‘CASABLANCA’ CONVERSATIONS: Henreid, Epstein and Koch on How Backstage Chaos Shaped a Classic

My article on the 45th anniversary of “Casablanca.”

“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.”

“We’ll always have Paris.”

“I remember every detail. The Germans wore gray, you wore blue.”

“If we stop breathing, we’ll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die.”

“Just because you despise me, you are the only one I trust.”

“Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.”

“Here’s looking at you, kid.”

“Round up the usual suspects.”

“Louis, I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

By Gregory N. Joseph

YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS: Behind-the-scenes myths about the film classic “Casablanca” are so prevalent even among casual admirers of the picture and have become so much a part of cinema lore that there is confusion, and disagreement, even among those who were (really) there.

To preface: Set against the backdrop of the terrifyingly uncertain early days of World War II, the story revolves around American expatriate Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart with a quintessential trend-setting roguishness still emulated to this day, mostly unsuccessfully.

Rick, who seems not to care which side his bread is buttered on (the better to survive, as well as to make a profit), operates a nightclub in the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca, Morocco, when former love Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) winds up in his midst with her husband, Czech resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), as they are trying to escape so hubby can continue fighting the Nazis.

Rick is torn in a torn city.

Will he or won’t he — and either way, what will he do about Ilsa? And then, of course, Victor?

Various tormented denizens of the war-riven city pop in and out of the plot like so many poppy seeds in a delicious bun, both flavoring but complicating matters (a pantheon of quirky characters marvelously portrayed to the hilt by, among others, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson).

While the storyline with all of its iconic idiosyncrasies is cemented in audiences’ minds now, not to mention cinematic history— indeed quoted dialogue from the film has reached nearly biblical proportions among cinephiles — the production was a bit play-as-you-go, even by the sometimes quicksilver nature of Hollywood.

The film made its debut on Nov. 26, 1942, at New York’s Hollywood Theater. Shooting had begun a scant six months before, on May 25th. Without — and this is important — a finished script.

In an interview on Dec. 3, 1987, to mark the picture’s 45th anniversary, Julius J. Epstein, one of the three credited writers on the film along with his late brother Philip and Howard E. Koch, admitted that amid the swirl of Hollywood hucksterism, fan adoration and the passage of time, even he had become uncertain about many of the facts, not the least of which was who was responsible for some of the film’s most memorable and iconic lines.

“To tell you the truth,” he said, “It’s almost impossible to tell who wrote what now!

“I read somewhere that (producer) Hal B. Wallis said he wrote the movie’s last line, when Bogart says to Claude Rains (a Vichy minion who ultimately helps Bergman and Henreid’s characters escape the Nazis): ‘I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’

“And that could be. We originally had Rains saying that line, then Bogart finishing with, “Yeah, but don’t forget you owe me 10,000 francs.’ We writers thought that last was more typical of him, but it was changed and it may have been Hal who changed it.

“At the time there was much confusion because the studio had a deadline, 52 films were released each year, and this was just one of them. We were like any other film, we took 30 days to film, maybe a couple of days more, and that was it.”

It really wasn’t that simple.

The Epstein brothers were also under contract to work with Frank Capra on his “Why We Fight” World War II propaganda films for the U.S. government, and had to leave “Casablanca” for a while. Koch was then brought in. Eventually the Epsteins returned and the three found themselves working together, not always harmoniously, as they desperately tried to finish the script, tying together the many thematic threads.

But Wallis sensed something was missing: the romantic angle — the spine of the story. He turned to Casey Robinson, a Warners writer specializing in movie romances, having worked with Bette Davis on popular melodramas like “Dark Victory” (1939), “All This, and Heaven Too” (1940) and “Now Voyager” (1942). Although uncredited as a screenwriter on “Casablanca,” Robinson added the flashbacks of Rick and Ilsa in Paris when their relationship blossomed, as well as touches like underscoring pianist Dooley Wilson’s character and inserting strains of the song “As Time Goes By.” He was even involved in helping figure out the film’s complicated ending.

And there was more.

Bergman was under contract to David O. Selznick (“Gone With the Wind”), and the Epsteins had to make a pitch to him about loaning out the actress for “Casablanca” without having the final script. Julius Epstein recalled that Selznick was eating soup and never looked up, but eventually seemed taken by mention of the story’s sultry noir qualities.

Meanwhile, Henreid, under contract to Warners after having done well at RKO, was spreading his wings as a successful leading man — he had acted opposite Davis in Warners’ “Now, Voyager” — and had to be convinced to share top billing on “Casablanca.”

