"Frosty the Snowman" is a popular Christmas song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

and the

Cass County Boys Cass County Boys was a Western music group that was active from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s. History The Cass County Boys was formed in 1936 in Texas when accordionist Fred Martin (1916–2010) and guitarist Jerry Scoggins (1911–2004) were ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

and later recorded by

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...

. It was written after the success of Autry's recording of "

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...

" the previous year; Rollins and Nelson shopped the new song to Autry, who recorded "Frosty" in search of another seasonal hit. Like "Rudolph", "Frosty" was subsequently adapted to other media including a popular

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of e ...

Song

A group of children find a hat and place it on Frosty's head. Frosty laughs and plays with the children until the hot sun threatens to melt him. Frosty says goodbye to the children, reassuring them, "I'll be back again someday." It is generally regarded as a

Christmas song Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject m ...

, and supposedly takes place in

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

, or Armonk, New York; Armonk has a parade dedicated to Frosty annually.

Covers

The song has been covered as an instrumental by the

Canadian Brass The Canadian Brass is a Canadian brass quintet formed in 1970 in Toronto, Ontario, by Charles Daellenbach ( tuba) and Gene Watts ( trombone), with horn player Graeme Page and trumpeters Stuart Laughton and Bill Phillips completing the quinte ...

, with founder Charles Daellenbach taking on the persona of Frosty, and repeatedly calling "One more time!" ("You know what happens when Frosty gets 'hot'"), and then starting to collapse ("I think he's melting" -- "You ''know'' what happens when Frosty gets hot"). It was also covered by the Hampton String Quartet on their inaugural album, ''What if Mozart Wrote 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It was also recorded by American Brass. The song has also been covered (with lyrics) by the band

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instr ...

; the cover was released on their 1993 EP ''Snow''. It was also covered by the Jackson 5 and appears on the '' Jackson 5 Christmas Album''.

Charts

The song was quickly covered by many artists including

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

and

Guy Lombardo Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was an Italian-Canadian-American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racer. Lombardo formed the Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert and Victor, and oth ...

. The versions by

and

also reached the American charts.

Certifications and sales

The Ronettes The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. ...
cover

Book

In 1950,

Little Golden Books Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942. ''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...

published ''Frosty the Snow Man'' as a children's book, adapted by Annie North Bedford and illustrated by Corinne Malvern.

1950 short film

In 1950, the UPA studio brought "Frosty" to life in a three-minute

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

short which appears regularly on

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

. This production included a bouncy, jazzy ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

'' version of the song and a limited animation style reminiscent of UPA's '' Gerald McBoing-Boing''. The short, filmed entirely in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

, has been a perennial WGN-TV Christmas classic, and was broadcast on December 24 and 25, 1955, and every year since, as part of a WGN-TV children's programming retrospective, along with their two other short Christmas classics, ''

Suzy Snowflake "Suzy Snowflake" is a song written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, made famous by Rosemary Clooney in 1951 and released as a 78 RPM record by Columbia Records, MJV-123. Suzy is a snowflake playfully personified. It is commonly regarded as a Chr ...

'' and ''

Hardrock, Coco and Joe ''Hardrock, Coco and Joe — The Three Little Dwarfs'' is a 1951 short stop motion animated cartoon based on a song written by Stuart Hamblen. It is about three of Santa Claus' helpers who ride on Santa's sleigh each Christmas. The short has becom ...

''. The short had previously been telecast annually on WGN's ''

The Bozo Show ''The Bozo Show'' was a locally produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now NewsNation. It was based on a children's record-book series, '' Bozo the Clown'' by Capitol Records. The series ...

'', ''Ray Rayner and His Friends'', and ''Garfield Goose'', along with its two other companion cartoons. The three cartoons are also a tradition on

WJAC-TV WJAC-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Johnstown– Altoona– State College market as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which pro ...

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, whi ...

, which not only broadcasts the cartoons on their station, but also makes them available on their website.

Adaptations

In 1969,

Rankin/Bass Productions Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usua ...

produced a 25-minute television special, '' Frosty the Snowman'', featuring the animation of Japanese studio

Mushi Production or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Fujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. It previously had a headquarters elsewhere in Nerima. The studio was headed by manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka started it as a rivalry wi ...

, and the voices of comedians

as the narrator (who also sings a version of the song),

Billy De Wolfe William Andrew Jones (February 18, 1907 – March 5, 1974), better known as Billy De Wolfe, was an American character actor. He was active in films from the mid-1940s until his death in 1974. Early life and early stage career Born William Andr ...

as Professor Hinkle and Jackie Vernon as Frosty.

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

and

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

both also voice characters including Karen and Santa Claus in this animated special produced and directed by

Arthur Rankin Jr. Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animation ...

and

Jules Bass Julius Bass (September 16, 1935 – October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft Internat ...

and designed by Mad artist Paul Coker, Jr.. Retrieved 2012-11-16. This was a story based on the discovery of Frosty the Snowman. Three

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

s followed: * '' Frosty's Winter Wonderland'' (1976), based upon the song "

Winter Wonderland "Winter Wonderland" is a song written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith. Due to its seasonal theme, it is often regarded as a Christmas song in the Northern Hemisphere. Since its original recording by Richard Himbe ...

" * '' Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July'' (1979) * ''

The Legend of Frosty the Snowman ''The Legend of Frosty the Snowman'' is a 2005 direct-to-video animated film produced by Classic Media, Studio B Productions, and Top Draw Animation. The film is narrated by Burt Reynolds and features Bill Fagerbakke as the voice of Frosty the ...

'' (2005)

Bill Fagerbakke William Fagerbakke ( ; born October 4, 1957) is an American actor. He voices Patrick Star in the animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and played Michael "Dauber" Dybinski on the sitcom '' Coach''. He also appeared in 12 episodes of the sitc ...

took over as Frosty's voice after Vernon's death. '' Frosty Returns'' (1992) is a sequel to the original song, set in a separate

fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes ma ...

from the other specials, with

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, ...

as the voice of a more sardonic Frosty defending the value of snow against Mr. Twitchell (

Brian Doyle-Murray Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), known professionally by his stage name as Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, voice-actor and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several movies, i ...

), the maker of a snow-removal spray. On July 1, 2020, a live-action film adaptation of Frosty the Snowman was announced to be in development at Warner Bros. and Stampede Ventures, with

Jason Momoa Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa (; born August 1, 1979) is an American actor. He made his acting debut as Jason Ioane on the syndicated action drama series '' Baywatch: Hawaii'' (1999–2001), which was followed by portrayals of Ronon Dex on the S ...

voicing the titular snowman, Jon Berg and Greg Silverman producing alongside

Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash and Superman, has drawn critical acclaim. He serv ...

, Roy Lee and Momoa, and

David Berenbaum David Berenbaum is an American screenwriter whose credits include the films ''Elf'' (2003), ''The Haunted Mansion'' (2003), '' Zoom'' (2006), '' The Spiderwick Chronicles'' (2008), and '' Strange Magic'' (2015). Biography Berenbaum was born in ...

writing the screenplay. Following Ray Fisher's accusation of mistreatment on the set of ''

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived b ...

'', Momoa defended Fisher and claimed that the ''Frosty the Snowman'' movie announcement was made without his permission and accused Warner Bros. of releasing the story in order to distract from Fisher's comments.

References

External links

Frosty the Snowman
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on July 30, 2016. {{authority control 1910 Fruitgum Company songs 1950 singles 1950 songs American Christmas songs Bing Crosby songs Christmas characters Christmas novelty songs Fictional humanoids Fictional snowmen Gene Autry songs Jan and Dean songs Kimberley Locke songs Nat King Cole songs Songs about fictional male characters Songs written by Walter E. "Jack" Rollins Jimmy Durante songs Guy Lombardo songs The Beach Boys songs The Ronettes songs Song recordings produced by Phil Spector Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements Songs written by Steve Nelson (songwriter)