I swear it had a different ending...
The You've Got Mail alternate universe I apparently visited with 35% of other people who saw it, The Shop Around the Corner, and unfinished notebooks.
It all started with me watching The Shop on the Corner.
This is the 1940 movie that You’ve Got Mail was based on. I thought it would be a fun watch for the Romantic Movie Marathon. And it was! (You can see my review at the end.)
However, after I finished watching it, I decided it was time for a rewatch of You’ve Got Mail so that I could see how the movie was influenced by the original. Now, I’ve watched You’ve Got Mail a number of times and saw it when it originally came out in theatres. (I mean, I met my husband on AOL—yes, that makes me feel old—so I was highly invested in this movie.) I even have a scene in my latest book, What If You & Me, where Andi, the horror writer heroine, explains to the hero that You’ve Got Mail is actually a horror movie.
So, when I watched it this time, it all was very familiar. I could even recite some lines. And I still got mad at the parts that my character Andi points out in my book. I still laughed at the parts that were funny. And then I got to the end. (*spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen it*)
.
.
.
I watched the scene in the park where they kiss at the end and have the famous line.
And then I waited, confused that the credits started rolling.
Because…I remember one more scene at the end. I remember it because it always made me angry. Here’s what I remember:
They show Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan’s character) in Fox Books (Tom Hanks’ big chain bookstore) reading to children in the kid’s section.
The scene made me mad because I thought it was tragic. Her cute little bookstore is gone and now she’s relegated to reading in this spot in the giant bookstore. But…that scene wasn’t there.
So, I got on Google, as one does, to see what happened. Was it removed because that ending sucked so bad?
Welp. That’s not what I found. What I found was that, apparently, I have visited an alternate universe/reality with approximately 35% of other people who saw the movie and the New York Times review.
Because that ending doesn’t exist. And from everything I’ve researched, it never did.
BUT, a good number of people remember EXACTLY what I remember. And I didn’t remember it after googling. I remembered the scene in detail before I opened up the internet. I found this article by Dustin Rowles who had the same experience as I did:
“Except that’s not how I remember You’ve Got Mail ending. I have a very strong memory of this movie, and I have a very vivid memory of an additional scene in which Kathleen is reading to children and, as the camera pulls away, it’s revealed to be a version of her bookstore — Little Shop Around the Corner — that has been rebuilt inside of Joe Fox’s bookstore. My memory of that scene is so vivid that I told the kids to wait after the credits began rolling because it’s probably a mid-credits scene. We watched all the way through the credits, however, and never saw that scene, and then I also remembered that mid-credit and end-credit scenes were not really that much of a thing in 1998.”
So, I’m like, yeah, that’s what I remember! But then he further researched and had this article that said this:
“I also took a Twitter poll, and a full 35 percent of people had the exact same recollection.
Stumped by this, I reached out to the assistant editor of You’ve Got Mail, Shelly Westerman, to see if she could provide some clarity. Alas, before Shelly Westerman got back to me, Maria over on LaineyGossip — who had a similar recollection — brilliantly scooped me on my own story, reaching out to Nora Ephron’s sister, Delia Ephron, who wrote back: ‘The movie always ended in Riverside Park. And no one has messed with the movie since it was released.’”
Y’all.
I kept googling because I wouldn’t believe it. I even posted on my personal Facebook to poll my friends. Once again, a percentage remembered what I remembered, others remember the ending that exists now.
I also found this correction on a New York Times review of the movie posted back in 2018.
Now that really did make me feel like I was in The Matrix. It’s freaky. I know there is something called the Mandela Effect about collective false memories, but this is such a specific and detailed memory that it’s hard to imagine we all separately fabricated it. Maybe the Mandela Effect is what they tell us so we don’t know we’re in The Matrix, lol.
I wish I had more answers, but, for now, I guess I’m going with the theory that I totes visited another timeline or alternate universe at some point and saw this movie there. That means I’m like THIS close to ending up in a time-loop story like The Map of Tiny Perfect Things that I reviewed last week. I better be careful. ;)
I’m curious, though. Anyone else remember the ending that I remember? Were you in the matrix with me? Let me know in the comments!
The Romantic Movie Marathon
Title: The Shop Around the Corner
Release date: 1940
Where to Watch: I watched it on HBO Max but it left at the end of December. It can be rented on most streaming services, though.
Starring: Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan
Official description (from IMDB): Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.
