Jack Frost: “One of a Kind”
In 1976, Rankin/Bass released multiple sequels to some of their most celebrated holiday specials. One of which was for their most popular 2D-animated special, Frosty the Snowman, titled Frosty’s Winter Wonderland. Taking place in a completely different time period and setting from the first special, it followed a slightly sexist and clichéd sequel outline in which some children build Frosty a wife named Crystal to marry and keep him company. The special might have been sub-par, but it introduced a new rendition of a publicly-known character to Rankin/Bass’s cinematic universe: Jack Frost. He transforms from a jealous trickster that wishes to steal Frosty’s hat, to his “best man” after having his cold, wintery attitude melted by affection.
A few years later in 1979, Jack Frost reappeared in puppet form at the end of Rankin/Bass’s Animagic, seemingly drug-induced theatrical flop, Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July, in which he revives Frosty and his family after they are melted by the July heat. This petite deus ex-machina was actually a little wink and nod to a future project from Rankin/Bass that was in store. On December 13th, 1979, the winter sprite finally got his own special that aired on NBC: Rankin/Bass’s underrated gem, Jack Frost.
A TV promo for ‘Jack Frost’ from 1998
The title character of Jack Frost is more human, engaging, curious, and sympathetic as opposed to the impish and peevish antagonist introduced in Frosty’s Winter Wonderland. This Jack Frost is one of Rankin/Bass’s inspirational, likable, and relatable protagonists, having qualities that distinguished him from other winter-powered Rankin/Bass characters like the Frosty the Snowman, the Winter Warlock, and Snow Miser. Jack Frost is a delightful and heart-tugging special that takes a moving look at identity, power, love, and the purpose of being human.
Rankin/Bass’s Jack Frost is one of the most adorable and admirable interpretations of the winter staple character.
Jack Frost (voiced by Robert Morse) is introduced to us by the namesake mascot of Groundhog Day, Pardon-Me Pete (voiced by Buddy Hackett). The lazy groundhog states that the reason why he cowers away from his shadow every February 2nd is because of a truce he and Jack Frost made. Jack Frost, whose shadow is his only visible component to the human eye, disguises it as Pete’s so Pete can hibernate for six more weeks, extending wintertime for Jack Frost and the people of Earth. Like other Rankin/Bass narrators of the past, Pardon-Me Pete stops to tell and sing an origin story to the audience, this time, about Jack Frost’s learning experience and adventures as a distinguished human on Earth. Some would say it is a gender-bent version of the Hans Christian Anderson tale The Little Mermaid that carries many of the same religious and identity-based subtexts, but contains much more fantastical and emotional substance.
Just like in old world folklore, Jack Frost is an immortal, invisible sprite that covers the Earth with frost and ice. He is the bringer of winter weather, and temperatures fall wherever he wanders. One particular location he visits is January Junction, a fictional, Eastern Europe-inspired town that is plagued by poverty and devoid of any hope or privilege because of their tyrannical dictator, Kubla Kraus.
In January Junction, Jack Frost is imagined as a savior that brings bliss to the peasants in the form of winter weather. He is not exactly imagined as a particular person, but as the personification of the winter season (a fact that goes over Jack’s head in the beginning). The poor peasants have resorted to creating their own customs to fight off their sorrow, such as turning sawed pieces of icicle frozen by Jack Frost’s magic into a currency to make up for their lack of an economy (Kubla Kraus taxes everyone in January Junction down to every last “kaputnik”, it puts the English monarchs to shame). Rather than being viewed as a nuisance, winter is portrayed as an enchanting, romanticized period that brings fortune, beauty, sanctuary, and fun traditions such as ice skating and Christmas to January Junction. When Jack visits the village, he tries to fit into the friendly environment and share their fun, although nobody can see or hear him.
Unfortunately, whenever Jack Frost hears praise of himself, he naively believes it is aimed at him as the sprite, rather than the formerly mentioned personification of winter. This fact is firmly hinted at by Pardon-Me Pete when Jack’s new crush, Elisa, comes into the picture. Elisa, whose purpose in the story is, unfortunately, as a competition piece for the men, is a young and beautiful citizen of January Junction with a vivid imagination. When we first meet her, she has a conversation with her parents regarding her romantic state. She dreams that someday, her “knight in golden armor” will come and sweep her off her feet, but for now, her only love is Jack Frost. Jack doesn’t understand that what she means by “only Jack Frost” is that she loves the winter season and the good things it brings to her home. Without winter, her life would be filled with more depression and poverty, thanks to Kubla Kraus’s cruel treatment of the citizens. Because everyone in January Junction is counted as Kubla’s property, as well as all of the land and goods, she is stuck under his rule until two different scenarios come into play. The first being that Kubla Kraus loses his power, and the second being that her literal “knight in golden armor” miraculously saves her. Elisa is very adamant about her knight, who isn’t just a mere allegory like Jack.
