47 Fun Facts About Snowmen

In North America a classic snowman is built from how many snowballs?

In the United Kingdom two spheres are the norm, one for the body and one for the head.

Snow is best for packing into a snowman when it is in which state?

Close to melting and moist is ideal; powder will not stick to itself, so the moment is the first warm afternoon after a decent snowfall.

The earliest known depiction of a snowman is in a Book of Hours from which year?

1380: a marginal drawing in a Book of Hours of that year, held in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague, is the earliest known snowman image, found by the author of The History of the Snowman.

Which Renaissance artist was commissioned by Piero de' Medici to make a snowman in 1494?

Michelangelo, then in his teens, was asked by Piero de' Medici in January 1494 to sculpt a snowman in the courtyard of the Medici palace, a tale recorded by Vasari.

Which city's 1511 snowman festival ended with residents building over 100 satirical, rude snow sculptures?

Brussels: during the bitter winter of 1511 its residents built more than a hundred snow figures, many obscene or mocking the authorities, an episode remembered as the Miracle of 1511.

Mary Dillwyn, who took the earliest known snowman photo around 1853, was from which country?

The salt print is in the National Library of Wales; Dillwyn was one of the earliest women photographers anywhere.

Guards at which colonial settlement supposedly left snowmen on watch during a 1690 massacre?

Schenectady: the legend says the Dutch village's gates stood open with only snowmen as sentries when French and Indigenous raiders struck on 8 February 1690, killing about sixty.

Bethel, Maine's record-setting snowwoman of 2008 was named Olympia in honour of whom?

A US senator: Olympia Snowe of Maine lent her name to the giant snowwoman finished in February 2008, which took the height record from Bethel's own 1999 snowman.

How tall was Bethel, Maine's record-setting snowwoman of 2008?

Just over 122 feet: Olympia measured 122 feet 1 inch (37.2 m), taller than a ten-storey building, with a base so wide it needed construction equipment rather than mittens.

Snowmen in Japan are traditionally built from two balls, not three, and are called what?

Yukidaruma: the two-ball Japanese snowman takes its name from the round, limbless Daruma doll it resembles, 'yuki' meaning snow.

Who first recorded 'Frosty the Snowman', by Walter Rollins and Steve Nelson, in 1950?

The writers pitched it to Autry because his 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' had been a smash the year before; his version reached number 7 on the US pop chart.

According to the song, what brings Frosty to life?

An old silk hat: 'there must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found'; the lyrics also give him a corncob pipe, a button nose and two eyes made out of coal.

Which New York town holds an annual Frosty parade and claims to be the song's setting?

Armonk: the Westchester hamlet holds a Frosty Day parade each winter and claims Steve Nelson wrote the song about it; neighbouring White Plains, where Nelson lived, is the other claimant.

Which studio, also behind Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced the 1969 special Frosty the Snowman?

Rankin/Bass's Frosty first aired on CBS on December 7, 1969, straight after the fifth showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas, and both drew big ratings.

Who narrated the 1969 Frosty special, in his final film role?

Jimmy Durante narrated the 1969 special and sang the title song in his gravelly voice; after his 1972 stroke, Andy Griffith took over narration for the 1976 sequel.

In the 1969 special, what is the name of the inept magician who wants his hat back?

Professor Hinkle: the failed magician throws away his top hat, then wants it back once it brings Frosty to life; his rabbit Hocus Pocus sides with the children.

The girl who rides north with Frosty in a refrigerated freight car in the 1969 special is called what?

Karen: the little girl rides north with Frosty in a refrigerated boxcar, catches a chill, and Frosty melts in a greenhouse trying to warm her before Santa revives him.

The 1969 Frosty special's character designs were by Paul Coker Jr., best known for which magazine?

Mad: Paul Coker Jr. drew for Mad magazine for decades and gave Frosty its Christmas-card look; the animation itself was done by Mushi Production in Tokyo.

What do the children name Frosty's wife in the 1976 sequel Frosty's Winter Wonderland?

A jealous Jack Frost blows off Frosty's hat, and it is Crystal's kiss and a snow corsage that bring him back.

In the 1992 special Frosty Returns, Frosty was voiced by which actor?

John Goodman voiced Frosty in the 1992 CBS special Frosty Returns, in which a spray called Summer Wheeze threatens to make snow vanish; Jonathan Winters narrated.

Olaf, the summer-loving snowman in Disney's Frozen, is voiced by which actor?

Josh Gad was already Broadway's Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon; he has said he regrets making Olaf sound so much like himself.

In early drafts of Frozen, Olaf was written as what?

The first of Elsa's snowman guards: early drafts cast Elsa as the villain and Olaf as the obnoxious first of her snowman army, before he was rewritten as the sisters' childhood creation.

Olaf famously says he likes what kind of embrace?

Warm hugs: 'Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs' is his introduction, the joke being a snowman obsessed with heat who has never seen what sun does to snow.

In Frozen II, Olaf no longer needs his personal snow flurry because Elsa gave him what?

A layer of permafrost: in Frozen II Olaf explains that Elsa gave him a permafrost, replacing the personal snow flurry that had been his portable air-conditioning since the first film.

What is the giant snow guard Elsa creates at her ice palace in Frozen called?

