If you like the movie You’ve Got Mail, then you should check out The Shop Around the Corner. It’s the original filmed in 1940 and starring Jimmy Stewart and Maureen Sullivan. As you watch both, you’ll see elements that are taken from the original and adapted to modern times. Klara and Alfred work in the same clothing store and despise each other. However, they are penpals without knowing it. And as a result of those letters fall in love with each other. And just like You’ve Got Mail, they have to discover that they really are the people they love.

I adore You’ve Got Mail — the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is great. And there are some lines that are just priceless.

Joe Fox: The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.

Kathleen Kelly: [writing to “NY152”] People are always saying that change is a good thing. But all they’re really saying is that something you didn’t want to happen at all… has happened. My store is closing this week. I own a store, did I ever tell you that? It’s a lovely store, and in a week it’ll be something really depressing, like a Baby Gap. Soon, it’ll be just a memory. In fact, someone, some foolish person, will probably think it’s a tribute to this city, the way it keeps changing on you, the way you can never count on it, or something. I know because that’s the sort of thing I’m always saying. But the truth is… I’m heartbroken. I feel as if a part of me has died, and my mother has died all over again, and no one can ever make it right.

[last lines]
Joe Fox: Don’t cry, Shopgirl. Don’t cry.
Kathleen Kelly: I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly.

Now everyone sigh with me. The sad thing is I have seen You’ve Got Mail so many times, I knew all the quotes IMBD had. Now, I haven’t see Shop Around the Corner that often, but anyone who loves You’ve Got Mail and Jimmy Stewart has to take the time.

See if this quote from Shop Around the Corner feels familar:
Klara Novak (Miss Novak): [In her letter to Alfred] : Oh, my Dear Friend, my heart was trembling as I walked into the post office, and there you were, lying in Box 237. I took you out of your envelope and read you, read you right there.

Kathleen Kelly: What will NY152 say today, I wonder. I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You’ve got mail. I hear nothing. Not even a sound on the streets of New York, just the beating of my own heart. I have mail. From you.

I love it 🙂  I hope you enjoy these movies, too!