Synopsis

The Family Man

The Family Man $13

Benjamin Zavin & Carl Leo

Published by Dramatists Play Service

5 Male 7 Female

Bill Cahill, a former athlete but accident-prone, breaks his leg sliding into third base while playing baseball with his children

Faced with a long convalescence, his wife, Ellen, valiantly goes back to work to support the family, while Bill looks after the house. They do their work grudgingly, not realizing that they are both happier and more efficient in their new roles

Then Ellen, on a last minute impulse, brings her boss home for dinner, sending Bill into a rage. Bill feels this imposition is the last straw, and their new scheme of living, as well as their marriage, seems to be heading for the rocks

Things become even more uproariously complicated when it is discovered that Bill, using his wife's name, has sent in one of his original cookie recipes and an essay on homemaking to a TV Contest - and has been chosen the recipient of the Homemaker Award of the Year

The winner is to receive $50,000, plus additional sums for appearing on television - but the winner must be a woman. Bill wants his wife to pass herself off as the homemaker, but she refuses to be involved in anything so deceitful

The producers of the TV show arrive and are alarmed and dismayed when Ellen turns down their handsome award, and then are horror-struck when they realize they have bestowed their award on a man rather than a woman. Their fifteen million dollar TV program might be held up to ridicule and cancellation

But they decide, to save face and their program (and to capitalize on the enormous publicity which they sense will develop), to give the award this year to a man - Bill Cahill. Bill and Ellen are happily reunited, and the next thing we hear is that there is a sudden rash of broken bones among the men in the neighborhood

Accidental? Perhaps. But then Bill Cahill has shown that staying around the house each day might not be such a bad idea after all

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