In
followup to my post a few days ago about the constellation of dancing literary
stars known as You've Got Mail, Pride & Prejudice, and Much Ado About Nothing.....
....a
commenter wrote: "The whole scene outside the cafe before they meet is
taken almost verbatim from the original (The
Shop around the Corner with James Stewart)."
That
excellent response prompted me to respond as follows:
Thank
you, Anonymous, whoever you are, I watched the YouTube clip of that scene
outside the restaurant, and then in the restaurant, and you are of course 100%
correct, Ephron must have really enjoyed stealing that wonderful scene and
making it even better. I also read through the screenplay of The Shop Around the Corner, and could
find no direct evidence of intent to allude to either Pride & Prejudice or Much
Ado About Nothing. However, I did find the following lines which did
suggest to me that Much Ado About Nothing
may well have been in the back of the mind of the screenwriter:
Matuschek
(the boss): That was a nice party last night.
Kralik
(the hero): Yes, Mr. Matuschek.
Matuschek:
Yes, I had a lot of fun, didn't you?
Kralik:
Yes.
M:
I'm glad you enjoyed yourself so much. That little poem that you wrote in Mrs.
Matuschek's guest book......did you make that up yourself?
K:
It's sort of half and half.
M:
How do you mean?
K: HALF
SHAKESPEARE AND HALF ME. I just changed the lines around to suit the occasion.
I made that last line rhyme with Matuschek, that's all.
M:
Mrs. Matuschek liked it very much.
K:
Thank you.
M:
You made a fine impression on her. Mrs. Matuschek thinks a lot of you.
And
the above exchange turns out to be significant, because Matuschek later fires
Kralik out of jealousy of his wife, egged on by the Iago-like machinations of
another employee in the shop, whom Kralik, after he is rehired, ends up having
the pleasure of firing.
So
this all suggests to me a good awareness of Shakespeare, which makes it more
likely that the verbal war between Kralik and Klara Novak is at least in part
inspired by Beatrice and Benedick. After all, at the end of Much Ado About Nothing, we hear the
following:
Claudio:
And I'll be sworn upon't that he loves her; For here's a paper written in his
hand, A halting sonnet of his own pure brain, Fashion'd to Beatrice.
Hero:
And here's another Writ in my cousin's hand, stolen from her pocket, Containing
her affection unto Benedick.
Cheers,
ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode
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