{"id":4952,"date":"2026-08-25T07:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/?p=4952"},"modified":"2026-08-25T07:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:55:19","slug":"the-little-detail-that-wags-the-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/?p=4952","title":{"rendered":"The Little Detail that Wags the Big Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Steve Rockwell<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1940 Murray Burnett, co-wrote Everybody Comes to Rick’s<\/em> with Joan Alison. The play, though not produced, served as a model for Rick’s Caf\u00e9 in the story that became Casablanca<\/em>. Rick’s Caf\u00e9 had not been a complete screenwriter invention. A few years prior, Burnett and his wife had stumbled on a caf\u00e9 in the south of France. The experience stayed with them. Its mixture of refugees, expatriates, and assorted adventurers, mingling in the shadow of an impending war, had made the moment unforgettable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Humphrey
Humphrey Bogart<\/strong> and Dooley Wilson<\/strong>, as Sam, the pianist and singer at Rick’s Caf\u00e9 Am\u00e9ricain in Casablanca<\/em> (1942). Having relatively little dialogue, Sam, nevertheless becomes one of the film’s most important supporting characters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When released in 1942, Casablanca<\/em> became one of the most influential films in Hollywood history. Somehow, popular entertainment, political drama, and romance, molded into something durable that withstood the test of time. Casablanca<\/em> became art without announcing itself as “art.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A signature cocktail at Hotel Eggers in Gothenburg, Sweden at its historic American Bar, dating from 1884<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

La Belle Aurore, the caf\u00e9 that Burnett experienced in 1938 in the south of France, may have been just one of many potential models for Rick’s Caf\u00e9. It has been suggested that the American Bar at Hotel Eggers in Gothenburg, Sweden, might also have fit the bill. The hotel itself was built in 1859, making it one of the oldest continuously-operating hotels in Europe. Their American Bar was completed in 1884, predating the fictional Rick’s Caf\u00e9 Am\u00e9ricain of Casablanca<\/em> by nearly 60 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Conrad
Conrad Veidt<\/strong> plays Major Heinrich Strasser, the senior German officer sent to Casablanca in Casablanca<\/em> (1942)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1942, Hotel Eggers hosted a similar cast of wartime characters. Already, by the 1890s, besides its American Bar and restaurant, they had the Moriska Caf\u00e9 \u2013 Moorish, Moroccan atmosphere of their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(to be continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Steve Rockwell In 1940 Murray Burnett, co-wrote Everybody Comes to Rick’s with Joan Alison. The play, though not produced, served as a model for Rick’s Caf\u00e9 in the story that became Casablanca. Rick’s Caf\u00e9 had not been a complete screenwriter invention. A few years prior, Burnett and his wife had stumbled on a caf\u00e9 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Little Detail that Wags the Big Picture”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4952"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4986,"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4952\/revisions\/4986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}