Frosty the Snowman Frosty the Snowman "Frosty the Snowman" (or "Frosty the Snow Man") is a popular Christmas song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950 and later recorded by Jimmy Durante, releasing it as a single. It was written after the success of Autry's recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" the previous year; Rollins and Nelson shipped the new song to Autry, who recorded "Frosty" in search of another seasonal hit. Like "Rudolph", "Frosty" was subsequently adapted to other media including a popular television special by Rankin/Bass Productions,
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special) Couple of Misfits". The special has been edited to make more time for commercial advertising by shortening some musical numbers. When "Rudolph" was first issued on VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc by Family Home Entertainment and Broadway Video from 1989 to 1997 under the "Christmas Classics Series" label, the 1965 rebroadcast print described above was used. All current video prints of "Rudolph" by Classic Media are a compendium of the two previous telecast versions of the special. All the footage in the current versions (starting with the 1998 VHS by Sony Wonder) follow the original 1964 NBC broadcast (without the original