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Those Snowmen
Wed Jan 19, 2005
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 U.S. 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.
The Weather Notebook is a program of the Mount Washington Observatory and is
sponsored by Subaru of America.
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