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Jack Finney – The Love Letter and more Time Travel

3/23/2015

19 Comments

 
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In an earlier blog post, I wrote before about how Richard Matheson’s, Somewhere in Time greatly influenced my own writing in the time travel genre. Well it’s time to meet the man who influenced Richard Matheson, and myself as well. Jack Finney’s best work was in time travel. But like Matheson, he started off writing horror stories. Finney’s most famous story was, The Body Snatchers, which was made into a number of movie versions, including, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and (1978), Body Snatchers (1998) and most recently, The Invasion (2007) with Nicole Kidman.


Jack Finney – Time and Again

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Even though Jack Finney was most famous for The Body Snatchers, he wrote many time travel stories and invented the idea of traveling in time without using a time machine, but rather concentration and self-hypnosis. This is the technique used by Matheson in Somewhere in Time and myself in Parallel Roads (Lost on Route 66) and the Time Pilgrim series. I added one element to mine and that is the use of water. Water is the one substance that has been here since the earth began, in all time periods. Not new water, the same water. Matheson was so influenced by Jack Finney that he named the college professor who describes the time travel technique, Finney in the movie version of Somewhere in Time.

Jack Finney’s most celebrated time travel story is, Time and Again. This 1970 novel is genius. His time traveler is a man named Simon Morley who lives in New York City and works for a secret government project. He ends up making his time jump from the famous Dakota apartment building because the structure would also exist in the past (1882). NOTE: Ten years after this book was published, John Lennon would live in this building and be killed in front of it.

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What made this book even more unique was the character, Simon Morley brought a camera with him and his so-called actual photos adorned the pages as proof of his journey. He travels to many sites in 1892 New York City and describes the feelings of seeing them in their newness. Some places he visits don’t even exist anymore. Time and Again is a great book and should be read by everyone.

It was long rumored that Robert Redford was going to make a film version, but that never happened. However, in 2012 Lionsgate studios optioned the film rights to the novel, with Doug Liman set to direct and produce it. (Fingers crossed)

One of Finney’s time travel stories did make it to film. It was a short story he wrote for The Saturday Evening Post in 1959 called The Love Letter. It was made into a 1998 Hallmark Hall of Fame television film, directed by Dan Curtis and starring Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

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Elizabeth Whitcomb (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is living near Boston in 1863 and writes a letter addressing it to just "Dearest". She expresses her desire and hope to someday find someone to love with her whole heart and mind; or as she wrote it, "to feel a love that burns like fire in the moonlight." She places the letter in a secret compartment of her desk. In the year 1998, Scott Corrigan (Campbell Scott) buys the desk at a second-hand furniture store. While re-conditioning it, he finds the secret compartment and Elizabeth's letter. Beyond reason, he ends up, writing her back and they correspond back and forth, gaining a strong love bond between them.

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It is a great time travel romance and uses the premise of two people writing back and forth across the time barrier via the same writing desk. This premise also influenced the 2006 film, The Lake House with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. This was a remake of the 2000 South Korean film called, Il Mare. It is also similar to the 2000 Movie, Frequency with Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel, where father and son talk to each other across time via a short hand radio.

Jack Finney wrote many other time travel short stories which were released in various compilation books such as, I Love Galesburg in the Springtime (1963), About Time (1986), and Three by Finney (1987).
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Shortly before he died in 1995, he finished the sequel to Time and Again, called, From Time to Time.

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Jack Finney died of pneumonia and emphysema in Greenbrae, California at the age of 84. He was one of the greatest time travel authors the world will ever know.



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19 Comments
Virginia Wright link
3/23/2015 04:41:11 pm

Oh, my goodness...I believe you have found a niche you didn't know you had my virtual brother. You write such interesting blog posts about time travel movies that it looks like I will be favoriting 'all' your blog posts so that I can come back to compile a list of time travel movies to watch. :-)

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Dennis Higgins link
3/23/2015 10:03:27 pm

Thank you, media sis. Nice to know they are enjoyed.

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Virginia Wright link
8/20/2015 09:28:52 am

😊

Patrick Faulk
5/26/2015 11:35:35 am

Just a slight correction: Si Morley doesn't "bring a camera with him" to 1892 New York - he borrows a camera from a fellow boarder. It is also worth mentioning that Si is a professional illustrator, so the book has many of "his" drawings portraying New York as he found it. (The photos and drawings are all real from the period, and are cleverly incorporated into the story as Si's own creations).

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Dennis Higgins link
5/29/2015 08:36:02 pm

Patrick,

You are correct. It's actually been a while since I read it. Thanks! I loved this book.

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" Mike" Anderson
5/13/2016 02:48:37 pm

I love Finney and Matheson. I treasure a letter I received from Mr. Matheson after I wrote telling him how much I enjoyed Bid Time Return, the book that became Somewhere in Time, and telling that after some research I had figured out Elise McKenna was based on the true original Peter Pan, Maude Adams.

