Ella Fitzgerald’s Frosty the Snowman— Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2022-‘23

                                                        Frosty the Snowman performed by Ella Fitzgerald.

Frosty the Snowman, today’s entry into our Holidays Music Festival, touches several seasonal sub-genres—Winter songs not actually holiday related, children’s songs, and in this version by the inimitable Ella Fitzgerald, jazz.

The tune about a plucky snowman who comes to life when crowned with an old top hat was written by Walter “Jack” Rollins and Steve Nelson on a hot summer day in the Westchester County suburbs of New York.  The composers said that it was set in Armonk near White Plains which had the village green mentioned in the song.

Rollins had already written Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail as an Easter specialty for Gene Autry and knew that the country crooner was looking for a follow up to his enormously popular 1949 hit Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Autry, ever a shrewd businessman, recognized that holiday and children’s songs could produce a lucrative perennial income as his movie career was winding down.  As anticipated Frosty became yet another huge hit in 1950.  He would go on to record other Christmas favorites including Santa Claus is Coming to Town and his own composition Here Comes Santa Claus.

But although released for Christmas sales, the song never mentioned the holiday.

But Autry was not the only one to hit it big with the spritely tune in 1950.  Jimmy Durante, Nat King Cole, and Guy Lombardo all charted that year. 

                The Frosty the Snowman Little Golden Book.

The song’s appeal and popularity immediately sparked adaptations in other media.  Little Golden Books came out with their drug store rack book that ended up in many Christmas stockings.  Also in In 1950, the UPA studio brought Frosty to life in a three-minute animated short for Chicago’s WGN-TV with a bouncy, jazzy a cappella version of the song and a limited animation style reminiscent of UPA’s popular Gerald McBoing-Boing. The black and white short became a perennial Christmas favorite on the station and is broadcast annually along with their two other Christmas shorts Suzy Snowflake and Hardrock, Coco and Joe every year since.

The 1950 black and white cartoon short of Frosty made for Chicago's WGN-TV.

But the 1969 Rankin/Bass color animated CBS special, blew all other interpretations out of the water and became, like the studio’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  This version for the first time inserted Christmas and Santa into the story line and altered the original lyrics reprised by Jimmy Durante from “he’ll come back again someday” to “he’ll be back on Christmas Day.”  Rankin/Bass used cell animation out-sourced to Japan’s Mushi Production studio instead of the stop-action animation used in Rudolph.  It featured the voices of Durante as the narrator, Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, Jackie Vernon, Paul Frees as Santa and June Foray as Karen.

The Rankin/Bass TV special became the definitive Frosty for three or more generations.

The popularity of the Rankin/Bass special and its three sequels means that the plethora of Frosty merchandise in stores every holiday season is based on its imagery.

The magnificent Ella Fitzgerald.

Ella Fitzgerald—one of the few women to be included with the likes of Autry, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, and Johnny Mathis in the pantheon of Christmas music all-stars—recorded her version in 1960 for her album Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas for Verve Records featuring a studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol.  It was one of several original Christmas albums released by her and her version of the song has appeared in countless re-packages and other compilations.

2019 Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival—Ella Fitzgerald’s Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the Snowman by Ella Fitzgerald.

Frosty the Snowman, today’s entry into our Holidays Music Festival, touches several seasonal sub-genres—Winter songs not actually holiday related, children’s songs, and in this version by the inimitable Ella Fitzgerald, jazz.

The tune about a plucky snowman who comes to life when crowned with an old top hat was written by Walter “Jack” Rollins and Steve Nelson on a hot summer day in the Westchester County suburbs of New York.  The composers said that it was set in Armonk near White Plains which had the village green mentioned in the song.

Rollins had already written Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail as an Easter specialty for Gene Autry and knew that the country crooner was looking for a follow up to his enormously popular 1949 hit Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Autry, ever a shrewd businessman, recognized that holiday and children’s songs could produce a lucrative perennial income as his movie career was winding down.  As anticipated Frosty became yet another huge hit in 1950.  He would go on to record other Christmas favorites including Santa Claus is Coming to Town and his own composition Here Comes Santa Claus. 

But although released for Christmas sales, the song never mentioned the holiday.

But Autry was not the only one to hit it big with the spritely tune in 1950.  Jimmy Durante, Nat King Cole, and Guy Lombardo all charted that year. 

The song’s appeal and popularity immediately sparked adaptations in other media.  Little Golden Books came out with their drug store rack book that ended up in many Christmas stockings.  Also in In 1950, the UPA studio brought Frosty to life in a three-minute animated short for Chicago’s WGN-TV with a bouncy, jazzy a cappella version of the song and a limited animation style reminiscent of UPA’s popular Gerald McBoing-Boing. The black and white short became a perennial Christmas favorite on the station and is broadcast annually along with their two other Christmas shorts Suzy Snowflake and Hardrock, Coco and Joe every year since. 

