Shaun Squad Society
The Shaun Squad Society Podcast is a podcast written, produced and hosted by three women who want to keep the Magic of a Midnight Sky alive!
Cindy, Dorese and Dame became friends at a Shaun Cassidy concert and immediately decided to form "The Shaun Squad." Soon after, the Shaun Squad Society Podcast was conceived to discuss and reminisce about all-things Shaun Cassidy, from his first years as a teen idol to his current career as a writer and producer.
This podcast brings together a community of Shaun's devoted fans, the ones who played his albums non-stop, and who tuned into The Hardy Boys Mysteries every Sunday evening. And now, 46 years later, Shaun's story-telling tour has delighted fans again. So, join us for the stories, fun-facts, and fascinating interviews as we take you down memory lane with our Teen Dream, Shaun Cassidy.
Shaun Squad Society
Ryan Cassidy and Johnny Ray Miller Interview Pt 1
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Some childhood moments shape us forever. For Ryan Cassidy, youngest son of Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, one such transformative experience came during an afternoon with Hollywood legend James Cagney. Ryan joins us alongside co-author Johnny Ray Miller to discuss their heartwarming children's book "James Cagney Was My Babysitter" and the real-life encounter that inspired it.
The magic of this story lies not in celebrity name-dropping but in how Cagney approached his time with seven-year-old Ryan. Unlike many adults who treat children as secondary presences, Cagney made Ryan the focus, taking genuine interest in his thoughts and imagination. "He didn't make it at all about him, he made it about me," Ryan recalls, describing how Cagney's home—filled with fascinating miniature characters in display cases—created an environment where imagination flourished across generations. The drawing Cagney created specifically for Ryan remains one of his most treasured possessions decades later.
Ryan also shares his role as the Cassidy family historian, preserving Hollywood memorabilia including his father Jack Cassidy's recovered Tony Award and vintage suits from the 1930s. These artifacts aren't merely collectibles but connections to his father, who passed away when Ryan was just ten years old. Through these tangible links to the past, Ryan keeps his father's legacy alive while acknowledging both the positive attributes he inherited and the challenging traits he's worked not to pass on to his own daughter.
The conversation weaves between Ryan's cherished childhood experience with Cagney, his memories of growing up with famous parents, and his ongoing dedication to preserving Hollywood history. We even hear about his recent full-circle moment visiting Cagney's former home, where his book now sits in the very room where their memorable encounter took place decades ago. Join us for this touching exploration of how childhood connections can resonate throughout our lives and shape who we become.
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Introduction to Ryan Cassidy and Johnny Ray Miller
Speaker 1That's really cool, that picture in there that he did for you, ryan. That meant so much to you. I even see that you take it to the museum and I'm thinking don't lose that.
Speaker 2No, that drawing has traveled with me throughout the course of my life.
Speaker 1It means so much to you.
Speaker 2Yeah, I would just look at it and think, well, how lucky am I to have Everybody get down, get with it. The rule.
Speaker 3Everybody get down. That's fucking rule. Welcome to the Shawn Squad Society Podcast with your hosts myself, Cindy, Doris Day, Madonna when we invite you to share in our enthusiasm and reminisce about all things Shawn Cassidy.
Speaker 4From his teen idol days to his recent adventures. Back on the road again.
Speaker 5Please join us for the stories and memories that connected us to those happy days that helped create the Sean Squad Society podcast.
Speaker 4Well you guys, today at the Vorton Studio, we have two very special guests. We have Ryan Cassidy and Johnny Ray Miller, and we are thrilled to have them.
Speaker 4Yeah. So Johnny was on the podcast once before and we had a great time talking to him about his book when we're Singing, talking to him about his book when we're Singing. This time he's here to talk about the book he co-authored with Ryan Cassidy. James Tagney was my babysitter. Ryan Cassidy is the youngest son of Academy Award winner Shirley Jones and Tony Award winner Jack Cassidy. I have notes.
Speaker 4She has notes and growing up in Hollywood with famous parents, you are bound to be in the company of a movie star or two. Well, ryan was no exception. One day, he found himself enjoying an afternoon with the one and only James Cagney. It was that experience that inspired him to write. James Cagney Was my Babysitter, so welcome to the podcast, ryan and Johnny.
Speaker 3Ryan and Johnny, our two favorite guys. Yes, Awesome. Yeah and Ryan, we just saw you recently. We were at the Shirley Jones Gala event.
Speaker 2I remember, I remember seeing you.
Speaker 3You remember, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4It was unbelievable. What was your favorite part? If you don't mind, I would like to tell you my favorite part of the whole event.
Speaker 2I think sitting in the wings, or just standing on the wings of the stage and watching my two brothers get up there. From that point of view, and just watching them perform, watching them tell stories, watching all those performers pay tribute to my mother through her songs, the whole event was just extraordinarily magical for me and very emotional in that it brought back so many memories from my point of view as a child, whether it be with my mother on a set when she was working on a movie or on the set of the Partridge Family. It was cathartic and it was just incredible. I don't know there was a lot of emotions that it carried, but positive.
Speaker 3I think we could feel that. We could feel that too.
Speaker 2I think just gratitude, just the notion that she's still with us and that we can still share stories with her and she can share stories with us. So that's really the emotions.
Speaker 1Yeah, I bet she appreciated it.
Speaker 4It was a magical event. I really loved when the kids sang.
Speaker 3Yes, he was adorable, the.
Speaker 5Partridge family.
Speaker 3Yes, adam was great, he was funny. Yes, we loved his stories.
Speaker 2He's such a nice guy, such a talented guy. Adam was great, they're all great, they all did great.
Speaker 4All of the entertainers, all of the performers were just phenomenal.
Speaker 1We loved them. Yeah, I enjoyed the videos we loved them.
Speaker 3All the stories, too, because we thought about our stories, too, that connect us to your mom and they.
Speaker 2we thought about our stories, too, that connect us to your mom and they were telling their stories how they connected to her and I thought that was special. You know, we all have our story so it's nice to hear their stories. Yeah, you know, I hear we hear things like she's america's mom and there's a lot of truth to that. I think everybody who grew up watching her on the primarily on the partridge family connected with her from their universe. They were involved with what they were growing up with and maybe, like a very dear friend of mine who grew up in kind of a poor neighborhood and had some challenges with his family growing up, always looked forward to connecting and watching my mother on the Partridge family because it brought him into a world that he didn't have, that he felt safe with in some way, and those are the kinds of stories that really warm my heart that I hear, you know.
Speaker 4And that story is very similar to my story because I grew up in the inner city of Chicago and lower income, single mother, and that's how, every Friday night, you know, I was the black sheep of the family, so to speak, and I was one of them. Me and Danny were buddies in my head.
Speaker 2You are buddies, my dear friend John Thomas, and you have a lot in common because he has almost the same story.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 2He's the fellow I was just telling you about.
Speaker 2That's funny, he would always come up to me and say, ron, I felt so connected to your mother growing up and to this day we're dear friends and I don't know. I just people ask me what was she like? She, like you know, as a real mother and there's a lot of parallels that I always tell people and in that, you know, I felt, uh, that you know she didn't have. There wasn't a real stretch playing mrs partridge on that show.
Speaker 2She really is a lot of that character in real life and, um, she would always be fair about everything and she would always hear both sides of whatever the story was. If there was a conflict between my brothers, my two brothers or all of us, she would always listen to both sides of it and kind of make a she would. You would never feel like she just left you out. You know she was just, she brought peace, she was yeah, and and she always, even if she punished us for something you know like, whatever it may be, she always come around and say I love you, but this is for your, for your benefit, and you may not know what you will but she balanced it out for you.
Speaker 3She knew that there had to be some discipline, but she did it, I guess, in a nice way yep yes, yeah, well, you kind of understood it she. She was at your level. She, yeah, made you understand at your level yes, right so, before we get going on the book, I want to find out how it all started, like, how did you and johnny collaborate on this book? What was the beginning of this whole thing?
Speaker 2You want to start that one, Donnie?
Speaker 6Yeah, sure. So my Partridge Family book when we're Singing had just come out and I was at the Hollywood show, nervous, innocent, scared out of my mind what are people going to think of this book? And they sent me right next to Shirley Jones, who I had interviewed but had not yet known what she thought of the book. And, yeah, and so it went. So well. I mean, I'm being a little dramatic here.
Speaker 6And then, I don't know, halfway through the show, this fellow comes up to my table and it's Ryan Cassidy and I'm tongue tied and speechless and, you know, proud and embarrassed, all these things all put together, and we just start chatting and, uh, I think he would tell you that we definitely are personalities of a similar nature. And all of a sudden he says to me um, you know, I have had this idea for a book for a really long time. For now I'm just kind of calling it j Cagney was my babysitter and he kind of laughed at himself and I immediately was like I could see it. Like right away I could see it. I just it said everything to me.