Another time travel book I think you might enjoy ( if you can find it) is The Mirror by Marilys Milhiser. Like Time and Again, I keep waiting for the movie, but have never heard even a whisper about one.

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Dennis Higgins
5/14/2016 03:46:38 am

Hi Mike,

You are truly lucky to have a letter from Richard Matheson. He influenced me more than any other in my own writing. I have never heard of The Mirror. I'm still waiting for Robert Redford to make Time and Again. I don't suppose it will happen.

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Liz Brown
5/22/2017 01:02:10 pm

So happy to find this interesting blog! I am a huge Jack Finney fan, and keep the letter he wrote to me (in reply to mine) in my copy of "Time And Again", which is the edition pictured above with Si's face looming over the elevated railroad. Had not heard of "The Love Letter" until now, so will have to search for it. Will bookmark this site.

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Dennis Higgins
5/23/2017 04:16:38 am

Hi Liz, thank you for your comments. How lucky you are to have a letter by this great author. He influenced many time travel authors who came after him, including Richard Matheson and myself. In fact my last published book was a tribute, as I based my character indirectly on him. It's called The Writer's Apprentice. Thanks also for bookmarking my site.

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Maria Murad
11/15/2017 02:17:13 pm

I, too, am extremely fortunate to have a personal letter -- but mine is dated 1987 and is from Jack Finney himself. I keep it proudly in my dogeared copy of Time and Again, which I re-read every year. The letter is typed by him (with a couple of inked corrections) and sounds just like him. He mentions that he is working on a sequel and hopes I will like it as much as Time and Again. The sequel, of course, is From Time to Time, published in 1995, the year he died.

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Dennis Higgins
11/16/2017 04:16:09 am

Hi Maria, That is very lucky indeed. I imagine that letter is a cherished item. What a great writer he was. Thank you for sharing this with me.

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David Baltzer
1/31/2019 08:35:29 am

The Love Letter is a great story. I really enjoyed Time and Again and From Time to Time. I've read them twice and am about ready to read them again.

Here in Watkins Glen, New York, we have a Flatiron Building of the same shape that is even older than the one in Finney's books. Ours was built in 1874. It's just down the hill from my home. I walk past it all the time. It's not as large, but it's certainly a very memorable landmark. The original road race course here went right past it.

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DENNIS DE ROSE link
3/20/2019 11:05:17 pm

Howdy Dennis, I must say this is a fantastic blog. Somewhere in Time is probably my favorite movie and the music score is amazing. I whistle it often. I just finished reading Finney's time travel masterpieces and I am currently reading About Time. I just finished watching The Love Letter in YouTube.

I would love to read and review your time travel books... if you don't mind a review from an editor's POV of course. Thanks again for the blog and the info.

Dennis @ Moneysaver Editing

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Dennis Higgins - Author
3/21/2019 04:14:33 am

Hi Dennis,
Thank you for reading my blog post and commenting. Yes, Somewhere in Time is my absolute favorite. I hope you clicked the words in this blog thread to read that one as well.

I did not find About Time to have the same charm as Time and Again. He had become a bit more cynical. I also did not like his take on the evil Titanic.

I always would welcome a review. As an editor, you will see my writing isn't as strong as some authors, but I am a good story teller. That's my self-review. LOL!

If you want to write me directly, my email is: vwbeatles78@aol.com

-Dennis

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Dennis Higgins - Author
3/21/2019 04:12:50 am

Hi Dennis,
Thank you for reading my blog post and commenting. Yes, Somewhere in Time is my absolute favorite. I hope you clicked the words in this blog thread to read that one as well.

I did not find About Time to have the same charm as Time and Again. He had become a bit more cynical. I also did not like his take on the evil Titanic.

I always would welcome a review. As an editor, you will see my writing isn't as strong as some authors, but I am a good story teller. That's my self-review. LOL!

If you want to write me directly, my email is: vwbeatles78@aol.com

-Dennis

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Lawrence link
12/25/2020 05:01:54 pm

Thanks for writting

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Dennis Higgins - Author
12/26/2020 07:25:26 am

My pleasure, did you like it?
vwbeatles78@aol.com

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JV Vaca
6/12/2022 08:02:20 pm

I found your blog after watching The Love Letter. Jack Finney’s Time and Again is one of my favorite books — time to re-read it.
Have you read Finney’s Woodrow Wilson Dime? Also a good read, but Time and Again is his best, in my opinion.

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Dennis Higgins
6/13/2022 05:25:29 am

JV Vaca, yes, I have read all of Finney's books and stories, and I agree with you, Time and Again is his best. I didn't care for the sequel. Thanks for writing.

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