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 British-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)

Dialogue

The Wind in the Willows

[First lines]

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, esquire. 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. Then there was a water rat; a bit stuffy, perhaps, but really a fine fellow. And a mole; gentle creature, kind and sympathetic.

---

[While trying to get Toad Hall in order, MacBadger gets interrupted by two knocks on the door, the second one, thankfully, from Rat and Mole]

Angus MacBadger: Oh, it's you, Rat. And Mole, too. Thank goodness, lads. You've come at last.

[They go into Toad Hall]

Narrator: Poor MacBadger, he'd reach the end of his rope, or as he said himself...

Angus MacBadger: I'm practically a nervous wreck.

Water Rat: I say, MacBadger, what seems to be the trouble?

Angus MacBadger: [upset] Something's got to be done about Toad! This time, he is goin' too far!

Mole: But he promised us.

Angus MacBadger: Promises? Ha! What good are his promises when these wild manias take him? Now look, you're his closest friends, are you not?

Water Rat: Yes.

Mole: Very dear friends.

Angus MacBadger: Then, lads, you've got to find Toad and stop him.

Water Rat: What's he doing?

Angus MacBadger: He's got a new mania. He's rampagin' about the county in a canary yellow gypsy cart with a horse named Cyril.

---

[Water Rat and Mole have interrupted Toad's rampage with Cyril and the cart]

Mr. Toad: [to Water Rat and Mole] 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!

Cyril Proudbottom: Ahem.

Mr. Toad: [remembers, laughs] I almost forgot. I want you fellows to meet my noble steed, Cyril.

Cyril Proudbottom: Aye, that's me. [tongue] A bit of a trotter, a bit of a rotter. How do you do, how do you do, how do you DO?

Water Rat: [lifting his hat] How do you do?

Cyril Proudbottom: [to Toad] Say, gov'nor, your friends appear to be on the stuffy side, what?

[Toad laughs]

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! B-But my dear Ratty, [chuckles] this is my career! Surely, you can't mean...

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 behaviour is giving us animals a bad name.

Mr. Toad: I won't listen to anything! [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’re 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 can ever come from gadding about with such a fast and irresponsible beast. [when he hears this last part, Cyril covers his own ears]

[Toad laughs]

---

Mr. Toad: [seeing the blue motocar] Gad! What is it?

Cyril Proudbottom: Lumme, Guv'nor! It's a motorcar.

Mr. Toad: Motorcar? [the motorcar passes by, knocking the cart over and leaving him on the ground] A motorcar. Gad! What have I been missing. [became enraptured, starts making noises moving around like a car]

Mole: [shocked] Ratty! It isn't. He hasn't!

Water Rat: [alarmed] It is, and he has it: a new mania. Motor mania!

[Both Rat and Mole grab him and drag him home]

Narrator: Mania, that's it. That's what it was, a positive mania. No telling where it would end, either; it may linger for months, and with Toad Hall at stake. [Toad's friends have successfully escorted him to his room in his home at Toad Hall] Well, they had no choice. There was only one thing to do: lock the poor chap in his chamber and keep him there until the poison worked out of his system.

[Rat and Mole dress Toad in his nightclothes and throw water over him to stop his acting like a car]

Mole: That's better.

Water Rat: [to Toad] And you can't escape, you know. Simply no use trying.

[They shut the door and lock it]

Mr. Toad: [pounds on the door, tugs on it, and tries to open it] Let me outta here! Open up! Open up, I say! Please, Ratty, Moley, open the door!

Narrator: Now, of course, playing jailer to one's dearest friend wasn't much of an enjoyable experience. In fact, Moley weakened right at the start and wanted to call it quits, but Ratty said, "No. Definitely not." This time they must be firm. After all, it wasn't just a matter of saving Toad from himself. There was MacBadger to consider, and Toad Hall and all that it stood for. [it's the middle of the night and Toad is escaping from his room] Now, there was only one problem with Ratty's cure for motormania...it didn't work. [Toad climbs down a line of blankets tied together] You see, Toad was far too clever and, at the moment, completely mad. He was determined to get a motorcar, if he had to beg, borrow, or...

[Next frame is a shot of a newspaper stating that Toad was arrested for driving in a stolen motorcar]

---

Prosecutor: My lord, I call, as first Crown witnesses, Mr Rat and Mr Mole! [as Ratty and Mole walk to the stand, Mole waves at Toad who winks at him. Ratty and Mole on an open book in the stand] Is it true that you had the accused locked in his own house because he had threatened to get a motorcar? [leans in closer to Ratty and Mole, causing Mole to fell off the book] Did you, or did you not, have him locked up?!

