Of all the classic Hollywood films, it's one of the best-known and most enduring — this week, Casablanca turns 75.
Amazingly, the people involved thought it would be just another Hollywood flick, one of hundreds the studios would release every year. But the film shot Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman to a new level of stardom and their lines in the film have been woven into the fabric of modern pop culture.
So to celebrate the anniversary, we've gathered 13 fascinating facts, from the pricey purchase of the original play to the movie's Canadian connection.
The story was purchased for $20,000
Playwright Murray Burnett co-created expat café owner Rick Blaine, piano player Sam, Czech resistance fighter Victor Lazlo and fresh-faced Ilsa Lund when he and his writing partner Joan Alison penned a play called ''Everybody Comes to Rick's" in 1940. Having watched the political change that was sweeping across Europe, the pair intended it as a cautionary tale about the perils of fascism.
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