Twinks

Imagine if you took an aging baseball pitcher, recently widowed and trying to stay in the game another year, his precocious daughter, a stray and very lucky ball yard cat, and the team mascot, a most lovely and bright young woman, and mixed them in with strong plot points and a produced script. You’d have the next blockbuster baseball movie... a perennial winner in the family market.

 

In 1949, the Hollywood Stars Baseball Club was a happening thing in LA. The team played on a field where the CBS Studios now stand. In 1955, Jayne Mansfield served as the Miss Hollywood Stars “mascot” for the team whose board members included Cecil B. DeMille, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor and George and Gracie. Elizabeth Taylor once worked as the team's bat girl.

 

Twinks (the name can be changed) is a script containing all of the above. The name refers to a nickname for Stars players and assigned to the stray cat adopted by the daughter of aging and struggling pitcher, the thirty-nine year old Gus Zaneck. Stephanie wants the best for her daddy, and he wants to stay in baseball. So, Gus adopts a spitter. According to Stephanie that’s cheating. Since Twinks the cat has lucky charm attributes, why not just do what the rest of the players do and pet the cat? Meanwhile, Miss Hollywood Stars, the very smart actress wannabe, Pamela Fleiss, takes a liking to Stephanie and a dislike to pitchers who throw spitters.

 

According to independent coverage, Pamela’s character is especially strong and a role any female actor would be proud to play. The script reads well, plot points are tight and you’ll be charmed.

 

Coverage from AFilmWriter says...

“This is an enchanting and engaging family fable that pitches and purrs its way into your heart. The story is based on the real life team of the Hollywood Stars minor league baseball team owned by Rob Cobb. The story will make you smile and cry. It's like magic.”

With family relationships, soulful longing, a little girl and a cat, baseball and the huge merchandising potential, this script is not a home run... it’s a Grand Slam.

 

Concerned about costuming? No worries, check out Ebbets Field Flannels, uniform suppliers for The Natural. They have expressed specific interest in participating in this film.

  Jayne Mansfield Offers Up a Kiss                                    Tyrone Power Pitcher                              Hollywood Stars Cheerleaders, 1952