Speaker 6I knew what it was going to be about, I mean, in a big picture, and then we just started talking and that's kind of how it got rolling and it's just all along. I just felt very connected to his story, especially with that book. It's really got so much innocence of heart in it and that's something that I like that I can connect to.
Speaker 3Exactly Right, there's a childhood story that everybody could feel warm about.
Speaker 4Anybody could read it. It could be a three-year-old You're reading it to them or it could be in preschool or kindergarten. They're reading themselves or us.
Speaker 1We love the book. Well, I had fun reading it last night to Cindy it was like a bedtime story and then we talked all about it and we talked about how he loved the little owl and you guys would go outside and sit there and you could even talk to the little owl and it was just neat that he actually gave you time as an adult. He put all of his own things away and he just talked to you and wanted to know you as a child and me as a teacher for 32 years, I understand that. And me as a teacher for 32 years, I understand that. I understand how children that age love when an adult gives them priceless attention.
Speaker 2You know he was such an interesting man in that he was, you know, kind of a stranger obviously to me. I knew of him.
Growing Up with Shirley Jones as a Mother
Speaker 2I knew that I was told that he was this bigger than life actor back in the 1930s and 40s through you know, of I don't know a comfortability within himself, where he was almost you could just sit there and watch him and study him and he was fascinating. And again, he didn't make. He wanted to know who I was. He wanted to pick my brain and get to know my interests and maybe draw from that. And then when I say, draw from that, draw from that emotionally and just maybe get back in some way and share some of his own experience, that might make me feel like more curious. You know, and that's exactly what he accomplished with me. He was, you know. Again, what does a 73 year old man have in common with a seven year old child, except the fact that he did a movie with my mother? But the way his house, the setting, the way it looks, the feel of it, all the observations that I made told me a lot about who he was and as a seven-year-old boy, it gave me thought of it, told me that he had an imagination that was not unlike my imagination, or a kid's imagination and that made me feel like comfortable, like I was going to be okay, that that was a good, that was a good place to be you know, I know you like those
Speaker 3little trinkets, yeah, but a question though what was your preconceived notion before you even went there? Like? What were you thinking this man was going to be like? Did you have any idea what this man was supposed to be like? I?
Speaker 2thought he was going to be not as available to be. I didn't think he was going to take the interest that he took in me. I thought he was more. You know, I thought he was going to be more of like you know, when I when I remember meeting actors as a kid, they were usually they were good storytellers and they were very kind of, but they were about them, if you will. I't mean dissent, they just didn't at all about them in a way where kids were in the background.
Speaker 2They would show you they would. Yeah, exactly, kids were in the background. Cadney did not do that, he didn't make it at all about him, he made it about me, and there was never a sense of urgency, like he had to do something else, I had to wait or he had to. You know, he, there was just this sense of being that whatever was said or done was going to be okay and just, even if I just sat there and we, we stared at each other, it was just comfortable, yeah, comfortable setting. I was so intrigued by, uh, what I had described in the book, which were the little characters inside the wall, I was just where did this guy come up with this idea to do this, all these little trinkets? Because I was fascinated with building models as a kid and obviously my imagination took me to. You know, I was fascinated with leprechauns and little people.
Speaker 5You had an imagination.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1And he did too, so that was cool.
Speaker 4When I was a kid I used to love watching old Hollywood stuff. Anything that was 50 years older than me I thought it was kind of cool was 50 years older than me, I thought it was kind of cool. So I knew what I knew of James Cagney unless, like Dame said once, I have a pretty good memory for a lot of stuff. That's not useful.
Speaker 4But unless memory is not serving me well, james Cagney was in a lot of those gangster movies. He was yeah, and he would say things like you see, we're going to go and get that, you see we're going to do this. He could scare me.
Speaker 3That was kind of scary, and then you and then Brian might have been scared too. Gangsters.
Speaker 4And then I was a huge thanks to Miss Shirley Jones a huge fan of movie musicals and so one day I was watching Yankee Doodle Dandy and there was the UC guy, james Cagney, and that was my memory and and, of course, when you're a little kid, you think these people you see on TV, you think those characters are their life, it's them, it's how they live it, it's who they are. And you're describing a guy that's so 100 percent different than the guy you saw on TV and the movies. And they didn't see him on TV, they saw him in the movies, but I saw him on TV when I was 10.
Speaker 2Yeah, you know he did not want to. He didn't want to be seen as as a gangster.
Speaker 6He didn't want to be seen as a gangster.
