I kid you not: a big star once invited my Grandpa Cassidy to go on the road with him.

And not as a security officer – as a tap dancer!

Mom’s sister, Bunny, just shared this story with us last week, when Gary and I were visiting Dad in Connecticut. Poor thing, I think I asked her to repeat the story three times – I just couldn’t believe it!

Grandpa was a “cop on the beat” in New Haven, Connecticut.

Apparently one of the perks of the job when Grandpa worked evenings was a peek backstage at the Shubert.

New Haven’s Shubert Theatre was an out-of-town venue for new musicals to perfect scripts, songs, and dances before taking them to Broadway.

Here’s a video history of the theater:

When working the night shift, Grandpa could time his break so that he was backstage at the Shubert Theatre.

One night, a world-renowned song and dance man was on stage.

Grandpa was thrilled to watch him perform from backstage. Dressed in his policeman’s uniform, Grandpa couldn’t resist dancing along to one of the songs.

Grandpa danced? I had no idea!

Bunny told us, yes, he could tap dance. Soft shoe, too. She remembers he and Grandma used to sometimes dance around the kitchen and throughout house.

Back at the Shubert, as Grandpa danced in the wings, someone came up behind him and tickled him. Well, Grandpa was famously ticklish. His reaction caught the headliner’s eye and the star of the show invited the dancing policeman on stage.

Grandpa had a ball. And the song and dance man was so impressed with the dancing that he offered Grandpa a job to come on the road and perform with him.

As Aunt Bunny finished telling the story, Dad remembered this poem Mom wrote long ago, and suddenly it all made sense:

stone shoes

daddy
will you dance with me
as with my mother in your irish kitchen in connecticut
the two of you were light as angels in each other’s arms

father
I long to dance like a redemption in the blood
chanting my magic
I have you dancing in my kitchen here
tapping the white floor with your policeman boots

kicking my stone shoes off this winter morning
I can move now father
I can dance

~ Joan Cassidy Vayo, 24 February 1977

“stone shoes” © 1977 Joan Vayo. All rights reserved.

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