Triangles, triangles

A novel way of opening a cartoon can be found in the Ub Iwerks ComiColor short The Headless Horseman.

If you know the story of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” you’ll know it involves a love triangle. After the opening titles, the characters are introduced in triangles and interact with each other.



The short tries to be creative with 3-D effects. Parts of the background move at different pan rates, so that makes the scenes look less like a flat newspaper panel. There’s one where Ichabod Crane’s desk turns, which was pretty good for its time. There’s no dialogue so Carl Stalling’s score has to create the mood.

The cartoon was in production in June 1934 and was the first of the ComiColors to be released, via States Rights, for the 1934-35 film season on October 1st.