Category: CRADLE OF CRIME – MEMOIR
VOTING HAS BEGUN ON TALEFLICK.
IT’S HERE. “CRADLE OF CRIME-A Daughter’s Tribute” is LIVE in the TaleFlick Discovery contest.
Hi Readers:
Voting has begun on Taleflick for this week’s winner. It ends on Friday at 4:pm. CRADLE OF CRIME- A Daughter’s Tribute is on
Page 8. There you will see a voting button. Let’s win!
Head over to the TaleFlick Discovery page, where https://taleflick.com/pages/discovery all visitors to the site will be allowed to vote (once) ON CRADLE OF CRIME- A Daughter’s Tribute
https://taleflick.com/pages/discovery
LOOKING FOR VOTES
Thank you very much for allowing “CRADLE OF CRIME-A Daughter’s Tribute” to participate in a TaleFlick Discovery contest. Your date has been set!
It will be a special week on TaleFlick Discovery: an all-women’s week, to commemorate International Women’s Day.
“CRADLE OF CRIME-A Daughter’s Tribute” will be part of next week’s contest that starts:
Wednesday 03/11/2020 at 10:00am Pacific. https://taleflick.com/pages/discovery. The contest will accept votes for three consecutive days, starting at the above time, and ending the following Friday at 4pm PT.
Participation is 100% free.
STORIES TO SCREEN-AUTHORS AND PRODUCERS CONNECT
Pitch Page by TaleFlick http://www.taleflick.com
MOVING STORIES TO SCREEN The world’s finest library of original stories
CRADLE OF CRIME-A Daughter’s Tribute
Luellen Smiley
GENRE
MEMOIR CRIME DRAMA BIOGRAPHICAL FAMILY
Drama
Mature Audience
Politics
Suspense
Romance
Core Theme
A MAFIA STORY THROUGH THE EYES OF A DAUGHTER.
TIME PERIOD
1960s & ’70s
COMPARABLE TITLES
THE SOPRANOS, THE GODFATHER, CASINO, GOODFELLAS
CHARACTER LIST
• LUELLEN “LILY” SMILEY: TEENAGER/50S. NEEDY, LOOKING FOR LOVE/ADMIRATION FROM HER FATHER; DILIGENT, STRONG MORAL CODE, CAN READ A ROOM.
• ALLEN SMILEY: 65. LILLY’S FATHER, (IN)FAMOUS GANGSTER. CRIMINAL, AGGRESSIVE, CHARMING, BADASS, ENGAGING.
Register for Full Story
Pitch Page by TaleFlick Info by Author
Brief
Luellen “Lilly” Smiley is the daughter of Allen Smiley, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s best friend, and
business partner. She rips herself from innocence and confronts her father’s nefarious criminal life, as
she breaks the mafia code of silence ten years after her father’s death.
What We Liked
– True story;
– A period piece inside a period piece (‘40s and ‘70s);
– 1940’s Hollywood, with actual “appearances” by stars of that era;
– The mafia and its members through another perspective;
– The father/daughter relationship;
– Episodic narrative, making it perfect for series;
– Possibility of both a fiction piece and a very rich documentary.
Synopsis
940s Hollywood may seem like the Golden Era of Cinema; Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall
graced the screen, but behind the camera, there was a seedy underbelly ran by Bugsy Siegel and Allen
Smiley.
In the 1970s, Allen’s daughter Lilly Smiley gets a job at her uncle Jack’s book store. There, she is
constantly reminded and asked about her father from customers and other “uncles” who would come
in. After answering with pleasantries, she realizes that people have a completely different view and
opinion of her father than she does. Through research and help from her therapist, Lilly decides to
unearth the real Allen Smiley.
