The trees favored by Jack Frost to retain their foliage in winter
Jack Frost is a personification of winter, and particularly the autumn and winter frosts, ice, and feel of cold in the air. The figure or equivalent winter representations, under different names, originate primarily from the Scandinavian Peninsula and other cold regions of Europe, collected in the Finnish epic poetry work The Kalleva (1835), figuring in a Russian folktale, and elsewhere.
In English, however, he functioned primarily as a metaphor or turn of phrase as early as the 18th century, although British fairy stories depicted him as a sprite or fairy being. In the early 1900s, he appeared in various Christmas plays as a friend or associate of Santa Claus, and L. Frank Baum included him (as the son of the winter king) in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. One of the character's earliest film appearances was starring in a 1934 animated short by former Disney animator Ub Iwerks, bringing on a winter snowstorm, while a 1965 Russian film based on the folktale was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. In subsequent decades, his Christmas association continued in multiple Rankin/Bass specials and later in other narratives focusing on seasonal and holiday symbolic figures.
The title only, and its association with winter, was used for the 1998 Creature Shop-effects film Jack Frost.
References[]
- "The Christmas Song" includes as its second lyric "Jack Frost nipping at your nose," retained in renditions by Big Bird and others.
- The script for a Leslie Mostly sketch in Sesame Street Episode 1511 calls for Kermit the Frog, reflecting on his interview career, to mention having won an award for his interview with Jack Frost. In the aired version, he mentions Raquel Welch instead.
- The "Kermit's Tales" story "Forever Green" by Michaela Muntean, first included in Jim Henson's Bedtime Stories (1989) and reprinted in Kermit's All-Time Favorites (1991), tells how various trees failed to help Benny the bluebird find shelter. When winter arrives, so does Jack Frost in person, passing judgement on the selfish trees by declaring they would lose their leaves in winter, while only the helpful pine, spruce, and juniper would remain evergreen.