The House Without a Christmas Tree

This is one of my Christmas favorites. It has great details of Christmas and school in the 40s and 50s, bringing back many familiar memories to those Baby Boomers whose fathers went off to work with a lunch pail. Despite the title, it's not a sappy show. Addie looks and acts like a real kid, and the show received good reviews when it was broadcast. Mildred Natwick is wonderful as Addie's grandmother. It isn't really a kid's show, in that it is written from the point of view of the grown Addie looking back at her relationship with her father. If you like this kind of bittersweet story, you would probably like Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory," and the short "Christmas Snows, Christmas Winds." They are childhood memories from the same era.

I first saw this on television when I was in elementary school back in the '70s. I actually found it on VHS video years ago and enjoy watching it regularly. It's an unusual role for Jason Robards, but he's excellent in it. And the actress who plays Addie is certainly homely by today's standards, but very authentic in the role and for the times, which are the 1940's in the Midwest. In fact all the actors and actresses are refreshingly real. If this movie were re-made today (which I hope it never is) it would undoubtedly be filled with "beautiful people." I think that is part of the appeal of this movie. It speaks to another time - not just the '40's, but to the 70's when it wasn't necessary to be Barbie doll perfect to be on television or in the movies. Times have changed, but this movie is a classic.

As a kid in the 70`s, I watched this program and throughly enjoyed it. This same cast also did a thanksgiving special called "The Thanksgiving Treasure" and neither are shown anymore. I thought that I saw them more than once, however, I never see them anymore.I sure would like my kids to see these. Lisa Lucas did an excellent job as Addie Mills. Why did they discontinue airing these two specials? Are these available to rent? Please contact me on availability, as I surely am interested.

One must wonder why an outstanding production like House Without A Christmas Tree, is never shown during the Christmas holidays. It is one of televisions finest moments starring Jason Robards, Lisa Lucas as "Addie" and Mildred Natwick as Grandma. It takes place in a small town in Nebraska in 1946. Robards plays a father who, without his wife, can not seem to communicate with his daughter. We can only hope that this fine presentation of 1972 is brought back for all of us to enjoy again.

CBS was known, in the old days, for it's quality adaptations of literature, be it classic or contemporary. As a child of the 60's and 70's, I remember all of these with great warmth, but none more than "The House Without a Christmas Tree" (except possibly for "J.T.", the story of the little boy and his cat). This is a simply told story, but it shines with an inner light. Lisa Lucas plays Addie, a 10 year old girl who lives with her widowed father and his mother in Clear River, Nebraska during the late 40's. Her father is still terribly torn apart over the death of his wife, so torn apart that he can't stand to celebrate Christmas and remember how happy he was when she was alive. To this end, he won't allow a Christmas tree in the house. Addie is determined that she will have a tree this year, and tries every minute she can to weedle him into getting one.

There are true emotions in this film; Addie is hurt by her father's seeming indifference to her, and doesn't understand why he won't buy a tree. He can't bring himself to explain, so these two headstrong people continually clash. Addie's grandmother softens what she can, but her son won't listen to her. He is sometimes cruel to his daughter, to hide his own wounded feelings. He and Addie come to a truce of sorts at the end, but it's not a neatly wrapped up conclusion, and it feels just like a real father-daughter relationship. Jason Robards is devastating as the father. His eyes are so expressive; the pain bleeds out of them, and just as conversely the love he truly does feel for Addie also shows in them. Mildred Natwick is just fine as the grandmother. She is the warm, comfy composite of every grandmother who ever lived, but she also adds a bite to the character that is refreshing. The Nebraska setting does just as much to enhance the story.

This was broadcast in 1972 on CBS, and not shown again till Disney picked it up in the very early 80's, along with the other two movies taken from Gail Rock's wonderful reminiscences of growing up in rural Nebraska, "The Thanksgiving Treasure" and "Addie and the King of Hearts". This film is available on VHS tape, and is highly recommended for the whole family. My own children always adored it.