在《卡薩布蘭卡》咖啡館追憶舊時光

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

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

Chris Kelley of Bath, England, stopped there onerecent day for lunch on his way to a kite-surfingvacation in southern Morocco, and said he wasimpressed at how lovingly restored the old placewas. 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(fēng)箏沖浪度假之行時，英國巴斯的克里斯·凱利(Chris Kelley)在那里吃了一次午餐，并且表示這個老地方的精心修復(fù)給他留下了深刻印象。跟電影《卡薩布蘭卡》(Casablanca)里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 IngridBergman was made.

像這里的許多客人一樣，凱利驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)，里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(jīng)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，世界還處于戰(zhàn)爭中，這座與影片齊名的城市當(dāng)時為軸心國所占領(lǐng)。里克只是編劇想象出來的虛構(gòu)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(xiàn)實中的里克咖啡館背后的老板和創(chuàng)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里的場景，而且還不止于此，”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 archwaylend to the period-authentic mise-en-scène.

12個由圓柱支撐起來的白色拱門構(gòu)成了主用餐區(qū)的框架，上方是三層高、八角形的穹頂，綠色的皮質(zhì)鑲邊裝飾著曲面吧臺。角落的棕櫚樹，掛在上方的黃銅吊燈，放在桌上的串珠臺燈和一架嚴(yán)絲合縫地放入拱門的袖珍三角鋼琴，讓人覺得仿佛置身于當(dāng)年的場景中。

Not coincidentally, Kriger on most nights can be found standing at the corner of the bar, thewaiters under instructions to refill her wineglass with water until 11 p.m., when a Moroccan Vald’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里的克里格，遵照指示的侍者會不斷為她的酒杯倒?jié)M水，直至晚上11點，才能喝上一杯摩洛哥瓦干白葡萄酒。許多?？投挤Q她為“里克女士”。

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

里克咖啡館的化為現(xiàn)實和“二戰(zhàn)”毫無干系，但卻與當(dāng)代對恐怖主義的戰(zhàn)爭，以及克里格個人在其中的微小作用有所關(guān)聯(lián)。對于偉大藝術(shù)作品經(jīng)久不衰的力量，影響現(xiàn)實生活中的個人命運，它也很有發(fā)言權(quán)。

Like a lot of Americans, Kriger was long a fan of “Casablanca,” which often makes critics’ lists ofthe 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(dāng)時她在自己的家鄉(xiāng)俄勒岡州波特蘭。

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

“影片最后，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 thisAtlantic coastal port, Morocco’s business center and biggest city.

克里格后來在國務(wù)院就職，后者將她以商務(wù)參贊的身份派駐到了這個大西洋沿海港口，這里是摩洛哥的商業(yè)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 missedmarketing opportunity.

當(dāng)她發(fā)現(xiàn)這里沒有里克咖啡館后感到十分震驚，在她看來，這是一個被錯失掉的營銷機(jī)會。

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

然后9·11襲擊就來了，還有在她看來在美國出現(xiàn)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 aMuslim society, could start a business like Rick’s Café, to act as an exemplar of tolerance, arefuge in a troubled world.

于是她決定，達(dá)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，也能做像里克咖啡館這樣的生意，以其作為社會包容的典范、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 AncienneMedina, the old city of Casablanca, which was then and is still a shabby, litter-strewn place.

克里格把自己的養(yǎng)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，那里當(dāng)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 itsfront door, and inside was an architectural gem in the rough. She enlisted noted interiordesigner Bill Willis to help restore it, and went to a Moroccan bank for a loan.

房子看起來很不起眼，但它面對著港口，前門的兩側(cè)種著皇家棕櫚樹，里面則是一個未經(jīng)雕琢的建筑寶石。她招募了著名室內(nèi)設(shè)計師比爾·威利斯(Bill Willis)幫忙重建，然后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 begansomething like: “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, this is the one.”

貸款的數(shù)目不夠，于是克里格開始給美國的朋友發(fā)郵件，里面的提議是這么開頭的：“在全世界所有小鎮(zhèn)里的杜松子酒酒吧中，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 herfundraising effort as “rounding up the usual suspects,” which inspired the name of thecorporate entity that would own the club.

他們中許多人對開一家真實的里克咖啡館作出了積極回應(yīng)。她將自己的籌款行動稱作“圍捕非常嫌犯”，這也成為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 ofIslamic extremists, so she proactively went to the Treasury Department to explain why peoplewere wiring money to the Usual Suspects Société Anonyme in Casablanca.

2002年，當(dāng)她籌款時，美國對伊斯蘭極端分子的財務(wù)狀況非常懷疑，因此她主動前往財政部，解釋人們?yōu)槭裁磳㈠X匯給卡薩布蘭卡的非常嫌犯匿名社團(tuán)(Usual Suspect Société Anonyme)。

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

她說，即便如此，她在內(nèi)布拉斯加州林肯市的一位投資者還是被當(dāng)?shù)芈?lián)邦調(diào)查局辦公室訪問，質(zhì)疑他的這筆投資。

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

為了招募經(jīng)理，克里格面試了幾位摩洛哥候選人，并且遇到了伊薩姆·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(yè)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(xiàn)在管理著俱樂部的60名員工，每個星期，他仍然會有幾個晚上在這里演奏爵士鋼琴。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(jīng)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’scharacter, Ilsa, says, “Play it once, Sam, for old time’s sake.”)

(關(guān)于歷史的腳注：電影里其實沒有“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，為了舊時光。”)

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

克里格認(rèn)為，當(dāng)美國再次出現(xiàn)保護(hù)主義和孤立主義傾向時，她創(chuàng)造了一個可以展現(xiàn)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 debatingwhether to send troops to North Africa and later to Europe. Kriger’s own politics are hinted at inthe restaurant’s menu, which includes dishes like “Obama Family Chili con Carne.” It issurprisingly spicy.

《卡薩布蘭卡》首先是一部政治宣傳片，當(dāng)時美國人正在討論是否要派兵到北非，之后再前往歐洲?？死锔裼貌蛷d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 lunchand dinner on most days. At any given sitting there are guests from such a variety of placesthey would rival the movie’s own very international set of characters, and cast.

她的里克咖啡館似乎生意很好，大多數(shù)日子里，兩個樓層的五個餐室里都坐滿了來吃午餐和晚餐的客人。不管什么時候，這里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 afterPresident Donald Trump’s election that she was leaving the country and taking heremployment recruiting business on the road.

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

 

 

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

“我喜歡這里綠洲般的感覺，”她在晚餐時說道。“特別是對于有色人種來說更是如此，我們需要從發(fā)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 notlong evade what was happening in the wider world?

不過，電影的重點難道不是在于，像里克美式咖啡館這樣的綠洲也無法長期逃避廣闊世界中發(fā)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, holdingup her corner of the bar when she is not mingling with customers. “This is my assisted livingcenter,” she quipped. Or as Humphrey Bogart’s character, Rick Blaine, put it in the movie: “I’mgoing to die in Casablanca. It’s a good place for it.”

克里格今年72歲，已經(jīng)離婚，她說，她打算在里克咖啡館度過余生，不和客戶打交道時，她就獨自呆在酒吧的角落里。“這里是我的輔助生活中心，”她打趣說?；蛘哒鐫h弗萊·鮑嘉飾演的角色里克·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。”