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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

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author

See, I actually had a similar thought. Sometimes movies do test audiences. I saw this at the movies so I theorized maybe I and the other 35% who remember this ending saw that version, but there's no record of that ending anyway. It's maddening. And I didn't know that about Pride and Prejudice!

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The Good Old Summertime is the movie I always think of as the precursor to You've Got Mail. Judy Garland and Van Johnson and some of the great character actors of that era. Love S.Z. Sakall! I haven't watched that in years. Definitely due for a rewatch!

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author

Ooh, thanks for the rec! I'll have to check it out. :)

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It's also Liza Minelli's "acting" debut? She's the baby at the end of the movie.

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Love S.Z. Sakall! It's such a fantastic musical.

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Jan 7, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

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/

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author

Ooh, thanks, I'll have to check that out! And yes, there's a scene of her in the bookstore in the middle of the movie but that's not the scene I'm remembering. It's so strange.

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May 4Liked by Roni Loren

I definitely remember that scene with Kathleen in Fox Book children's section. I didn't hate the ending however. I took it as she was happy to be back in a children's book store and had her soulmate as well.

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Apr 15Liked by Roni Loren

I remember the bookstore ending too. I just finished the movie,after seeing it for the umpteenth time...what happened to Kathleen reading to children, in the children's section?

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author

It's a mystery. From everything I've been able to research, that ending never existed, even though many of us remember it.

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I remember she went to Fox books and helped someone in the children's section, but I also remember her reading there....I think....

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Jun 13, 2023Liked by Roni Loren

Mandella effect my @ss. The movie I watched ended in the rebuilt bookstore.

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author

Lol. We need someone to find an actual clip!

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Mar 1, 2023Liked by Roni Loren

I literally just watched this move for the first time in 20 years this week waiting for the ending where Meg Ryan is reading at the end in the Fox bookstore…and it never came. I am certain that we didn’t all just make up this memory together. It exists somewhere!

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author

We were all in an alternate universe apparently. 🤪

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Jan 8, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

Yup, definitely remember the ending with Meg Ryan’s character reading to children in a recreated version of her bookstore inside Fox Books. Not hallucinating! I used to have that movie in a VCR tape, now I wish I had not done away with it. This is crazy!

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author

Right? It's nuts!

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Jan 8, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

My only memory is of the movie ending in the park.

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author

Thanks! Yeah, it's so strange that one in three people (anecdotally) remember the different one.

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Jan 8, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

The ending you describe sounds sooooo familiar, but like you, I watched it recently and it wasn't there! I thought I had maybe just mis-remembered, it's comforting to know I'm not the only one who mis-remembered too!

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author

Nope, we're both in the matrix together, apparently! Lol.

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Jan 7, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

Have you seen the musical version of The Little Shop Around the Corner with Judy Garland and Van Johnson? Interesting that this device seems to be resurrected at intervals. I wonder when the next one will show up.

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author

I haven't seen it. I didn't know it existed! I'll have to check that out.

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Jan 7, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

I also remember seeing the bookstore ending. I don't recall Meg Ryan's character reading to children, but definitely an ending showing the big bookstore with a reading circle as if this wee a tacit acceptance that it was ok for the big store to displace the little one. I'm a devoted small bookstore patron. Even online I try to buy from small stores. It's the reason I've refused to see the film again. I think I saw it via dvd so it can't be that they took the scene off when it went to dvd. Very interesting.

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author

So weird! And yes, that's why the ending stuck with me too. It made me so mad, lol. But...no record of it.

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Jan 7, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

yessssssss!!!!! I absolutely remember that ending!!!!! I can picture Meg Ryan on a stool, slightly angled so that we see her left side as she's reading to children in Tom Hank's mega-bookstore. Then she looks over her left shoulder towards the camera as it pulls away.

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author

You were in the alternate universe with me! lol

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Jan 7, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

Ok, so a similar thing happened to me, but not with that movie. I SWEAR I watched a movie as a kid (and my brother has the same memory) about a genie named Shazam, starring the comedian Sinbad. But, apparently, that movie doesn't exist. It boggles my brain every time I think about it. I KNOW I'm not mistaking it for the stupid Shaq movie Kazaam, which is what the internet tries to sell me when I look into it! 🙄 The Mandela Effect is for real!!

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author

So weird! It makes you feel like you can't trust your own mind.

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Feb 14, 2022Liked by Roni Loren

He dressed in a genie-esque costume to host the movie Sinbad the Sailor once.

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