LOG LINE
Based on a true-crime, coming-of-age memoir, The Comic’s Daughter: A Chicago
Tale begins in 1963. When the teenaged daughter of a talented, philandering
nightclub comic testifies at a Mafia murder trial, it launches her dramatic and
sometimes funny struggle to break free from the vice grip of her father’s suffocating
narcissism, her mother’s icy rejection, and dark secrets that threaten to annihilate
the family.
SYNOPSIS
The Comic’s Daughter centers on the conflicted and enmeshed relationship
between 13-year-old protagonist CATHY and her father DINK, THE COMIC, the
story’s charismatic antagonist.
CHICAGO, 1963: Cathy jumps into the front seat of her family’s Datsun, ready to cut
7th-grade volleyball. “Hi, Mom.” HELEN, The Comic’s Wife, stares straight ahead and
delivers the following with her cool, deadpan panache: “Plans have changed. We’re
not going to the dentist. Joni shot Johnny, and he’s dead.” This event informs the
next seven years of her life. Cathy is – was, their constant babysitter and the last
person to see Johnny alive.
(JOHNNY MANCUZZO is The Comic’s new agent. His wife JONI is a beautiful blonde
singer. When Cathy and her mother are subpoenaed to testify for the defense at The
People vs. Joni Jaden Mancuzzo trial, the FBI is unexpectedly stationed at their house
day and night. Because Johnny’s father is the “John Gotti” of Chicago, the Mafia
wants Joni and all witnesses in someone’s trunk. In the evenings, Cathy makes
covert, late-night visits to Joni’s safe house in the belly of downtown Chicago.
After the stunning and rapid 90-minute “not-guilty” verdict, Joni escapes to Florida
with her kids and leaves a vaporous trail, never to be filled. While the fog of trauma
sticks to Cathy like black tar, she enters high school grappling with an untreated
nervous disorder, a fondness for her dad’s pills, and a shoplifting arrest. With newly
sprouted breasts, she foils sexual advances by Murph the Surf (a jewel thief in
Miami), her lesbian counselor, and her Robert Redford look-alike senior drama
teacher. In each case, she replicates the artful dodger. Cathy has learned well from
cheaters, sociopaths, and wife-beaters like Johnny.
In 1969, Cathy embarks on a fleeting, impactful romance with David, a brilliant
young writer. Both lover and mentor, David challenges her with one question:
“What are you going to do with the rest of your life?” She shrugs. “You’re very
smart. You have a great brain. You should get an education.” CUT TO:
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY: Cathy earns stellar grades, trips on orange
sunshine, and swims naked in the local lakes. When the Symbionese Liberation
Army throws smoke bombs into her dormitory one night, she calls The Comic. “Dad
– I’m scared. Can you come get me?” He does.
On the five-hour drive, Dink tells Cathy that she has a secret sister, three years
younger. “I had an affair with a cocktail waitress in Kansas. I thought she was 18.
Your mom doesn’t know.” Cathy wants to jump from the speeding car, but the doors
are locked.
Back home and devastated, she cannot look at her mother. Within weeks, Cathy
lands a scholarship to UNLV. By this time, The Comic’s Wife has at last come to
adore and even bond with her daughter, however, it’s too late. Cathy must leave.
O’HARE AIRPORT, 1970: At the gate with Cathy, Dink suggests they take his old
flame to dinner when he visits Vegas. Cathy won’t have it. Summoning newfound
maturity, Cathy finally slaps him down. “No, Dad. You’ve been doing this to me my
whole life. I’m not your buddy. I’m your daughter. Normal fathers don’t tell their
daughters this stuff. I love you, but I’m done here.”
Without looking back, she boards the Pan Am jet for Las Vegas. The Comic stands at
the terminal window and watches her plane taxi down the runway as she embarks
on an entirely new life.