Kubla Kraus is one of Rankin/Bass’s most terrifying villains, and has much in common with the men in power today. Although he “rules with an iron hand” and “gets whatever he commands'', he is a very pathetic hermit. Kubla is literally served by his own artificially-crafted robots that run on steam and clockwork. His only ally is his own mishandled iron ventriloquist dummy, Dommy, whom Kubla uses to praise himself for his strength, bravery, and appeal. Abandoned by his fellow cossacks for unknown reasons only we can imagine, he has plenty of pride in his army of one thousand “ka-knights”, which were created to do nothing but destroy whatever is in his way.
Kubla’s form of rule is an odd mixture of a capitalistic hell and military-obsessed dictatorship, along with a sprinkle of communism, thanks to his stereotypical Russian traits, Slavic-inspired environment, and the lingering presence of the Cold War during the special’s time. He is a hyper-masculine tyrant with bulky muscles and the emotional intelligence of an iron hunk who uses physical violence and destruction as a punishment when he doesn’t get what he personally wishes for (such as Elisa’s hand in marriage). The toxic masculinity of Kubla and Jack Frost’s waifishness and rather effeminate appearance is a striking and intriguing contrast.
Because nobody can tolerate him, Kubla Kraus uses his own puppet with a matching red hat to compliment himself. After using it, he tosses it aside like a surly toddler.
When Jack Frost saves Elisa from falling down an icy waterfall melted by Kubla Kraus’s metal horse by freezing it into a slide, she laughs and states “Jack Frost, not only are you a magician. You’re a hero!”. Jack Frost, under the belief that Elisa really loves him, urgently flies away to ask his master, Father Winter, to be turned into a human so Elisa can see him (he is just like a tender high school-aged love puppy). Like the protagonist of The Little Mermaid, Jack has to follow specific terms in order to keep his mortality: he must find a house for shelter, a horse to carry him, a bag of gold for sustainability, and a wife before the first day of spring. When Jack Frost becomes human (under the name “Jack Snip” to protect his identity as a sprite) and learns that Kubla Kraus owns most of the necessities on his list, he declares he will defeat him. He doesn’t plan on doing this to help the people of January Junction, but for his own stubbornness.
Jack (now with the last name “Snip”) and his newly-human companions Snip and Holly quickly befriend Elisa and her poor, elderly parents after landing in January Junction. Although Jack longs for Elisa, their short-lived friendship is more platonic and casual than romantic.
Jack Snip’s mission to defeat Kubla Kraus is altered when he, Snip the Snowflake-Maker and Holly the Snowflake [vagabond] (note: this special unfortunately frequently uses the now dated and derogatory g-word to describe Jack’s immortal allies, so I have respectfully replaced it with vagabond), are cornered and captured by Kubla’s army. When Elisa gets captured by a love-thirsty Kubla on Christmas, both Jack and Elisa’s “knight in golden armor” Sir Ravenal ride in to rescue her. While Sir Ravenal is successful in saving her (getting injured on the way down), Jack fails with both an unrealistic plan and clumsy human feet. He heartbreakingly expresses to Snip “Oh Snip, I can’t do anything right as human”.
While Elisa and her family flee home to help the wounded Sir Ravenal, they desert Jack and his friends behind to become prisoners to a now rampageous Kubla Kraus. Kubla furiously expresses to Jack, Snip, and Holly that as revenge for having Elisa taken from him, he will send a thousand of his axe-wielding knights down from his domain to destroy January Junction and everyone in it. Jack Frost, despite still wishing to become humans, decides to risk his mortality to escape his chains and use his only strength to defeat Kubla’s robot army and “save the humans he had come to love so much”: creating and conducting a killer winter storm.
In the end, despite how hard he works to keep winter going, and the fact that Kubla Kraus and his army have finally been outsmarted and defeated, Jack Frost does not get his Disney-esque “happily ever after”. When he briefly turns back into his human alter ego, Jack Snip, with his newly equipped gold, house, and horse to ask Elisa for her hand in marriage, he is shocked to find out that Elisa is already in a white gown, preparing to marry Sir Ravenal for the first day of spring. Jack turns away from the door and whimpers “I thought… she loved me.” Elisa’s father responds to the tearful Jack Snip “I never heard her say she loved anyone before Sir Ravenal. Except Jack Frost. He is just a dream, but she’ll always love Jack Frost. I never heard her say she loved you, Jack Snip.” This story grants Elisa her choice in an ideal partner, her dear childhood friend Sir Ravenal. When the clock strikes 12, Jack Snip turns back into the invisible Jack Frost, never to be seen by humans again. He flies back to his home to resume his eternal job as the ultimate spirit of winter, covering Elisa’s wedding bouquet with a frosty kiss on the way.