Henreid, in an interview, insisted that under the terms of his contract his character was required to wind up with the leading lady — Bergman — something that, if he’s correct, apparently even the writers (and she) didn’t know. “I was the star,” he stated emphatically, all these years later.

“There were no two ways about it,” Henreid claimed. “That was written in the contract and signed by Warner Brothers. (Producer) Hal Wallis said so! He was the boss!

“You musn’t forget, they were very unsure of Bogart at that point. The film that brought him ‘Casablanca’ was ‘High Sierra,’ and the star of ‘High Sierra’ was not Bogart — it was Ida Lupino.”

And he added — in a rather un-Victorish way, if we’re honest: “If Bergman had ended up with Bogart, it would have been just another stinkin’ melodrama.”

As it turns out, the screenwriters agreed, noting that the movie was being made as World War II was raging and that personal sacrifice especially resonated with audiences at that moment in history.

Even the title of the film seemed plucked out of a hat —the 1938 film “Algiers” had done well, and “Casablanca” sounded equally exotic, so that moniker was chosen. Then, lo and behold, the real Casablanca was in the news.

The uncertainties, last-minute tinkering, and just plain ironic luck worked in favor of “Casablanca, unwittingly tapping into tensions that engulfed America and the world. It turned out to be the quintessential “small” film that could, a landmark of movie-making that is still studied and analyzed.

It was nominated for a whopping eight Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Cinematography/Black and White, Film Editing, and Scoring ), winning three (Picture, Director for Michael Curtiz, and Screenplay for the Epsteins and Koch).

And that’s not all. Not by a long shot.

In 1989, “Casablanca” was one of the first 25 films chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” (some would argue, persuasivly, that the film hit the trifecta with all three). In 2005, TIME magazine named it one of the 100 greatest films of the last 80 years, and in 2006, the Writers Guild of America/West voted its screenplay the best ever.

Listed on numerous “best” lists by the American Film Institute, when “Casablanca” reached the ripe age of 80 in 2022, Variety ranked it as the 16th-greatest movie of all time.

But Hollywood has bestowed perhaps its greatest honor of all on “Casablanca” — through imitation, parody, and reference, in everything from Neil Simon’s “The Cheap Detective” (1978) to Woody Allen’s “Play it Again, Sam” (1972) to “The Usual Suspects” (1995) to “La La Land” (2016). Even cartoons have gotten into the act (Bugs Bunny’s 1995 “Carrotblanca” — et tu, Warner Bros?).

Want more?

In 2004, retired U.S. diplomat and “Casablanca” fan extraordinaire Kathy Kriger transformed a run-down home into a re-creation of Rick’s nightclub, Rick’s Cafe Americain. It’s located in — yup — Morocco (at 248 Boulevard Sour Jdid, Place du Jardin Public, if you’re keeping score). Although Ms. Kriger passed away a few years ago, the club reportedly is still going strong. The name of the company that owns the place: The Usual Suspects. Of course.

Not bad for “just another movie” that seemed to clump along, to hear those around at the time tell it, a kind of workmanlike Whack-a-Mole on the Warner Bros. 1940's Hollywood assembly line that skidded across the finish line.

Said Epstein: “Looking back, the picture seemed to have a life of its own. Whatever happened to it seemed to be for the good. It had an almost mystical feel to it.”

He and Koch explained that two endings for the film were considered, a part of film lore that is actually true.

The first, the one that was used, had Bergman flying to Lisbon with her husband (Henreid), leaving Bogart behind. The second had her staying with Bogart. Contrary to Hollywood legend, only the first ending was actually shot.

“Bergman was the one who was worried about which ending we would use,” Epstein said. “It didn’t bother Bogart. Nobody looked at it as a classic film, and he made four or five pictures a year anyway.

“Bergman came up to us on the set and asked, ‘How can I play love scenes without knowing which man I end up with? Which one will it be?’ And we told her, ‘As soon as we know, we’ll let you know.’” (Years later, in a television interview, Bergman was asked which man she herself would have elected to stay with at movie’s end. “I would have stayed with Humphrey,” she intoned with a mischievous smile.)

Still the same old story: a fight for love and glory. In true Hollywood fashion, in front of — and behind — the camera.

But as time goes by, “Casablanca” has continued its grip on audiences as a timeless film that, though dated, refuses to grow old.

Paul Henreid’s elegant letter to me on his personal stationery arranging our interview.

