Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the Snowman is an animated Christmas special that first aired on CBS on December 7, 1969. This special, written by Romeo Muller and produced and directed by Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, is based on the holiday song of the same name first performed by Gene Autry in the 1940s and originally written by Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson.

Synopsis
One December afternoon, a girl named Karen and her friends create a snowman after school. After several suggestions of what to call their snowman (including "Oatmeal" and "Christopher Columbus"), Karen decides to name him "Frosty." They later acquire a top hat discarded by inept magician Professor Hinkle. When Karen places it on top of Frosty's head, the snowman comes to life (and always says "Happy Birthday!" in response). When Hinkle learns of the magic power his hat actually possesses, he takes it back and departs, pretending that he did not see Frosty come to life. However, the professor's pet rabbit Hocus Pocus returns the hat to Frosty.

Frosty soon senses the temperature is rising and worries about melting. The children suggest putting him on the next train to the North Pole, where he will never melt, and they all parade into the city on the way to the train station, where Frosty has his confrontation with the traffic cop mentioned in the lyrics. When Karen explains that Frosty came to life and doesn't know what a traffic light or a lamp post is, the traffic cop lets Frosty go. At the train station, Frosty stows away aboard a refrigerated train car, since neither he nor the children have any money for a train ticket. As the train is about to leave the station, Karen and Hocus decide to join Frosty for the ride to keep him company. With that, Frosty, Karen, and Hocus wave goodbye to the other kids as the train takes off. Unknown to them, Hinkle has also hitched a ride on the same train, intending to get his hat back.

As the train continues up north, Frosty notices Karen freezing up in the box car so they jump off the train, leaving Hinkle behind once again. Hinkle jumps off the train too, but falls down a mountain and crashes into a tree where a pile of snow falls on him and a squirrel laughs at him. At Frosty's request, Hocus convinces some forest animals that are preparing for Christmas to build a campfire for Karen. Fearing that Karen still cannot survive for long in the cold weather, Frosty asks Hocus who might be able to help them. Hocus suggests (by pantomiming) the President of the United States and the United States Marines, before suggesting Santa Claus. Frosty agrees, and promptly takes credit for the idea himself (much to Hocus' dismay). Hocus hops off to get Santa, but Hinkle then confronts Frosty and Karen once more and blows out Karen's campfire. Frosty and Karen are again forced to flee, this time with Karen riding on Frosty's back as he slides head-first down a hill. At the bottom of the slope, Karen and Frosty discover a greenhouse filled with poinsettias. Despite Karen's objections, Frosty steps inside the warm greenhouse with her, suggesting that he could afford to lose a little weight, but Hinkle catches up to them immediately after and locks them in the greenhouse.

Hocus brings Santa Claus to the greenhouse only to find Karen in tears and Frosty melted on the floor due to Hinkle's cruel act. 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, the puddle that was Frosty blows out the door and magically changes back into his typical snowman form. Before Santa can put the finishing touch on Frosty and bring him back to life, Hinkle again arrives on the scene and again 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 if he put one finger on the hat. Santa states that if Hinkle is truly repentant for his mean attitude and harming Frosty, and if he goes home and writes "I am really sorry for what I did to Frosty" a hundred-zillion times, he may find a gift in his stocking on Christmas morning, which makes Hinkle bid Frosty and Karen farewell and run home to repeatedly write his apologies, assuming he may get a new hat. Santa then places the magic hat back on top of Frosty's head and the snowman returns to life again. After celebrating, Santa takes Karen home and Frosty to the North Pole, but promises that Frosty will be back next winter.

The end credits show all the characters the next Christmas marching through the town square with Frosty in the lead, singing the "Frosty the Snowman" song. Among them is a redeemed Professor Hinkle, who is proudly wearing his new top hat. At the end of the parade, Frosty gets back into Santa's waiting sleigh and they return to the North Pole, with Frosty proclaiming, "I'll be back on Christmas Day!

Songs

 * Frosty the Snowman

Gallery

 * View the gallery for this special 'here.

