russ (12/08/82)
I recently saw an interesting story involving Casablanca on the tube. Some hollywood type wanted to see if the current hollywood moguls could spot a classic. He took the script to Casablanca, changed the name to Everyone Comes to Rick's, and sent it out to a number of the people who read such things. Has anyone heard of this and remember the numbers? My own foggy recollection follows. approx 160 went out approx 80 returned because unsolicited scripts are not read. 33 spotted it as Casablanca. (* I remember this number.) approx 40-odd returned it with comments ranging from This is a good script but you need something like a Smokey and the Bandit if you're a new writer to Too much dialogue for the action. Russ Wolf floyd!peri!russ
rlr (12/13/82)
The original title of Casablanca *was* "Everyone Comes to Rick's". It was based
on a Broadway play of the same name, which the people involved in making the
movie thought was pretty bland. They totally rewrote it and changed the name
to Casablanca.
NOTE: "Everyone Comes to Rick's" was originally purchased by the studio as a
vehicle for... RONALD REAGAN and ANN SHERIDAN!!!!!!! Imagine this dialogue:
Peter Lorre: "Rick, you must give me the letters of transit!!!!!!"
Ronald Reagan: "No, I'm going to save them for the truly needy!!"
OR... imagine (if you will) Reagan uttering the immortal dialogue at the end of
the movie ("You and I don't amount to a hill of (jelly?)beans...", "You're part
of his work, you're what keeps him going"). The possibilities are endless.....