1940 Playwright Murray Burnett collaborates with Joan Allison on Everybody Comes to Rick's. The play is never published.
December 8, 1941 Everybody Comes to Rick's arrives at the Warner Bros. Story Department.
December 31, 1941 Producer Hal Wallis officially changes the title to CASABLANCA.
January 5, 1942  In a press release given to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers announces the stars of the upcoming movie to be called CASABLANCA. Ronald Reagan is slated to play Rick, Ann Sheridan as Ilsa, and Dennis Morgan as Victor Laszlo.
January 12, 1942  Burnett and Allison sign a contract with Warner Brothers for the rights to Everybody Comes to Rick's.
January - March, 1942 Screentests for the leading roles take place.
April 20, 1942 Dooley Wilson tests for the role of Sam.
April 24, 1942 Warner Bros. makes a deal to borrow Ingrid Bergman from MGM.
May 1, 1942 Paul Henreid agrees to play the role of Victor Laszlo in return for third billing above the title.
May 3, 1942 An announcement is made that Dooley Wilson will play the role of Sam.
May 13, 1942 CASABLANCA is now officially Production No. 410 at the Warner Brothers lot.
May 22, 1942 Conrad Veidt signs on to play Major Strasser.
May 25, 1942 Shooting begins with the Paris flashback sequence.
May 26, 1942 Claude Rains signs on to play Captain Renault and Peter Lorre agrees to play Ugarte.
May 28, 1942 Shooting moves to Soundstage 8 which contains the set of Rick's Cafe.
June 15, 1942 S.Z. Sakall accepts the role of Carl, the head waiter.
June 25, 1942 Paul Henreid reports to the set of CASABLANCA after finishing NOW VOYAGER.
July 11, 1942 Max Steiner is assigned to write the score.
August 1, 1942 Humphrey Bogart completes shooting his scenes.
August 3, 1942 Last official day of shooting.
August 21, 1942 Bogart is called back to add the final line, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
September 22, 1942 CASABLANCA is previewed in Huntington Park and Pasadena, California.
November 8, 1942 Allied forces land in North Africa.
November 26, 1942 CASABLANCA premieres at the Hollywood Theatre in New York.
January 23, 1943 CASABLANCA opens in Los Angeles and in general release throughout the country.
April 26, 1943  Bogart, Bergman and Henreid perform a radio adaptation of the movie on CBS radio.
January 24, 1944 The Lux Radio Theater presents a radio adaptation with Hedy Lamarr, John Loder, Alan Ladd, and Ernest Whitman. The program is introduced by Cecil B. DeMille.
March 3, 1944 On the night of The Academy Awards CASABLANCA wins Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
September 27, 1955 The first television series based on the movie premieres. It runs for one season.
November 1977 CASABLANCA ranks third as the greatest American films of all time in an American Film Institute poll. GONE WITH THE WIND is first, CITIZEN KANE is second.
1983 CASABLANCA is named by the British Film Institute as the best film of all time.
April 1983  The second series based on the movie appears on NBC. It runs three weeks.
November 1987-- An unauthorized version of CASABLANCA is shown at the Rio Film Festival. It ends with Ilsa staying with Rick in Casablanca.
November 1988 Turner's colorized version of CASABLANCA appears on his TBS Superstation. Thousands of film fans protest.
September 1989 The National Film Registry announces their list of the top twenty-five movies in history, CASABLANCA is among them.
1992 Turner releases the 50th anniversary edition of CASABLANCA. It is in Black & White.
February 1996 "Vincent's CASABLANCA HomePage" debuts on the Internet.
June 1998 The American Film Institute announces its "100 Greatest American Films." CASABLANCA finishes in second place behind CITIZEN KANE.
2002 CASABLANCA tops the American Film Institute's list of the one hundred greatest love stories of all time in their program called "100 Years, 100 Passions."
2008 The CASABLANCA Ultimate Edition Blu-ray comes out to high critical reviews.
2017 CASABLANCA is 75 years old. To celebrate this landmark, Fathom Events will show the film in theaters around the country on November 12 and November 15.

 

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