Nebraska author's childhood inspired Christmas movie that became a '70s holiday tradition

Gail Rock credits an unusual collaborator that inspired a 1970s holiday season staple and launched her career as an author: a mouse.

The mouse, which scurried atop the stove in a friend's home, triggered a series of events that birthed "The House Without a Christmas Tree," a television movie that aired each Christmas season on CBS from 1972 to 1977. It eventually became a novel, written by Rock, and led to several TV movie spinoffs.

The story centers on a young girl who longs for a Christmas tree, a request her widowed father rejects for years following the death of the girl's mother.

It was broadcast into homes across the country, but few likely realized at the time that the story was based on the upbringing of a young girl from Valley. Gail Rock herself.

That fact became more known, especially locally, in the ensuing years, as Rock's career progressed and she maintained a relationship with her hometown. Rock, now 81, returned to Valley in 2014 as the city celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding.

The noted author seemed proud of her Valley roots, said Georgene Gottsch, a lifelong resident and member of a local library-based volunteer group.

"She is a home girl, good old girl," Gottsch said. "She's the most famous person to come out of Valley."

At the time Rock's Christmas tale emerged, she was living in New York and in a period of transition. She was staying with her friend, Emmy-winning writer Eleanor Perry, in the Hamptons when that mouse appeared on the stove.

Rock told Perry that they would need to set a trap. Perry was having none of that.

"She marched right out of the house and called the landlord to cancel her lease," Rock told the Flatwater free press in an email.

The two ended up staying at the summer home of a friend and television producer, Alan Shayne. While sitting around the pool, Shayne mentioned CBS was looking for holiday movie ideas. They started to reminisce about childhood memories.

"I told them how I always wanted a Christmas tree at our house when I was a kid, and how one Christmas I finally got one," she said. "Alan immediately said, 'That's a Christmas special!'"

After Rock developed a 22-Page description of the idea, network executives signed off on the project and hired Perry to write the script. It was fortuitous timing for Rock.

Graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1961, the Valley High School alum headed to New York City and a job as a production assistant with NBC's "Today" show where she began to build a career.

Rock pitched traveling to Valley for the town's centennial in 1964. The program wanted to feature "small town America," she said.

Valley, then home to about 1,200 residents, wanted to do exciting things for the "Today" show, recalled Gottsch, who was 7 at the time and still remembers it. The community reenacted an old-time bank robbery as part of the celebration, she said.

Rock sought to move up the chain of command at "Today," but she realized after four years that there were no directing opportunities for women in the late '60s.

She left and wrote for a variety of business trade magazines focusing on home furnishings before becoming a TV critic at Women's Wear Daily, eventually rising to become editor of the arts section.

She covered the Cannes Film Festival, where she interviewed celebrities, and later helped create W Magazine, the famed fashion publication.

"Quite a step up from the class newspaper I created in the eighth grade, which was heavily influenced by 'Mad Magazine,' my childhood favorite," Rock said.

Eventually though, she grew tired of watching and reviewing films. She decided to try freelance writing instead.

"I left WWD (Women's Wear Daily) in the summer of 1972," she said. "The opportunity with 'Xmas Tree' followed in (a) matter of weeks."

As filming started, Rock visited the set, and felt like she had hopped in a time machine.

"There was my childhood home recreated in amazing detail," she said. When she spotted the young actress in costume, Rock remarked "It's me!"

"Later, watching the great actors Jason Robards and Mildred Natwick portray my father and grandmother was an extraordinary, moving experience."

"The House Without a Christmas Tree" was a ratings hit when it premiered on Dec. 3, 1972. Perry received an Emmy as a writer and Paul Bogart was nominated as Best Director.

Publishing giant Random House asked Rock to novelize the story. "The House Without a Christmas Tree" became the first book in a series about the adventures of Addie Mills, Rock's childhood persona.

CBS hired Rock to write three holiday-themed sequels – "The Thanksgiving Treasure," "The Easter Promise" and "Addie and The King of Hearts." All three became novels.

Her success may not have been a major surprise in Valley, where Rock's high school classmates named her most likely to succeed. But an urban myth – if urban myths can exist in a small town – did eventually take hold after the success of "The House Without a Christmas Tree."

Some people believed the movie, set in the fictional town of Clear River, Nebraska, was slated to film in Valley but backed out due to the lack of snow. That is not true, Rock said.

"We had never considered filming in Valley as we needed accessible soundstages to set up the interiors," she said. They chose Toronto because it had the necessary facilities.

Rock eventually spent eight years as the head writer with the Miss Universe pageant, penning scripts for "Miss Universe," "Miss USA" and "Miss Teen USA."

"That was one of my crazier jobs and involved a lot of travel ... and an introduction to the wacky world of beauty pageants," Rock said. "When Donald Trump bought the pageant company in my eighth year, the staff was not happy with his abusive behavior, and many of us left."

Rock spent 10 years as an executive assistant at Paramount Studio before retiring in 2010. She still writes but it's for her own amusement, she said.

Reflecting on life in Valley, Rock enjoys the memories except for one.

"I would describe my childhood as very 'Norman Rockwell,' apart from losing my mother," she said.

Her parents, Robert Rock and Thelma Way, were married for a decade before she was born, Rock said. Rock's mother died from cancer when she was 18 months old, she said. She had no siblings.

She and her father lived with his mother following her mother's death, Rock said. Her father spent weekdays on the road working. While he did come home for the weekend, Rock's grandmother Jeanette was her primary caregiver.

"My grandmother died a few months before I graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1961," Rock said. "My father died of cancer three years before I wrote 'Xmas Tree.'"

Her parents and grandmother are buried in the family plot at the Valley cemetery.

The family home in Valley, now nearly a century old, still stands.

Chase Brion has lived in the bungalow on West Valley Street for two years. When asked if he knew the historical significance of the house, Brion was unaware.

"Wait. Is it haunted?" he asked.

"I knew it was really old," he added after being told its history.

Rock acknowledges she's lived a magical life, not bad for a kid from small town Nebraska.

"I owe that little mouse a big thank you," she said.

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