在《卡薩布蘭卡》咖啡館追憶舊時光

CASABLANCA, Morocco — Some things get better as time goes by. Rick’s Café may be one of them.

摩洛哥卡薩布蘭卡——隨着時間的推移，有些事情會變得更好。裏克咖啡館(Rick's Café)便是其中之一。

Chris Kelley of Bath, England, stopped there one recent day for lunch on his way to a kite-surfing vacation in southern Morocco, and said he was impressed at how lovingly restored the old place was. It was just like the one in the movie “Casablanca.”

最近的一天，在一次前往摩洛哥南部的風箏衝浪度假之行時，英國巴斯的克里斯·凱利(Chris Kelley)在那裏吃了一次午餐，並且表示這個老地方的精心修復給他留下了深刻印象。跟電影《卡薩布蘭卡》(Casablanca)裏的那個咖啡館一模一樣。

Like many visitors here, Kelley was surprised to learn that Rick’s Café Américain never existed, except on a Hollywood movie lot, where the classic film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman was made.

像這裏的許多客人一樣，凱利驚訝地發現，裏克美式咖啡館除了在好萊塢一個片場以外，從未真的存在過。亨弗萊·鮑嘉(Humphrey Bogart)和英格麗·褒曼(Ingrid Bergman)主演的那部經典影片就是在那個片場中誕生的。

It was 1942, the world was at war, and the eponymous city was occupied by the Axis powers. Rick’s was just the figment of a writer’s imagination.

那是1942年，世界還處於戰爭中，這座與影片齊名的城市當時爲軸心國所佔領。裏克只是編劇想象出來的虛構人物。

The owner and founder of the real Rick’s Café in Casablanca is a former American diplomat, Kathy Kriger.

卡薩布蘭卡現實中的裏克咖啡館背後的老闆和創始人是一位名叫凱西·克里格(Kathy Kriger)的前美國外交官。

“We wanted to make it everything it was in the movie, and then some,” she said.

“我們想完全還原電影裏的場景，而且還不止於此，”她說。

A dozen white arches supported by columns frame the main dining room, under a three-story, octagonal cupola, and green leather bumpers grace the curved bar top. Palms in the corners, hanging brass chandeliers, beaded table lamps and a baby grand piano tucked into an archway lend to the period-authentic mise-en-scène.

12個由圓柱支撐起來的白色拱門構成了主用餐區的框架，上方是三層高、八角形的穹頂，綠色的皮質鑲邊裝飾着曲面吧檯。角落的棕櫚樹，掛在上方的黃銅吊燈，放在桌上的串珠檯燈和一架嚴絲合縫地放入拱門的袖珍三角鋼琴，讓人覺得彷彿置身於當年的場景中。

Not coincidentally, Kriger on most nights can be found standing at the corner of the bar, the waiters under instructions to refill her wineglass with water until 11 p.m., when a Moroccan Val d’Argan Blanc is allowed. A lot of the regulars call her “Madame Rick.”

無獨有偶，在很多個晚上，你都能在酒吧角落找到站在那裏的克里格，遵照指示的侍者會不斷爲她的酒杯倒滿水，直至晚上11點，才能喝上一杯摩洛哥瓦乾白葡萄酒。許多常客都稱她爲“裏克女士”。

The incarnation of Rick’s Café has nothing to do with World War II, but a lot to do with the modern-day war on terrorism, and Kriger’s own small role in it. It also has much to say about the enduring power of a great work of art to affect destinies in real life.

裏克咖啡館的化爲現實和“二戰”毫無干系，但卻與當代對恐怖主義的戰爭，以及克里格個人在其中的微小作用有所關聯。對於偉大藝術作品經久不衰的力量，影響現實生活中的個人命運，它也很有發言權。

Like a lot of Americans, Kriger was long a fan of “Casablanca,” which often makes critics’ lists of the 10 greatest movies of all time. She first saw it in 1974 at a movie festival in her hometown, Portland, Oregon.

像許多美國人一樣，克里格一直以來都是《卡薩布蘭卡》的忠實影迷，這部影片也常常登上影評人有史以來十大最佳電影的榜單。她第一次觀看這部電影時是1974年，當時她在自己的家鄉俄勒岡州波特蘭。

“At the end, everyone stood up and applauded,” she said.

