A Timeless Song 'As Time Goes By'-- Part 1

We just watched the movie and throughout it, this song was played more than a bit often.  And, that would be "As Time Goes By."

It is rare that a single song is so tied to a single movie, but this is certainly the case with "As Time Goes By" and "Casablanca."  It is so closely identified that when you see any movie released by Warner Brothers (the company that made the movie) these days, several bars of the song play with the WB logo.

But it almost wasn't that way.  The song was written by Herman Hupfield in 1931 for the Broadway musical "Everybody's Welcome."  It had been included by playwrights Joan Alison and Murray Bennett in their original play, "Everybody Comes to Rick's."

Once the film production was underway, composer Max Steiner, who had already won two Oscars wanted to change the song and insert something original of his, giving him the potential to easrn rotyalties and possibly another Academy Award.

--Cooter

Deaths in Oct. 2022: Fuller, Lynn, Lansbury and Coltrane

CHARLES FULLER, 83

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of the searing and acclaimed "A Soldier's Play" who often explored and exposed how social institutions can perpetuate racism.  

Died October 3.

LORETTA LYNN, 90

The Kentucky coalminer's daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music.  

Died October 4.

ANGELA LANSBURY, 96

British actor who kicked her heels in the Broadway musicals "Mame" and "Gypsy" and solved endless murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the TV series "Murder, She Wrote."  

Died October 11.

ROBBIE COLTRANE, 72

Comedian and character actor whose hundreds of roles included a crime-solving psychologist on the TV series :Cracker and the gentle half-giant Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" movies.

Died October 14.

What?  No More Hagrid?