Water Rat: We did.

[Mole climbs back onto the book]

Prosecutor: [walks away] Thank you! That is all!

[Mole sticks his tongue out at the prosecutor's back]

---

Prosecutor: So, as trustee of the Toad estate, you knew of the prisoner's mania for motorcars.

Angus MacBadger: Well, I...

Prosecutor: And that, due to his reckless extravagance, you cut off his allowance.

Angus MacBadger: Well, I...

Prosecutor: And that he was, to the best of your knowledge, without funds.

Angus MacBadger: Well, I...

Prosecutor: That is all! Thank you.

---

Mr. Toad: [in court giving his defense; to Cyril] Are you acquainted 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 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: Right-o, guv'nor; now, I'll give you the facts of the case. [flashback begins] For when Toady escaped from his boudoir, he'd come heading straight for my place. Soon we was off down the highway 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! Yeah, 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 on 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 willing, in a moment, the bargain was made. Then Toady drawed up a paper with almost incredible speed and he called on old Winky the barman to, uh, pop over and witness the deed. [flashback ends] 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...traded Toad Hall, an estate worth a hundred thousand pounds...for a motor car! [laughs along with the judge; to Toad] YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT?!

Mr. Toad: [calmly] No, I don't expect you to believe anything.

---

[During his trial, Mr. Toad summons a witness: Winky the barman who had taken possession of Toad Hall in exchange for the car]

Mr. Toad: [to the courtroom while putting on his hat and gloves] Milord, gentlemen, facing you in the witness box is a citizen of substance and standing, a man of unimpeachable honesty. [to Winky] Now, Mr. Winky, do you recall an incident that took place in your establishment, about August the 12th, that I was a party to?

Winky:[slyly] Oh, yes, sir. That I do, sir.

Mr. Toad: [casually walks slowly towards the door, thinking he's winning the court] Well, then, [chuckles] just tell the court what actually happened.

Winky: [shamelessly, lying to Toad] Well, gov'nor, you tried to sell me a...stolen motorcar!

[The shocked Mr. Toad is surrounded by the guards, who closed the doors]

Cyril Proudbottom: [yelling at Winky] That's a deliberate lie, you monkey-faced little rumpot!

Mr. Toad: No! I've been framed! Let me go! Help! Help! Help!

[Chaos in the court, the judge bangs his gavel to try to settle the commotion]

---

[Toad had been found guilty of stealing the motorcar, a crime he never committed]

Narrator: News of Toad's disgrace rocked the nation. It seemed the courts were trying to make an example of him. Of course, his friends tried to help, but they were blocked at every turn. Why, they must have reopened the case a dozen times. They appealed to this court, that court, any court, but the decision stood: the case of J. Thaddeus Toad was closed.

---

Prison Guard: [opens the door] Being as it's Christmas, you're allowed a visitor. Your grandma's here.

Mr. Toad: [confused] Grandma?

[A tall figure in a pink dress and a veiled cap glides into Toad's cell]

Cyril Proudbottom: [in a girly voice] Merry Christmas, sonny! Granny wouldn't forget her little Toady boy! [lifts the veil. It's Cyril!]

Mr. Toad: [surprised] Cyril?

Cyril Proudbottom: Shhhh!

[The guard closes the door]

Mr. Toad: [sinks into a sitting position, buries his face in his hands and sobs] Oh, Cyril!

Cyril Proudbottom: Look, Christmas gift. [presents a small pink dress and off-white cap identical to the one he's wearing, draped over his hoof]

Mr. Toad: W...W-W-What is it?

Cyril Proudbottom: Don't you get it? A disguise. Now all you've got to do is... [puts the dress and cap on Toad] ...you just put on this natty little costume and... [whispers in Toad's ear what to do]

[Toad smiles and his eyes go wild as he listens]

Narrator: Alas, the good intentions. Toad was incurable. One whispered word, and all his high resolve vanished in the mad whirl of this new adventure, this new mania: escape!

[The next scene shows Toad breaking jail]

---

[Toad jumps off his train engine and into the river to evade the pursuing police in their train engine]

Narrator: Blockheads! Let them scour the countryside. Once more, J. Thaddeus Toad had the last laugh.

---

[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? [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! [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.

[Toad hides]

Mole: Uh, Ratty, don't you think maybe...?

