The Shop Around the Corner

ALL ABOARD!

One of best contemporary romantic comedies was the re-pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail.  I am a lover of bookstores and could spend hours just exploring the shelves of quaint little shops just like the one that Kathleen Kelly owned.  From the vintage bell atop the entry door, the classic linoleum floor tiles laid in a diagonal pattern, the storefront window being decorated for the holidays, and the reading corner where children gathered – all this added to the charm of the little bookstore that evoked warm, pleasant memories. Yet, as much as I loved the film, I kept thinking that there was something hauntingly familiar about it.  I remembered one of many nights watching TCM viewing a Jimmy Stewart film, The Shop Around the Corner.  I wondered how much of a coincidence it was that Meg Ryan’s bookstore bore the same name as the title of this film!   Come to find out, Stewart’s film was not an original; rather, it was an adaptation of a play written by Miklós Leitner (later to become László), who was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1903.   In 1938, with the inevitability of WWII beginning, László immigrated to the United States, settling in Yorkville, Manhattan, where he continued to write plays.  

Parfumerie was written in 1937 back in Budapest.  It is the story of a high end family run business for perfume, bath salts, lotions, cosmetics, etc. Several salespeople, a cashier, and one delivery/errand boy were employed by the owner, Mr. Hammerschmidt.  László interjected a bit of social commentary when a customer complained about the cost of her purchases and Hammerschmidt told her it was because of the government’s luxury tax.  László also mentioned the mandatory curfew for all businesses when a policeman reminded Hammerschmidt that he needed to close up shop now.  The remainder of the story revolved around the head salesman who answered an ad for a sort of pen pal for Box 1222.  Little did he realize the object of his affection was his fellow employee who treated him with great disdain!

Having read the play, I found that Parfumerie and The Shop around the Corner (1940) were similar, but with subtle differences.  Instead of Hammerschmidt, the owner was Hugo Matuschek.  The store in the play sold perfumes and cosmetics while the film dealt with leather goods, music boxes, and cigarette cases.  The head salesman in the play was Horvath, while Jimmy Stewart was Kralik.  The gigolo in the play was Kadar and renamed Vadas for the film.  The older employee was Sipos in the play and Pirovitch in the movie.  The love interest for Horvath was Amalia Balash and for Kralik it was Klara Novak.  Despite these little differences, the storyline between the two were practically the same.  

The casting for The Shop around the Corner was perfect with Frank Morgan giving a very good performance as the owner Matuschek.  He had just finished doing The Wizard of Oz the year before with Judy Garland.  

 How ironic, yet fitting, that the next film version of László’s play, In the Good Old Summertime,  should feature Ms. Garland in a musical adaptation as Veronica Fisher.  Van Johnson had the Jimmy Stewart character and the ever lovable S. Z. Sakall, owner of Oberkugen’s music store played well off each other.  The anonymous pen pal concept remained in this version too.

The play was resurrected for a Broadway musical in 1963 under the name She Loves Me.  The musical retained the two main characters, Georg Nowak and Amalia Balash along with their secret pen pal romance.   The play won several awards during its run.

It would be another 35 years before the public saw another reincarnation of the László play.  Writer and director, Nora Ephron decided to give the story a more contemporary twist with You’ve Got Mail.  The shop was now a bookstore – the darling one owned by Kathleen Kelly and her mother before her – named with the title of the first film adaptation of the play, “The Shop Around the Corner”.  Meg Ryan in the Kelly character is an unwitting online pen pal to her competitor Tom Hanks.  Ephron decided to reprise the 1940  film version for the first meeting of "Shopgirl" and "NY152" at the restaurant. 
 In both cases, Jimmy Stewart and Tom Hanks discover that the object of their affection is none other than the one person whom they can’t stand.  Both of them decide to have a little fun at both Klara and Kathleen’s expense. 

 








In the end, You’ve Got Mail has the same result of the boy getting the girl as all the prior versions - film, play, and musical.  Each of these productions  has paid tribute to the versatility of the Miklos László work, and I’d be hard pressed to say which was my favorite.  If you get a chance, do watch the original film version.  It has charm, wit and humor, much the same way the Hanks-Ryan version does.

P.S.  Thanks to my wonderful friend, Barb for assisting me with the photos!