"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 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

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 song ...

. It was written after the success of Autry's recording of " Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" 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.

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 ma ...

, and supposedly takes place in White Plains, New York, 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 quintet. , ...

, 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-instrum ...

; 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 and Guy Lombardo. The versions by Nat King Cole and Guy Lombardo also reached the American charts.

Certifications and sales

The Ronettes 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 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, 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 Chri ...

'' and '' Hardrock, Coco and Joe''. The short had previously been telecast annually on WGN's '' The Bozo Show'', ''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 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 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, usual ...

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 wit ...

, 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 and June Foray 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 Interna ...

and designed by Mad artist

Paul Coker, Jr. Paul Coker Jr. (March 5, 1929 – July 23, 2022) was an American illustrator. He worked in many media, including '' Mad'', character design for Rankin-Bass TV specials, greeting cards, and advertising. Career Coker was born in Lawrence, Kansa ...

. Retrieved 2012-11-16. This was a story based on the discovery of Frosty the Snowman. Three sequels followed: * '' Frosty's Winter Wonderland'' (1976), based upon the song " Winter Wonderland" * '' 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 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 may ...

from the other specials, with John Goodman as the voice of a more sardonic Frosty defending the value of snow against Mr. Twitchell ( Brian Doyle-Murray), 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 voicing the titular snowman, Jon Berg and Greg Silverman producing alongside Geoff Johns, 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 P ...

writing the screenplay. Following Ray Fisher's accusation of mistreatment on the set of '' Justice League'', 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)