In this depressing, rack-focus shot, Jack Snip watches his primary purpose of becoming human, Elisa, prepare to marry her childhood friend Sir Ravenal. If you think about it, Ravenal is a more suitable match for Elisa than Jack Snip due to their deeper history together. It is still quite an unhappy conclusion.
Jack Frost is not perfect, but is one of Rankin/Bass’s most powerful tales. It was their last truly successful Animagic holiday special, and portrays one of the most popular interpretations of the beloved Christmas figure. Jack Frost learns that although he will never be able to be with Elisa as a human, she will love him as the bringer of winter until the end. Jack Snip was a “good, sweet little friend” to Elisa, but Jack Frost brought her many long winters of ice money, opportunity, and cheer, saved her family’s life from the horrible Kubla Kraus, and even left behind Kubla’s horse, money, and now empty castle for Elisa and her new husband. Jack Frost may live a lonely life as an immortal being that counts centuries as days, but has more luck, influence and purpose than his simple human identity. Jack Frost sticks with what he is already flawless with to save the day and win our hearts. Jack Frost is a beautiful special with wonderful animation and music I will always bundle up to revisit during the coldest, darkest days of the year.
8 Fun Facts:
Jack Frost was created as both a special to celebrate Christmas and Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day, which is approximately in between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, was first celebrated on February 2nd, 1887, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (where Punxsutawney Phil got his name). Like Christmas, it has many links to both nature and Pagan culture, and has had new twists given by Christianity.
Dave Garroway, a popular tv personality and founding host/anchor of NBC’s Today, voices the news reporter at the beginning, who is a caricature of himself (another inksuit character that adults at the time would recognize). It makes total sense that a retired NBC host would make a cameo in a special airing on NBC. Garroway passed away three years after the special’s debut.
Pardon-Me Pete the groundhog is another inksuit character, voiced by actor and comedian Buddy Hackett, who starred in films including The Music Man, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Love Bug, and Scrooged. And speaking of The Little Mermaid, his most well-known voice performance was as Scuttle the seagull in Disney’s take of the tale.
Jack Frost was voiced by American actor and Tony-winning Broadway performer Robert Morse, whose most famous roles were as J. Pierrepont Finch in both the stage and film versions of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and as Bertram Cooper in the popular series Mad Men. Before voicing Jack Frost, he did voice work for two other Rankin/Bass specials: as Stuffy the Rabbit in The First Easter Rabbit, and Young Ebinezer Scrooge in The Stingiest Man in Town.
Jack’s Frost went through a huge glow-up throughout his appearances in three of Rankin/Bass’s specials. Unlike in his first two appearances (where he was voiced by Paul Frees), the Jack Frost we see in ‘Jack Frost’ has a much more appealing design and voice, making him a very likable character.
Snip the Snowflake-Maker’s anxious, high-pitched voice was provided by Don Messick, the same voice actor who first voiced Droopy Dog, and numerous characters in Hanna-Barbera cartoons and films, including The Flintstones, The Yogi Bear Show, Scooby-Doo, and The Smurfs.
The newspaper that Jack reads during his reprise of the touching ballad “One of a Kind'' is an actual clipping from a newspaper article written by acclaimed New York Times writer and author Michael T. Kaufman. The article covers some of the combat and violence that took place during the Rhodesian Bush War, in which over 20,000 people were killed. The war ended in 1979, the same year Jack Frost first aired. Rhodesia was a British colony in southern Africa that sat where Zimbabwe is today.
Holly the Snow [vagabond] only has three lines of dialogue in the whole special, unfortunately making her an essentially mute character.
Due to odd issues with rights and distribution, Jack Frost has had multiple unlicensed and bootleg home video releases since the 1980’s. There have been dozens of VHS, DVD, and digital releases of the special in low, 16mm print, bargain bin-worthy quality from independent distributors, each having their own unique cover designs. In 2008, Warner Bros. Home Video, who owns the post-September 1974 library of Rankin/Bass’s specials, re-released a special, official version of Jack Frost on DVD with restored picture and audio quality. Despite this, it is still easy to come across bootleg editions both in stores and online today, so watch out.
These are just a handful of covers of bootleg/third party releases of ‘Jack Frost’ from the 1980’s to today. One of them in particular has a logo with the exact same font as the that of a terrible and overrated Disney musical from 2013. Graphic designers, take notes!
External Links:
Watch the full special here!: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20x550