Marshmallow: the hulking snow guard Elsa conjures to throw Anna, Kristoff and Olaf out of her ice palace is named Marshmallow, and he returns at the end of the short Frozen Fever.

Frozen, the film that gave the world Olaf, is loosely based on which Hans Christian Andersen tale?

The Snow Queen is the inspiration; Andersen also wrote a story actually titled The Snowman, about a snowman who falls in love with a stove.

Raymond Briggs' picture book The Snowman, published in 1978, is unusual for what reason?

It has no words: Briggs told the whole story in wordless pencil-crayon panels, and the 1982 film kept that spirit, with no dialogue apart from the song 'Walking in the Air'.

Which British broadcaster first showed the animated The Snowman on Boxing Day 1982?

It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short and came third in Channel 4's own poll of the 100 Greatest Christmas Moments.

The boy in The Snowman flies with his snowman to a party at the North Pole and meets whom?

Father Christmas: at the North Pole party he gives the boy a scarf with a snowman pattern, the proof next morning that it was not a dream when only a hat and coal remain.

Which rock star filmed an alternative live-action introduction to The Snowman?

David Bowie filmed the 1984 introduction, made for the American release, in which he finds the snowman-patterned scarf in an attic, replacing Raymond Briggs's original on-screen opening.

Which St Paul's Cathedral choirboy sang 'Walking in the Air' in The Snowman?

Peter Auty, then a St Paul's Cathedral chorister, sang it in the 1982 film but went uncredited; Aled Jones's better-known 1985 cover was recorded for a Toys 'R' Us advert after Auty's voice had broken.

Aled Jones's 1985 recording of 'Walking in the Air' reached which position on the UK singles chart?

Number 5: Aled Jones's version peaked at number 5 in December 1985, making the 14-year-old an overnight celebrity; Howard Blake had written the melody around 1970, years before the film.

In Jack Frost (1998), Michael Keaton's character returns from the dead as a snowman thanks to what magical object?

He had given the harmonica to his son Charlie, joking that he would hear it wherever he was; the film flopped, grossing $34.6 million.

Three children of which rock musician appear in the 1998 Jack Frost?

Dweezil, Ahmet and Moon Unit Zappa all turn up; Keaton's character fronts a bar band in fictional Medford, Colorado.

Bill Watterson used Calvin's bizarre snowmen in Calvin and Hobbes chiefly to poke fun at what?

The art world: Calvin's grotesque snow sculptures, presented as avant-garde 'snow art', let Watterson skewer critics, galleries and the commercialisation of art without leaving the front yard.

Guides on which 1921 expedition described footprints of the 'Wild Man of the Snows', inspiring 'Abominable Snowman'?

British Everest reconnaissance: on the 1921 expedition led by Charles Howard-Bury, porters explained strange footprints as those of a 'wild man of the snows', which journalist Henry Newman rendered 'abominable snowman' in a Calcutta newspaper.

The Sherpa word 'metoh', from which 'Abominable Snowman' was translated, actually means what?

Man-bear: 'metoh' (or 'meh-teh') means man-bear and 'kang-mi' snowman; Henry Newman mistranslated metoh as 'filthy' and then polished that into 'abominable'.

The Sapporo Snow Festival began in 1950 when local high school students did what?

Built six statues in a park: high-school students built six snow statues in Odori Park in 1950; the Self-Defense Forces joined in 1955 and began the giant sculptures.

A record snowball fight of 7,681 people was staged in 2016 in which Canadian city?

Saskatoon: 7,681 people pelted each other on 31 January 2016, organised with Yukigassen Team Canada, the competitive snowball-fighting sport that started in Japan.

In The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), which character is 'the keeper of cold weather', forever feuding with his heat-loving brother?

Snow Miser and his brother's vaudeville numbers stole the special, and Mother Nature has to be called in to make them cooperate.

Bethel, Maine's 1999 record snowman, 'Angus, King of the Mountain', honoured which state figure?

The governor: Angus King was Maine's governor in 1999 (he became a US senator only in 2013); the 113-foot snowman weighed more than 9 million pounds.

In Sweden, a hollow cone of stacked snowballs glowing from within is called what?

A snow lantern: the Swedish snölykta is a hollow cone of snowballs with a candle set inside, a winter garden decoration rather than a figure.

Japan has a long tradition of building small snow figures of which animal?

Rabbits: yukiusagi are small snow rabbits with red nandina berries for eyes and leaves for ears, a winter pastime in Japan for centuries.

Which producer was behind the Ronettes' celebrated 1963 cover of 'Frosty the Snowman'?

Phil Spector produced it for his 1963 album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, with the Ronettes, led by his future wife Ronnie, drenched in his Wall of Sound.

Which actor was announced in July 2020 to voice Frosty in a planned live-action Warner Bros. film?

Jason Momoa later said the announcement was made without his permission, to distract from a co-star's complaints.

Who voiced Frosty himself in the 1969 television special?

Jackie Vernon, a deadpan stand-up comedian, voiced Frosty in 1969 and again in the 1976 sequel; Billy De Wolfe played the magician Professor Hinkle.

Who wrote The History of the Snowman, the 2007 hunt for the figure's origins?

Bob Eckstein, a New Yorker cartoonist, wrote The History of the Snowman (2007) after years in European archives, finding the earliest depiction in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague.