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Very rough version of my one-man show for drama--for those who don't know, it's a piece where I play all the characters. It's being performed in a black box theater, I'll be wearing a suit and an assortment of hats. This is all based off events and people in Chicago, 1920s.
Monologue #1
No setting in particular, full lights stage left, on phone and table.
FRANKIE YALE
(phone rings, YALE answers) Hey, Frankie Yale here. Torrio? Johnny Torrio? Jeez, is that you? Heya Johnny! Well how ya doin’? How’s it in Chicago? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Oh, a job. Yeah. Well, you’re an old friend. I’m happy to help.
Colosimo? Big Jim? Hey, I thought you two were like brothers? Yeah?(laughs) Sure. I get it. I hear he’s got a nice café out there? Yeah? Some ritzy place, huh? At the café? All right, all right. Okay. Wouldn’t mind seeing Chicago. A shipment of whiskey. And he’ll be there personally? You sure? You make sure, okay? I’ll be waiting for him.
(laughs)
Gonna have a nice funeral, huh? Be sure to get lotsa flowers, and be pretty damn sure you don’t invite me. Can’t stand funerals, especially when they’re my own fault. Yeah? All right. Hey, you’re my friend, but it’s not like I’m doing this pro bono. What am I getting now? (whistles) Right. I’ll catch the next train out, then. See ya in Chicago.
Monologue #2
Sitting at a table, best if with silverware and plate, cloth napkin. Red lights on full, white on half. Restaurant sound effects at a low murmur.
JOHNNY TORRIO Sit laus Deo Patri, Summo Christo decus Spiritui Sancto, Tribus honor unus. Amen.
(crosses himself, smiles warmly)Vincenzo Genna. How’s your wife doing? And your children? Good. I heard your son has been accepted to a nice Catholic school in town. You must be very proud. It’s hard for us Italians here, but somehow we always make it to the top.
Beautiful funeral, wasn’t it? All those flowers. The O’Donnells did well. Got everything from their flower shop, you know. Colosimo deserved it, though. He was a great man. Great man. Did a lot for this city, you know. Big Jim was like a father to all Chicago and he was like a brother to me. He will truly be missed. Here; a toast, to the late Jim Colosimo, greatest man in Chicago, may he rest . . . in peace.
And now here’s me, Johnny Torrio, born poor in Italy and grew up poor and raised poor in New York, look at this: now I have the entire Colosimo empire. The American Dream, right? Never thought something like this would happen to me. Life always, always surprises you.
But you know, maybe it’s a good thing, in a way, that Big Jim died when he did. They say the Lord God works in mysterious ways. Big Jim, he just didn’t know how to move with the times. Business would have suffered. This is 1920! The future is just starting, and the future is in our hands. Big Jim, I’m afraid he just didn’t understand that. He just didn’t want anything to do with the opportunities Prohibition is offering us, no, what God has given us from on high.
Prohibition, my friend, is a great thing for us. They outlawed alcohol! Alcohol! (chuckles) My God, they outlawed alcohol in Chicago! What on Earth were these people thinking?
But it gives businessmen like us a wonderful opportunity. People want the stuff, and they won’t stand for this, but they won’t go against the feds—not directly, at least. And that, my friend, that is where we come in. This is one thing, I guarantee you, people will pay anything for. Anything! And they’ll love us for giving it to them. They will. Yes. We don’t need to deal from the shadows anymore. This is our chance to come out of the darkness and see the sun! It isn’t like the other rackets. This is . . . respectable. Everybody drinks. From the high class folks in their mansions on Lakeshore Drive with their brandy and champagne to the working man in the city drinking beer. Hell, they cook with sherry! Everyone and their chef will be coming to us for booze! And we don’t have to worry about getting caught. Do you know how many people they got enforcing this? One hundred thirty-four, for the whole city of Chicago. Getting paid one and a half grand a year. Underpaid and overworked, do you really think they’ll be much of a problem, with some persuasion?
(pause) You know, people talk about the American Dream. Everybody who steps off the boat on Ellis Island has one. The Irishmen, the Italians, the Poles, the Jews, all of them. Come to America, where the streets are paved with gold. And they are, Vincenzo, they are. You know what I see? For the future? I see a Chicago where a legitimate businessman can walk without fear of attack by low-down hoodlums or dirty corrupted cops. Where he can work hard and earn his money in peace, in safety. I see a Chicago where a hardworking man can walk into a bar and buy himself a drink after a long day, no matter what the feds say. A Chicago where people don’t get attacked in the street, or mugged, or caught in between a gang war or driven broke by extortionists—and believe me, that is important. People won’t come to a violent city, a city where they think their lives are in danger. And people are business—that’s business we’re losing! We have to cut the crime rate.