“影片最後，每個人都站起來鼓掌了，”她說。

Kriger later joined the State Department, which posted her as a commercial attaché to this Atlantic coastal port, Morocco’s business center and biggest city.

克里格後來在國務院就職，後者將她以商務參贊的身份派駐到了這個大西洋沿海港口，這裏是摩洛哥的商業中心，也是該國最大的城市。

She was stunned to discover there was no Rick’s Café here, which seemed to her a missed marketing opportunity.

當她發現這裏沒有裏克咖啡館後感到十分震驚，在她看來，這是一個被錯失掉的營銷機會。

Then came the Sept. 11 attacks, and what she considered a backlash in America against Muslims. She wanted to fight that backlash, she said.

然後9·11襲擊就來了，還有在她看來在美國出現的對穆斯林的反彈。她想對抗這種反彈，她說。

She decided that a good way would be to show that an American woman, operating alone in a Muslim society, could start a business like Rick’s Café, to act as an exemplar of tolerance, a refuge in a troubled world.

於是她決定，達成這個目的的一個好方法，是展示出一名單獨在穆斯林社會工作生活的女性，也能做像裏克咖啡館這樣的生意，以其作爲社會包容的典範、一個問題重重世界的避難所。

Kriger cashed in her 401(k) plan and found a wreck of an old stately home in the Ancienne Medina, the old city of Casablanca, which was then and is still a shabby, litter-strewn place.

克里格把自己的養老金都提了出來，在卡薩布蘭卡老城老麥地那找到了一座古老、宏偉的破舊住宅，那裏當時是，今天也依舊是一個破爛不堪，垃圾遍地的地方。

The house did not look like much, but it faced the port, had two royal palm trees flanking its front door, and inside was an architectural gem in the rough. She enlisted noted interior designer Bill Willis to help restore it, and went to a Moroccan bank for a loan.

房子看起來很不起眼，但它面對着港口，前門的兩側種着皇家棕櫚樹，裏面則是一個未經雕琢的建築寶石。她招募了著名室內設計師比爾·威利斯(Bill Willis)幫忙重建，然後去一家摩洛哥銀行貸了一筆款。

The loan wasn’t enough, so Kriger began emailing friends in the States with a pitch that began something like: “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, this is the one.”

貸款的數目不夠，於是克里格開始給美國的朋友發郵件，裏面的提議是這麼開頭的：“在全世界所有小鎮裏的杜松子酒酒吧中，這就是你要找的那一家了。”

Many of them responded to the idea of starting a real Rick’s Café. She referred to her fundraising effort as “rounding up the usual suspects,” which inspired the name of the corporate entity that would own the club.

他們中許多人對開一家真實的裏克咖啡館作出了積極迴應。她將自己的籌款行動稱作“圍捕非常嫌犯”，這也成爲了擁有該俱樂部的公司實體名稱的來源。

It was 2002 when she was fundraising, amid much suspicion in America about the finances of Islamic extremists, so she proactively went to the Treasury Department to explain why people were wiring money to the Usual Suspects Société Anonyme in Casablanca.

2002年，當她籌款時，美國對伊斯蘭極端分子的財務狀況非常懷疑，因此她主動前往財政部，解釋人們爲什麼將錢匯給卡薩布蘭卡的非常嫌犯匿名社團(Usual Suspect Société Anonyme)。

Even so, one of her investors, in Lincoln, Nebraska, received a visit from the local FBI office to question his investment, she said.

她說，即便如此，她在內布拉斯加州林肯市的一位投資者還是被當地聯邦調查局辦公室訪問，質疑他的這筆投資。

Kriger was interviewing Moroccan candidates for a manager when she met Issam Chabaa. He mentioned he could play the piano. “I asked him to show me, and he sat down and played ‘As Time Goes By,'” Kriger said. “He was hired.”

爲了招募經理，克里格面試了幾位摩洛哥候選人，並且遇到了伊薩姆·查巴(Issam Chabaa)。他提到自己會彈鋼琴。 “我讓他給我彈一下，他坐下來，彈起了《時光流逝》(As Times Goes By)，”克里格說。“他被錄用了。”

He has been with her since the opening 14 years ago.