Speaker 2He fell into that character and was good at it, and so the studios just kept giving him these roles as these gangsters. The little Johnny Jones he wanted to be the character from Yankee Doodle Dandy. He loved that character.
Speaker 3And that was his favorite movie that he did Well. Yeah, look at the cover. Yeah, look at the cover. That's him on Yikidoodledandy. Right, we knew that right away, yeah.
Speaker 2And he was an American tap dancer, as you may remember, and that was my favorite form of dance. I loved it.
Speaker 4He should have taught you a tap dance while you were there, but didn't he have his own unique style?
Speaker 2That was touched on. I don't think he. I think those days were behind him.
Speaker 3No tap shoes in the house.
Speaker 4Didn't he kind of have his own unique style of dancing, like he was more pointy or like his moves were a little more sharp or something?
James Cagney as Ryan's Babysitter
Speaker 2Yeah, Very much so. He was very loose, loosey-goosey about it all and kind of like flowed in a way that other dancers weren't able to do that, and he incorporated his own rhythm with it all and style with it all, moves that were just really for him. You know that was his signature of it all.
Speaker 1Well, even your book shows how much you loved old Hollywood. And then I also read that the publisher also loved old Hollywood.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1They were excited about doing the book.
Speaker 2Yeah, they have, that's all. Their background is is old Hollywood. Robert, who it's a husband and wife team that own the publishing company, and Robert Matson has written books on old Hollywood and so he was very familiar with James Cagney when I told him what I wanted to do and he loved the idea and so it all kind of came together. It fit their mold of what they like publishing, you know.
Speaker 1It brought you together. That's awesome.
Speaker 2Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3I have a follow-up question about this book. Now I know James Cagney inspired you. Did you ever inspire? Were you ever an inspiring babysitter to somebody else? Did you pass?
Speaker 2that on yeah, babysitter, from the standpoint of a child. You know I've probably been, I've certainly been a babysitter to my daughter and one of the things that I like to do when I'm with kids is I like to I kind of like to find out what their interests are and then build on that, which is what Jamie Bagney did.
Speaker 1Yes, that's what he did with you.
Speaker 2And see where their imagination is, Because I think I had an imagination as a child and I like to see if other kids have a similar kind of imagination that I had and if that be the case, then I can kind of elaborate on things and just then, you know, pull them into a situation where I can maybe have something in common with them there, you can draw magical pictures for them.
Speaker 4Yeah, well, what about you, john? Were you ever like the babysitter who someone grew up and said he was such an inspiration?
Speaker 3I think we talked about this before, right, yeah you don't want.
Speaker 6You don't want to hear my babysitter story.
Speaker 3I think we did remember we talked on our episode. You had a babysitter story we had stories did you ever babysit anyone?
Speaker 6yeah, I did and I know what Ryan's talking about as far as you know, kind of looking at the child and seeing where the child's going to lead you and what their interests are and kind of trying to nurture that. And you know, I'm very, still very much in touch with my whole child being and so I feel like I understand the innocence of children, because somehow, some way I've managed to hang on to some of mine somehow.
Speaker 4Well, that's always great. I still got a lot of mine. I love it. Nowhere is going to go in the next few years, but it's going to be around you know what my babysitter did? She played Partridge Family Records all day. Oh, that's my to be around.
Speaker 3You know what my babysitter did? She played Partridge Family Records all day.
Speaker 5Oh, you are amazing. That's why you know every word.
Speaker 3That's my favorite babysitter.
Speaker 5And that's why you are amazing man, yeah.
Speaker 3We were outside she played the Partridge Family Records and we would make dances to them in the neighborhood.
Speaker 5And we would sell tickets.
Speaker 3We would sell tickets to come and see it.
Speaker 1And we did.
Speaker 3Imaginations. My grandfather was in town and he took a video of it. There was no audio at the time in 1972-ish, and I think I did a song to Bandala.
Speaker 6Bandala. I know what song. Yeah, isn't it amazing, the power of childhood and whatever it is that influences you when you're young, especially if it's good, how that influence just holds throughout your life?
Speaker 1Yes, it's still there. Yeah, Cindy and I were talking about our well, I had an imaginary friend and I thought that was really strange. But they say that that can be good and makes a child smart. I don't know, Sure, Maybe I was bored.
Speaker 4I don't know, I have one still to this day. Oh, okay, I was bored.
Speaker 5I don't know, I have one still to this day. Oh, okay, I love it.
Speaker 1Her name is Gwen. I never met her, mine was Tina.
Speaker 4I should be quiet. You guys are going to have a whole new perception of me Like, oh really Me too. I don't talk to Tina anymore.
Speaker 1But that's really cool, that picture in there that he did for you, ryan. That meant so much to you.
Speaker 2I even see that you take it to the heritage, you know, to the museum, and I'm thinking, don't lose that no, that that uh drawing has traveled with me, uh throughout the course of my life, since, since I was a boy, you know, and uh so much to you.
Speaker 2Yeah, I would just look at it and think well, how lucky am I to have spent part of the afternoon with this man named James Cagney, who gave me this drawing of a character that he knew maybe I could identify with, or a character that I maybe saw in his home?
Speaker 2which was one of his his model handmade books that were in these display cases. There was something about it that you know. I remember him asking me what would you like me to draw for you? And I said I'd like you to draw that little character inside that display case. It turned out to be one of the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Speaker 3Oh, we were wondering about that before. When we were talking to Johnny, we were trying to decipher who that was.
Speaker 2Later I kind of like I had this idea and I mentioned it to Johnny. To me it's almost like that's James Cagney dancing. For me that was and uh, created as a result. I thought you know, maybe it was. It was him sort of dancing in the forest. It says yeah, from his forest, james Cagney.
Speaker 1That's cute, and he signed it for you.
Speaker 2We had our own ideas.
Speaker 3So, doris, what was your idea again, what did you think that?
Speaker 4was? I thought it was some dancing. Oh, you thought it was a self-portrait of the front of the book. Yeah, I thought it was a self-portrait.
Speaker 3Okay, and I just thought it was an elf or something, so I made up elf, I think it probably was a combination of James Cagney and a little nun in his curio cabinet.
Speaker 2Oh, yes. It was a cross between the two of them.
Speaker 1He saw you looking at him there on the show that makes sense yeah.
Speaker 6One of the things that always struck me with my I Belong Theater background and Ryan talked about how Cagney had once played Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream. Ryan talked about how Cagney had once played puck in Midsummer Night's Dream and that drawing kind of said to me oh you know, maybe this is a little bit of a memory of playing puck.
Speaker 4And I never saw that one. But okay, yeah.
Speaker 3Everybody's got an interpretation of it.
Speaker 1It's our imaginations.
Speaker 3Right, there's our imagination.
Speaker 2Which is, by the way, what I think he ultimately wanted it to become, was somebody's imagination.
Speaker 3Right yeah.
Speaker 2Exactly. He was an artist, you know, and he was a painter creates their own imagination as to what that image is in their mind and that they can then walk away with what that image is and say that's what I think, this is, and I think that's what cagney wanted he wanted you figure out what it was, and then you can live with that, and that's your and you know, we did, yeah, we were all talking about it.
Speaker 1So everybody, has their own different interpretation that was such a cool home that you felt like you were in disneyland because all the characters picture of it.
Speaker 2It's a beautiful cobblestone home yeah, oh, the house was incredible. You know, I, I I want to share this, and that is I actually saw this house again. I hadn't been there since that. Last year I was lucky enough to meet the fellow that lives there now, kind of by accident, I was driving down the street that it's on, which is Coldwater Canyon here in Los Angeles, and I saw a car pull up to the driveway. That driveway leads to the house and the gate was opening and I pulled over and my daughter, megan, was with me and I got out and I went up to the car that was pulling into the driveway, knocked on the window and a gentleman said hi and I said hi.
Speaker 2Sorry to interrupt you and I know I'm a complete stranger here, but I have. I wrote a story about an afternoon that I spent here when James Cagney was living here, and I'd like to give you a copy of the book. I wrote a book and he said, my God, thank you. And, long story short, he invited me inside that afternoon. Really, go inside full house and see the room, the very room that I was in with Mr Cagney that day.
Speaker 4Oh.
Speaker 2It was. It was like Full circle yeah. Full circle. Such a gift and I? I was just in heaven. It was the best.
Speaker 1Was it a big home or was it smaller?
Speaker 2No, it was a pretty large home.
Speaker 1Okay, okay.
Speaker 2Didn't really look any different than I'd remembered it, except it had different furniture in it, of course, and it was decorated differently.
Speaker 3And no leprechauns. No leprechauns in the wall.
Speaker 2No, no leprechauns in the wall, but I felt Jamesames cagney there, I can tell you in the sense. I asked the owner. I said do you have anything in this house of mr cagney or that was left behind? He goes. There's a a large black and white picture of jim in the powder room. He bought the house from jimmy cagney's wife and there was a large picture of cagney from his Warner Brothers days hanging in the powder room. That still was there and I went in and looked at that and it was really cool Wow.
Speaker 3That is cool, that is cool, and now they can put the book right by it too.
Childhood Imagination and Treasured Memories
Speaker 2Well, you know the funny thing is. I asked if I could take photos and when I'd given him the book he was very grateful to get a copy and he put it on like a little table by the couch. And when I took photos of the room that I remember being in with Mr Cagney that book there. It's kind of cool. It really did come full circle, you know so.
Speaker 4Didn't you want to talk a little more about Ryan's fascination and collection?
Speaker 5Yes, I know that.
Speaker 4You have a lot in common with Brian, yeah your pouch is full of books.
Speaker 3What's all that?
Speaker 1These are all old Hollywood pictures.
Speaker 1Oh my goodness they're of my family, but I know you Represent your family as a historian For the Cassidy family. I wrote a few little things here because I've been able to see some of the things you took to that Hollywood Heritage Display Museum. I've loved looking at your displays at that museum. I saw the bright purple outfit I wanted to make sure I said this right with the sequins on it. And then there was a picture of your mom right below it.
Speaker 1And then I saw that you stood by one of your father's good looking suits and it looked like one that you would even wear. And I had read that you have like 60 suits. I don't know if that's true, and then I love the other costumes and the props that you had there. But the museum I read really, really likes you because of your classics and all the decades that you've been able to display, and so you make others smile when you bring you know your setup, and this museum calls you a good friend. They love when you share your book and talk about your parents' stories that connect to old Hollywood. So you are the family historian, right.
Speaker 2Yeah. So just to give you a little background on where my interests lie, how they started I've always been a person that loved the past, specifically old magazines.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Antique cars. My first car was from the 1920s when I was 16 years old. So my point is, I feel like I have lived in different times in the past almost, and I love Far back Things are made. I love aesthetics and how things, the beauty of things. I probably hence why I work in the decorating world, in TV and film, and I've always incorporated the past and I know that a lot of that comes from my dad, who also was had a love for colonial items and historic pieces of furniture. Growing up. That was what I was around my whole life, so that was something that was part of my childhood and I remember as a kid collecting old National Geographic from the 1920s, loving all the ads in them and men dressed and, of course, always saw my dad dressed up.
Speaker 2My dad was never in the same outfit.
Speaker 1Yeah, I read that.
Speaker 2I. That really rubbed off on me, and so I, when I was taken to a museum as a kid, I remember just sitting there studying the things behind the glass, thinking, wow, that's, you know, amazing. And stories that it's like it almost like had its own soul. Whatever it might have been that I was looking at, it was just it could talk to you in its own way.
Speaker 2It just was my imagination and just go back to whenever that was, wherever that was, and picture it then. So that was something that developed as I got older and I'd always wanted to work in a museum setting and I kind of curated things in my own home with things that were my family's, like my dad's Tony Award, which I have.
Speaker 1Yes, tell us that story from 1964. I know that's what you got. It was that time period, but it was lost and you got it back. He should tell the story of how it was lost.
Speaker 2Very nice.
Speaker 3He got it back.
Speaker 2Very nice.
Speaker 4I'm so glad you have that.
Speaker 3That's very cool.
Speaker 2The story on this is that my father was the recipient of it in 1964 for a musical called she Loves Me with Barbara Cook.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2And the music and lyricists were Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bach, and Jerry Bach became a very dear friend of my father and he actually became almost like a brother to my father, and when my father was putting his will together, he had two—his brother, joe Cassidy and Jerry Bach, were the two executors to my father's away, which was very tragic in an apartment fire in 1976, most of the things that were of importance were in his living room and they were destroyed by the fire. And so the Tony Award which he had and which, when he received it in 1964, he received it in sort of like a velvet jewelry box, which is how they were given out, in sort of like a velvet jewelry box, which is how they were given out and then later in life, the Tonys decided to give them on this stand, which is how they are given out now and that stand where the Tony turns.
Speaker 2Well, my dad took his Tony and I guess he placed it on some kind of a table in his living room.