And we need to start cooperating. Look at this city right now. All these gangs, the O’Donnells on the east side, you and your brothers, ruling in Little Italy, the Valley Gang over near Cicero, it’s all so mixed up. And everyone fighting. Do you think we can make that Chicago as we are now? No! We need to work together. All the gangs are like wolves, scrabbling in the dirt for a little piece of meat, and when they finally get to it, all that’s left is the scraps the scavengers leave behind. But you see, if those wolves unite into a pack, if they become stronger, better, a fighting force in their own right, well, look what they can do. They can defend their land from other wolves muscling in. They can spend more time hunting instead of fighting. And if they hunt together, it won’t be just a little piece of meat. A pack of wolves hunting together can bring down an elk.
Monologue #3
Sitting at the table, beer bottles, glasses on it. Blue lights on full, white on half. Fake cigar also, if possible. Club or party sound effects in background.
AL CAPONE
(grinning, laughing, having a good time) Hey everyone! Hey, drinks on me! Bartender, round of drinks for everyone on me! C’mon, you know who I am! Al Capone, round of drinks on Al Capone, all right?
Ha ha! Happy New Year’s! Nineteen twenty-five and Chicago is mine! Hurry up Barkeep, we ain’t got all night! Thank you, and here’s a tip for the great service! All right, the horrible service, but I’m in a good mood, right?
A toast! (stands up, mock serious) To Johnny Torrio, greatest man in America—hey, if my watch is right, he’s on the boat back to Sicily right now! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Johnny! (laughs)
Yeah, that’s right, Johnny gave me the city. Decided Chicago was getting too dangerous I guess. Ha! Helluva present, ain’t it? We’re gonna celebrate!
Another round, barkeep, on me. Now, down to business. The O’Banions still giving us trouble? Yeah, now they got Weiss leading ‘em, from what I hear. It’s not just the O’Banions now. They got more Irish gangs, they got Poles and Jews who have some problem with Italians joining up. We got a thousand men, and they nearly got us matched. This ain’t good. We gotta take ‘em out quick, before they get any more of a threat, understand? We have to crush ‘em totally, understand? We can’t leave anyone to form up again and start this whole thing up again, right? Right. We wanna end this with as many of them dead and if we can,, none of us dead. And I need your total loyalty, capiche? You ain’t with me, get out. We have to surprise them. Ambushes, drive-bys, that tactics crap. We don’t want open battle, even though we’ll definitely get it.
Yeah it ain’t Torrio’s way of doin’ stuff, but Johnny’s gone and his way don’t work no more. Torrio never had to deal with war, see? He did maneuvering, all that slick crap. He doesn’t know how to handle real violence—that’s why he’s going back to Sicily, I guarantee it! Look, once we’re done with this, sure, then we go back to Torrio’s way. Happy? Good.
Posts: 550 | Registered: Jan 2004
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I like the Big Jim Colosimo/Chicago city of big shoulders thing.
I had a few questions:
1. How much of a "dreamer" do you want Johnny to be? 2. Some of the "litanies" (lists of observations supporting a view) are pretty extensive for JT. 3. Capone kinda comes in outta nowhere (you'd linked the previous characters, but there's no intro for Al).
posted
Right, Capone I have trouble with. He is important, because his reign of violence after Torrio handed over the empire to him it all started to fall apart. But at the time Torrio was building it, Capone wasn't around. I could shift time a bit and have Torrio give a pssing mention of this new bouncer of his . . .
Torrio's not so much a dreamer. I visualize any character I do based on an animal, and Torrio, to me, is a spider. He's pulling whatever tricks will bring Genna into the web. He paints a vision of a Chicago that fits his plans and is appealing to Genna. Torrio has plans, but he's pretty firmly anchored.
I know, I know, I gotta shorten some stuff, especially Torrio's monologue. At my most recent rehearsal, people said it was long but I kept it interesting acting. So I'm only cutting a few bits off (mostly those I always forget--I figure, if I'm forgetting them, I don't really view them as all that important ).
You know, Yale could actually mention Capone. I think Al worked for him for a little. Lemme check my sources . . .
Posts: 550 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Actually, I had my first performance Monday. Went rather well, from what people said.
But there are a few kinks yet, it feels like. Some are acting, which I saw watching the tape. But some, I think, are in the script and harder to find. Since I'm performing this again, I'd like whatever insight.
Posts: 550 | Registered: Jan 2004
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