First in a series
In a darkened, smartly appointed seaside living room in Pacific Palisades yesterday afternoon, the drama-punctured life story of the widely noted Dance Doctor, John Cassese – Lost Then Found, Lost Then Found Again – emotionally unfolded on a sizable video screen.
- Before the steady tattooing of boyhood abuse,
- Before the life-changing heartbreak of losing a child, almost,
- Before the drugs,
- Before the alcohol,
- Before the dreams came true,
- Before the dreams tumbled into a shredding machine,
- Before end-of-life reunions,
- Before reuniting with a child once lost,
- Before this quintessential native New Yorker sang, danced and acted his way across America to find technicolor fulfillment in the entertainment bosom of Southern California,
- Before any of those electrically charged, elevator-like interludes in a life lived to capacity — with miles of dreams still to travel…
Before knowing/noticing any of that, your attention is placed under arrest by ageless John Cassese’s striking good looks:
His coal-colored, smartly honed beard, fashionable coal-colored moustache and traditionally coiffed coal-colored hair lead off the obligatory portrait that the gods of Hollywood ruled a century ago every successful male star must possess.
Behind that portrait lies an amazing – and true – yarn of resistance, recovery, rebirth, reality, qualities that have driven the high-wire life of the Santa Monica-based Dance Doctor, one of the most intriguing entertainers in the galaxy.
(To be continued)