Water Rat: Open the door!

[Mole does so, but it was MacBadger, who enters]

Water Rat and Mole: [surprised] MacBadger?!

Angus MacBadger: Aye, lads, I've just made a very important discovery. [as he speaks, we cut to Toad Hall, where Winky and the weasels are living now] Toad Hall is ablaze with lights. And in possession, a pack of weasels. And the leader of the gang is none other than Mister...

Weasels: Winky! [Winky shows he has the deed to Toad Hall] Hip hip hooray!

[End of flashback]

Angus MacBadger: And so you see, he DID trade Toad Hall for the motorcar.

Water Rat: [realizes] Then, Toad was innocent all the time.

Angus MacBadger: Aye, lads, and if only he were here right now... [Toad, who was clinging to the top of the Christmas tree, suddenly falls into his arms] Toad!

Mr. Toad: [happily hugs him] Angus!

Water Rat: [with deep regret] Sorry, Toad. I misjudged you.

Mole: I hope, someday, you'll find it in your heart...

Mr. Toad: Tut, tut. Not another word. To err is human to forgive...

Angus MacBadger: [dropping Toad on the floor] Thaddeus, not so fast! You're still guilty in the eyes of the law. To prove your innocence, we've got to get that paper away from Winky! Now, I have a plan. We'll sneak in through the secret tunnel...

---

[While sneaking past the weasel guard under the bridge]

Angus MacBadger: [whispering] Careful, lads. There's a guard.

Mr. Toad: [whips out a rifle] I'll pop him off!

[His friends repremand Toad from shooting, but the blast of the gun gives the boat full speed, alerting the guard]

---

Narrator: 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: [offscreen] 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]

Narrator: [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

2nd Narrator: [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.

---

Female Citizen 1: [singing] It's the new schoolmaster.

Female Citizen 2: [singing] What's his name?

Ichabod: [singing] Ichabod, Ichabod Crane.

---

2nd Narrator: Oh, Katrina, my love. Who can resist your grace, your charm? And who can resist your father's farm? [Ichabod whistles] Boy, what a set-up! There's gold in them acres, and that ain't hay. Not to mention all that lovely green stuff! Dear Katrina, my love, my treasure. Treasure? Ah, that barn's a gold mine. How I'd love to hit the jackpot. Sweet Katrina, Papa's only child. Papa? Well, the old goat can't take it with him, and when he cuts out, that's where I cut in.

---

[Brom is trying to scare Ichabod with the tale of The Headless Horseman]

Brom Bones: [singing]

♪ 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]

---

[At the end of the party, Ichabod has become thoroughly traumatized by the story of the Headless Horseman as he heads home through Sleepy Hollow]

2nd Narrator: It was the very witching hour of night as Ichabod pursued his travel homeward. The sky grew darker and darker as one by one, the stars winked out their lights. Driving clouds obscured the moon from sight. Never had the schoolmaster felt so melancholy, so utterly alone, and the nearer he approached the hollow, the more dismal he became. [as Ichabod very slowly enters Sleepy Hollow on his horse, he nervously whistles his song about Katrina, but he is interrupted by strange sounds there] Once inside the murky glen, Ichabod's anxiety increased one hundred fold. And how the forest seemed to close in behind him. Every small detail of Brom's awful story returned to haunt his recollection.

[Ichabod is riding through Sleepy Hollow late at night on old Gunpowder, in the area the Headless Horseman is known to prowl. Ichabod whistles 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 laughs evilly. 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 laughs again. 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]

---

2nd Narrator: Next morning, Ichabod's hat was found, and close beside it, a shattered pumpkin, but there was no trace of the schoolmaster. It was shortly thereafter that Brom Bones led the fair Katrina to the altar. Now, rumors persisted that Ichabod was still alive, married to a wealthy widow in a distant county. But of course, the Dutch settlers refused to believe such nonsense, for they knew the schoolmaster had been spirited away by the Headless Horseman.

---

[Last lines]

2nd 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
• Barbara Luddy - Katrina Van Tassel
• Campbell Grant - Angus MacBadger
• Claude Allister - Ratty

Uncredited

• Pinto Colvig - Ichabod Crane (screaming like Mickey's pet dog, Pluto)
• Leslie Dennison - Judge, Weasel #1
• Clarence Nash - Gunpowder (Ichabod's horse)
• Edmond Stevens - Weasel #2
• Ollie Wallace - Mr. Winky, Ichabod Crane (whistling)