Video: 'Frosty The Snowman (1969) Full movie'

(Sunday, December 7, 1969, 7:30 p.m. EST) — Frosty the Snowman, an animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, first aired tonight on CBS.

The special was based on the Walter E. Rollins and Steve Nelson song of the same name. It follows a group of school children who build a snowman called Frosty and place a magic hat on his head, which makes him come to life with enchanted power.

But after noticing the high hot temperature and fearing that he would melt, Frosty, along with a young girl named Karen and a rabbit named Hocus Pocus, must go to the North Pole to be safe from melting.

The special featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as the film’s narrator (Durante’s final performance in a film), Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle the Magician, and Jackie Vernon as Frosty.

It was popular with critics and viewers; the Boston Globe commented that the show was “a delightful charade that deserves to become a yuletide fixture.”