FOM Newsletter January 2001
Morocco Week in Review
 January 6, 2001

Albright Includes Tangiers Site on Top of Most Remarkable US Historic Sites Abroad.

WASHINGTON- US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, has officially included the American Legation in Tangiers, northern Morocco, on top of a list of seven most remarkable historic sites owned by the USA abroad. Perched on the Tangiers hills, inside the walls of the old city, the site, that reconciles harmoniously the Moorish and Spanish architectures, was the first property abroad owned by the US government for a diplomatic mission, said Albright at a ceremony held on Thursday to officially announce the seven selected monuments. The legation was donated by King Moulay Sliman to Americans in 1821, reflecting the success of the 1786 Moroccan-American friendship treaty, she added. Leased in 1976 to the Tangiers American Legation Museum Society, the compound now hosts an Arabic-teaching school, a museum of engravings, maps, rare books, paintings, parchments and other precious artifacts depicting events in the 180 years of Moroccan-US diplomacy. The other six monuments selected for their historical, architectural and cultural values are the Shoenborn Palace (Prague), Margherita Palace and its twin villas in Rome, the American Legation in Seoul, the Talleyrand hotel in Paris ( the US ambassador residence), the US embassy in Tokyo and Winfield House in London.

RABAT- Moroccan culture and communication minister, Mohamed Achaari, said Tuesday over 40 monuments and historical sites need an urgent restoration action. The minister said Morocco boasts some 400 historical monuments and some other 20,000 historical sites and constructions, such as old walls and vestiges. He added that the department is allocating an annual 25 million DH $ (2.27 million) and is endeavoring to involve fund donors, deploring the lack of interest of national and private enterprises.

RABAT- A general economic census will be conducted in Morocco as of March 1 St, announced Thursday culture and communication minister Mohamed Achaari. The unprecedented 15 month economic census will start early March. It will help set up a register of economic units and a frame to implement a single tariff regime for all listed units, update economic statistics available to government departments and professional organizations and better knowledge of the informal sector.

LOS ANGELES -- (AP) -- Julius J. Epstein, a prolific Hollywood writer whose reworking of a little-known stage play earned him and his co-writers the 1943 Academy Award for Casablanca, has died in Los Angeles. He was 91.  Epstein was born Aug. 22, 1909, in New York City and teamed with his twin brother, Philip, on numerous scripts for movie comedies and melodramas, often adapted from stage shows. Casablanca, which won the brothers the 1943 Academy Award for Best Screenplay, had its origins in an unproduced play called Everybody Comes to Rick's. A handful of writers worked on the script, but the Epstein brothers and writer Howard Koch -- he also shared the screenwriting Oscar -- have been recognized as the screenplay's main authors. The film also won awards for best picture and best director.  Over the years, the enduring popularity of Casablanca surprised Epstein, who repeatedly said he viewed it as just another movie in the vast Warner Bros. assembly line of the early 1940s. He said the death of star Humphrey Bogart in 1957 propelled the film into cult status.

After his brother's death in 1952, Epstein continued his solo screenwriting career. He received Academy Awards nominations in 1972 for Pete 'n' Tillie and in 1983 for his adaptation of the novel Reuben, Reuben. He also received a nomination in 1938 for co-writing Four Daughters with Lenore Coffee. In 1998, Epstein was given a career achievement award by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

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