The Rankin/Bass Christmas Special Frosty the Snowman

In American television history, as of 2022, there have been only two Christmas special that have aired every year without interruption on one of the broadcast networks. What is more, both were produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The first is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which debuted on December 6 1964. The second is Frosty the Snowman, which debuted on December 7 1969. While Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer debuted on NBC and would later move to CBS, Frosty the Snowman is the only Christmas special to have aired every year on the same network. It debuted on CBS and has remained on that network ever since.

In 1969 Rankin/Bass Productions was not yet the premier producer of Christmas television special that they would be in 1970, but they were already well on their way. Upon it debut in 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer would become one of the most successful Christmas specials of all time. In 1968 Rankin/Bass followed the success of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with another special based on a Christmas song, The Little Drummer Boy. With the success of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Little Drummer Boy, it was quite natural that Rankin/Bass would produce another Christmas special based on a holiday song.

Frosty the Snowman was based on the song by Walter E. Rollins and Steve Nelson song of the same name. It had been a huge hit for Gene Autry in 1950, reaching no. 7 on the Billboard pop singles chart that year. "Frosty the Snowman" would be covered by man other artists. In 1950 alone it was covered by Jimmy Durante, Nat King Cole, and Guy Lombardo in addition to Gene Autry. Given the song's success through the years, it must have seemed to Rankin/Bass to have be obvious fodder for a television special.

While Frosty the Snowman was based on a song much as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Little Drummer Boy were, Frosty the Snowman differed from the other two specials in one important regard. While Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Little Drummer Boy were produced using Rankin/Bass's stop-motion process known as Animagic, Frosty the Snowman was produced using tradition cel animation. It was not Rankin/Bass's first cel-animated. Their 1967 Christmas special Cricket on the Heart (based on the Charles Dickens novella of the same name) was their first special that used cel animation. It was followed by Rankin/Bass's 1968 Thanksgiving special The Mouse on the Mayflower, which also produced using cel animation.

The animation for both The Cricket on the Hearth and The Mouse On the Mayflower had been provided by Japanese animation studios. This would also be the case with Frosty the Snowman, whose animation was produce by Mushi Productions. If the name "Mushi Productions"sounds familiar, it is because they were the animation studio founded by the legendary Osamu Tezuka. By 1969 they had already produced such classic anime series as Astro Boy. Princess Knight, and Kimba the White Lion. By 1969 Osamu Tezuka had already left Mushi Productions in 1968 and formed a new company, Tezuka Productions.

While the animation was provided by Mushi Productions, the character designs and backgrounds were created by an American. Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass wanted Frosty the Snowman to have the look of a Christmas card. To this end they hired Paul Coker Jr., a greeting card artist who also had also provided art for Mad magazine starting in 1961. Paul Coker Jr. had earlier did uncredited work on the Rankin/Bass feature film The Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967) and his first credited work for Rankin/Bass on The Cricket on the Hearth. After Frosty the Snowman, Paul Coker Jr. would work as production designer on several more Rankin/Bass specials, including Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, Here Comes Peter Cottontail, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, and yet others.

Frosty the Snowman was written by Romeo Muller, who had also written the teleplays for the Rankin/Bass specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Cricket on the Hearth, The Mouse on the Mayflower, and The Little Drummer Boy, as well as the screenplays for the Rankin/Bass feature films as The Daydreamer (1966) and The Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967). Romeo Muller expanded upon the plot of the song, in which a snowman comes to life after an old silk hat, in which "there must have been some magic in,"  upon his head. In the special it snows on Christmas Eve. The local children, among them Karen, build a snowman and place an old silk hat on his head that had been thrown away by inept stage magician Professor Hinkle (Billy De Wolfe). Unfortunately for Frosty (Jackie Vernon), as the children named the snowman, it begins to warm up and so Karen accompanies Frosty the North Pole in the refrigerated car of a train. They are pursued by Professor Hinkle, who wants the hat back after learning it had some magic in it. Here it must be pointed out that, despite being played at the holiday season, the song "Frosty the Snowman" makes no reference to Christmas.

The special was narrated by Jimmy Durante, who had recorded his own version of the song "Frosty the Snowman" in 1950. The voice of Frosty was provided by comedian Jackie Vernon. Professor Hinkle was voiced by Billy De Wolfe, a character actor who had appeared in such films as Blue Skies (1946), The Perils of Pauline (1947), and Lullaby of Broadway (1951). In the original version of Frosty the Snowman, the voices of the school teacher, Karen, and the other children were all provided by legendary voice actor June Foray, then as now best known as the voice of  Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha Fatale on Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show. For reasons that remain unknown, after the special originally aired, child actress Suzanne Thompson replaced Miss Foray as the voice of Karen while child actor Greg Thomas replaced Miss Foray as the voices of the other children. Legendary voice actor Paul Frees (the voice of Boris Badenov on Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show) provided the voices of a traffic cop, a ticket taker at the train station, and Santa Claus.

The success of Frosty the Snowman would lead to two sequels produced by Rankin/Bass. Frosty's Winter Wonderland aired in 1976 and provided Frosty with a wife (a snowwoman the children make for him). Like the original special, it took inspiration from a holiday song, in this case "Winter Wonderland" by Dick Smith. Frosty's Winter Wonderland was followed in 1979 by a feature length sequel to both Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. Like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and unlike Frosty the Snowman and Frosty's Winter Wonderland, Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July used Rankin/Bass's stop-motion process Animagic. It was marked the first and only time Frosty appeared using Animagic rather than cel animation. Billie Mae Richards returned as the voice of Rudolph, while Jackie Vernon returned as the voice of Frosty.

A third special is not a sequel to the Rankin/Bass special Frosty the Snowman, although it is often mistaken for such. Frosty Returns was a half hour special produced by Broadway Video and long time "Charlie Brown" special animator Bill Melendez for CBS. The animation style is entirely different from that of the Rankin/Bass specials, while the voice of Frosty is provided by John Goodman. Furthermore, Frosty Returns makes no reference to the earlier Rankin/Bass specials. One thing odd about Frosty Returns is that it makes absolutely no reference to Christmas, with the post centred around a winter carnival. Despite having no connection to the original special beyond being based on the same song, CBS usually airs Frosty Returns back to back with Frosty the Snowman.

A direct-to-video feature released in 2005 has a bit more of a connection to Rankin/Bass's Frosty the Snowman. The Legend of Frosty the Snowman was produced by Classic Media, who still own the rights to the original special. The character design of Frosty closely copies Paul Coker Jr.'s original, while the character of narrator Old Tommy (Burt Reynolds) greatly resembles the original special's antagonist Professor Hinkle.

Aside from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman is the most successful animated Christmas special of all time. At no point in the 53 years since it debuted has it not aired on American broadcast television each year. Indeed, at no point in the past 53 years has it not aired on CBS. After decades on the air, there appears to be no sign that Frosty the Snowman will ever cease airing on television. It seems likely people will still be watching it fifty years from now.