GoKawiilHow a shelved 1940 stage play became Casablanca after Pearl Harbor
Warner Bros. purchased the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's, written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, immediately following the Pearl Harbor attack and America's subsequent entry into World War II. The studio rushed it into production during summer 1942, casting Humphrey Bogart, previously known for gangster roles, in the lead alongside Ingrid Bergman. The film premiered in New York that November and went on to win three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.