Speaker 2And, as it turns out, the Tony did not get destroyed in the fire but, jerry Bach, it was given to him through the course of when things were being salvaged. He got it and with the intention of giving it to our family, and he kept it and, I guess, put it away and forgot about it. Well, many years later, one of my brother Patrick's managers, when my brother was an actor, he had a manager who represented him. He thought, well, I'm going to give Patrick a gift for his I think it was one of his major birthdays. So he went to the Tony's and asked Tony's to reissue my dad's Tony award, which he said was destroyed in the fire. And we all thought it was. So the Tony's reissued the Tony that my dad would have got. Oh, okay, how nice. In fact, the Oscars will do that too If your Academy award is destroyed. And in Gene Kelly's case, his house was in a fire, burned in a fire, his Academy award was destroyed and the Oscars reissued his Academy Award.
Speaker 3That's nice. Yeah, it's good, it's nice to know.
Speaker 2So the Tonys reissued my dad's Tony. My brother was given this Tony Award and we thought, wow, that's great. You know, there's a Tony that my dad would have gotten. Well, a couple of years later I was back in New York, in Pound Ridge, new York, staying at Jerry Bach's house because Jerry's son was a good friend of mine. And when I was, I was there for a couple of days and as I was leaving, jerry said to me Ryan, can I talk to you for a minute down in my office before you leave? I want to talk to you. And I said sure. So I went downstairs to his office and he said listen, I have something I want to give you that I've been meaning to give you for a long time. And he handed me this Tony Award, which was the one that my dad was actually the one. Wow.
Speaker 1That's so cool.
Speaker 3What did you say? Wow, it's like the original.
Speaker 2I didn't know what to say. I was like what is that? That is your father's Tony Award that I've had that I've been meaning to give to your family, and now I'm giving it to you and you need to have it, and so I was just grateful to get it.
Speaker 4So Patrick still has the other one, right Right, and you have this one. How cool.
Speaker 2I have the one that he would have gotten or that he did get. Patrick has one, that's just like it.
Speaker 1Wow, your dad had a beautiful voice. I loved listening to him sing.
Speaker 2That's why my mom fell in love with my dad was because of his voice.
Speaker 1And his humor too. I read that she loved that he had a humor also, that was his charm, he had comedy timing and he could charm the pants off of anybody.
Speaker 3I'm sure.
Speaker 4Well, I mean he didn't have to say anything. Literally. I'm a kid and I love old Hollywood and I'm watching this Jack Cassidy guy on Columbo, watching this Jack Cassidy guy on Columbo, or there was this. Before reality TV became a thing, there was this thing called Circus at a Star. They had celebrities doing trapeze acts and things like that and Jack Cassidy was the ringleader. Now I'm telling you, I'm a 10, 11, 12-year-old child and I'm mesmerized by the charm because I just I think I'm a very old soul. So I love old Hollywood. It's the epitome, at that time, of old Hollywood. He just dressed and looked and had this face that was chiseled and all he was meant to be that part.
Speaker 3He was just meant to be that.
Speaker 4So I could see how he charmed these women. And he didn't have to say I'm easy and I'm charmed.
Speaker 3And your mom was warned too. As I recall, your mom was warned that he had charm.
Speaker 1Don't fall in love with him, uh-oh.
Speaker 3Don't fall for it. She did.
Speaker 2The kind of charm that was, I say, wicked, because you just fell in love with him. Melt Not even it was. You're like why do I love this man so much? He'd make you laugh. He was handsome, he was he dressed well, he had great taste, he knew the best restaurants to go to.
Speaker 1But being the youngest son and losing him when you're only 10 years old. No wonder you like to save memorabilia of him. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2I also had some very special moments with my dad before he passed away that I'll never forget, and I had some times with him that that stayed with me, that were positive, because my dad wasn't always available to his kids. He was a performer, he traveled a lot and he just wasn't around and he also, I think he had.
Speaker 2He was one of those people that he felt that kids were best seen and not heard, Kind of like, don't have toys in the house to put them in your room, Don't leave them out. And you know, I have some of my dad's traits and I've learned to to point out within myself.
Speaker 2You know how to face those good ones and the bad ones and some of the ones not good. Face those, the good ones and the bad ones, and some of the ones that are not good. I've managed to process and recognize and identify. So I don't pass that on to my daughter, but the good things that my dad left with me. He was incredibly compassionate and sensitive and caring and very creative, and when he would connect with you and when he was vulnerable in some way, he was an amazing guy and I had some really amazing moments. We went to the macy's day parade together in new york. Um, he took me to new york. Just the two of us went there. He took me to the fa or schwartz, which was one of the largest toy stores at the time in the world.
Speaker 1Yeah, talk about imagination.