Each story is an episode; a look into the relationship Allen had with Lilly, Lilly had with Allen, Allen had
with the Mafia, and Lilly had with the Mafia. All three of these dynamics weave a tapestry of an
unstable, yet loving relationship. Some of the stories consist of:
● The day her dad died of Hepatitis C was an apparent hit on the Mafia;
● Meeting celebrities of the day and how they respected her father;
● The day her loving Uncle Bugsy died from a drive-by that sent her dad into hiding;
● One incident where her father wouldn’t let her into the apartment because she forgot the safe
word. He forced her to go to another home to get the key, and wouldn’t let her in;
● The day her parents got a divorce, yet her father came home for dinner every night;
● The relationship between Uncle Bugsy and her dad;
● The time her mother was diagnosed with cancer and spent the rest of her life in the Hospital.
How her dad, even though divorced, never left her side;
● Dad coming from an immigrant family, and how that shaped how he approaches problems;
● Allen, disappearing for weeks or months at a time, and how hard it was on her and her
mother. Once her mother died, it was even tougher on her.
● All the different “Uncles” that would stop by and look after the family.
By the end of the series she has a journey of denial, curiosity, and disbelief. She eventually manages
to find people who understand her history and accept her.
About The Author
Luellen’s “Smiley’s Dice-Growing Up with Gangsters columns appeared in San Diego newspapers and earned a Blue Ribbon award from the CA Newspaper Association. Her research led to TV, radio, and print interviews about her father and Bugsy Siegel.
IMAGINE YOUR BOOK AS A FILM.
BOOK VIRAL REVIEW PAGE
THIS WAS PUBLISHED TWO YEARS AGO AND I JUST READ IT NOW!
http://www.bookviral.com/cradle-of-crime-a-daughters-t/4594052167BOOK VIRAL REVIEW
SELF-PUBLISHING A MEMOIR
CRADLE OF CRIME-A Daughter’s Tribute is a historical memoir that frames my father’s association with the American Jewish Mafia, and more specifically his devotion to Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. It has taken twenty years to publish this book. After hundreds of agent rejections, I threw the dice on self-publishing. It has been a challenging and rewarding experience. I am writing my second book, CRADLE OF FRIENDS.
http://www.bookviral.com/cradle-of-crime-a-daughters- t/4594052167
MY BOOK DEBUE IS COMING TO THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS-THE MOB MUSEUM
BARNES & NOBLE
BOOK NEWS!
You can order online or by special order in any Barnes & Noble Store.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cradle-of-crime-luellen-smiley/1125198798?ean=9781537456034
Author with local roots reveals father’s mobster history
Cradle of Crime #BookReview
Title: Cradle of Crime Author: Luellen Smiley Print Length: 264 Publication Date: November 19, 2016 Sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC Language: English Formats: Paperback, Kindle Goodreads Genre…
Source: Cradle of Crime #BookReview
BASKING WITH BOOK SIGNING PALS AND GALS. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF TONY BONANNO OF SANTA FE.
YOU’RE INVITED
PUBLICATION PARTY FOR LOCAL AUTHOR’S MEMOIR-CRADLE OF CRIME
- Share this event
- SAVE THIS EVENT
BOOK PUBLICATION PARTY
La Posada Resort & Spa- 330 East Palace Avenue Santa Fe. NM
Sunday – February 12, 2017
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM MST
CELEBRATE WITH LOCAL AUTHOR LUELLEN SMILEY
Complimentary Wine, Champagne & Appetizers
Book signing & Q & A
RSVP
loulousmiley@yahoo.com
This eye-opening memoir, twenty years in the making chronicles Luellen’s journey into her father’s criminal past, beginning ten years after his death in 1982. Luellen is the daughter of Allen Smiley – Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s best friend and business partner for ten years. Allen was seated next to Bugsy the night he was murdered. Luellen discounted her father’s Mafia association until she was forty years old. Awakened by an identity crisis, she cut through her silence and used government surveillance records, newspaper articles, and FBI files to discover her father’s legacy.
Share with friends
Location
La Posada de Santa Fe, a Tribute Portfolio Resort & Spa
330 East Palace Avenue
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Friends Attending