Casablanca

"Casablanca" was released in 1942 and starred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, as well as a host of other great character actors. Some have called it the most perfect movie ever made. I would call it the most romantic.

"Casablanca" played a major role in my greatest romance. Just after Christmas in 1969, I arranged to meet my girlfriend, Brenda Mangum, in southern California and take her to meet my parents in Modesto. All did not go well. My parents, who did not want me to marry a Mormon girl (I was attending BYU at the time. I was never sure what they expected me to bring home.), gave Brenda the cold shoulder. During a now famous dinner, my Dad let go with every profanity he had at his disposal. Fortunately, he did not believe in using four letter profanities unless they were of the mild type beginning with "H" or "D." Dad, after all, had some scruples! However, numerous deities were invoked, some of which I'd never heard of even though I had taken a World Religions class the previous summer.

On our way back to BYU, Brenda expressed the opinion that she wasn't sure she could tolerate my parents as in-laws and that our relationship might come to an end. Things were up in the air for several days.

Finally, she visited my apartment one late afternoon. At the time, I was not feeling well, I was stretched out on the couch watching "Casablanca" on TV. We solemnly watched the movie together. I will insert here that Brenda bore an uncanny resemblance to Ingrid Bergman, a beauty who never looked better than in "Casablanca." As the movie came to its heartbreaking conclusion, we were both very quiet. Brenda turned to me with a smile and said that she was mine and I was hers. We were officially engaged within the month. I always felt though, that we were really engaged at the end of "Casablanca." Brenda and I were married in June, 1970.

Brenda and I have watched "Casablanca" many times and have always remembered the afternoon in my apartment. That was over 42 years ago. Three children, two wonderful children-in-law and eight grandchildren later, as the movie's theme song says, "A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is still a sigh, the fundamental things apply as time goes by..."