Frosty the Snowman (TV program)

Frosty the Snowman
2007 DVD cover
Distributed by	Classic Media Broadway Pictures Video
Directed by	Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr.
Produced by	Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr.
Written by	Romeo Muller
Starring	Jimmy Durante Billy De Wolfe Jackie Vernon Paul Frees June Foray
Music by	Maury Laws
Production company	Rankin/Bass
Country	United States
Language	English
Release date	December 7, 1969 (1969-12-07)
Running time	25 minutes
Followed by	Frosty's Winter Wonderland

Frosty the Snowman is an American animated television special based on the popular song of the same title. The program, which first aired on December 7, 1969 on CBS (where it has aired ever since), was produced for television by Rankin/Bass and featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the titular character. This special marked the first use of traditional cel animation (as opposed to stop-motion animation) for Rankin/Bass in a Christmas special. Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass wanted to give the show and its characters the look of a Christmas card, so Paul Coker, Jr., a greeting card and Mad magazine artist, was hired to do the character and background drawings. The animation was produced by Mushi Production in Japan, with then-Mushi staffer Osamu Dezaki among the animation staff. Rankin/Bass veteran writer Romeo Muller adapted and expanded the story for television as he had done with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

TV Guide ranked the special number 4 on its 10 Best Family Holiday Specials list.

Plot

One day in a school shortly before Christmas, a magician named Professor Hinkle is hired to perform for the pupils but fails to entertain them, so they go outside and build a snowman that they name Frosty. However, Professor Hinkle's rabbit, Hocus Pocus, escapes from the building while wearing his owner's top hat, which the children decide to put on top of Frosty's head, and the magic from the hat successfully anthropomorphizes him. This delights the students, but the agitated Hinkle wants his hat back, which the children refuse to provide him with. Antagonized by both the children's dislike of his magic performance and the fact that he may not be given his top hat back, Professor Hinkle makes it his main priority to snatch the hat back from Frosty.

The children and their snowman gleefully parade through town, shocking passersby with Frosty's anthropomorphism, and they are very happy with him, but the temperature is rising and Frosty must leave for somewhere that is colder or else he will melt. Karen, a little girl who is especially attached to Frosty, suggests that the group bring him to the North Pole, but they are barred from boarding a train that will take him there due to their lack of tickets. So, Karen and Frosty sneak into the back of a train delivering frozen goods, but Hinkle has also secretly managed to hitch a ride on the train in hopes of stealing back his hat. They travel to the North Pole, accompanied by Hocus, who has chosen to side with them rather than Hinkle, but while Frosty is safe from melting, Karen is freezing and Hocus gathers with a group of woodland creatures to build a fire for her. Frosty knows that it is best if Karen is brought home, and he and Hocus decide to enlist the help of Santa Claus to transport her there, so Hocus leaves to search for Santa while Frosty decides to take Karen to a greenhouse for warmth. Hocus manages to bring back Santa to return Karen home, but when they return to the greenhouse for Frosty and Karen, they find her sobbing over a puddle of water with Frosty's top hat lying nearby. To console Karen, Santa tells her that Frosty was composed of Christmas snow so he will always return, but Karen is still miserable over the melting of her snowman. Using magic, Santa Claus and Hocus successfully reconstruct Frosty and revive him, but Professor Hinkle still wants his hat back and complains about this. However, Santa threatens to never deliver another present to the magician again if he tries to harm Frosty, and he must write promising to never try to hurt the snowman again repeatedly as an act of penance. Hinkle runs off to fulfill this order while Santa Claus, Karen, Hocus, and Frosty ride away in Santa's sleigh to bring Karen to her house, Frosty promising to return soon while flying off with Santa.

Cast

• Jackie Vernon as Frosty the Snowman, a snowman brought to life by a magical top hat.
• June Foray as Karen (a schoolgirl), the school's teacher, and one of the boys (using her "Rocky" voice). Many of her parts were edited out in subsequent airings (see "Later edits" below).
• Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, a magician whose goal is to get rid of Frosty to reclaim the inconsistently magical top hat.
• Paul Frees as the Policeman, the Ticket man, and Santa Claus.
• Jimmy Durante as Himself (the Narrator), who sings most of the special's songs.

Soundtrack

CD cover

Released by Rhino on October 1, 2002, the entire audio portion of Frosty the Snowman is available on CD along with the entire audio portion of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, the Rankin-Bass special produced in 1970. This edition contains the full dialogue and song audio of both specials.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Medley: Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town...Be Prepared To Pay 25:18
2. Medley: Put One Foot In Front Of The Other...Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (finale) 24:55
3. Frosty The Snowman Theme & Narration (Beginning) 13:45
4. Frosty The Snowman Theme & Narration (Conclusion) 11:48
5. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (Soundtrack Version) 1:50
6. Frosty The Snowman (Soundtrack Version) 1:04

Later edits

In 1970, June Foray's voice was replaced by an uncredited voice (Foray's voice is still heard as Karen's singing voice, as well as other minor roles). The dubbing is also obvious on the DVD, as the audio quality of the replacement voice is better than that of the other sounds. The current restored version, which debuted in 2005, does not restore Foray's voice. At the time, rumors implied a controversy over copyrights and/or royalties as the reason behind the change, but the reason remains unknown. The original soundtrack with Foray's original voice track is available on CD.

Television rights

In the United States, CBS continues to hold the telecast rights to the original program (under license from the current copyright holder, Classic Media, the owner of much of the pre-1974 Rankin/Bass library) and still airs it yearly with the CBS-produced sequel Frosty Returns (see below). The CBC holds broadcast rights in Canada. The special also airs on ABC Family in some territories. However, CBS does not own the telecast rights to the 1976 sequel Frosty's Winter Wonderland (that special currently airs on ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas" each year), which prompted CBS to produce its own "sequel" of sorts, Frosty Returns (see below).

Sequels

Frosty returned in several sequels:

• Frosty's Winter Wonderland - This 1976 sequel by Rankin-Bass was also written by Romeo Muller. Narration is provided by Andy Griffith. Jackie Vernon reprised his role as the voice of Frosty.

• Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July - This 1979 Rankin-Bass sequel was filmed in stop-motion animation in the style of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Rudolph's Shiny New Year. While the Frosty specials were 30 minutes long, and the Rudolph specials were 60 minutes, this ambitious special was feature length, at 97 minutes long (120 minutes on television, including commercials). Jackie Vernon once again played the role of Frosty.

• Frosty Returns - This 1995 half-hour special is not truly a sequel to the 1969 classic, as it was produced not by Rankin-Bass but by CBS. The characters, setting, and voices are different and the animation (by Bill Melendez) is vastly different. Despite this, it is shown with the original special every year on CBS and was even included as a bonus on its DVD release. John Goodman provides the voice of Frosty in this special, as Jackie Vernon, the original voice of Frosty, died in 1987.

• The Legend of Frosty the Snowman - This 2005 straight-to-video film was produced by Classic Media, the current rights holder for the original Rankin/Bass special, and the remainder of their pre-1974 library. This movie has been bundled with the original 1969 Rankin/Bass special and the CBS sequel, and has also aired on Cartoon Network. The appearance of Frosty resembles much more the Rankin-Bass character design from their original animation, and Professor Hinkle returns in two cameo appearances - shown in a picture and flashback during the special. Frosty is voiced by Bill Fagerbakke.

External links

• Frosty the Snowman at CBS.com
• Holiday Central at CBS.com
• Frosty the Snowman at the Internet Movie Database