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December 27, 2013
Q. A curiosity of the season: Which may well have been the greatest “snowman” of all time?
A. It was 1949 and cowboy Gene Autry was singing about “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” no doubt because his wife convinced him to do it, according to “Mental Floss” magazine. Reluctantly Autry did the song, refusing to do more than one take, but what a take: The recording became a commercial juggernaut, which the country singer later followed up with a song about a magical snowman. Thus was “Frosty” born, with Autry this time deciding to get in on the merchandising. He and Sears Roebuck teamed up to place Frosty “on everything from toys to earmuffs. The gimmick worked. With their combined muscle, Sears and Autry sold more than a million copies of the single and countless toys and books, making Frosty not just history's greatest snowman but one of its savviest marketers.”
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