Frosty the Snowman
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
"Frosty the Snowman" is a popular Christmas song written by Jack Nelson and Steve Rollins in 1950. It was written after Gene Autry recorded "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and the single sold 2 million copies. Nelson and Rollins shopped the new song to Autry, who recorded Frosty in search of another seasonal hit.
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The original song
The song is about a snowman who came to life thanks to a magical hat some children found; he then had playful adventures before he "hurried on his way". It has been covered by many artists over the years, including Ray Conniff and the Cocteau Twins.
In 1954, the UPA studio brought Frosty to life in a three-minute animated short which appeared regularly on WGN-TV.
1969 Rankin Bass television special
Then, in 1969, the Rankin-Bass company produced a thirty-minute animated television film of Frosty that featured the voices of Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the title character. This special marked the first use of traditional cel animation for Rankin-Bass. Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass wanted to give the show and its characters the look of a Christmas card, so greeting card artist Paul Coker, Jr. (later known for his work in MAD Magazine) was hired to do the animation. Rankin-Bass veteran writer Romeo Muller adapted and expanded the story for television as he had done with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964.
In this television special, a young girl named Karen brings a snowman to life with a top hat discarded by inept magician Professor Hinkle (voiced by Billy De Wolfe). The snowman's first words after coming to life are "Happy Birthday!" Karen's friends suggest names for their new friend including "Oatmeal", and Christopher Columbus, but Karen's decides to call him "Frosty". When Hinkle learns of the magic power his hat actually possesses, he demands that Karen and Frosty return it immediately.
Frosty and the children elude Hinkle long enough to have some fun in town, including the confrontation with the traffic cop mentioned in the lyrics, but Frosty soon senses the temperature is rising and worries about melting.
With Hinkle in hot pursuit, Karen and Frosty flee together to the North Pole to get Frosty to a place where he will not melt. Helping them in their journey is Hocus Pocus, the professor's rabbit. When they can't afford a train ticket, the friends stow away aboard a refrigerated train car. Unbeknownst to them, Hinkle has also hitched a ride on the same train. Later Frosty, Hocus, and Karen jump off the train, leaving Hinkle behind once again.
Fearing that Karen can't survive the cold weather, Frosty asks Hocus Pocus who might be able to help them. Hocus suggests (and acts out) the President of the United States and the US Marines, before suggesting Santa Claus. Frosty agrees, and promptly takes credit for the idea himself. The forest animals build a campfire to keep Karen warm until they can locate Santa Claus. Hinkle again arrives and blows out the fire. Frosty and Karen are again forced to flee, this time with Karen riding on Frosty's back as he slid head-first down a hill. At the bottom of the slope, Karen and Frosty discover a greenhouse filled with poinsettias. Against Karen's advice Frosty steps inside the warm greenhouse, suggesting that he could afford to lose a little weight, but Hinkle again catches up to Frosty and locks him and Karen in the greenhouse.
Hocus brings Santa Claus (voiced by Paul Frees) to the greenhouse only to find Karen in tears and Frosty melted on the floor. Santa explains to Karen that Frosty is made from Christmas snow, and that he can never completely melt away. With a gust of cold wind through the open greenhouse door, Frosty is brought back to life and again exclaims "Happy Birthday!" Hinkle again arrives on the scene and demands the return of his hat. He relents only when threatened with being removed from Santa's Christmas list for the rest of his life. Santa returns Karen home and Frosty exclaims as he rides off in Santa's sleigh, "I'll be back again someday!"
The special's popularity led to several television sequels over the next two decades:
Frosty's Winter Wonderland
In this 1976 sequel by Rankin-Bass, also written by Romeo Muller, narration is provided by Andy Griffith. Jackie Vernon returns as the voice of Frosty. Lonely at the North Pole, Frosty returns to meet his friends. Despite the fun he has, Frosty ends up feeling lonely again. His friends make a wife named Crystal (voiced by Shelly Winters) for him, but Jack Frost (voiced by Paul Frees) tries to foil their plans.
Frosty and Rudolph's Christmas in July
This 1979 Rankin-Bass sequel was filmed in stop-motion animation in the style of their classic 1964 Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Where Rudolph was 60 minutes, and all of the other Frosty specials were just 30 minutes, this ambitious special was feature length, at 97 minutes long. Paul Frees, Jackie Vernon, and Shelly Winters returned to their roles and Billie Mae Richards again provided the voice of Rudolph. Mickey Rooney provides the voice of Santa Claus. Red Buttons and Ethel Merman also provide voices.
In this special, evil wizard Winterbolt wakes from a magic sleep cast upon him by Lady Boreal. In her final act of magic, Boreal created Rudolph's red nose, which will stop glowing if it is ever used for evil. Winterbolt learns that Santa Claus is now in charge of the North Pole, and thinks that he can use the magic powers of Frosty's hat to destroy him.
Winterbolt tries to get rid of Frosty by giving him and his wife magic amulets that will prevent them from melting at a Fourth of July Circus, but only until the end of the event. Santa and Rudolph agree to pick up Frosty and Crystal, but Winterbolt has his dragons blow up a blizzard to prevent Santa from arriving. Winterbolt also recruits an evil reindeer named Scratcher to try to get Rudolph to turn, or at least look evil in the eyes of his friends.
Scratcher (voiced by Alan Sues) steals money from the circus and sets up Rudolph to take the blame. Frosty and his family are outraged at Rudolph and his nose stops glowing.
With the blizzard keeping Santa from rescuing Frosty, the snowman melts, giving Winterbolt posession of the magic hat. Jack Frost, the villain from the previous special, returns to rescue his former nemesis with Rudolph's help.
Frosty Returns
This 1992 half-hour special, although yet another sequel to the 1969 classic, was produced not by Rankin-Bass but by CBS, and the characters, setting, and voices are different; and the animation (by veteran Peanuts director Bill Melendez) is vastly different. It is, however, shown back-to-back with Frosty each Christmas season on CBS and been bundled on DVD with the R-B original.
Jonathan Winters - in anthropomorphic cartoon form - narrates and John Goodman provides the voice of Frosty.
Frosty arrives in the town of Beansboro and meets young Holly DeCarlo (voiced by Elisabeth Moss). Meanwhile, evil Mr. Twitchell (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray) is the inventor of "Summer Wheze", an aerosol spray that instantly melts snow. The town of Beansboro falls head over heels for it. Frosty is concerned about his safety and Holly is concerned about the evironmental impact of the untested product. Holly gets Frosty to appear at the annual Beansboro Winter Carnival to persuade the townspeople to rethink their newfound hatred of snow.
Frosty the Snowman at imdb.com (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0064349/)
Frosty's Winter Wonderland at imdb.com (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0134661/)
Frosty and Rudolph's Christmas In July at imdb.com (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0079828/)
Frosty Returns at imdb.com (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0106973/)
