Play it again, Sam.
Posted on 05/09/2004 12:12:10 AM PDT by gg188
There's a new gin joint in town, and now everybody comes to Rick's.
In homage to the 1942 movie, Casablanca, a former US diplomat spent two years of work and $US1 million ($A1.39 million) dollars in investments to bring Rick's Cafe to Morocco's largest city.
The elegant nightclub where Humphrey Bogart pined for Ingrid Bergman was just a set on a Warner Bros. sound stage in California - the film crew never got anywhere near North Africa.
The new Rick's has the same warm atmosphere as the Hollywood original. It's a white villa near the port, with palm trees flanking the door. Inside, there are arched passageways and traditional hanging lamps of coloured glass.
But you won't find Sam at the keyboard, because these days, the pianist's called Issam. And there's not a single photo of Bogart on the walls.
"Rick's Cafe is no longer just a film, it's not a museum, it's a reality," said founder Kathy Kriger, sipping a glass of Moroccan cabernet. Nearby, waiters in traditional fez caps and wide-legged pants serve customers at candlelit tables.
The elegant restaurant debuted in March, and it's open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. A typical meal costs about $US30 ($A42). Pianist Issam Chabaa, a native of the capital city of Rabat, plays standards from the 1940s and 1950s. On Sunday nights, Kriger serves popcorn and chili con carne and screens Casablanca.
Kriger, 57, says she watched the classic film hundreds of times to study the atmosphere, lighting and lines.
"I'm surprised my tape didn't wear out," she said.
Kriger left her job as a commercial attache at the US consulate in Casablanca when she was supposed to transfer to Tokyo in 2002. She'd become too attached to her new home.
She scouted for locations and decided to open in Casablanca's medina, a bustling labyrinth of narrow streets and shops. It took months to get the various authorisations, including a liquor licence - no small task in this mostly Muslim nation.
Kriger hoped to bring a bit of the American dream to the North African kingdom, which stretches from the Mediterranean to the Sahara. And she hoped to be a voice of American-Moroccan dialogue.
"After September 11, I realised that maybe certain authentic American values were no longer understood in the Muslim world," Kriger said. "I wanted to show how Americans can be: open, determined and persevering."
Many Moroccans have become deeply resentful of US policies, especially after the Iraq war.
The Moroccan government, however, is one of the Muslim world's closest US allies, and the United States has routinely praised Morocco for its democratic changes under King Mohammed VI, who took the throne after the death of his father, King Hassan II, in 1999.
Laszlo: I slept very well.
Renault: That's strange. Nobody is supposed to sleep well in Casablanca.
Leni
Play it again, Sam.
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“Oh, Victor, please don’t go to the Underground meeting tonight.”
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