‘Play It Again, Issam’
CASABLANCA, Morocco — Some things get better as time goes by. Rick’s Café may be one of them. Chris Kelley of Bath, England, stopped there one recent day for lunch and said he was impressed at how lovingly restored the old place was. It was just like the one in the movie “Casablanca.”
Like many visitors, Mr. Kelley was surprised to learn that Rick’s Café Américain never existed, except on a Hollywood movie lot, where the classic film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman was made. It was 1942, and the city was occupied by the Axis powers.
The owner of the real Rick’s Café in Casablanca is a former American diplomat, Kathy Kriger. “We wanted to make it everything it was in the movie, and then some,” she said.
A dozen white arches supported by columns frame the main dining room, under a three-story, octagonal cupola. Brass chandeliers, beaded table lamps and a baby grand piano tucked into an archway lend to the period-authentic mise- en-scène. Ms. Kriger can be found standing at the corner of the bar. A lot of the regulars call her “Madame Rick.”
Ms. Kriger was long a fan of “Casablanca,” which often makes critics’ lists of the 10 greatest movies of all time. She joined the State Department, which posted her to this Atlantic port. She was stunned to find there was no Rick’s.
Then came the September 11 attacks, and what she considered a backlash in America against Muslims. She decided a way to fight that would be to show that an American woman, alone in a Muslim society, could start a business like Rick’s Café. Ms. Kriger cashed in her retirement plan and found an old stately home in the Ancienne Medina, the old city.
Ms. Kriger was interviewing Moroccan candidates for a manager when she met Issam Chabaa. He mentioned he could play the piano. “I asked him to show me, and he sat down and played ‘As Time Goes By,’ ” Ms. Kriger said. “He was hired.” He has been with her since the opening 14 years ago. Hardly a week goes by without some diner asking him to “Play it again, Issam.”
One recent Friday, the clientele included Italians, Britons, Americans, Chinese, Colombians, Chileans and French. The Serbian ambassador to Morocco was by the roulette table, which is only for show. “I know the history,” said Sladjana Prica, “but still I prefer to believe this is the real place.”
Ms. Kriger, 72 and divorced, said she planned to spend the rest of her days in Rick’s Café. “This is my assisted living center,” she quipped.
Or as Bogart’s character, Rick Blaine, put it in the movie: “I’m going to die in Casablanca. It’s a good place for it.”