Saw “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan on the tv the other night, and was wondering - was there some sort of backstory there from an old movie? Tom Hanks’ grandfather and some of the characters who worked in Meg’s shop kept referring back to past events, about a generation or so ago. Was this just good script-writing, or is this movie sort of an update on an old movie from the 50s or something?
It’s a remake of The Shop Around the Corner.
The Shop Around the Corner was also remade in the 1950s as In the Good Old Summertime, with Judy Garland and Van Johnson.
So is Tom Hanks’ grandfather Jimmy Stewart?
So it would seem.
Link to Mr. Blue Sky’s quote.
BTW that quote doesn’t support the statement that the actor Tom Hanks is the grandson of the actor Jimmy Stewart. It only supports the idea that in the fictional world of the movie You’ve Got Mail, the character Joe Fox (played by actor Tom Hanks) is the grandson of the character Alfred Kralik (played by Jimmy Stewart) from The Shop Around the Corner.
It was obviously just a “wink” to the past. Joe Fox’s paternal grandfather obviously couldn’t have been named Kralik. His last name was Fox in the film as well.
Also, “The Shop Around The Corner” is set in Budapest, so it couldn’t actually be the same shop.
Phew! Glad we cleared that up! :rolleyes: