TITLE: The Fudge King
WRITTEN BY: Dawn Brown
FORMAT: Screenplay / 108 pages (1st of trilogy)
GENRE: Drama
SETTING: 1964 – Ocean City, NJ
WRITERS GUILD WEST: #1631464
LOG LINE:
1964. Based on a true, unsolved crime. Larry the “Fudge King” is framed on lewdness charges in order to stop him from banning the city’s Blue Laws. When that creates revenge, the politicians resort to murder.
SYNOPSIS:
Fudge shop owner Larry Anglestand wants the city to end the Blue Laws that shut down all business and recreational activity on Sundays. Larry is a homosexual, which is illegal in Ocean City. Larry has as many enemies as he has friends. Some of the enemies are his secret lovers, including John Stecher, Public Safety Director.
John decides that the best way to stop Larry’s quest to end the Blue Laws, is to trap him in an encounter with another man. He sends Police Captain Tom Wolfe to get into bed with him. Tom succeeds and lewdness charges are brought against Larry. Police Captain George Hanley interrogates both Tom and Larry. He submits his report to the court. During the trial, Tom is exonerated. He was “on duty” at the time of incident. Larry is found guilty. The town officials fear that George Hanley now knows too much and because of that, they are at risk. They also realize that Larry is mad about his conviction and that he will seek revenge by revealing the names of all his lovers.
John Stecher decides that George Hanley needs to be removed. He gets a gullible cop to run George off a bridge. George dies and his death is ruled an accident.
Hanley’s daughter, BB, is the city’s first female cop. She is persecuted for that and for being George’s daughter. The city officials knew that George had told her about who Larry was involved with. BB seeks retaliation for her father’s murder and she’ll use her father’s information to bring justice for her father.
BB aligns herself with a new cop on the force, Jack Warner, one who has not been influenced by Stecher. He acts as a confidant and becomes her friend.
Tom, and four men who were involved sexually with Larry, follow Stecher’s command to threaten him. They set a trap for Larry at a local night club. As Larry is leaving, the four men confront him. A fight occurs and Larry is murdered.
Now BB has two murders to investigate. Like her father, she accumulates a large amount of facts with names of those involved. The city officials know they must get rid of her proof (the information in her files.) They try to burn her apartment and remove her files. Jack has been keeping an eye on her and he discovers the set up. BB’s apartment burns but the files are safe. BB secures convictions for the four men but fails to get the head of the commands, Stecher.
THE FUDGE KING (1964) is the first in a trilogy involving policewoman BB Hanley. The second screenplay is called LINES (1965.) BB Hanley continues her fight against John Stecher and the city officials, while solving the murder and suicide of twin teenagers. The third is called THE PARKWAY HOME (1966.)