Frosty the Snowman
"Frosty the Snowman" is a popular Christmas song written by Steve "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson in 1950. It was written after Gene Autry recorded "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and the single sold 2 million copies. Rollins and Nelson shipped 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.
The original song
The song is about a snowman who came to life thanks to a magical hat some children found; he then had playful adventures before he "hurried on his way". It has been covered by many artists over the years, including Nat King Cole, Ray Conniff, the Cocteau Twins, the Beach Boys, and countless other musical acts.
In 1954, the UPA studio brought "Frosty" to life in a three-minute animated short which appeared regularly on WGN-TV. This production included a bouncy, jazzy version of the song. It has been a perennial WGN-TV Christmas classic, and was most recently broadcast on December 24 and 25, 2005, as part of a WGN-TV children's programming retrospective, along with their two other short Christmas classics, "Suzy Snowflake" and "Hardrock, Coco and Joe".
- Frosty the Snowman
- Was a jolly happy soul
- With a corncob pipe and a button nose
- And two eyes made out of coal
- Frosty the Snowman
- Is a fairytale they say
- He was made of snow
- But the children know
- How he came to life one day
- There must have been some magic
- In that old silk hat they found
- For when they placed it on his head
- He began to dance around
- Frosty the Snowman
- Was alive as he could be
- And the children say
- He could laugh and play
- Just the same as you and me
- Frosty the Snowman
- Knew the sun was hot that day
- So he said let's run
- And we'll have some fun
- Now before I melt away
- Down to the village
- With a broomstick in his hand
- Running here and there all around the square
- Saying catch me if you can
- He led them down the streets of town
- Right to the traffic cop
- And he only paused a moment when
- He heard him holler stop
- Frosty the Snowman
- Had to hurry on his way
- But he waved goodbye
- Saying don't you cry
- I'll be back again some day
- Thumpety thump thump
- Thumpety thump thump
- Look at Frosty go
- Thumpety thump thump
- Thumpety thump thump
- Over the hills of snow
1969 Rankin-Bass television special
Then, in 1969, the Rankin-Bass company produced a thirty-minute animated television special of "Frosty" that featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the title character. This special marked the first use of traditional cel animation for Rankin-Bass. 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 artist who would later be known for his work in MAD Magazine, was hired to do the animation. Rankin-Bass veteran writer Romeo Muller adapted and expanded the story for television as he had done with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964.
More Information..
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.



button."