The newspaper headlines are supposed to be about the big storm. So it makes no sense for the date to be December 12,1964. The storm hits two days before Christmas, not 13 days before. Sam is narrating in 1964 (the whole Sam from the future silliness notwithstanding) so the newspaper is certainly not reporting on that year. Therefore, the newspaper date is either wrong or the paper is covering some other irrelevant snow event.
Maybe Sam the Snowman is actually Sam the Snow Vagrant, and the only reason he has that newspaper with him is because he’d slept underneath it the night before.
And why does Sam wear a pocket watch on the outside of his vest? Fool.
More evidence that he’s a Snow Vagrant. An uneducated Snow Vagrant (or possibly Snow Hobo [Snowbo?]) who wants to appear classier than he knows how to be.
A better question might ask why a snowman needs to know what time it is. Pocket thermometer— that I could understand.
When I was a kid I had the same question about why the doll was a misfit because there wasn’t anything obviously wrong with her.
My wise older sister told me it’s because she’s just a rag doll, who couldn’t compete with the fancy new dolls who can walk, talk, cry, and run a temperature. So some little girl threw her out because she wasn’t interesting enough, which would explain her mental health issues as suggested by this (very awesome) thread 
Jimmy Fallon’s comment on this movie: It teaches us the important lesson that no matter how disliked and unpopular you are, people will pretend to like you when they need you.
I don’t think I’ve posted my latest theory on this show before, so here it is: Yes, Santa comes off as a jerk in this production, but that can hardly be considered canon. It is an obscene fabrication on the part of Rankin & Bass, on a par with Radagast’s hair gel and the appearance of the Elven army at Helm’s Deep.
In the original source material, Professors Robert L. May and Johnny Marks only have the “other reindeer” harassing and denigrating poor Rudolph in a case of strictly intra-species ostracism. Santa never appears during these hate crimes, and certainly never contributes to the persecution. In fact, it is Santa who recognizes, on his very first appearance, the innate talent and worth of Rudolph’s schnoz, which results in the rest of the reindeer getting their eventual comeuppance and, hopefully, an increase in their tolerance for diversity.
In summary, Santa is supposed to be the hero, not the jerk.
The real one to credit or blame for the story is Sam the Snowman. It is his version of events we get and it is quite possible he is not a completely impartial observer. Sam is integral to the story. He claims he was the one that sent Yukon and Hermey after Rudolph therefore leading to a happy ending instead of the violent deaths of four reindeer at the hands of the Bumble.
Sam stays in the background for most of his tale. Indeed it is amazing how little we have discussed our snowy narrator in the fourteen years of this thread. Vagrant? Snow hobo? Who can say? Sam may be the most enigmatic character in the entire show. Is he the only snowman at the North Pole? Is he a reliable witness? How did the Snowman learn to play a banjo? Why the umbrella? Who made him? How does he shuffle/glide along without picking up more snow? And why is he so tolerant of misfits when no one else is?
The thing is, the elves are a lot like Umpa Lumpas, there’s a back story there that you probably don’t want to know, it’s no surprise that some of them crank out misfit toys.
True! look at how much he is annoyed at the elves’ singing. They try so hard to please him, the literal god in their world, and he could care less. He has more important things to do. It is worth noting again that Hermey doesn’t have pointed ears like the other elves. Wonder who his father is…?
Sam the snowman had a lasting effect on me. I learned he was Burl Ives, but I didn’t know Burl Ives was a folk singer of great renown. One thing, when he plays Big Daddy on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, I just can’t take him seriously. Big Daddy is a loudmouth, and he’s facing his own mortality, and Paul Newman is drinking, and Elizabeth Taylor is slutting it up, but I just see Bid Daddy as a Snowman.
I think Santa is more harried bureaucrat than actually evil.
He’s also distracted by body image issues.
I just wonder where Sam the Snowman got his magic hat.
After Santa brought Frosty to the North Pole, Sam challenged him to a game of Texas Hold’em, and well…
You don’t want to know about the corn cob pipe and button nose :eek:
Great Thundering Icebergs!
It’s back again this Tuesday, December 1st on CBS at 8:00pm.
And so the holiday season really begins!
ETA: 15th anniversary of this thread. ALL RIGHT!
Woohoo! Off to the Reindeer Games…
I couldn’t find this thread so I posted the Tuesday showing in this other Rudolph thread. Yesterday!