“Frosty the Snowman,” debuted in 1969. It was by Rankin/Bass Productions, the same company that produced many holiday specials. Most of us had favorite Christmas specials we would watch. Mine was Rudolph, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch, and this one…Frosty The Snowman.
Narrated by the legend Jimmy Durante, the special involves a magic hat that transforms a snowman, Frosty, into a living being. The magician who owned the hat wants it back now that he knows it contained actual magic, so the kids had to get together and find a way to bring Frosty to the North Pole to keep him from melting. However, once there, Frosty sacrifices himself to warm up the little girl, Karen, who took him to the North Pole. He melts, but Santa Claus explains that Frosty is made out of special Christmas snow and thus can never truly melt. Frosty then comes back to life and everyone has a Merry Christmas.
The song was written in 1950 by Walter “Jack” Rollins and Steve Nelson. They wrote it for Gene Autry, especially, after Autry had such a huge hit with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” the previous year. It was later recorded by Jimmy Durante as we hear in this wonderful cartoon.
This wasn’t the only animation of Frosty…
In 1954, United Productions of America (UPA) brought Frosty to life in a short cartoon that is little more than an animated music video for a jazzy version of the song. It introduced the characters mentioned in the lyrics visually, from Frosty himself to the traffic cop. The three-minute, black-and-white piece quickly became a holiday tradition in various markets, particularly in Chicago, where it’s been broadcast annually on WGN since 1955.
I liked the show but it never ranked quite there with the Grinch or Peanuts Christmas. That Chicago bit was interesting – like watching and hearing a”demo” version!
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I’m starting next week with the three cartoons that WGN showed every weekday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I grew up watching them. The UPA cartoon is my favorite version of the song; it sounds like something The Manhattan Transfer would do.
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John I thought of you when I was researching this. I was going to ask you if you saw it in Chicago. I do like it…I like the artwork a lot also.
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wish they would take Frosty Returns off the air and put Frosty’s Winter Wonderland back on
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That is the one with Frosty’s wife right? I like that one.
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Yes and Jack Frost is in it.
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I love Jimmy Durante and I wish I had more time to watch this, but I spent the whole day rebuilding my gas grill.
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I’ve been there before… I’ll watch it again this weekend at some point.
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I remember- and remind my brother quite often about how when he was like 4 years old he cried when Frosty melted at the end.
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Oh that is mean…but funny!
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