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Everybody Comes to Rick's
Nov. 24th, 2007 06:57 amIt was over twenty years ago. I was still at Pomona College, and I noticed among the titles for Casablanca, "Based on the play 'Everybody Comes to Ricks,' by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison."
I forget just how I learned they had a copy of the play at UCLA -- but I did, and I took an RTD bus (as it then was) from Glendale. Locals all the way, first down San Fernando Rd., then down Wilshire Blvd.
When I got there, I made a xerox copy of the entire play, and took it home. One of the first things I noticed was, UCLA's own copy was library bound, but clearly itself a second-generation copy, with a smudged, "IMPORTANT -- Return to Warner Bros. Story Library" on the title page. I snorted, then and now, because I'd already called the WB story library, only to be told they no longer had a copy. If it comes to that, I just checked UCLA's online library catalog, and they no longer list a copy, either.
Which segues into the mystery of the thing. While it's unlikely you've ever heard of the play, it's even less likely you've ever read it. Or seen it performed -- there's only been one production, retitled "Rick's Bar Casablanca," which ran at the Whitehall Theatre (now Trafalgar Studios) in London's West End, from 10 April 1991 to 11 May 1991.
I've heard reports of the play having been published in book format. Every few years, I check the Library of Congress' catalog. They've never had a listing for it. UW's library has access to a global inter-library database called Worldcat. It lists only three copies -- one at U Texas' Law School (of all places), one at Rutgers, and one at the New York Public Library. The Texas copy says it's derived from the (now missing) UCLA copy. The Rutgers and NYPL copies each say they're loose leaf (not bound), and published by "Wharton & Gabel"... Who turn out not to be a publishing house at all but a pair of Broadway producers, Carly Wharton and Martin Gabel, who represented Burnett and Alison for a time during the trip from play manuscript to Hollywood movie. At the time the play was bought by Warner Bros., the amount spent -- $20,000 -- was the highest ever paid for an unproduced play.
My copy is currently packed away because of the move. But this article, a reprint from the January issue of the Journal of Popular Film and Television matches many of my memories of the play, including lines that appear only in the play. ("At the end of the play, Rick gives one of the letters of transit to Laszlo and Lois and the other to the young Bulgarian couple, whereupon he himself is arrested by Strasser and Rinaldo, explaining to Luis his interest was merely in winning their bet, that he did it "for the folding money, Luis, for the folding money."") The article features interviews both Murray Burnett and Julius Epstein, one of the writers of the final screenplay.
I wanted to produce the play myself while at Claremont, specifically at Scripps as a location. There's a courtyard just outside the student union (aka, "The Motley to the View") at Scripps that I thought was perfect. Having seen Tamara, my idea was to stage the play environmentally, with The Motley aiding in seating people and serving snacks and drinks until the point, about two-thirds in, when the Prefect of Police shuts Rick's down -- whereupon tabs are settled and dishes cleared. In other words, you'd be seated as if you were at Rick's, and served accordingly, all while surrounded by architect Gordon Kaufmann's Moorish/Spanish courtyard, with a low-rise fountain burbling in the center.
I still keep my eyes out for a suitable location. Y'never'know...
I forget just how I learned they had a copy of the play at UCLA -- but I did, and I took an RTD bus (as it then was) from Glendale. Locals all the way, first down San Fernando Rd., then down Wilshire Blvd.
When I got there, I made a xerox copy of the entire play, and took it home. One of the first things I noticed was, UCLA's own copy was library bound, but clearly itself a second-generation copy, with a smudged, "IMPORTANT -- Return to Warner Bros. Story Library" on the title page. I snorted, then and now, because I'd already called the WB story library, only to be told they no longer had a copy. If it comes to that, I just checked UCLA's online library catalog, and they no longer list a copy, either.
Which segues into the mystery of the thing. While it's unlikely you've ever heard of the play, it's even less likely you've ever read it. Or seen it performed -- there's only been one production, retitled "Rick's Bar Casablanca," which ran at the Whitehall Theatre (now Trafalgar Studios) in London's West End, from 10 April 1991 to 11 May 1991.
I've heard reports of the play having been published in book format. Every few years, I check the Library of Congress' catalog. They've never had a listing for it. UW's library has access to a global inter-library database called Worldcat. It lists only three copies -- one at U Texas' Law School (of all places), one at Rutgers, and one at the New York Public Library. The Texas copy says it's derived from the (now missing) UCLA copy. The Rutgers and NYPL copies each say they're loose leaf (not bound), and published by "Wharton & Gabel"... Who turn out not to be a publishing house at all but a pair of Broadway producers, Carly Wharton and Martin Gabel, who represented Burnett and Alison for a time during the trip from play manuscript to Hollywood movie. At the time the play was bought by Warner Bros., the amount spent -- $20,000 -- was the highest ever paid for an unproduced play.
My copy is currently packed away because of the move. But this article, a reprint from the January issue of the Journal of Popular Film and Television matches many of my memories of the play, including lines that appear only in the play. ("At the end of the play, Rick gives one of the letters of transit to Laszlo and Lois and the other to the young Bulgarian couple, whereupon he himself is arrested by Strasser and Rinaldo, explaining to Luis his interest was merely in winning their bet, that he did it "for the folding money, Luis, for the folding money."") The article features interviews both Murray Burnett and Julius Epstein, one of the writers of the final screenplay.
I wanted to produce the play myself while at Claremont, specifically at Scripps as a location. There's a courtyard just outside the student union (aka, "The Motley to the View") at Scripps that I thought was perfect. Having seen Tamara, my idea was to stage the play environmentally, with The Motley aiding in seating people and serving snacks and drinks until the point, about two-thirds in, when the Prefect of Police shuts Rick's down -- whereupon tabs are settled and dishes cleared. In other words, you'd be seated as if you were at Rick's, and served accordingly, all while surrounded by architect Gordon Kaufmann's Moorish/Spanish courtyard, with a low-rise fountain burbling in the center.
I still keep my eyes out for a suitable location. Y'never'know...
