Where to Find "The Christmas Tree"

Someone asked me about this movie the other day and it got me thinking.

It's never to early to think about the next Christmas holiday season.

But where can you find "The Christmas Tree"? Not sure yet about streaming, so stay tuned.

Here are a few places:

Ebay

ClassicMovieReel.com

RareDVDs.biz

DVDRare

TrueTVMovies.net

WorthPoint

DVDLady

At Stately Hartwood Manor ...

The Christmas Tree was filmed in Pittsburgh, PA in 1996, mostly in Hartwood, a mansion managed by the Allegheny County Department of Parks. Pretty impressive, isn't it?

Anyway, in the department's newsletter from Spring/Summer 2003, Recreation Superintendent Sylvia Easler describes how many visitors to Hartwood remember it from the movie but ... it's not available on video.

We were extremely disappointed as we thought it would be a great item to sell in the gift shop at Hartwood.

You hear that, Buena Vista? There is a market for The Christmas Tree!

Link: Allegheny County Parks Newsletter (PDF), Spring/Summer 2003 Issue (see page 8)

Looking For Andrew McCarthy

Strangely enough, the title of this post is also the name of a book by Jenny Colgan, which was published back in 2001 in the U.K. The 30-year old heroine in the novel (which just screams "chick lit" to me) travels to America to find out what happened to one of her movie idols from the 1980s.

Brat Pack star Andrew McCarthy was in some of the biggest films of the decade: St. Elmo's Fire, Class, Less Than Zero, and Kansas. My favorite was his role as Blane, the nice, rich kid Blane in Pretty In Pink, opposite Molly Ringwald. He played opposite Philadelphia department store dummy Kim Catrall in Mannequin. And, to this day, I still laugh when I watch Weekend At Bernie's.

In 1996, he starred as Rockefeller Center gardener Richard Reilly in The Christmas Tree. On his official website, there's a picture of him with co-star Julie Harris and director Sally Field, along with a brief anecdote about the role. Just click here and scroll down to find and click on the movie title.

Since then, he's had a lot of stage roles, moved into directing, and still acts on the big & small screens, most recently in two TV series, "E-Ring" and "Kingdom Hospital". The gal from that British book likely found him alive, well, and, I hope, happy.



(Photo courtesy of Mary at Andrew McCarthy.net-thanks!!)

Ripped From Yesterday's Headlines?

In my research, I've found that the story of The Christmas Tree is loosely based on David Murbach, the real gardener of Rockefeller Center, who acquired the 1995 tree from the Sisters of Christian Charity in Mendham, NJ. In the article from the University of Delaware magazine, he describes the tree-finding process:

And, just how does Murbach know when he's found "the" tree? It's instinct, he says. "It must be like getting married," the single Murbach muses. "You just know when it's the right one.

You can read a lot more here.

Asking Questions-Part 1

To find out why "The Christmas Tree" is not available on DVD, I made a list of people to contact from various sources (some of which I can't name here). I sent out a few emails, like this one to Buena Vista Home Entertainment:

From:
Sent: Tuesday, December 5, 2006 09:14 PM
To: MB BVHE Info Mailbox
Cc: The Christmas Tree

Name: XXXXX
E-Mail:

Question: I know BV owns the rights to "The Christmas Tree"-1996 film directed by Sally Field-so why is it not out on video?

Today, this was the response that I got:

XXXXX, Thank you for your email regarding THE CHRISTMAS TREE. We appreciate your interest Walt Disney Home Entertainment movies. It has not been released on VHS or DVD. We will let our Marketing Department know you are interested in having this title available for purchase. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to reply to this email. You may also contact us at 800-723-4763, Monday 9:30-7:30 and Tuesday through Friday 9:30-6:30 CST. Sincerely,
Walt Disney Home Entertainment Consumer Relations US and Canada

I was a bit disappointed, but it was, after all, an automated response. Watch this space, because I'm just getting started.

What "The People" Are Saying

Professional TV critics apparently had little to say about The Christmas Tree 10 years ago. I've found very few reviews from them online, although it's quite possible that old content has simply been deleted.

Regardless, testimonials from satisfied customers who want to see this movie again ought to carry a lot of weight. You can read what some people have been saying here and here. One of the more intriguing comments is the offer by "Chopper Dan" (who claims to have worked on the film) to buy the rights. Maybe we should start a collection.

The "Advent" Tree?

Well ... yes! At some point, Random House put up a website with excerpts from The Christmas Tree that can be accessed by clicking on the little "windows" (like on an Advent calendar). It includes some of Jill Webser's illustrations, too!

You can check it out here.

I Didn't See The Movie, But ...

... I didn't read the book, either. Not yet, anyway.

The Christmas Tree was written by Julie Salamon, a film critic for The Wall Street Journal. I knew her as the author of The Devil's Candy, her detailed, insider's look at the making of the film version of The Bonfire of the Vanities, generally regarded as one of the biggest Hollywood flops of the last 20 years.

Illustrations in The Christmas Tree are by Jill Weber, who has a nice career going as well!

The book can be found at local bookstores (ask them to order it), or online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

The Musician Behind "The Christmas Tree"

You see, it really is "all about the music".

As a kid, one of my favorite Christmas traditions was watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. Besides the great, heartwarming story, I really liked the music of Vince Guaraldi, a minor classic in post-war pop jazz.

In recent years, jazz musician David Benoit has composed the music for the Peanuts specials. One of them, Here's To You Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years, was very well-received. He has been nominated for three Grammy Awards over the years, and is one of the bigger names in smooth jazz.

His music for The Christmas Tree is mentioned by many as one of their favorite parts of the movie, and Film Score magazine named it as the best score of 2006.

The Quest Begins

Last year, Philadelphia radio DJ Helen Leicht of WXPN posted a message on the station's Bulletin Boards, looking for a copy of The Christmas Tree. This was actually the first time I became aware that it was not available on video. These days, it seems like everything is.

Unfortunately, she had no luck getting a copy of the film. So, the other day, she posted again about the movie, and thus, inspired this site.

My purpose here is to make more people aware of this film, and hopefully, motivate its distributor to take it out of the vault and release it for broadcast and on DVD. I'm going to add links about it, its cast & creative team, the book which inspired it, and, just maybe, what people can do to get this film back in the public eye each year.

And away we go!

Free The Tree

I am a big fan of Christmas. Not the endless commercialism of this time of year, but much more the spirit, the reason for the season, if you will. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, and being together with family and friends. That's what's most important to me by far.

And, it is also the message behind a lot of the great movies over the years, including (so I've heard) one little gem, which I've never seen (but hope to someday) called The Christmas Tree. It's the story of a gardener (played by Andrew McCarthy) who finds the perfect tree to use for the Rockefeller Center Christmas display, except that the nun (Julie Harris) who nurtured it her entire life is having trouble letting it go.

The made-for-TV movie, the directorial debut of Sally Field, was seen only once, on 22 December 1996, on ABC. Since then, it was only available for a short time on VHS; it has never been on DVD. It has not been part of the usual group of holiday-related films or specials that make the rounds on the broadcast and cable channels. It has never shown up at 3 a.m. on TBS after the upteenth airing of Road House.

Despite this lack of exposure, it has had great word-of-mouth on the Web. A lot of people have been looking for it, including a Philly radio DJ named Helen Leicht. More about that tomorrow.