Third in a series.

Re: “Born to Crashing Drama Merely Was Opening Act”

If a long-lived man is known best these days by the name of his business, the Dance Doctor, you envision a darkly handsome fellow who suggests suave and debonair.

So far, all of that is accurate about John Cassese.

But there is another truth.

Like a veteran rubber band snapped one time too many, this shattering truth stretches back nearly to the beginning of Mr. Cassese’s New York City life.

From a biographical film he completed in November and hopes to convert into a major motion picture, as the first-person narrator, he seizes your attention and means to tightly grip it.

“I was the youngest of five brothers,” he says, “and we were all abused by my alcoholic father, William. It was not fun.”

After bouncing from a statistic to a shocking revelation, Mr. Cassese helpfully opens a backstory.

“I was born into a macho Italian Catholic family,” and all kinds of imagery springs into a viewer’s line of vision.

As the actors hired for the opening permanently retreat, replaced by family film and photos, the next scene is telling.

“That is my father at my (immigrant) grandfather’s bar,” Mr. Cassese said. “Alcohol was a big part of my family for many generations.”

(To be continued)