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Frosty the Snowman is a 1969 American animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. 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, airing immediately after the fifth showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas;[1] both scored high ratings.[2] The special aired annually for the network's Christmas and holiday season until 2023. In 2024, NBC acquired the broadcast rights to the special.[3]
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 (in his final film role) as the film's narrator, Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, and Jackie Vernon as Frosty.[4]
The special's story follows a group of school children, led by a girl named Karen, who build a snowman called Frosty and place a magician's hat on his head, which makes him come to life. After noticing the climbing temperature, he, Karen, and a rabbit named Hocus Pocus, must go to the North Pole to prevent Frosty 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 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 9 on its 10 Best Family Holiday Specials list.[5]
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- ^ "Preservation". attleboro.advantage-preservation.com. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
- ^ "Broadcasting". 1969.
- ^ Nemetz, Dave (2024-11-01). "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Moving to NBC After Five Decades at CBS — Find Out When It'll Air". TVLine. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
- ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays--Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 112. ISBN 9781476672939. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ TV Guide Guide to TV. Barnes and Noble. 2004. p. 574. ISBN 0-7607-5634-1.