I don't think that anyone expected Casablanca to become as popular as it did- even when it was released it did well, but not that well, and maybe it was the great timing with Operation Torch and the Allies taking Casablanca that led it to explode and do so well at the Oscars. It is an excellent movie, though, but I'm confused about one thing- where are the Jews?
As a Jew who, myself, came to the United States only a year ago in 1942 against all the incredible odds, and after a long and difficult journey which included time in Casablanca, I found the film to be resonant, but it did get some details wrong. A few smaller things, to begin with- a cafe like Rick's wouldn't have been in a neighborhood near the airport- the airfield was five miles outside of town- and it would have mostly catered to Europeans, as there wasn't as much social mixing with native Moroccans as was shown in the film. There were also almost no Americans left in Casablanca once Vichy took it over, as one of the first things the consulate did was help get them (and other Americans throughout Morocco) out of the country, but interestingly enough, the only African-American in Casablanca was in fact named Sam! (He was a night watchman at the consulate, somewhere where I and my fellow refugees spent many a long day waiting in the hopes of getting a visa.) And speaking of visas, while visas signed by General Weygand (then part of the Vichy army) existed, a visa that was signed by General De Gaulle would have been useless or worse. A blank letter of transit or visa from someone like General Weygand, though... that would have been incredible for someone in our situation, and the intrigue surrounding them in the film, as well as the desperation to have them, rang very true.
But what was strange to me was that there were no Jews mentioned in the film. Of course, there were many refugees in Casablanca from all over Europe, but many of them were Jews due to the tremendous persecutions- and now we're hearing, ever more clearly, the murders- by Hitler's Germany. Perhaps the characters who seemed most likely to be Jewish were the German-speaking couple at the beginning of the film, practicing their broken English with the waiter. That reminded me greatly of myself. I came from Vienna, originally, and left after the Anschluss to Paris, after I saw and experienced the great humiliations and restrictions heaped upon our community by the invading Nazis. Things were difficult in Paris, but I was able to join a refugee community there- and we were doing well until Paris fell to the Nazis in 1940. Then we were set on a long and difficult trip to Casablanca. I was lucky and was able to take a boat from Marseilles; others had to sneak over the border into Spain, something which was incredibly difficult.
The boat from Marseilles was crowded and filthy, and we had to wait days before we were allowed to disembark- and then we were stuck. At first, we were in an internment camp at Ain Chok, where we were helped greatly by the local Moroccan Jewish community, though they themselves were quite poor. They deserve a great deal of praise for their assistance, especially as they themselves were dealing with antisemitic professional and educational restrictions by Vichy France. One of the most important figures for us was Hélène Cazès-Bénatar, who not only was the first female lawyer in Morocco but was the founder of a refugee aid organization that helped us with registering with the authorities, finding housing (including in the homes of local Jewish families!), and even some financial assistance, and they worked alongside the American consulate in terms of helping us with even such seemingly minor things as selling our jewelry and valuables to reputable dealers rather than scammers. Money was important in Casablanca- if you had enough of it, you could keep up your existence for a while, though you had few opportunities (in fact, the number of refugees working at Rick's would have been unusual- the authorities preferred that locals be employed, and we needed hard-to-get work permits to get jobs). Still, it was far better to be in that situation than to be stuck in one of the internment camps, which often included labor, such as building railroad tracks. There were thirty of these camps, twelve of which were specifically for Jews (many of the others were Spanish Republicans).
It was incredibly difficult to get a visa out of Casablanca, and in that regard, as I've said, the movie got it exactly right. People were desperate. The lines outside the US Consulate were everpresent and they did their best to help people not only get US visas (extremely difficult to do given immigration quotas) but even visas for other countries. People were so desperate that I saw them threatening to commit suicide if they couldn't get a visa- and I'm told that one man really did slit his throat after being denied. But even for those who could get that coveted visa (a tortuous process), it was difficult enough to get from Casablanca to Lisbon as the first leg of the trip, with some ship captains double- or even triple-booking spots on their boats and extorting women for sex in exchange for passage. It could cost almost twice as much to get a spot on a boat from Casablanca to Lisbon, sleeping on the deck or in a lifeboat, as it did to sail with a berth in a shared cabin and meals from Lisbon to New York.
While things were very difficult for refugees and those who helped us (Hélène Cazès-Bénatar had her organization officially dissolved by the Vichy government and had to continue it on her own, and was nearly interned), there was often sympathy for us among the local police, even as many did what they could to conform and keep their jobs. In fact, Renault is depicted as much less altruistic than his real life counterpart, Maurice Heviot, who was one of Hélène Cazès-Bénatar's staunchest supporters who worked tirelessly in various ways to undermine the Vichy regime. And, of course, this reminds me of the scene in which Victor Laszlo led everyone in a chorus of La Marseillaise. It was deeply resonant, though technically speaking it wasn't illegal to sing it in Vichy France (though it was in occupied France)- however, the lyrics were changed, and it was obligatory to sing a song in honor of General Petain immediately afterward. But indeed, the scene expressed many of the hopes of not only refugees but also many of the French in Morocco.
