DOTD For Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Of All The Gin Joints, In All The Towns, In All The World:…

Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Casablanca Cocktail inspired by the premier of the classic film Casablanca, often viewed over the Thanksgiving holiday!

For those who don’t know, Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. The supporting cast featured Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson.

Filmed and set during World War II, Casablanca focuses on American expat Rick Blaine (Bogart) who must choose between his love for a woman Ilsa (Bergman), and his efforts to help Ilsa and her husband Victor Laszlo (Henreid), an infamous Czech resistance leader, escape from the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca, so they can continue the fight against the Nazis.

The screenplay was based on the unproduced stage play Everybody Comes to Rick’s, written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. Warner Bros. story editor Irene Diamond convinced producer Hal Wallis to purchase the film rights to the play in January 1942. Brothers Julius and Philip Epstein were initially assigned to write the screenplay from the stage play script. But they left to work on Frank Capra‘s Why We Fight series early in 1942, despite the studio’s request. Writer Howard Koch was then assigned to the screenplay – until the Epstein brothers returned a month later. Principal photography began on May 25, 1942, and ended on August 3, 1942. Contrary to some stories, the film was shot entirely at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, with the exception of one sequence at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles.

Although Casablanca was an A-list film with established stars and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expected it to stand out among the many pictures produced by Hollywood that year. Casablanca was rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier. It had its world premiere on November 26, 1942, in New York City and was released nationally in the United States on January 23, 1943. The film’s box office receipts showed a solid, if unspectacular, success in its initial run.

Then, when awards season came, Casablanca exceeded expectations, going on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Curtiz was selected as Best Director, and the Epsteins and Koch were honored for Best Adapted Screenplay. Its reputation has gradually grown, to the point that its lead characters, memorable lines, and pervasive theme song have all become iconic, and it consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films in history.

In the inaugural class of 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected Casablanca as one of the first for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. Roger Ebert wrote about it, “If there is ever a time when they decide that some movies should be spelled with an upper-case M, Casablanca should be voted first on the list of Movies.”

The film’s copyright was renewed in 1970; it will enter the public domain in the U.S. and other countries with the rule of the shorter term on January 1, 2038.

As a salute to this legendary film, our Drink Of The Day today is the Casablanca Cocktail!

Ingredients

Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink: