Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the Snowman is a 1969 animated television special about a snowman brought to life by a discarded silk top hat. The hat belongs to a struggling stage magician, Professor Hinkle, who wants it back once he realizes what it can do. The children who built the snowman, including a girl named Karen, befriend him, and when it becomes clear that warmer weather will soon melt him, Karen helps him travel north toward colder country. The magician follows, determined to recover his hat.

The special was directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr., who had previously collaborated on The Little Drummer Boy and Mad Monster Party?, and who went on to make Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and later features including The Last Unicorn. Romeo Muller wrote the screenplay, and the voice cast includes Jimmy Durante as the narrator, Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, Jackie Vernon as Frosty, and June Foray and Suzanne Davidson as Karen.

Released in December 1969, the half-hour film became a seasonal television staple. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.3 from roughly 25,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.9 from a few hundred votes, a gap that reflects its much larger following among general viewers than among that site's users.