自14年前開業以來，他一直和她在一起。

Chabaa still plays jazz piano several nights a week, as well as managing the club’s 60 employees. Hardly a week goes by without some diner asking him to “Play it again, Issam.”

查巴現在管理着俱樂部的60名員工，每個星期，他仍然會有幾個晚上在這裏演奏爵士鋼琴。每個星期總會有幾個用餐者對他說，“再來一次，伊薩姆。”

Chabaa does play “that song” a lot, but he’s a proud man. When customers say, “Play it again, Sam,” he corrects them: “My name is Issam.”

查巴確實經常演奏“那首歌”，但他是個驕傲的人。如果客人說，“再來一次，山姆，”他總會糾正他們：“我的名字是伊薩姆。”

(Historical note: “Play it again, Sam,” is never actually uttered in the movie; Ingrid Bergman’s character, Ilsa, says, “Play it once, Sam, for old time’s sake.”)

（關於歷史的腳註：電影裏其實沒有“再來一次，山姆”這句臺詞；英格麗·褒曼(Ingrid Bergman)飾演的伊爾莎[Ilsa]說的是，“彈一次吧，山姆，爲了舊時光。”）

What Kriger feels she has created, she said, is a place that can showcase what is great about America and Americans, when the country is once again on a protectionist, isolationist bent.

克里格認爲，當美國再次出現保護主義和孤立主義傾向時，她創造了一個可以展現美國和美國人偉大之處的地方。

“Casablanca” was, first of all, a propaganda movie, at a time when Americans were debating whether to send troops to North Africa and later to Europe. Kriger’s own politics are hinted at in the restaurant’s menu, which includes dishes like “Obama Family Chili con Carne.” It is surprisingly spicy.

《卡薩布蘭卡》首先是一部政治宣傳片，當時美國人正在討論是否要派兵到北非，之後再前往歐洲。克里格用餐廳菜單來暗示自己的政見，其中有“奧巴馬家族香辣肉醬”等菜品。它辣得令人難以置信。

Her Rick’s Café seems a success, filling its tables in five dining rooms over two floors for lunch and dinner on most days. At any given sitting there are guests from such a variety of places they would rival the movie’s own very international set of characters, and cast.

她的裏克咖啡館似乎生意很好，大多數日子裏，兩個樓層的五個餐室裏都坐滿了來吃午餐和晚餐的客人。不管什麼時候，這裏的客人都是來自五湖四海，可以同那部電影非常國際化的角色和演員相媲美。

Lakeitha Anderson, 49, is more of an exile than a tourist, an American who decided after President Donald Trump’s election that she was leaving the country and taking her employment recruiting business on the road.

今年49歲的雷凱莎·安德森(Lakeitha Anderson)與其說是在旅遊，不如說是在流亡，唐納德·特朗普當選總統後，這位美國人決定離開祖國，在路上從事她的就業招聘工作。

“I love the oasis feeling of it here,” she said, over dinner. “Especially for people of color, we need a break from it all.”

“我喜歡這裏綠洲般的感覺，”她在晚餐時說道。“特別是對於有色人種來說更是如此，我們需要從發生的一切之中抽身出來休息片刻。”

Wasn’t the point of the movie, though, that the oasis that was Rick’s Café Américain could not long evade what was happening in the wider world?

不過，電影的重點難道不是在於，像裏克美式咖啡館這樣的綠洲也無法長期逃避廣闊世界中發生的事情嗎？

“That may be,” Anderson said, “but I’m going to stay away for as long as I can.”

“可能是吧，”安德森說，“但我會盡可能長時間地置身事外。”

Kriger, 72 and divorced, said she planned to spend the rest of her days in Rick’s Café, holding up her corner of the bar when she is not mingling with customers. “This is my assisted living center,” she quipped. Or as Humphrey Bogart’s character, Rick Blaine, put it in the movie: “I’m going to die in Casablanca. It’s a good place for it.”

克里格今年72歲，已經離婚，她說，她打算在裏克咖啡館度過餘生，不和客戶打交道時，她就獨自呆在酒吧的角落裏。“這裏是我的輔助生活中心，”她打趣說。或者正如漢弗萊·鮑嘉飾演的角色裏克·布萊恩(Rick Blaine)在電影中說的：“我會死在卡薩布蘭卡。這是一個死去的好地方。”