Now and Then - the movie

How can it be that even the "now" part of this movie is nostalgia? I first saw this movie, in which a bunch of 30-something women reminisce about the summer of 1970, on VHS tape over two decades ago. I had forgotten that library research was an important part of the plot.

Four old friends get together as one of their crew is set to give birth to her first child. They remember a summer when, as preteens, they worked to earn enough money to buy a tree-house from Sears. Exactly what kind of work they were doing is unclear. They only thing we know for sure is that they got $10 for painting a garage door. Everything else is a mystery. Perhaps they were babysitting, but in 1970 they were getting $1 per hour - at best.

Anyway, in addition to earning money for the tree-house the friends also spend some time trying to discover how Johnny Simms (aka "Dear Johnny") died. Intrigued by a headstone located in the local cemetery of a boy who perished in 1945 at the age of twelve, they set out to find how a child of their age could have passed at such a young age. Logically, they go to the public library to see if they can find newspaper articles, but they are informed that the newspapers from the period they need were destroyed in a fire. However, they are informed, the Greenfield library did have all the copies. "We can't ride our bikes all the way to Greenfield, can we?" asks one of the girls? Well, perhaps back in 1970 when parents just assumed their kids were all right unless they heard otherwise four young girls could ride 180 miles to go to the library but I can't imagine that the library would still be open when they arrived, and they'd never be able to return on the same day. We'll chalk this one up to "art doesn't have to imitate life".

Google maps screenshot indicating that it is a 14-hour bike ride from Shelby to Greenfield

When they do arrive at their destination they are disappointed to discover that someone has torn some of the pages out of the bound newspapers, just the pages they need to find out the truth of what happened to Dear Johnny. A true hazard of the pre-digital age. I must say I was impressed that they managed to use a photocopier without going to a librarian and explaining that they'd never used one before and therefore needed help. Apparently they did what I did the first time I used a library photocopier and simply read the directions. I really wish more people would do that.

Lagniappe:
As a little meta-bonus surprise this film had a clip from Love Story which itself is a library movie!