Frosty the Snowman (1969)

Frosty the Snowman is a 1969 American animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and currently distributed by Universal Television. It is the first television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. The special first aired on December 7, 1969, on the CBS television network in the United States; it has aired annually for the network's Christmas and holiday season every year since. The special was based on the Walter E. Rollins and Steve Nelson song of the same name. It featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as the film's narrator (in what would be Durante's final performance in a film), Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, and Jackie Vernon as Frosty.

The special's story follows a group of school children who build a snowman called Frosty and place a magic hat on his head, which makes him come to life with enchanted power. But after noticing the high hot temperature and fearing that he would melt, Frosty, along with a young girl named Karen and a rabbit named Hocus Pocus, must go to the North Pole to be safe from melting.

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 and Mad magazine artist, was hired to do the character and background drawings. The animation was produced by Mushi Production in Tokyo, Japan, with Hanna-Barbera staffer Yusaku "Steve" Nakagawa and then-Mushi staffer Osamu Dezaki (who is uncredited) among the animation staff. Durante was one of the first people to record the song when it was released in 1950 (though at the time the song had slightly different lyrics); he re-recorded the song for the special.

Rankin/Bass veteran writer Romeo Muller adapted and expanded the story for television, as he had done with the "Animagic" stop motion production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

TV Guide ranked the special number 4 on its 10 Best Family Holiday Specials list.

Cast

 * Billy De Wolfe
 * Jackie Vernon
 * Paul Frees
 * June Foray

Other Languages

 * Ngrirë Borëbardhat (Albanian)
 * فروستي رجل الثلج (Arabic)
 * Мразовит снежният човек (Bulgarian)
 * 霜雪人 (Cantonese)
 * Snjegović Frosty (Croatian)
 * Sněhulák Frosty (Czech)
 * Frosty Snemanden (Danish)
 * Frosty De Sneeuwman (Dutch)
 * Pakkas-Pekka (Finnish)
 * Frosty Le Bonhomme De Neige (French) (Canada)
 * Frosty - der Schneemann (German)
 * Φρόστυ ο Χιονάνθρωπος (Greek)
 * פרוסטי איש השלג (Hebrew)
 * Fagyoska a hóember (Hungarian)
 * Frostið snjókarlinn (Icelandic)
 * Frosty si manusia salju (Indonesian)
 * Frosty il pupazzo di neve (Italian)
 * フロスティ・ザ・スノーマン～温かい雪だるま (Japanese)
 * 雪人FROSTY (Mandarin) (Taiwan)
 * Rulle snemann (Norwegian)
 * آدم برفی یخ زده (Persian)
 * Śnieżny bałwanek Mrozik (Polish)
 * Frosty: O Boneco de Neve (Portuguese) (Brazil)
 * Frosty: O Boneco de Neve (Portuguese) (Portugal)
 * Приключения Снеговика Фрости (Russian) (voiceover)
 * Frosty, el muñeco de nieve (Spanish) (Latin America)
 * Frosty el muñeco de nieve (Spanish) (Spain)
 * Người tuyết Frosty (Vietnamese) (subtitled)