Frosty the Snowman facts for kids

"Frosty the Snowman" is a super famous holiday song! It was written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson. The first people to record it were Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950. Jimmy Durante also recorded it that same year.

The song was created after Gene Autry had a big hit with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Rollins and Nelson hoped "Frosty" would be another holiday favorite. Just like "Rudolph," "Frosty" later became a popular TV special.

The Story of Frosty

The song tells a fun story about a group of children. They find a magic hat and place it on a snowman's head. Suddenly, the snowman, named Frosty, comes to life! He laughs and plays with the kids.

But the fun can't last forever. The warm sun starts to melt Frosty. He says goodbye to his friends, promising to come back someday. Even though it's a popular holiday tune, the song never actually mentions Christmas. Many people believe the story takes place in White Plains, New York, or Armonk, New York. Armonk even has a special parade for Frosty every year!

Other Artists Sing Frosty

Many artists quickly recorded their own versions of "Frosty the Snowman." These included Jimmy Durante, Nat King Cole, and Guy Lombardo. The versions by Nat King Cole and Guy Lombardo even made it onto the music charts in America.

A very popular version was recorded in 1963 by The Ronettes. This version was produced by Phil Spector. Rolling Stone magazine even put it on their list of "The Greatest Rock & Roll Christmas Songs."

The Canadian Brass group played an instrumental version of the song. This means they played it with instruments only, no singing. The Hampton String Quartet and American Brass also recorded instrumental versions.

Other artists who sang the song include the band Cocteau Twins on their 1993 EP Snow. The Jackson 5 also covered it on their Jackson 5 Christmas Album. More recently, Tarja Turunen released her own version on her Christmas album, Dark Christmas.

How Frosty Charted

Many versions of "Frosty the Snowman" have been popular on music charts over the years. Here are some of the highest spots they reached:

Awards for The Ronettes' Cover

The Ronettes' version of "Frosty the Snowman" has earned some special awards for its sales:

Frosty as a Book

In 1950, the same year the song came out, Little Golden Books published a children's book called Frosty the Snow Man. It was written by Annie North Bedford and had pictures by Corinne Malvern.

Frosty's First Film

Also in 1950, a studio called UPA made a short, three-minute animated film about Frosty. This film was in black-and-white. It showed a fun, jazzy version of the song. The animation style was simple, like other UPA cartoons. This short film has been shown on TV every Christmas season since 1955 on WGN-TV. It often plays with two other classic Christmas cartoons: Suzy Snowflake and Hardrock, Coco and Joe.

Frosty on TV and in Movies

In 1969, Rankin/Bass Productions made a famous 25-minute TV special called Frosty the Snowman. It was animated by a Japanese studio called Mushi Production. Famous voices were in it, like comedian Jimmy Durante as the narrator. Billy De Wolfe voiced Professor Hinkle, and Jackie Vernon was the voice of Frosty. This special told a story based on how Frosty came to life.

Several other TV specials followed the original:

• Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976) – This one was based on the song "Winter Wonderland".
• Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)
• The Legend of Frosty the Snowman (2005) – After Jackie Vernon passed away, Bill Fagerbakke became the new voice of Frosty.

There was also a different special called Frosty Returns (1992). This one is a separate story from the others. John Goodman voiced Frosty, who had a more sarcastic personality. In this special, Frosty tries to protect snow from a character who wants to get rid of it.

In 2020, it was announced that a live-action movie about Frosty the Snowman was being planned by Warner Bros.. Jason Momoa is set to be the voice of Frosty in this movie.