Jack Nelson and Steve Rollins, the writers of “Frosty the Snowman,” weren’t
inspired by simple holiday cheer when they penned the strummy epic in 1950. They
were motivated by the success of last week’s holiday song-writing feature,
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and its writer Gene Autry.
The duo wrote
several holiday ditties, in search of an instant classic. Among them were “Here
Comes Peter Cottontail” for Easter, which they sold to Gene Autry for recording
at the same time they offered him “Frosty the Snowman.”

Unlike Rudolph,
Frosty’s back story came long after his song, when the delightful animators at
Rankin Bass saw fit to feature the jolly snowman in a 1969 TV film. In the film,
Frosty’s magical top hat belongs to an over-the-hill musician who villainously
plots to steal it back. As Frosty attempts escaping certain demise, he stows
away with a schoolgirl on a freight train headed to the North Pole. The magician
does succeed in catching up to Frosty–and destroying him–but he’s brought back
to life by the one and only Claus… and the magician is sharply punished by the
schoolgirl’s favorite teacher.

Sounds convoluted? Perhaps. But with
narration by famed comedian (and once Scoop
feature) Jimmy Durante and with Jackie Vernon voicing Frosty, the country
slowly warmed to the snowman (though not nearly as quickly as they adopted
Rudolph as a holiday staple).