Everybody Comes to Rick's
Encyclopedia
Everybody Comes to Rick's is an unpublished play which was the basis for the movie Casablanca
with Humphrey Bogart
and Ingrid Bergman
. It was written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. It was produced at the Whitehall Theatre in London in 1991.
to help Jewish relatives there, for the Nazis had occupied the city in March that year. Later, the couple visited a small town in the south of France, where they went to a nightclub overlooking the Mediterranean Sea
. There a black pianist played jazz for a crowd of French, Nazis, and refugees. Burnett returned to the USA via UK and stayed a few weeks in Bournemouth - it is at this time that the first diary notes that became the basis of the play were written. Burnett's experiences in Vienna inspired him to write a play in the summer of 1940 about a cynical bar owner of the Cafe Americain in Casablanca, Morocco
named Rick. Eventually, Rick helps an idealistic Czech resistance fighter escape with the woman Rick loves.
Major overhauls were made to the characters of Rick and Lois Meredith (Ilsa, in the movie). In the play, both lead characters had undesirable and unadmirable personalities. Much less refined than Humphrey Bogart's
Rick, the play's character called Ilsa a "bitch" and Sam's equivalent a "bastard" among other things. Lois Meredith, Rick's love interest and an American was changed to Norwegian and renamed Ilsa Lund, and her conspicuously sexual demeanor was toned down completely, making her at the same time, much more compatible with the Hays code, and a more sympathetic character. Additionally the treatment of Sam, who in the play is known as 'The Rabbit' is merely a stereotype of the era which is in direct contrast to the role of confidant that he played in the film.
The inclusion of "As Time Goes By
" came from Burnett and Alison's play. The song, from 1931, had been Burnett's favorite when he was a student at Cornell
. "As Time Goes By," written by Herman Hupfeld, was first performed by Frances Williams in the musical comedy, Everybody's Welcome, which played on Broadway from October 1931 to February 1932. The café La Belle Aurore in Paris, where some of the film's most famous scenes take place, was based on the French nightclub that Murray and his first wife (Frances) had visited in 1938, where a black piano player inspired the character of Sam, played by Dooley Wilson
. The real nightclub was on Cap Ferrat, on the French Riviera, and was also called Cafe Americain, as in the film.
Character Comparison in Play v. Film
for best screenplay in 1943, very little recognition was given to Burnett and Alison. Even the leading actors seemed unaware of Everybody Comes to Rick's. In 1974, Ingrid Bergman said in an interview: "Casablanca based on a play? No, I don't think so ... for we didn't know how the movie would end." A year earlier, Howard Koch wrote in New York Magazine that Everybody Comes to Rick's provided an exotic locale and a character named Rick who ran a café, but little in the way of a story adaptable to the screen. Burnett unsuccessfully sued for $6.5 million. By 1991, Howard Koch, who was 89 years old, admitted in a letter to the Los Angeles Times
that Murray's and Alison's complaints had been justified.
Burnett and Alison also sued Warner Brothers, when the television series based on Casablanca aired in 1983, but the courts decided that they had signed away all rights to their work. Finally, when they threatened not to renew their agreement with Warner Brothers when it would expire in 1997, they received $100,000 and the right to produce the original play.
played Rick.
in 1911. He was a high school teacher before becoming a playwright. His second wife was actress Adrienne Bayan. They met when she had a role in Hickory Street. Burnett was the uncle of documentary director Barbara Kopple
. Burnett died on September 23, 1997 in New York City.
Burnett also wrote the play Hickory Street, based on his experiences as a teacher, which opened on Broadway in 1944. He wrote, produced, and directed many radio plays, including the 1952 ABC
series Café Istanbul with Marlene Dietrich
as Mlle. Madou. This show was transformed into Time for Love which ran for 38 episodes on CBS Radio in 1953.
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
with Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
and Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
. It was written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. It was produced at the Whitehall Theatre in London in 1991.
Origin
In the summer of 1938, while on vacation from his job as English teacher at a vocational school, Murray and his wife Frances travelled to occupied ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
to help Jewish relatives there, for the Nazis had occupied the city in March that year. Later, the couple visited a small town in the south of France, where they went to a nightclub overlooking the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. There a black pianist played jazz for a crowd of French, Nazis, and refugees. Burnett returned to the USA via UK and stayed a few weeks in Bournemouth - it is at this time that the first diary notes that became the basis of the play were written. Burnett's experiences in Vienna inspired him to write a play in the summer of 1940 about a cynical bar owner of the Cafe Americain in Casablanca, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
named Rick. Eventually, Rick helps an idealistic Czech resistance fighter escape with the woman Rick loves.
