Casablanca: The Unproduced Play That Became a Hollywood Legend

Key facts

• Casablanca was based on the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.
• Warner Bros. acquired the play rights immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.
• The film premiered in late November 1942, coinciding with the Allied invasion of Casablanca led by Gen. George S. Patton.
• Casablanca won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 1942-43 ceremony.
• Humphrey Bogart's performance earned him a new contract making him Hollywood's highest-paid actor.
• The script was rewritten daily by a team including Julius and Philip Epstein and Howard Koch.
• Ingrid Bergman was unsure which character she would end up with until the finale was shot.
• The film's famous scene of singing "La Marseillaise" symbolizes resistance and Rick's shift from neutrality.
• Rick Blaine's character serves as an allegory for America's transition from isolationism to involvement in WWII.
• The film features many European émigré actors, including Peter Lorre, reflecting Hollywood's influx of talent.