The Real Refugees of Casablanca

Radio Diaries

Radio Diaries & Radiotopia

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2023

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

It’s been 80 years since the release of the Hollywood classic, Casablanca. When the film opened in 1943—just a year after the U.S. joined World War II—audiences were thrilled by its love story. Humphrey Bogart stars as the cynical owner of Rick’s Café, a nightclub in Morocco. Ingrid Bergman plays his old flame Ilsa, who’s married to a dashing Resistance leader hunted by the Nazis.

Many of the characters at Rick’s Café are European refugees trying to make their way to America. What most viewers didn’t know is that those characters were played by actors who themselves had recently fled the Nazis. This casting choice lent the film an authenticity that helped deliver its message: that a war far from our borders was a war worth waging.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Last day is a show about the moments that change us.
0:03.0	I just don't think I will ever get used to this.
0:06.0	I'm Stephanie Little's Wax, and I have had one of these moments.
0:10.0	We all have.
0:11.0	So let's unpack the chaos that is our human existence together.
0:14.0	I don't believe things happen for a reason.
0:16.0	I don't believe the universe has a plan.
0:18.0	Each week, I sit down with a new guest
0:20.0	to explore happy, sad stories of transformation.
0:23.0	It's leaning far, far into the pain.
0:26.0	That's what it is.
0:27.0	Listen to last day wherever you get your podcasts.
0:31.0	Radio Tokyo.
0:34.0	From PRX.
0:36.0	From PRX's Radio Topia, this is Radio Diaries.
0:39.0	I'm Joe Richmond.
0:40.0	You must remember this.
0:43.0	A kiss is just a kiss.
0:46.0	A sigh is just a sigh.
0:51.0	It's been 80 years since the release of the Hollywood classic,
0:55.0	The Blanca.
0:56.0	The movie opened in 1943.
	...

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