1969 brought the second traditionally animated special from Rankin-Bass, Frosty the Snowman. Introduced and narrated by an animated Jimmy Durante, the special ran for a short 25 minutes. It also limited itself to just the title song.
The story kicks in on Christmas Eve, where the first snow of the winter is falling as the children are in school. A magician called Professor Hinkle does a magic act for the kids, but isn't very good. He gets frustrated while trying to pull his rabbit Hocus Pocus out of a hat and throws it away. It winds up on the head of the snowman the children make, young student Karen naming him Frosty. The hat brings Frosty (voiced by Jackie Vernon) to life.
Hinkle, seeing that the hat obviously has some magic, wants it back, but the kids protest as they want to keep Frosty alive. Realizing that Frosty will melt when it warms up, Karen gets a train ticket to go to the North Pole. They sneak into a refrigerator car with Hocus and are on their way, but Hinkle hitches a ride as well.
Karen is freezing, so Frosty decides to take her somewhere to warm up. Hocus gets animals in a forest to build a fire, and then goes in search of Santa Claus for help. Hinkle arrives and puts out the fire, trying to steal the hat again. Frosty and Karen enter a greenhouse, which Hinkle locks them into. Frosty finally melts in the heat.
Hocus arrives with Santa, who restores Frosty and tells Hinkle to let Frosty keep the hat, threatening him with no future Christmas presents. Santa takes Karen home, allowing Frosty to romp with his friends one more time before going to the North Pole, as, with a reprise of the song, Frosty promises to be "back on Christmas Day."
Four of these in, I'm willing to say that most Rankin-Bass Christmas specials are short on depth. However, Frosty is better told than Cricket on the Hearth, doesn't contain authority figures being nasty to our hero like Rudolph. I don't want to compare it to Drummer Boy as that likely has a stronger story, the only real objection you could have is if you object to religious imagery. (And if you do, it's not like Santa and Frosty are any more real.)
So, Frosty, while not being substantial, isn't offensive. Good job, Rankin-Bass.s
I will mention that this version of Frosty has inspired several spinoffs, including some not made by Rankin-Bass. Due to the distribution rights being held by CBS and later Universal, Frosty Returns debuted in 1992, though it's not very good. It's been bundled with many home video releases of Frosty, but it's not on the latest DVD and Blu-Ray releases. I can remember seeing a little bit of it during a Christmas party in kindergarten (which would've been about the time it debuted). I haven't seen it since. In 2005, Universal debuted The Legend of Frosty the Snowman, which I saw when it aired, but I can't remember a thing about the story.
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