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman go over the well-worn “Casablanca” script with director Michael Curtiz.

The Epstein brothers, Julius and Philip, along with Howard E. Koch, won screenwriting Oscars for “Casablanca.”

Although he received no screenwriting credit on “Casablanca,” Casey Robinson’s input and scenes were crucial to the film, particularly the Paris flashbacks of the blossoming romance between Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). His specialty was movie romances.

The background of the final scene in “Casablanca,” which shows a Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior plane with personnel working on it, was staged using little-person extras and a proportionate cardboard plane. Fog was used to mask the model’s shortcomings.

Cinematographer Arthur Edeson behind the camera during the filming of one of the most iconic scenes in “Casablanca,” and in fact, all of motion picture history, emblematic of the Golden Age of Hollywood itself. Edeson’s career spanned the silents and the talkies, and he was one of the founders of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). He also filmed such landmark movies as “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924), “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930), “Frankenstein” (1931), “The Invisible Man” (1933) — Edeson shot three of director James Whale’s four famous horror films — and “The Maltese Falcon” (1941). His work included the western “The Big Trail” (1930) starring John Wayne in his first starring role, photographed by Edeson in the 70mm widescreen process known as “Fox Grandeur.” Edeson was nominated for three Oscars — for “Casablanca,” “In Old Arizona” (1929), the first sound film to be shot outside a studio, and “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

The song “As Time Goes By,” featured in the 1942 film classic “Casablanca,” was listed Number 2 on the American Film Institute’s “100 years … 100 Songs,” commemorating the best songs in movies, second only to “Over the Rainbow” sung by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939). “As Time Goes By” also was included by National Public Radio in its “NPR 100” list of the most important musical works of the 20th century. The song wasn’t written for the film, however, but was introduced by composer Herman Hupfeld in the Broadway musical “Everybody’s Welcome,” which opened on Oct. 31, 1931, and sung in the show by Frances Williams. It was first recorded that same year, 1931, by Rudy Vallee. Dooley Wilson (“Sam”) sang it in the film, but was unable to make a commercial recording of it to coincide with the movie’s release because of a musicians’ strike, so RCA Victor reissued Vallee’s record and it became a Number 1 hit 11 years after it was initially released. The song went on to become Warner Bros.’ calling-card tune, among other things used in trailers, with the studios’s logo, and referenced in many films and television shows. It’s also the theme song of the British comedy series “As Time Goes By.” The song has been covered by numerous artists.

In 2004, retired U.S. diplomat and “Casablanca” fan extraordinaire Kathy Kriger transformed a run-down home in Morocco into a re-creation of Rick’s nightclub, Rick’s Cafe Americain. Although Ms. Kriger passed away several years ago, the place is still going strong, run by a company named, appropriately enough, The Usual Suspects.

In 2014, the miniature golden yellow piano on which Ilsa (Ingred Bergman) asks Sam (Dooley Wilson) to play “As Times Goes By” sold at auction for a record $3.4 million. The piano is important in the “Casablanca” storyline not only for that, but because minutes into the movie, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) hides his letters of transit, his way out of Morocco, in the instrument. The letters were auctioned separately for $118,750. Interestingly, Wilson didn’t actually play the piano in the film — it was overdubbed.

The cream-colored uniform and medals worn by Claude Rains as Captain Renault in “Casablanca” sold at auction for $55,000 in 2011.

Production still of the “Casablanca” set interior of Rick’s nightclub, Rick’s Cafe Americain — with Rick (Humphrey Bogart) in the background.

Sydney Greenstreet, Humphrey Bogart and, at right, character actor Ollie Prickett in a scene from “Casablanca.” Prickett (his real name and the one he preferred, as opposed to his screen moniker, Oliver Blake) had his own interesting story to tell. A screen fixture from the earliest days of Hollywood through its glory years, he also performed at the iconic Pasadena Playhouse, which his brother, Charles, co-founded and served as general manager, and where Charles’ wife, Maudie, herself a familiar movie presence, was a resident character actress. Ollie later became production manager for the venerable Greek Theatre Association, which embraced the Greek Theatre, Biltmore Theatre, and Huntington Hartford Theatre in Los Angeles, and its San Francisco affiliates, the Geary and Curran theaters.

The film’s opening in New York. Note the banner hanging below the marquee: “Welcome Fighting French to ‘Casablanca.’” The serendipitous tie to real-life world events as they unfolded impacted the film’s release date and became a key selling point with audiences.

Caricature of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca” by Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003).