I was one of relatively few fortunate enough to be able to obtain an exit visa through the consulate and to leave Morocco even before the Allies invaded. I left Casablanca to Lisbon by boat and then sailed to New York, where I arrived just in time to see the new film. And I was confused- where were all the Jews? There were so many of us! And I've been told by people here that the people who made the movie were Jewish (the Warner Brothers), the people who wrote the screenplay were Jewish (the Epsteins), and a lot of the actors playing refugees were actually refugees themselves, and mostly even Jewish refugees! It is just so strange to me.
I take your criticism, and I understand it. But I just want to make sure that you know that my brothers and I, who own the studio which made this film, really do feel a tremendous connection to the plight of the Jews, and other refugees, who have been affected by the Nazi regime.
So that you understand- I have been ranked by Fortune Magazine as the second most powerful man in Hollywood. This does indeed bring me a great deal of power, but for a long while, this also meant keeping quiet about my Jewishness. This was true for many of the Jews in the studio system, at all parts of the food chain, from the most powerful executives to the lowliest workers. Why do you think that my name is Harry Warner rather than Hirsch Wonskolaser? That was changed when I was a child but it would have been necessary regardless in this industry, and many of the Jewish actors here in Hollywood go by non-Jewish stage names (would you have known that Edward G Robinson's name was actually Emanuel Goldenberg?). Even at the top of the profession, we studio bosses are barred from the local country clubs and have our own Jewish one. There is a natural reticence to feature Jews too heavily in films like this, and besides, right now it really does seem like Jews are among many other equivalent refugees escaping terrible situations, though extremely worrying news stories have been trickling in that hint of specifically Jewish atrocities.
Yet, of course, I recognize that as the second most powerful man in Hollywood I have a certain level of ability to exercise that power. Not all of my fellow Jewish studio owners do so- Louis B Mayer, for example, was hosting German executives at MGM as late as 1939, when Jack and I had already withdrawn our films from the German market back in 1934 in protest. And perhaps I don't do as much as Carl Laemmle, the retired owner of Universal Studios who works tirelessly to help refugees through the visa process and is saving hundreds of people with a great deal of money and effort, and the director Ernst Lubitsch, who co-created a fund to help refugees get visas and financial support.
But we have already strenuously protested Germany from nearly the beginning of the regime. We worked throughout the 1930s to prevent distribution of our films in Germany and Italy. We produced short films about America's fight against Germany back in WWI. My brother Jack and I lobbied both President Roosevelt and Ambassador Kennedy when we discovered in 1938 that the numbers of refugees allowed in Palestine would be limited severely, and the situation was so difficult and stressful that I was hospitalized with ulcers. Not long after, Jack signed an affidavit for our employee's sister who was stuck in Poland, allowing her to come to the US. We produced some of the first explicitly anti-Nazi films, such as Confessions of a Nazi Spy, back in 1939, long before the US was even in the war and when the censors were hounding us because we were supposed to remain neutral. (I was even called before Congress to affirm my American-ness due to these films, only months before we joined the war!) We kept on making anti-Nazi films, and doubled down even more once we were in the war, making war films exclusively. We made a film advocating for refugee quotas to be lifted, and I went to Alaska to make a film to attempt to convince the government to allow additional refugees to be admitted and settled there. In short, we have been consistent and dedicated top-down activists promoting Jewish welfare against the Nazis.
In fact, on the topic of Casablanca, we even donated $9000 to Hélène Cazès-Bénatar and her relief efforts. We know that she works with Jews and non-Jews alike in her efforts and works alongside both Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, and are happy to have the opportunity to give support to her noble efforts.
Could I have done more to specifically help? Certainly. But I am proud of what I did despite anti-Jewish sentiments that circulate in this country. And I agree with you, Casablanca is the most and least Jewish film. We felt constrained in terms of being able to be explicit about Jewish refugees and how they were affected by Nazi Germany. Yet we (particularly my brother Jack) were eager to make this film, and particularly about the use of actors who were, as you note, many of them Jewish and many of them refugees (and many of them both), to be able to create a resonant film that awakened people to the struggles that refugees (including Jewish refugees) faced. Would we have had the same effect centering Jews in the story? After all, few Jews were featured in any of our movies at all. It is an interesting question which it is impossible to truly answer.
I mean, I get that this is a joke, but what about the scene with the Leuchtags (sp?)? They were the older couple talking about traveling to America, and the husband asks his wife, "what watch?" to which she responds, "ten watch," to mean 10 o'clock. I get that they may not be called Jewish, but they represent the thousands of Europeans fleeing the Nazis from either Germany or elsewhere in Eastern Europe, so they could be a facsimile for Jewish expats?
I thought the young couple that Rick helps were Jewish? Jews were escaping Bulgaria during WW 2.
Are you friends with Varian Fry?
Were Sephardim already in Morocco able to make use of these escape routes too, or escape by going elsewhere in Africa?
I am so confused.
Casablanca is one of my favorite movies. Thank you so much for your information and insight!
I’m enjoying the heck out of these posts but I must say, it’s a bit naive of all these historical figures to expect accuracy from Hollywood 😊
oy vey