French Crowds Overrun Brattle

Saturday night it was just the way the 50 Adams House juniors and their dates had known it would be. The Germans were drunk, singing "Wacht am Rhine." The little people in Rick's cringed silently.

Then Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) strode up to the orchestra leader. "Play La Marseillaise," he said. "Play it." The orchestra leader looked to Rick (Humphrey Bogart). Rick nodded imperceptibly.

The orchestra played it. The little people in the cafe started to sing, drowning out the Germans. The Adams House juniors stood up in the middle of the Brattle floor and sang, too. Then the people in the balcony caught on and stood and sang. Then almost everyone else joined in.

For a moment the Germans were bad, the Brattle was good, there were no exams and the world was simple.