My description: A clerk at a store in Budapest, Hungary and the new shop girl that is working with him hate each other but are exchanging passionate love letters, not knowing that they are writing to each other. This is the movie You’ve Got Mail is based on, but this movie definitely gives more attention to side characters than You’ve Got Mail, so you also get insight into the other people in the shop (including their boss, played by the same actor who played the wizard in The Wizard of Oz.)
My Review
1 . Is it actually a romance?
Yes.
2 . Romantic tropes
enemies to lovers, mistaken identity, workplace romance, epistolary/falling in love through letters
3 . Sweet or steamy?
Sweet
4 . Swoonworthy love interest?
Jimmy Stewart is very Jimmy Stewart. You can tell that Tom Hanks studied him when it was his turn to play the role.
5 . Would I want to be friends with the main characters?
Sure.
6 . Does it show its age?
Yes. A little over the top in parts but still charming.
7 . Would I rewatch?
Yes. It was a good Christmastime movie.
8 . Favorite moments:
The verbal back and forth between the two is fast and furious. I also love the scene where he discovers who she is. (I love that version of the scene in You’ve Got Mail too.)
9 . Thoughts:
This was frothy and delightful with some poignant moments built in. The hero and heroine do get surprisingly mean with each other too, which made the enemies to lovers vibe feel authentic. If you’ve seen You’ve Got Mail, it’s worth giving this source material a watch. You will see what they used and what they changed, which was fun.
10 . Rating: 4.25 stars
On the bookshelf
This week, I reread these…
They are fantastic and inspired me to go find a journal. So I started looking through the journals I’ve had, saw how many were partially filled in, and decided this…
But I still started a new journal page anyway because…there’s always hope. ;)
This week on the RAD Reading podcast…
It’s that time of year, and we’re so here for it. Join us as we get all ourselves together for 2022. We’re sharing which planners we’re using to set goals and organize our year, and then we’re recommending our favorite self-improvement books for improving your home life, reducing distractions, getting control of your time, and boosting your creativity. We’ve got a long list! Plus, as always, we’ll be sharing our RAD Recs of the week.
Listen above or in your favorite podcast app:
Or add to your favorite podcast app with their “Add by URL” feature and paste this link there: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/rad-reading
That’s all for this week! Tell me what you remember about You’ve Got Mail and its ending. I need to know!
Are we all in the matrix, y’all?
Have a great weekend! Try not to get stuck in an alternate universe or timeloop!
Roni
*Book links are affiliate links (Amazon, Libro.fm, and/or Bookshop.org), which means I earn a small commission if you buy through my links. Also, I receive advanced listening copies of some audiobooks through Libro.fm’s Influencer program. However, all reviews and opinions are my own.
For some reason I think I remember the scene, too.
I know that depending on where one watches a movie, there are different cuts available. Like the two different endings of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. One is UK and the other is USA. Most of the time on TV, we see the UK version--the scene at Pemberley with all the candles, a la Sixteen Candles, has been cut--which ends with Mr. Bennet talking about being at his leisure... The USA version was considered too Hollywood, or something like that. Here's what's said on wikipedia:
Shortly before the North American release, the film was modified to include a final scene (not in the novel) of the married Darcys enjoying a romantic evening and passionate kiss at Pemberley[69][70] in an attempt to attract sentimental viewers;[17] this became a source of complaint for the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). After watching a preview of the film before its wide release, former JASNA president Elsa Solender commented, "It has nothing at all of Jane Austen in it, is inconsistent with the first two-thirds of the film, insults the audience with its banality and ought to be cut before release".[71] It had been removed from the British version after preview audiences found it unintentionally humorous;[72] however, later audiences complained that they were excluded from viewing this version, causing the film to be re-released in the UK and Ireland 10 weeks after the original UK premiere date.[73][74] The original British version ended with Mr Bennet's blessing upon Elizabeth and Darcy's union,[9] thus circumventing the last chapter in the novel, which summarises the lives of the Darcys and the other main characters over the next several years.[75]
The Good Old Summertime is also a movie inspired by Parfumerie, a 1936 play by Miklos Laszlo on which all of the movies have been based. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikl%C3%B3s_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3
I remember a scene of her walking through the big bookstore and going to the children's section, but I don't remember it as the ending (I've maybe watched this movie twice, though).
If you're into musicals, She Loves Me is the adaptation of Shop Around the Corner and PBS has it with a wonderful all-star Broadway recording of it - https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/she-loves-me-about-the-musical/7278/