Frosty the Snowman (TV special)

In a schoolhouse on Christmas Eve, the teacher hires inept magician Professor Hinkle to entertain her class for their Christmas party. After fumbling a trick, he throws his hat away in disgust. It then bounces off the trash can and releases his rabbit, Hocus Pocus. Class is dismissed and the children go out to play in the snow where they build a snowman. After suggesting several names, a girl named Karen names him Frosty. Hocus hops out of the school with the hat, which is then caught in a gust of wind until Karen grabs it and puts it on Frosty's head, bringing him to life. When Hinkle sees this, he takes the hat back after another wind blows it off Frosty's head. When Karen and the other kids demand it back, Hinkle refuses, saying when they grow up, they'll learn that snowmen can't come to life and leaves until Hocus brings the hat back to the children, who bring Frosty back to life. While celebrating with the children, he feels the temperature rising and fears he will melt. The children then suggest putting him on a train to the North Pole and parade through town on the way to the train station. This shocks several townspeople, including a police officer who accidentally swallows his whistle. Because they have no money for tickets, Hocus, Frosty, and Karen board a northbound train's refrigerator car while Hinkle schemes to steal the hat back.

As the train continues northward, Frosty notices Karen getting colder. When the freight train stops to let a passenger train pass, they disembark in search of somewhere to warm Karen, with Hinkle following in pursuit. By nightfall, Frosty, Karen, and Hocus struggle through the woods. Hocus convinces the forest animals to build a campfire for Karen. Fearing that she still cannot survive for long in the cold weather, Frosty asks Hocus who else might be able to help them. Hocus suggests the United States Marines and President of the United States before they agree upon looking for Santa Claus. Hocus then goes off in search of him, and soon after, Hinkle catches up to Frosty and Karen, extinguishes the fire, and forcefully tries to steal Frosty's hat. Karen flees, riding on Frosty's back as he belly-whops down the hill. At the bottom of the slope, they discover a greenhouse filled with poinsettias. Despite Karen's objections, Frosty steps inside with her, only for Hinkle to lock the door and trap them inside.

Meanwhile, Hocus leads Santa to the greenhouse, only to find Karen in tears over a melted Frosty. Santa explains that Frosty is made of Christmas snow and will return every winter. He then opens the greenhouse door and lets in a winter wind, reconstructing Frosty. Just as they are about to put his hat back on, Hinkle arrives and demands its return. Santa intervenes, threatening to put him on his naughty list for the rest of his life if he steals the hat. After Hinkle runs home to write his apologies, hoping to get a new hat for Christmas, Santa brings Frosty back to life with the hat, drops Karen off at her house, and takes Frosty to the North Pole, promising Karen that he will return every year with the magical Christmas snow.

As the end credits roll, Frosty leads a parade with the children, Hocus, Jimmy Durante (The narrator), and the rest of the town, including Professor Hinkle, wearing his new hat. At the end of the parade, Frosty boards Santa's sleigh and they fly off to the North Pole with Frosty altering the song's last lyric, saying, "I'll be back on Christmas Day!"

• Jackie Vernon as Frosty
• Jimmy Durante as himself (Narrator)
• June Foray as Karen (original airing, vocal effects in later airings), Karen's friends (original airing, some lines in later airings), and schoolteacher
• Suzanne Davidson as Karen (later airings)
• Greg Thomas as Karen's friends (later airings)
• Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle
• Paul Frees as Traffic Cop, Ticket Man, and Santa Claus

• Producers/Directors: Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass
• Writer: Romeo Muller
• Based on "Frosty the Snowman" by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins
• Character Designer: Paul Coker, Jr.
• Continuity Designer: Don Duga
• Sound Effects Engineers: Jim Harris and Phil Kaye
• Editorial Supervisor: Irwin Goldress
• Animation: Mushi Studios
  • Animation Supervisor: Steve Nakagawa
  • Animation Director: Osamu Dezaki (uncredited)
• Musical Director: Maury Laws

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 track listing 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

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 (Jimmy Durante retired after a stroke in 1972) and Jackie Vernon reprised the role of Frosty. The animation was produced by Topcraft in Japan. Unlike the original, the sequel takes place later in the winter season and is based upon the 1934 song "Winter Wonderland." The plot follows Frosty's pursuit of a wife and the town's efforts to preserve him into the springtime. Jack Frost is introduced as the new antagonist, and no characters besides Frosty return from the original. As the special takes place in the late winter, it makes no mention of Christmas (the original song likewise did not mention Christmas).
• Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July – This 1979 Rankin/Bass feature-length sequel was filmed in the "Animagic" stop-motion style of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. While the Frosty special is 30 minutes long, and the Rudolph special runs 60 minutes, this film is feature-length, at 97 minutes long (120 minutes on television, including commercials). Jackie Vernon returned as the voice of Frosty for the final time. Rudolph is the primary character of the story, with Frosty and his family being supporting characters, and Jack Frost makes a brief return from Frosty's Winter Wonderland. Although set during the Fourth of July, this sequel is the only one to mention Christmas, and Santa Claus plays a major role.
• Frosty Returns – This 1992 half-hour special is not a sequel per se to the 1969 classic, as it was produced not by Rankin/Bass but by CBS, and the characters, setting, voices and animation (by Bill Melendez) have all changed. Frosty's physical appearance, personality, and humor are markedly different, and he has the ability to live without his top hat, in direct contrast with the Rankin/Bass specials. Despite this, it was included as a bonus on previous DVD releases. John Goodman provides the voice of Frosty in this special, and Jonathan Winters serves as narrator. The special avoids all mention of Christmas and has an environmentalist theme, as Frosty works to stop a corporate executive whose spray product wipes out snow.
• The Legend of Frosty the Snowman – This 2005 straight-to-video film was produced by Classic Media, the previous 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 aired on Cartoon Network. The story features almost entirely new characters and there are some inconsistencies in continuity, but Frosty's appearance closely resembles the Rankin/Bass character design, and Professor Hinkle appears in a flashback cameo role. Frosty is voiced by Bill Fagerbakke, best known as the voice of Patrick Star on SpongeBob SquarePants and utilizing a voice similar to that of said character.

• List of Rankin/Bass Productions films

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Frosty the Snowman (TV special)

• Holiday Central at CBS.com
• Frosty the Snowman at IMDb