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Those Snowmen
Thu Feb 20, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
The onset of winter has brought widespread sightings of those seasonal nomads of national
lawns, the snow people. Snow people, known best as snowmen, are silent inhabitants of the
season. However, little is truly known about the race. Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather
Notebook.
Nobody really knows when snowmen first appeared, but many suggest they made first contact with
children in the 18th Century. The 1830s "Boy's Book of Sport and Games" suggests snowmen were
often mistreated by young boys, who used them as targets for snowballs. In 1890, "The Young
Folks' Cyclopedia of Games and Sports" noted snowmen of the northeastern states had cinders
for eyes and were fitted with old hats and clay pipes.
Snowmen moved into US cities in the late 19th Century. One caught on film by George Baker
appears in an 1888 stereograph of playing children at Niagara Falls.
Around this time, snowmen appear to have evolved a social hierarchy, usually conveyed through
their headgear: a tall stove-pipe hat or derby signifying wealth and high social
status.
Then, we have the case of Frosty, The Snowman whom Gene Autry made famous in 1950. According
to the song, Frosty was a rogue, a James-Dean character rebelling against authority. Frosty is
said to have led a youthful gang all around the square, defying traffic lights.
And what of that rebel's successors today? From their abundant images throughout the media as
spokessnowmen, they seem to be doing quite well. Having found good agents, many signed
lucrative endorsement deals for toys, books, videos, ornaments and candies. Yesterday's
radical, today's conservative.
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