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It always seems that August provides enough of a respite to catch up with Kathy’s Corner – if only to make... |
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“Victor’s daughter” is how Monika Henreid introduced herself more than three years ago when I greeted her at the door as “Madame Rick.”...
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LOST
IN TRANSLATION - CASABLANCA STYLE.
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Japanese
television pioneered "reality TV" with evening
programming content full of laughs, chatter and
wild costumes - the more pies in the face or falls
in water hazards the better. When told that a
Japanese crew would be coming by at 10pm Saturday
night to film some scenes at Rick's for a documentary
on Casablanca we were ready for anything. The
logistics scout knew the décor and musical ambience
of Rick's would appeal to the Japanese audience,
and our upstairs dining room with a framed film
poster in Japanese would be a great set. A welcome
sign in Japanese greeted the production team when
they arrived, and we left the rest up to them.
The following 90 minutes certainly kept us and
our clients entertained, with a group of 5 "talents"
including a young man dressed in Saudi Arabian
robes and headdress, a TV sushi chef attired in
a 40's dark suit and fedora (Bogart? Sinatra?
George Raft?) together with a well known singer
and two TV presenters. They made quite an impression
with their entrance, gathered around the piano
- the diva hummed along with "As Time Goes By"
- before heading upstairs to the table in the
film room. There they marveled at the resemblence
to the film in our architecture, decoration and
costumes. They ordered a round of drinks, the
diva sampling the house special, Sour Jdid, the
gangster a martini and the Saudi character a Margarita!!
All joined in a hearty "Kampai", downed their
drinks, wrapped up their final shots - with the
sushi chef ordering a quick hamburger - and they
were off. The documentary will be shown on Nippon-TV,
Channel 4 in Tokyo on August 21 at 3pm.
K.K.
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