Sequels
Frosty the Snowman was followed up by two more Christmas specials produced by Rankin/Bas, Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976) and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. In 1992, CBS produced a sequel to the original, titled Frosty Returns. Most Frosty the Snowman DVD releases contain Frosty Returns as a bonus feature. In 2005, Classic Media also created a sequel to Frosty the Snowman, titled The Legend of Frosty the Snowman, which airs annually on Cartoon Network.

Trivia

 * The "Frosty the Snowman" song is heard several times in this special, making it a running gag.
 * The verses were sung a lot. The first verse (known to be the main) was sung by the kids after naming Frosty, then in a slow sad manner by Durante when Karen cries over Frosty melted. Surprisingly, the verses had "Happy jolly soul" instead of the other way around.
 * When Karen and Frosty were dejected after learning they can't get a ticket, the song plays off-key.
 * While Frosty starts to keep a silent vigil, the song plays the same, but stronger.
 * The song can be heard while Frosty is demonstrating the various activities he can do.
 * As Santa tells Hinkle to write a continuous apology, the song can be heard in the background.
 * Hinkle's rabbit, Hocus Pocus, shares its name with the magic words a magician uses.
 * Frosty says "Happy Birthday!" three times in this special.
 * While the fifth, sixth and seventh verses of the song were heard, they were slowed down to a more paradish speed, to fit the parade.
 * If you look real closley when Frosty gets startled by the traffic cop and later, the ticket man, his hat flies off his head for a moment. Those are the first few depections to show Frosty's beginning to live without the hat.
 * Frosty's belly-whopper talent shares a trait with a penguin who slides down a hill on its stomach.

Errors

 * Frosty was afraid to give his hat back to Hinkle because he's worried he'll revert to inanimate form, but when his hat flew off his head when he got startled, he didn't revert to inanimate form at all. He's just afraid to give it away because it's his trademark.
 * Santa has only four reindeer pulling his sleigh instead of eight.
 * When Frosty says they'll have a parade and the kids are ready to march, the boy in the blue sweater is behind Karen. During the parade, the boy in the dark green sweater is behind Karen.
 * The edges of Frosty's hat repeatedly switch from sharp to smooth and back many times in the special.
 * When Karen says "Then we've got to get you there!" The flower on Frosty's hat is on the right side instead of the left. This might not be an error, as it's considered an ambidextrous sprite effect.
 * While the kids are in the snow, most of Karen's friends have short clothes on, and Karen has no pants under her jacket. In real life, it's bad to go out in short clothing.
 * Many times in the special, the petals of the flower on Frosty's hat switch from five to six and back between scenes.
 * The girl in the pink dress has short sleeves with her outfit, but when she is waving goodbye to Frosty and Karen on the train, she switched to long sleeves.
 * While the boy in the blue sweater suggests "Bruce" as a name for Frosty, his voice is different.
 * The first time Frosty is brought to life, the sparkles go up his head WHILE he says "Happy Birthday!" Also, his shivering and shaking was speed up. Later on, the error was fixed for the second and third times he is brought to life. He says "Happy Birthday!" AFTER the sparkles go up his head, and his shivering and shaking is slowed down a little.
 * Frosty takes his broomstick along with him during the parade and leaves it in town, but when he is rejuvinated, his broomstick suddenly appears out of nowhere.
 * Frosty's mouth doesn't move when he says "I am alive!", "Besides, I've been wanting to take off a little weight anyway" and while he demostrates moving and juggling.
 * The kids were seen going into the train station, but Frosty, Karen and Hocus were the only ones going in. Later on, when they check out the boxcar, the other kids reappear out of nowhere.

Television rights and availability
CBS has broadcast this special in the USA since its debut, even after the pre-1974 Rankin-Bass library was sold first to Broadway Media, then to Golden Books and currently with Classic Media, a successor of the British-owned Entertainment Rights company, which was purchased by Classic Media's own successor, Boomerang Media. In Canada, CBC holds broadcasting rights.