Once Warner Brothers had decided early in 1942 to make Everybody Comes to Rick's into a film the studio professionals quickly got to work. Hal Wallis, Jack Warner's chief lieutenant, appointed himself as producer with Michael Curtiz as director. Four writers were hired to turn the play into a film script; they were brothers Julius and Philip Epstein, Casey Robinson and Howard Koch. Robinson had a reputation for writing good love scenes and Koch, a leading playwright, had one for dealing effectively with social and political themes - besides being a piece of entertainment the film was a consciously anti-Nazi tract. The principal writers, however, were the twin Epstein brothers. Tall, lanky and balding they were known around Hollywood simply as 'The Boys' and respected both for their ability to write sharp and snappy dialogue and for their talent as 'script doctors', able to turn a mediocre script into a good film. They also claimed never to work more than two hours a day.

One of the first decisions made by the studio was to alter the title of the original to Casablanca. This was a purely commercial decision: the studio was hoping to cash in on the success of a film made nearly three years previously with the title Algiers. The Epstein brothers also decided to make the heroine, an American woman called Lois in the play, into a foreign woman called Ilsa for the film. The hero, too, although he kept the same name, changed from a lawyer into an enigmatic figure with a slightly shady past. Apart from these alterations and rewriting the dialogue to make it more suitable for the cinema the Epsteins kept the basic storyline. There was some indecision, however, about how the story should end and this was to cause problems later on.

Although initial arrangements for making the film proceeded quickly and smoothly it seemed that casting it might present problems since many of the male actors, including top stars such as James Stewart and Clark Gable, had been called up into the armed services. The studio considered lesser stars such as George Raft and Ronald Reagan -although Reagan in later life claimed that he had never known anything about it - before finally alighting on Bogart, himself one of the lesser-known stars at that time. Bogart was available because he was too old for military service, having already served in the navy in World War One. In spite of his age he also played a part in World War Two, serving as a volunteer with the US Coastguard at weekends and when filming permitted.

Casting most other members of the cast proved easier that expected. There may have been a shortage of all-American actors in Hollywood at the time but the place was teeming with European actors who had fled from Nazi persecution and were desperate for work. Many of them had left behind successful and even distinguished careers in European theatre and cinema. As a result even some of the more minor roles in Casablanca were played by men and women who had recently been leading European performers. 'It was a marvellous cast,' said Julius Epstein, 'Absolutely blue-chip.'

Finding a foreign actress to play the part of Ilsa proved more difficult. Hedy Lamarr was approached but could not obtain release from MGM. Tamara Toumanova, ballet dancer, actress, and wife of Casey Robinson, one of the scriptwriters was considered but was thought to be insufficiently well-known. Others were contacted but without success until eventually the studio decided to try for Ingrid Bergman.

Bergman's career had languished somewhat since she had arrived in Hollywood three years earlier. She was under contract to David O. Selznick, famous producer of Gone with the Wind, and the Epstein brothers were sent to him to try and persuade him to let Bergman out on loan. Somewhat to their surprise, he agreed fairly readily and they had Bergman. She, at first, was not happy about the part. In a burst of candour to friends she said, 'In this film I'm supposed to be one of the most beautiful women in the world but everyone knows that I look like a milkmaid.'

Unbeknown to the two Epstein brothers the reason why Selznick was ready to let Bergman go was that he had heard a rumour that neutral Sweden was about to enter the war on the side of Nazi Germany and so was only too happy to unload a Swedish actress onto a rival studio. Fortunately for Warner Brothers the rumour proved to be groundless. The two brothers were also unaware that Hal Wallis, the producer, had for some time had a hunch that Bergman and Bogart together on screen would produce the elusive chemistry that was needed in what was principally a love story. And so it proved. The sort of instinct, one imagines, that had made Wallis one of the top directors and producers of his day.

With all the actors in place shooting could start. A nine-week schedule was planned. 'You have to remember,' said Epstein at a later date, 'that to us it was just another picture on the schedule. It was only towards the end of the shooting that we began to realise that we might have something special on our hands.'

One of the surprising things about the film is how much of it seemed to be made up as it went along. The plot remained more or less the same but incidents, actors' reactions and circumstances were utilised by the director and screenwriters as they happened. Bogart, for example, was a chess player. 'A fine one,' according to the Viennese Paul Henreid, a fellow cast member and also a chess player. Howard Koch, one of the screenwriters, discovered Bogart playing during a slack period in the shooting one day and used a chess match in the film to mirror the world of political and criminal intrigue in wartime Casablanca.

In another example Wallis, the producer, used the experiences and the collective emotion of the European refugee actors to bring about one of the most stirring scenes in the film, the massed singing in Rick's bar of the Marseillaise in defiance of the German officers who are present. One of the producer's notes written beforehand said that this had to be done 'with full orchestra.' Very stagey, very corny, very effective. On the day the technical crew realised during the singing that some of the actors had genuine tears in their eyes. A close-up in the film reveals one actress singing her heart out with tears streaming down her face. This was the French actress Madeleine Le Beau who had fled Paris with the actor Marcel Dalio, also in the film. Dalio's mother was still in Paris, hiding from the Gestapo in a cellar.

Dialogue was written only the day before and had to be learned by the actors overnight - common practice, apparently. Sometimes it was written and learned on the spot. This more or less extempore approach could cause problems, however, and one major problem arose towards the end of the nine week shooting schedule when it became clear that the film's ending had not been decided. The director, Curtiz, notoriously short-tempered at the best of times, became unbearable since he no longer knew which story he was supposed to be directing and tempers on the set began to fray in all directions. 'How can I play a scene properly,' demanded Bergman, 'When I don't know which man I'm supposed to be in love with?'

The problem was that in the original story Ilsa goes off with her husband, the political exile Victor Laszlo. Rick obtains safe conduct passes on the black market but instead of using them so that he and Ilsa for can escape from Casablanca he gives both passes to Ilsa so that she and Victor can escape and Victor can continue his fight against Nazism. Rick is still in love with Ilsa, as he had been in Paris before the war, and she is possibly still in love with him but Rick gives his love up to serve a greater cause, the fight against the Nazis, Ilsa and Laszlo leave from a dark, mist-shrouded airfield at night and Rick is left to an uncertain fate.

Hollywood convention, however, demanded that hero and heroine, Rick and Ilsa, Bogart and Bergman ended up with each other. The studio chiefs could not decide which path to follow. After many conferences the decision was finally taken to stick with the original ending. Much of its success, however, would depend on Bogart's ability to deliver what was almost a monologue covering four pages of script which had already been re-written three times. And which he had to learn overnight.

In the event Bogart did it perfectly. After the final cut was screened in the studio Warner Brothers guessed that they had a hit on their hands and this was confirmed by the public's reaction some weeks later.

The film made major stars of both Bogart and Bergman and brought to the forefront of the public's attention other stars such as Peter Lorre. With its combination of patriotic message and tear-jerking love story the film proved immensely popular, aided, it must be said, by Warner Brothers' high-octane publicity. General de Gaulle, leader of the French government in exile, asked for a copy to show to all Free French forces. Perhaps the publicity was not really necessary - the film suited the spirit of the times perfectly.

Some months later, in November, 1942, in an uncanny example of art prefiguring real life, British and American forces began their re-conquest of North Africa with troop landings at Algiers and Casablanca.

Based largely on Bogart by A M Sperber and Eric Lax, published Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1997. ISNB 0 297 81275 0

'After all the years of punishment you've taken, you must be thinking of giving up pantomime.'
Clive Anderson to Frank Bruno.

Play readings

Enid summarises our summer season of readings.

After all the excitement of the Wallingford, Henley and Shinfield One-Act Play Festivals, we decided to come back to earth with a session of play readings. I had some full-length plays on my "Possible for Production" list which I wanted to introduce to the company so we met in the Scout Hut on 24th July for the first: The Herbal Bed by Peter Whelan. It is based on actual events which occurred in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1613, when William Shakespeare's daughter Susanna was publicly accused of having a sexual liaison with a married neighbour and family friend. Mostly set in the herb garden of Susanna's house, it is a fascinating play with eight well-defined characters and I think that everyone enjoyed this one. It would, incidentally, make a splendid outdoor production (for the summer, of course!). We shall see...

The following week we read Don't Dress for Dinner, by Marc Comoletti, a farce with six characters. I had seen the West End production starring Mimi form 'Allo 'Allo (I can't remember her real name). It is an excellent farce, though complicated, and I think it would be great fun to do.

On 7th August we read Veronica's Room, by Ira Levin. There were so few of us because of holidays etc that I actually read one of the main parts myself! This is a thriller-chiller mystery and we all seemed to have had our spines thoroughly tingled. A wonderful challenge, we agreed, involving a cast of only four. (There were two women and four men at the reading.)

We read Deathtrap, also by Ira Levin, on 14th August. You may have seen the film version starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. An intriguing play with many plot twists, this one involves several tricky effects - again a great challenge for an enterprising group. Only six were there to read it, but, as with all the readings, those present used their immense talent and expertise to bring it all to life. We particularly enjoyed Brenda's reading of the psychic Helga ten Dorp (or was it Droop?). You had to be there!

By this time the dearth of readers prompted us to call off the 21st August reading. Please note that the Tolstoy will be carried over to the next session.

'Give me your pantomime; no gift could delight me more!'
Nero.

Next newsletter

All offerings to me, by email to , or by post to Paul Shave, Windrush, The Ridge, Cold Ash, Thatcham, RG18 9HX, 01635 866800. By 15th November please.

CP Calendar

'You should never hesitate to trade your cow for a handful of magic beans.'
Tom Robbins.

Back to the Compton Players home page