Casablanca
When Burnett and Alison failed to find a Broadway producer, they sold the play to Warner Brothers for $20,000. Warner Brothers first handed the script to the screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein, and changed the title to Casablanca. While some dialogue, particularly short quips, from the original play were used verbatim in the film, for the most part, the play merely acts as an outline of the movie, organizing major plot points and character interactions.Major overhauls were made to the characters of Rick and Lois Meredith (Ilsa, in the movie). In the play, both lead characters had undesirable and unadmirable personalities. Much less refined than Humphrey Bogart's
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
Rick, the play's character called Ilsa a "bitch" and Sam's equivalent a "bastard" among other things. Lois Meredith, Rick's love interest and an American was changed to Norwegian and renamed Ilsa Lund, and her conspicuously sexual demeanor was toned down completely, making her at the same time, much more compatible with the Hays code, and a more sympathetic character. Additionally the treatment of Sam, who in the play is known as 'The Rabbit' is merely a stereotype of the era which is in direct contrast to the role of confidant that he played in the film.
The inclusion of "As Time Goes By
As Time Goes By (song)
"As Time Goes By" is a song written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931. It became most famous in 1942 when it was sung by the character Sam in the movie Casablanca. The song was voted #2 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs special, commemorating the best songs in film. It was used as a fanfare for Warner...
" came from Burnett and Alison's play. The song, from 1931, had been Burnett's favorite when he was a student at Cornell
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. "As Time Goes By," written by Herman Hupfeld, was first performed by Frances Williams in the musical comedy, Everybody's Welcome, which played on Broadway from October 1931 to February 1932. The café La Belle Aurore in Paris, where some of the film's most famous scenes take place, was based on the French nightclub that Murray and his first wife (Frances) had visited in 1938, where a black piano player inspired the character of Sam, played by Dooley Wilson
Dooley Wilson
Arthur "Dooley" Wilson was an American actor and singer. He was born in Tyler, Texas, and is remembered as piano-player "Sam" who sings "As Time Goes By" at the request of Ilsa Lund in the 1942 film, Casablanca - the Sam in the famously misremembered line "Play it again, Sam" -- a phrase which...
. The real nightclub was on Cap Ferrat, on the French Riviera, and was also called Cafe Americain, as in the film.
Character Comparison in Play v. Film
| Name in Play | Name in Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rick Blaine | Rick Blaine | |
| Lois Meredith | Ilsa Lund | changed nationality (USA-> Norway) |
| Luis Rinaldo | Louis Renault | |
| The 'Rabbit' | Sam | |
| Victor Laszlo | Victor Laszlo | |
| Senor Martinez | Signor Ferrari | nationality (changed to Italian) |
| Guillermo Ugarte | Ugarte | nationality (changed to Italian) |
Recognition
The film's opening credits say 'Screen Play by...From a Play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison". However, after the success of Casablanca, Warner Brothers and the three screenwriters downplayed the role of Everybody Comes to Rick's in creating the movie. Although Koch and the Epsteins received an Academy AwardAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for best screenplay in 1943, very little recognition was given to Burnett and Alison. Even the leading actors seemed unaware of Everybody Comes to Rick's. In 1974, Ingrid Bergman said in an interview: "Casablanca based on a play? No, I don't think so ... for we didn't know how the movie would end." A year earlier, Howard Koch wrote in New York Magazine that Everybody Comes to Rick's provided an exotic locale and a character named Rick who ran a café, but little in the way of a story adaptable to the screen. Burnett unsuccessfully sued for $6.5 million. By 1991, Howard Koch, who was 89 years old, admitted in a letter to the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
that Murray's and Alison's complaints had been justified.
Burnett and Alison also sued Warner Brothers, when the television series based on Casablanca aired in 1983, but the courts decided that they had signed away all rights to their work. Finally, when they threatened not to renew their agreement with Warner Brothers when it would expire in 1997, they received $100,000 and the right to produce the original play.
Stage production
In 1991 Everybody Comes to Rick's was produced by David Kelsey at the Whitehall Theatre in London. Leslie GranthamLeslie Grantham
Leslie Michael Grantham is an English actor best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the soap opera EastEnders. He is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal...
played Rick.
Murray Burnett
Murray Burnett was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1911. He was a high school teacher before becoming a playwright. His second wife was actress Adrienne Bayan. They met when she had a role in Hickory Street. Burnett was the uncle of documentary director Barbara Kopple
Barbara Kopple
Barbara Kopple is an American film director, primarily known for her work in documentary film.-Biography:She grew up in Scarsdale, New York, the daughter of a textile executive and studied psychology at Northeastern University, after which she worked with the Maysles Brothers.Kopple has won two...
. Burnett died on September 23, 1997 in New York City.
Burnett also wrote the play Hickory Street, based on his experiences as a teacher, which opened on Broadway in 1944. He wrote, produced, and directed many radio plays, including the 1952 ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
series Café Istanbul with Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
as Mlle. Madou. This show was transformed into Time for Love which ran for 38 episodes on CBS Radio in 1953.
External links
- Murray Burnett at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Wordpress Martin N. Kriegl, CASABLANCA A comparison between the classic motion picture and its stage play source, Wordpress, 2003. Retrieved 6 November 2008.