The 1950 black and white cartoon short of Frosty made for Chicago's WGN-TV.

But the 1969 Rankin/Bass color animated CBS special, blew all other interpretations out of the water and became, like the studio’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  This version for the first time inserted Christmas and Santa into the story line and altered the original lyrics reprised by Jimmy Durante from “he’ll come back again someday” to “he’ll be back on Christmas Day.”  Rankin/Bass used cell animation out-sourced to Japan’s Mushi Production studio instead of the stop-action animation used in Rudolph.  It featured the voices of Durante as the narrator, Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, Jackie Vernon,  Paul Frees as Santa and June Foray as Karen.

The Rankin/Bass TV special became the definitive Frosty for three or more generations.

The popularity of the Rankin/Bass special and its three sequels means that the plethora of Frosty merchandise in stores every holiday season is based on its imagery. 

The magnificent Ella Fitzgerald.

Ella Fitzgerald—one of the few women to be included with the likes of Autry, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, and Johnny Mathis in the pantheon of Christmas music all-stars—recorded her version in 1960 for her album Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas for Verve Records featuring a studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol.  It was one of several original Christmas albums released by her and her version of the song has appeared in countless re-packages and other compilations.

Raising the White Flag at Wrigley Field Doesn’t Mean What You Probably Think

For the last three seasons I have made it a Facebook custom to post the blue and white W Flag along with a pithy one or two sentence game re-cap as if delivered by the hokiest radio sports guy every time the Chicago Cubs win a game.  I don’t get the opportunity enough, but as a Cubs fan always hope for more opportunities and dream of the day I can post it for the last game played in post season October.

Cubs fans and other Chicagoans—even Sox fans who mock it—know what the flag means.  But it seems to confuse the crap out of others.  What does the W mean and what does it have to do with the Cubs, I am asked.  Allow me to explain.

In 1937 Cubs owner P. K. Wrigley ordered a major renovation to his already aging stadium.  Under the supervision of club President William Veek, the bleachers were torn down and replaced and a huge manually operated Score Board was erected over center field.  The scoreboard was topped with a naval style flag mast with signal style flags flying from the cross arms, perhaps a tip of the hat to the sail boats in nearby Lake Michigan which could be seen from the lofty heights of the scoreboard on a clear summer day.  With the American Flag snapping from the top of the mast, on game days flags representing Major League teams were flown below the cross arms—National League on one side, American League on the other—in order of their place in Pennant races.

By the way, the same year Veek’s son Bill Jr., a junior executive with the club, busied himself planting ivy along the brick walls of the outfield.  Thus in 1937 the two Veeks created the signature look of Wrigley Field beloved to this day.

Shortly after the erection of the mast, it became customary to hoist flags—a W for a win or an L for a loss—on game days after the League flags were hauled down.  These were intended to signal the outcome of game to the surrounding neighborhood and especially to commuters coming home from work on the crowded EL running across Sheffield Avenue.

Legend has it that this continued an informal and intermittent tradition of some sort of signals hosted by players, club housemen, or grounds keeps even earlier sometimes using a towel or even a red bandana.  But the new professionally made flags were the first official use by the club.

Originally the W flag was Cubs blue with the letter in bold white while the L flag reversed the colors.  At first they were flown only for home games, but by the 1950’s were being hosted to report the outcome of away games as well.

Because the flags were hauled down along with the American flag at sunset, Veek Jr. also installed some lights to use for the same purpose at night along the yard arm of the mast, blue for a win, white for a loss.  Later the lights were moved to the top of the scoreboard.  The lights are still in use, but most people don’t notice them or know what they stand for.

That is definitely not the case with the W flag.  Especially during the Cubs famed but doomed Pennant run in 1969.

In the ‘80’s the team retired the numbers of first Ernie Banks and then Billy Williams flying them as flags from the Foul Poles.  The flags featured the players’ numbers against a background of the Cubs home uniform pinstripes.  Other Cub greats, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg and Ferguson Jenkins/Greg Maddux—they wore the same number—were added.  The W flag was changed to blue on white to match those flags, and the L flag was similarly reversed.

Interest in the flags really took off in 2003 when the Cubs won the Central Division Championship.  Fans began to bring homemade reproductions to the ball park hoping to catch the eye of WGN-TV camera crews.

The team, always a champion of merchandising was soon offering the flag for sale in several sizes, including a car radio antennae version and decorating other merchandise like coffee mugs, mouse pads, T-Shirts, and neck ties with the blue W.

About the same time broadcasters began using the expression “raising the white flag” at Wrigley to denote a Cub win.

Being a devoted Cub fan, I began posting the flag in my win notices on Facebook.  And no, I don’t post the L Flag.