We’ll Always Have Casablanca — The Book

In 2017, as the 75th year of Casablanca’s premier was celebrated, film historian Noah Isenberg gifted readers with this informative yet heartfelt tribute. FYI, the complete title of his book is We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie — and the title does say it all. His carefully researched work really does bring the interesting stories and backstage dramas of this iconic film to light.

Despite Casablanca’s enduring popularity and almost continuous showings, there were still a lot of things that even the most die-hard fans and film buffs might not have known about it.

Personally, I’ve always loved this movie. In fact, I love it so much I have to see it at least once or twice a year so I won’t go into Bogie withdrawal. I’m not the only one, either. According to Isenberg, Casablanca is the single most aired movie on TCM (Turner Classic Movies), with 125 showings as of 2015. That was over 3 years ago. So the number has undoubtedly gone up since then…Thank God.

One of the best presents I ever got was a special 2-DVD set of this movie, complete with the film and other features like the Looney Tunes take-off “Carrotblanca,” Lauren Bacall’s Tribute to Bogie, and the pilot of the 1955 TV series “Casablanca.” (Yeah, there really was a television show — two of them, in fact.) But now, a fascinating go-to book beckons as well.

Fortunately for readers, enough mysteries, anecdotes, and fun facts were still available after this movie’s 1942 premier so Isenberg could uncover and include them in his written work.

Think you know everything about Casablanca? Think again. Test your film knowledge with the following trivia quiz. Only the most obsessed film fanatic or dedicated historian will know all the answers. (Answers appear at the end of quiz).

1. Of the 14 thespians who got screen credits, how many were actually born in America?
a. 5
b. 1
c. 3
d. 8
e. 14

2. At the cafe La Belle Aurore, Ingrid Bergman delivers the hopelessly romantic line to Humphrey Bogart: “Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.” But that wasn’t her line in an earlier script. Which of the following was?

a. “Kiss me. Kiss me and help me forget Hitler. Then kiss me again so I’ll always remember you.”
b. “No matter what happens to us, we’ll always have Paris — and this moment.”
c. “Kiss me, Richard, and keep kissing me!”
d. “Hitler or no Hitler, kiss me!”
e. “Kiss me, Rick. Kiss me and help me forget this war. Then kiss me again so I’ll always remember you.”

3. After filming was completed, studio heads wanted to reshoot the familiar ending we all know and love. According to Isenberg, who deserved credit for preventing this artistic catastrophe?

a. Claude Rains
b. Humphrey Bogart
c. Producer Hal Wallis
d. Movie columnist/insider Hedda Hopper
e. Peter Lorre

4. Which actress NEVER was even considered to play Ilsa?

a. Hedy Lamarr
b. Marlene Dietrich
c. Ann Sheridan
d. Michele Morgan
e. Paulette Goddard

5. How many take-offs or alternative endings of Casablanca were featured on the cartoon sitcom “The Simpsons?”

a. 3
b. 2
c. 1
d. 4
e. 5

6. Which of the following lines had to be removed from the script because the censorship staff at The Production Code Administration branded them “unacceptable sex suggestive”?

a. “It used to take a villa at Cannes, or the very least, a string of pearls — Now all I ask is an exit visa.”
b. “How extravagant you are — throwing away women like that. Some day they may be rationed.”
c. “Well, you enjoy war. I enjoy women. We are both very good at our jobs.”
d. “And it wouldn’t hurt to have the other one leave her address and phone number.”
e. “The girl will be released in the morning.”

7. Who said, “I feel about Casablanca that it has a life of its own. There is something mystical about it. It seems to have filled a need, a need that was there before the film, a need that the film filled.”

a. Author Umberto Eco
b. Film Critic Roger Ebert
c. Actress Isabella Rossellini
d. Film Critic Pauline Kael
e. Actress Ingrid Bergman

8. During the 1955-56 TV season, “Casablanca” became an hour-long series that lasted for seven months. Which actor played the role of Rick Blaine?

a. Richard Boone
b. Jock Mahoney
c. Charles McGraw
d. Dan Seymour
e. Craig Stevens

9. Once more in 1983, “Casablanca” returned as a TV series with David Soul as Rick Blaine. How long did this reincarnation last?

a. only 1 episode
b. just 5 episodes
c. 1 season
d. 1 very short season
e. it never aired
f. 15 minutes

10. Bonus Question: What was so unusual about Ingrid Bergman’s demise?

ANSWERS
1. C—3. Only 3 actors were born in America: leading man Humphrey Bogart who played Rick Blaine; all-around entertainer and performer Dooley Wilson who played Sam; and, supporting actress Joy Page — Jack Warner’s step-daughter — who played Bulgarian refugee Annina Brandel.
2. D—Hitler or no Hitler, kiss me!
Sounds like the original dialogue had less romance and way more champagne in it than the revised version.

3. A—Claude Rains.
After filming was over, Claude Rains took off for his farm in Pennsylvania and was unavailable for any retakes that would have inevitably required his character’s appearance.

4. Both B— Marlene Dietrich and E—Paulette Goddard.
Although Hal Wallis was impressed with Michele Morgan’s screen test for the part, he declared in his autobiography that Ingrid Bergman was “the only actress with the luminous quality, the warmth and tenderness necessary for the role.” Amen to that. Casablanca without Ingrid Bergman would have been like cinematic winter without the snow.

5. A—3.
In 1998, the finale of Season 9 had an alternate ending with “Natural Born Kissers.” In 2008, there was the spoof “Apocalypse Cow.” Then in 2016, “The Burns Cage” was featured.

6. All of them. If B sounds familiar, that’s because most of the line remained in the script with only the word “scarce” substituted for “rationed.”

7. E—Actress Ingrid Bergman. And what an ethereal heartbreaker that woman was!

8. C—Charles McGraw. You might remember this actor as one of the villains in the 1946 movie hit “The Killers.” He soon became typecast as either generic bad guy or gruff but well-meaning detective. I did catch his performance in the TV pilot “Casablanca” because it was featured on my 2-disc set. The nicest thing I can say about his portrayal of the complex, world-weary Rick Blaine is that it was devoid of complexity and world-weariness. As for the stinkeroo plan Warner Brothers had to transform their iconic film into a weekly TV show? One word: Stinkeroo.

9. B—Just 5 episodes. Although it always felt like Hutch without the Starsky, it actually lasted for 5 episodes. But it did get an Emmy Award for Cinematography.

10. BONUS QUESTION: The day of her birth AND death both fell on the same day: August 29th. She was born on August 29th, 1915, and also died on August 29th, 1982. (That wasn’t in the book. I just threw it in the quiz to mess with you.)