90 Fun Facts About Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the Snowman's songwriters also wrote which holiday favourite?

Here Comes Peter Cottontail. Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson went on to write 'Smokey the Bear' in 1952, slipping an extra 'the' into the mascot's name because it sang better, and the wrong name stuck.

Which singing cowboy made the first recording of 'Frosty the Snowman' in 1950?

Gene Autry. His 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' had topped the charts the Christmas before, so the song's writers pitched him their snowman as the follow-up, and it gave him another seasonal hit.

In the song 'Frosty the Snowman', what are Frosty's two eyes made out of?

Coal. The same line gives him a corncob pipe and a button nose rather than the usual carrot, and the 1969 TV special drew him to match.

In the original 1950 lyrics, Frosty waves goodbye promising to be back when?

Again someday. The 1950 lyrics never mention Christmas at all; it was the 1969 TV special that changed the farewell, sending Frosty off with a promise to be back on Christmas Day.

Frosty Returns was co-directed by Bill Melendez, who was also the voice of which cartoon dog?

Snoopy. Charles Schulz insisted that a dog could not talk, so Bill Melendez, who animated the Peanuts specials, recorded nonsense sounds himself and sped up the tape.

Which comedian narrated the 1969 TV special 'Frosty the Snowman' and sang its title song?

Jimmy Durante. He had been one of the first to record the song back in 1950, and the special drew him as a cartoon of himself to tell the story and sing it once more.

Which girl group sang 'Frosty the Snowman' on Phil Spector's 1963 Christmas album?

The Ronettes. The album came out on 22 November 1963, the very day President Kennedy was shot, so few people were in the mood for it and it sold poorly at first.

In the song, what does Frosty carry in his hand as he runs down to the village?

A broomstick. He dashes all around the square with it, daring the children to catch him if they can, because he knows the hot sun will not let him stay for long.

Which children's book series turned 'Frosty the Snow Man' into a picture book soon after the song appeared?

Little Golden Books. The line launched in 1942 at 25 cents a copy and was sold in the shops where families already went, so that almost any child could own a picture book.

In the 1969 special, where does Frosty need to go so that he will never melt?

The North Pole. The fright that sets him off is a thermometer creeping upwards, and it is one of the children who decides that they must get him there.

Which production company made the 1969 Frosty the Snowman television special?

Rankin/Bass. Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass had turned the song 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' into a hit special five years earlier, so they went looking for another Christmas song to film.

Frosty the Snowman first aired on December 7, 1969, on which American network?

CBS. It stayed on the network every holiday season until 2023, even as ownership of the cartoon itself passed from company to company behind the scenes.

Which network took over 'Frosty the Snowman' in 2024 after 55 years on its original channel?

NBC. Its parent company already owned the special, so in 2024 it brought Frosty and Rudolph home to its own network instead of licensing them to a rival.

Who voiced Frosty in the 1969 special and its first two sequels?

Jackie Vernon. The stand-up comedian had never done any animation when he was cast, yet he went on to voice the snowman for a decade, up to the 1979 feature film.

What is the name of the inept magician who wants his hat back in the 1969 Frosty special?

Professor Hinkle. His tricks flop at a school party, but once he sees the hat bring a snowman to life he decides it could make him a millionaire and spends the rest of the story chasing it.

In the 1969 Frosty special, what is the name of the magician's rabbit, who sides with the children?

Hocus Pocus. He turns on his master to help the children, later talking the forest animals into building a campfire for Karen and then running to fetch Santa Claus.

In the 1969 special, what does Frosty exclaim the moment he first comes to life?

Happy Birthday! He has, after all, only just been born, and he repeats the greeting every time the hat brings him back to life.

How do Frosty, Karen and the rabbit begin their journey in the 1969 special?

Stowing away in a refrigerated freight car. It keeps Frosty frozen, but Karen grows so cold inside that the three of them have to get off long before the train reaches the end of the line.

Where does Frosty melt after the magician locks him and Karen inside in the 1969 special?

A greenhouse. Frosty takes the freezing Karen inside so that she can warm up, and the magician, who has been trailing them all the way, locks the door behind them.

How does Santa make the magician give up Frosty's hat?

Threatens he will never get another present. Santa softens it with an offer: if the magician goes home and writes out his apology over and over, there may yet be something in his stocking.

Paul Coker Jr., who designed the characters for the 1969 Frosty special, was a regular artist for which magazine?

Mad. Paul Coker Jr. also designed greeting cards for Hallmark, which is why he got the job: the producers wanted the whole special to look like a Christmas card.

The studio that animated the 1969 Frosty special in Tokyo was founded by the creator of which anime hero?

Astro Boy. His creator Osamu Tezuka founded Mushi Production, which made that series, and a few years later the same studio was drawing America's snowman as contract work for New York producers.

In the 1969 special, why does Santa say that Frosty can never melt away for good?

He is made of Christmas snow. Santa tells the weeping Karen that it only turns to rain for a while, then opens the door and lets the December wind blow Frosty back together.

In the song, who hollers 'Stop!' as Frosty leads the children through the streets of town?

A traffic cop. Frosty pauses for only a moment and hurries on; the 1969 TV special kept the officer, and he comes back, still startled, in the 1976 sequel.

Which Rocky and Bullwinkle voice also played Santa Claus in the 1969 Frosty special?

Paul Frees. He died in 1986, yet visitors to Disney's theme parks still hear him every day as the Ghost Host who welcomes them to the Haunted Mansion.

In the 1969 special, Frosty warns that when he starts to melt he gets 'all' what?

Wishy-washy. He says it after spotting a thermometer on the wall creeping into the red, the moment the children realise they must get him somewhere colder.

Who narrated the 1976 sequel Frosty's Winter Wonderland?

Andy Griffith. He took over as storyteller for the sequel, and he signs off by promising that, on a day not so far away, the first snowflake will fall once more.

In Frosty's Winter Wonderland, what is the name of the snow wife the children build for Frosty?

Crystal. She soon proves her worth: when a gust of wind knocks off Frosty's hat and leaves him lifeless, she pins a corsage of snow on his chest and revives him with a kiss.

Which jealous character tries to steal Frosty's hat in Frosty's Winter Wonderland, then serves as his best man?

Jack Frost. His first attempt snatches a horse's hat by mistake, and he only calls off his blizzard when the snow couple invite him to stand up at their wedding.

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979) was unusual for depicting Frosty in what form?

Stop-motion 'Animagic'. In his own specials Frosty had always been a drawn cartoon, but sharing a film with Rudolph meant being rebuilt as a puppet in the reindeer's stop-motion style.

Who voices Frosty in the 1992 special Frosty Returns?

John Goodman. His Frosty comes from a different studio's reboot, so he looks and jokes differently and can even take off his hat without turning back into plain snow.

In Frosty Returns, villain Mr. Twitchell markets a snow-removing spray called what?

Summer Wheeze. One squirt makes snow vanish, and its inventor hopes a grateful town will crown him king of the winter carnival; the crown goes to Frosty instead.

Which future star of The Handmaid's Tale voiced young magician Holly DeCarlo in Frosty Returns?

Elisabeth Moss. She was about ten when she voiced the girl whose hat blows onto a snowman and wakes Frosty, some 25 years before she starred as June in The Handmaid's Tale.

Who narrates The Legend of Frosty the Snowman (2005)?

Burt Reynolds. He turns out to be more than a narrator: the closing scene reveals that the voice belongs to Tommy, the boy at the heart of the story, now grown old.

Bill Fagerbakke, who voices Frosty in 2005's The Legend of Frosty the Snowman, is best known as which SpongeBob character?

Patrick Star. The film is a Bikini Bottom reunion, because Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob himself, plays the rule-loving mayor whose town Frosty turns upside down.

Which actor was announced in 2020 as the voice of Frosty in a planned live-action Warner Bros. film?

Jason Momoa. Weeks later he called the announcement fake, saying it had been put out without his permission to distract from Ray Fisher's complaints about the Justice League reshoots.

The singing cowboy who first recorded Frosty has been honoured in five different categories of what?

The Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has a star apiece for film, television, music, radio and live performance, because he was a headline act in every one of them, rodeo tours included.

The narrator of the 1969 Frosty special famously gave his own prominent nose which nickname?

The Schnozzola. He made so many jokes about his nose that the word became his own nickname, and he closed his shows with 'Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!'

A 122-foot snowwoman named Olympia, built in 2008 to break the world record, stood in which US state?

Maine. The town of Bethel named her after Senator Olympia Snowe, who joked that it was just her luck to get a record-breaking monument that would be gone by summer.

Which Renaissance master was asked by Piero de' Medici to make a figure out of snow in 1494?

Michelangelo. After heavy snow fell on Florence in January 1494, the young sculptor made the figure in the Medici courtyard; Vasari called it very beautiful, though of course it melted.

In Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, what are Frosty's young son and daughter called?

Chilly and Milly. As snow people the whole family ought to melt on a summer outing, so a scheming wizard tempts them with magic amulets that keep them frozen, though only until the last firework fades.

On which day of the year does the story of the 1969 Frosty special begin?

Christmas Eve. It is the last day of school before the holidays, which is why a whole class of children is free to spend the afternoon parading a snowman through town.

Which Scottish dream-pop band covered 'Frosty the Snowman' on their 1993 EP Snow?

Cocteau Twins. Their 1993 single pairs it with 'Winter Wonderland', a slyer choice than it looks for a Christmas release, since neither song's lyrics ever mention Christmas.

In Frosty's Winter Wonderland, which preacher helps the children arrange the wedding?

Parson Brown. In the song 'Winter Wonderland' he is only a snowman the singers pretend is a parson; in the cartoon the real man turns up, helps the children build a snow parson and brings it to life for the ceremony.

In Frosty's Winter Wonderland, what gift from Frosty brings his snow bride to life?

A bouquet of frost flowers. The children who built her cannot wake her themselves, so it takes a gift given out of love by Frosty to do what the hat once did for him.

How does the magician's rabbit first get Frosty's hat back for the children?

Swaps it for a lamppost wreath. The rabbit does not feel right about his master snatching the hat from the children, so he makes the switch and hops back to them with it.

Which voice actress played the schoolteacher in the 1969 Frosty special?

June Foray. The voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel recorded Karen's part as well, but the girl's spoken lines were later redone by a child actress, which leaves the teacher as her main role in the special.

Topcraft, which animated Frosty's Winter Wonderland, later became the core of which animation house?

Studio Ghibli. Topcraft was a Tokyo studio that drew American holiday specials for years, then made Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä in 1984; when it went bankrupt a year later it was bought and renamed.

In Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, the two heroes head for the seaside to rescue what kind of struggling business?

A circus. A crook is waiting to buy it up unless its debts are paid by the Fourth of July, so Rudolph and Frosty agree to star in the show and pull in the crowds.

Two voices in 1992's Frosty Returns, Jan Hooks and Brian Doyle-Murray, were cast members of which sketch show?

Saturday Night Live. The link is Lorne Michaels, the show's creator, whose company Broadway Video co-produced the special; Doyle-Murray voices its villain.

Which mascot got its own 1952 theme song from the two songwriters behind Frosty the Snowman?

Smokey Bear got his own song in 1952, and the writers added 'the' to his name to keep the rhythm, which is why so many people call him Smokey the Bear.

The singing cowboy who first recorded Frosty the Snowman was the founding owner of which Major League Baseball team?

The Los Angeles Angels began play in 1961 under his ownership, and the club later retired the number 26 for him as its honorary 26th man.

Frosty the Snowman first aired in 1969 immediately after a repeat showing of which other animated holiday special?

A Charlie Brown Christmas, on its fifth showing, led straight into Frosty's debut on December 7, 1969, and Frosty finished as the top-rated programme of the week.

What seasonal item did the producers want the 1969 Frosty the Snowman special and its characters to look like?

A Christmas card was the look they wanted, so they hired an illustrator who drew greeting cards for a living to design Frosty and every background.

Which family group recorded Frosty the Snowman for their chart-topping Christmas Album in 1970?

The Jackson 5 topped Billboard's Christmas albums chart for four weeks with the record, which also produced their hit take on Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.

In the song Frosty the Snowman, the magic hat that brings Frosty to life is made of which fabric?

Silk is the fabric named in the song, and the 1969 television special gave the hat a backstory as the cast-off of a failed stage magician.

In the 1969 Frosty special, who builds a campfire to keep Karen warm in the woods after dark?

Forest animals build the fire after the magician's rabbit asks them to, but the magician himself soon turns up and puts it out.

In the 1969 Frosty special, where is the magician hired to perform on the day he throws his hat away?

At a school party is where his act goes wrong, and he blames the hat and throws it out, never guessing it holds real magic.

Which crooner recorded Frosty the Snowman with the Puppini Sisters as a bonus track for his album Christmas?

Michael Bublé sang it with the Puppini Sisters, who also join him on Jingle Bells, an arrangement modelled on Bing Crosby's 1943 record with the Andrews Sisters.

Why does the magician grab his discarded hat back once it has brought Frosty to life in the 1969 special?

He hopes to get rich now that the hat has real magic, and takes it back despite the children's protests until his own rabbit smuggles it out to them again.

At the end of the 1969 Frosty special, where does Santa take Karen before he leaves with Frosty?

Back to her house is where they go first: Santa sees Karen safely home, then takes Frosty away with a promise that the snowman will return every year.

In the 1969 Frosty special, what does the magician rush home to do in the hope of a new hat?

He runs home to write out his apologies after a telling-off from Santa, and it works: he joins the closing parade wearing a brand-new hat.

In Frosty's Winter Wonderland, how does Frosty's new bride revive him after a gust of wind takes his hat?

A snow corsage and a kiss do the trick, and the hat thief is so baffled to see Frosty moving without it that he throws the hat back.

In Frosty's Winter Wonderland, whose hat does the jealous villain blow away, mistaking it for Frosty's?

A horse's hat is all he gets for his trouble, blown off its owner's head while Frosty and the children are out ice-skating.

In Frosty's Winter Wonderland, what does the local preacher use to bring a snowman minister to life?

His Bible does for the snow minister what the magic hat does for Frosty, so the wedding gains a clergyman built by the children themselves.

Which tenor from Jack Benny's radio show voices the preacher in Frosty's Winter Wonderland?

Dennis Day sang on Jack Benny's shows from 1939 until Benny's death in 1974, and in this special he voices both the human preacher and the one made of snow.

Which character actor, a close friend of Doris Day, voiced the magician in the 1969 Frosty special?

Billy De Wolfe met Doris Day while filming Tea for Two in 1950 and later joined her sitcom, yet many viewers know him only as this fussy magician's voice.

Which screenwriter expanded the Frosty song into the 1969 special, as he had already done for Rudolph?

Romeo Muller supplied what the song lacks, including the bungling magician, his rabbit and Karen, and he also scripted Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.

Which wicked snow wizard schemes to seize Frosty's hat in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July?

Winterbolt caused havoc across the Arctic until an enchantress put him into a deep sleep; once awake, he sets out to get rid of Rudolph and then Frosty.

In Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, what does the villain plan to create using Frosty's magic hat?

An army of evil snowmen is the plan, and Frosty hands the hat over willingly because the wizard promises to help Rudolph in return.

What does the villain of Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July turn into when his ice sceptre is broken?

A tree is all that is left of him once Lilly Loraine shatters the sceptre with her iron pistols, and every spell he ever cast wears off at once.

In Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, what does Frosty's family wear to keep from melting in the heat?

Magic amulets from the villain protect them, but only until the last firework of the Fourth of July fades, a deadline he makes sure Santa will miss.

Which Broadway belter voices the pistol-packing Lilly Loraine in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July?

Ethel Merman, who made There's No Business Like Show Business her signature song, also strikes the decisive blow, since her character finally defeats the villain.

Which screen veteran voices Santa in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, a part he had played twice before?

Mickey Rooney had already voiced Santa in Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and The Year Without a Santa Claus, and he returned to the part as late as 2008.

The enchantress who gives Rudolph's nose its glow in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July is queen of what?

The Northern Lights are her realm, and her name is the clue: she is Lady Boreal, and boreal means northern, as in aurora borealis.

In Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, what does Milton, who arrives by hot-air balloon, sell for a living?

Ice cream is Milton's trade, a handy one to bring to a snowman in July, and he is voiced by the comedian Red Buttons.

Which comedian, an idol of Robin Williams, narrates the 1992 television special Frosty Returns?

Jonathan Winters narrates a story with a green message and no mention of Christmas at all: Frosty's enemy this time is a spray that wipes out snow.

In Frosty Returns, what kind of pet is Bones, the villain's sidekick who operates his trapdoor?

A cat named Bones does the dirty work, yet Bones is the one who grabs the wheel and spares the townspeople when the villain drives his truck at Frosty.

Frosty Returns opens with school cancelled after seven inches of snow in which fictional town?

Beansboro's adults grumble about the snow while its children celebrate, a split that sets up the story of a town tempted to do away with winter.

The music for Frosty Returns was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, co-founder of which new wave band?

Devo's lead singer became a busy screen composer, writing the music for Rugrats and four Wes Anderson films as well as this special.

What title do the townspeople unanimously give Frosty at the end of the 1992 special Frosty Returns?

King of the Winter Carnival is the very title the villain wanted for himself, believing the crown would give him real power over the town.

In Frosty Returns, Holly's tone-deaf friend Charles has a knack for which branch of science?

Climatology is Charles's passion, which makes him a useful ally: he and Holly hide Frosty in a freezer and then in a castle built of ice for the town festival.

Which rule-bound town does Frosty visit in The Legend of Frosty the Snowman to cheer up its unhappy children?

Evergreen is governed by a mayor whose strict rules and curfews keep the children miserable, and the film ends with every one of them scrapped.

In The Legend of Frosty the Snowman, what job does the villain Hank Pankley hold before making himself mayor?

School principal Pankley stole Frosty's hat years earlier and locked it away, and he becomes mayor only after the real one collapses.

In The Legend of Frosty the Snowman, what does the mayor's son find in the library that reveals Frosty's past?

A comic tells the story, though its later pages stay blank until events catch up, and it shows the boy's own father building Frosty as a child.

Which cable channel showed The Legend of Frosty the Snowman every year from 2005 to 2011?

Cartoon Network gave the straight-to-video film its television home, though it had been finished in late 2004 and held back for a full year.

Which jazz pianist turned crooner took his own Frosty the Snowman into the American top ten in 1950?

Nat King Cole reached number nine with it in the same year as the cowboy original, one of several versions of Frosty in the charts that first winter.

Which bandleader, famous for New Year's Eve broadcasts, also charted with Frosty the Snowman in 1950?

Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians closed each New Year's Eve show with Auld Lang Syne, and their version of Frosty peaked at number 28.

Which jazz singer included Frosty the Snowman on her 1960 Verve album of swinging Christmas songs?

Ella Fitzgerald recorded it for Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas, her only complete album of Christmas tunes for the label.

A three-minute black-and-white Frosty cartoon from 1950 became a yearly Christmas tradition on WGN-TV in which city?

Chicago's WGN-TV showed it at Christmas 1955 and kept it as an annual fixture alongside two companion shorts, Suzy Snowflake and Hardrock, Coco and Joe.