Speaker 2Yeah, and he rented a car and took me to the house he was raised in. I mean things that I'll just never forget.
Speaker 1Aw yeah, so you're still holding that by getting all of his suits, or some of his suits, and dressing like him and going to the Hollywood Heritage Museum and showing your display. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2It keeps his legacy alive.
Speaker 1Yes, you're good at that.
Speaker 2And don't get me wrong, I see him for who he was. You know, he wasn't perfect, by no means.
Speaker 3Nobody is.
Speaker 2He had his challenges, but I'm able to take the things that he left with me, that were that were important, that were good, and keep those, and I'm able to keep his life by sharing stories, like I'm doing with you guys now, you know, talking about him, I dress the way I want to dress, but that's because my dad had that, you know. I saw him and I thought that's that's a really. I love that style, I love that look and that keeps him alive and I feel like he's with me at times and that's just something that's very personal, but I believe it to be true.
Ryan as Cassidy Family Historian
Speaker 1And he was an art piece, and so you really like to decorate and you really like to notice things like this, and you like to come home after you work and redecorate your house. I read that. And so these things that you do makes you an artist, even though you don't have a paintbrush. I read that too.
Speaker 2So you're a natural artist. My comfort zone is rearranging my house. I know I read that too. Yeah, so you're a natural artist. My comfort zone is rearranging my house.
Speaker 5I know I read that. Come over to my house and do it again.
Speaker 2Yeah, come in here, Come to Chicago, you know.
Speaker 3Well we should ask about our set decoration.
Speaker 4Well, we will. We'll ask them, but before that I just wanted to ask you one quick question. Going back to the Heritage Museum, isn't there a suit there that you donated? It's not one of Jack Cassidy's suits, but it's another one, and you really love this suit, oh.
Speaker 2I loaned them one of Gary Cooper's tuxedos Okay that he wore in a movie that I had.
Speaker 2So, going back to suits, I do have a collection of suits that are from the 1930s. Some of them are from the 1920s, yeah, and I actually wear them and I have them tailored to fit me the way I need them to fit, tailored to fit me the way I need them to fit. And you know, suits today are nice but there are men's suits come and go with style, as you might know. So you have a suit from the 1930s that's a peak lapel, single breasted suit and it could look like something from the 80s. But suits then, the fabrics were different, they were more body form fitting, and I've just learned a lot about the quality is they're right, quality is incredible. A suit that you'd buy off the rack back in the 1930s or 40s is like you know. You can't find that kind of suit today off the rack. So my dad's suits were all bespoke suits, which means that they were hand tailored and handmade to him. He picked out the material with his tailor and then they were made and those are like a piece of art, yeah.
Speaker 3Did you wear one of those? Did you wear one of those suits to your mom's gala? I was going to ask about that. I was curious.
Speaker 2Well, they don't fit me anymore. His suits don't fit me, but I have worn suits that would be very almost identical to what he wore, okay, remade and stuff too. I have these suits that my dad owned that came out of his condo when he passed, and they were made by a man by the name of Harry Cherry and he was a tailor in Beverly Hills and that's where my dad had many of his suits made.
Speaker 4Oh wow. You know people look different today. Men, women, both. We're not built the same way that people were in their 20s and 30s. So you're talking about these gorgeous suits, but I would imagine you say you have them tailored to fit you. People were a little bit smaller height and width. I imagine that you're like adding a little something more, and I'm not trying to be funny, it's just you go to an old house that was built in 1922, you can't hardly get through the doorway.
Speaker 2No, you're a thousand percent right. That's exactly right. People were smaller back then.
Speaker 3Diets were different.
Speaker 2Finding a large men's suit from the 1930s, like I say a 40 or 42, is challenging. They're mostly 38s or even smaller.
Speaker 4Yes Wow.
Speaker 3I do like the way they look when you post them on Instagram. I'm like, wow, that looks pretty snazzy. Yeah, don't you think Dapper, yeah, dapper. I use the term dapper, pretty dapper there. I love your displays.
Speaker 2Thank you. My favorite Look at everybody, my favorite designer is Ralph Lauren, because Ralph Lauren actually has been known to bring back different looks from like the thirties, forties. He, he reinvents things all the time and I just like his style. That's kind of my favorite. There's a few others, but I like him a lot.
Speaker 1Oh, that's good to know too.
Speaker 4I like. I wear Ralph a lot I wish I had some of those.
Speaker 1I don't know, ralph Ralph Lauren bedspread.
Speaker 3Thank you from the bottom of our teen dream hearts.
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