto the rung of the cart]
 * Water Rat: Toad, this is serious. You've got to give up that horse and cart.
 * Mr. Toad: [in disbelief] Give up my... Oh, but my dear Ratty, this is my career! Surely, you can't mean it.
 * Water Rat: I do mean it. You've got to stop this foolishness.
 * Mr. Toad: [stubbornly] No.
 * Water Rat: You must!
 * Mr. Toad: No, I won't do it!
 * Water Rat: Your reckless behavior is giving us animals a bad name.
 * Mr. Toad: I won't listen to anything! [he covers his ears and everything Water Rat says is softened, but whenever he removes his hands from his ears, Water Rat speaks louder]
 * Water Rat: You are fast becoming a menace to society! If you won't think of yourself, think of poor old MacBadger! And as for that horse, no good could ever come from galloping about with such a fast and irresponsible beast! [when he hears this last part, Cyril covers his own ears. Toad laughs]


 * The Prosecutor: As trustee of the Toad estate, were you aware of the defendant's mania for motorcars?
 * Angus MacBadger: Well, I...
 * The Prosecutor: And that, due to his reckless behavior, you had cut off his allowance?
 * Angus MacBadger: Well, I...
 * The Prosecutor: And that he was, to the best of your knowledge, without funds?
 * Angus MacBadger: Well, I...
 * The Prosecutor: That is all! Thank you.


 * Mr. Toad: [in court giving his defense; to Cyril] Are you familiar with the defendant J. Thaddeus Toad?
 * Cyril Proudbottom: Lord love a duck, yes! He's one of the jolliest chaps I've ever run across! And simply *tons* of money!
 * The Prosecutor: [to Cyril] Good fellow, eh? Throws it away. BUT he wasn't throwing it away *that* day! You heard Mr. MacBadger's testify that his allowance was cut off! Then how did he get the motorcar?
 * Cyril Proudbottom: The only way a gentlemen gets anything: the *honest* way.
 * The Prosecutor: And what is the honest way?
 * Cyril Proudbottom: Ha-ha, I thought you wouldn't know that one, guv'nor.
 * [Everyone laughs]


 * The Judge: The witness may testify in his own words.
 * Cyril Proudbottom: [in court] Right-o, guv'nor; now, I'll give you the facts of the case. For when Toady escaped from his boudoir, he'd come headin' straight for my place. Soon we was off down the 'ighway but hadn't gone far, I confess, when all of a sudden with a rush and a roar, something passed like the London Express. It was big, it was red, it was beautiful: a motorcar! Hee, a bit of alright; Toady was transfixed with, uh, rapture. You could tell it was love at first sight. The motor pulled up to a tavern wherein was located a bar and we watched while some tough-looking weasels got out of that lovely red car. Now weasels, I know, are deceitful and not to be trusted at all... but how I could know they'd stolen that car? I didn't have no crystal ball. And the guv'nor, he's not one to dally, he'd made up his mind like a flash, he says "try it for size, my good Cyril, while I see what they'll take for it, cash!" So into the tavern he saunters, where the barman was back at the bar. And he said, "Cheerio, tavern-keeper! Who's the owner of that, uh, hot-looking car?" The barman, a codger named, uh, Winky, leaned over the bar and said "Why?" The guv'nor answered "That car must be mine! Whatever the price is, I'll buy!" But Toad found he hadn't no money... so he promptly offered a trade; the weasels appeared to be willin', in a moment, the bargain was made. Then Toady drawed up a paper with almost incredible speed and he called on ol' Winky to, uh, pop over and witness the deed. Now the guv'nor's not a bit stingy, he never does anything small: the weasels gave him the red motorcar, heh, and he gave the weasels... Toad Hall!
 * [MacBadger faints upon hearing that last sentence]
 * The Prosecutor: Hmmm...trading Toad Hall, an estate over a hundred thousand pounds...for a motor car! [laughs; to Toad] YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT?!


 * [Toad enters Water Rat and Mole's house and faints]
 * Mole: Why... it's a poor old lady. Let's move her over by the fire.
 * [They move Toad, then his chain ball lands on Water Rat's foot]
 * Water Rat: Oww!
 * Water Rat and Mole: Toad!
 * Water Rat: What are you doing here?
 * Mr. Toad: Well, I just, um... sort of...
 * Mole: Well, this is a merry Christmas... but aren't you afraid of the police?
 * Mr. Toad: Afraid of the police? [laughs] I, Toad, afraid of the police?
 * [He laughs some more, then a loud knock and yelling comes from the door]
 * Angus MacBadger: [from behind the door] OPEN UP! OPEN UP, I SAY!
 * Mr. Toad: [horrorstruck] THE POLICE!
 * Mr. Toad: [on his knees panicking] Hide me! Hide me, Ratty!
 * Water Rat: Sorry, Toad, but you owe a debt to society, and you've got to pay! Mole, let them in.


 * The Narrator 1: So, it was a happy ending, after all. Toad's friends were dreadfully proud of him. And why not? [Ratty folds the newspaper away, as he and Mole look proudly at a painting of Mr. Toad above the fireplace] He was a new Toad, now. Completely reformed, through with gypsy carts and motorcars for ever. And so, on this happiest of New Years, a toast was in order.
 * Angus MacBadger: [holding a platter of champagne glasses] "To the New Year! And..."
 * All: To the new Toad!
 * [They all toast their glasses together, until a loud crashing noise is heard, shattering the glasses. Angus, Rat, and Moley, cringing from the sound, look out the window to see what has happened]
 * Mr. Toad: [off-screen] Hello, you fellows! [his friends rush up to the window, where they seen a Wright Flyer plane soaring above the mansion, and this time, it's Toad at the stick with Cyril as his passenger, waving to them] Come! I'll show you the world! Travel, change, excitement! Ha-ha-ha!
 * [Poor MacBadger faints on the spot, while Toad steers his plane over a statue, knocking it halfway down, and flies off into the sunrise]
 * The Narrator 1: [chuckling] And, that was the fabulous Thaddeus Toad. But, let's weigh our judgement carefully. We Moles and Rats and Badgers, really now, don't we envy him a bit? [The shot turns into the last image in the book] I know I do. And so, when we speak of fabulous characters, the most fabulous of all will always be, uh, to me at least, the master of Toad Hall.
 * [The first narrator closes the book and puts it back on the shelf]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

 * The Narrator 2: [chuckling] Yeah, J. Thaddeus, quite a lad. 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. If we could journey back to that period in history when Manhattan was but a market town, we would discover, in one of the coves which indent the shores of the Hudson, the little village of Tarry Town. And just beyond, nestled deep in the low rolling hills, a sequestered glen. It's a quiet, peaceful place, and yet, somehow... foreboding. It abounds in haunted spots, twilight tales and local superstitions. The best-known story concerns an itinerant schoolmaster who once frequented these parts. Some say his melancholy spirit still haunts the vicinity.


 * The Additional voices: It's the new schoolmaster.
 * The Additional voices: What's his name?
 * The Narrator: Ichabod, Ichabod Crane.


 * [Brom is trying to scare Ichabod with the tale of The Headless Horseman]
 * Brom Bones: ♪ When the ghosts have a midnight jamboree ♪
 * ♪ They break it up with fiendish glee ♪
 * ♪ Ghosts are bad, but the one that's cursed ♪
 * ♪ Is the Headless Horseman; he's the worst! ♪
 * The Additional voices: ♪ That's right, he's a fright on Halloween night! ♪
 * Brom Bones: ♪ When he goes a-jogging across the land ♪
 * ♪ Holding his noggin in his hand ♪
 * ♪ Demons take one look and groan ♪
 * ♪ And they hit the road for parts unknown! ♪
 * The Additional voices: ♪ Beware, take care; he rides alone! ♪
 * [Ichabod watches Brom split a hair with a machete with terror on his face]


 * [Ichabod is riding through Sleepy Hollow late at night on old Gunpowder, in the area the Headless Horseman is known to prowl]
 * Ichabod Crane: [whistling nervously]
 * The Toads: Ichabod! Ichabod! Ichabod! [repeatedly]
 * [Ichabod becomes terrified with the noise of the crickets, toad, and owls. When he thinks he hears galloping hooves behind him, he panics, and tries to get Gunpowder to run, but is not strong enough when his horse is resting on a gravestone. Ichabod soon finds it's nothing more than reeds thumping against a hollow log. He and Gunpowder start laughing at the seeming absurdity of their terror]
 * The Headless Horseman: [evil laugh]
 * [Ichabod and Gunpowder stop laughing and look up in horror to see among the tombstones that there is a rider called the Headless Horseman being enormous of large dimensions on a giant black steed of powerful frame in the graveyard, his horse reared up and wielding a sword]
 * The Headless Horseman: [evil laugh]
 * [Ichabod and Gunpowder, struck with terror, see that the figure is headless and has no head, so they flee with the Headless Horseman chasing madly after them]


 * [last lines]
 * The Narrator: Man, I'm getting out of here!

Taglines

 * BING and WALT COMBINE THEIR TALENTS...IN A NEW AND THRILLING CARTOON FEATURE! (original print media ad - mostly caps)
 * HEAR BING SING: "THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN" "KATRINA" "ICHABOD CRANE" (original print media ad - all caps)
 * BING and WALT wake up Sleepy Hollow with a BANG! (Lobby card).
 * As told and sung by Bing Crosby and told by Basil Rathbone. (Lobby card)
 * Bing and Walt ride herd on The Headless Horseman!
 * Two Tall Tales by the world's top story-tellers in one hilarious All-Cartoon Feature!

Cast

 * Bing Crosby - Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, Narrator (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)
 * Basil Rathbone - Narrator, Policeman (The Wind in the Willows)
 * Eric Blore - J. Thaddeus Toad
 * J. Pat O'Malley - Cyril Proudbottom
 * John McLeish - Prosecutor
 * Colin Campbell - Moley
 * Campbell Grant - Angus MacBadger
 * Claude Allister - Ratty

Uncredited

 * Pinto Colvig - Ichabod Crane screaming
 * Leslie Dennison - Judge, Weasel #1
 * Clarence Nash - Gunpowder (Ichabod's horse)
 * Edmond Stevens - Weasel #2
 * Ollie Wallace - Mr. Winky