In 1985, Leon Skorupski, Jr. saw the Broadway musical “Cats” for the first time at the Winter Garden Theater in New York, and something inside him changed.
“I just connected with it,” he said during his appearance at the Al McClure Animal Shelter in Secaucus on Feb. 9, part an effort to drum up support for adopting stray cats and dogs, and to promote the opening of the town’s new dog run. The connection in 1985 started him dressing up as one of the musical’s principal characters, acquiring his custom-made Rum Tum Tugger costume, with a spiked collar and calico-cat-colored mukluks. And dressed in the role he seemed most attracted to, he went out into the world to spread good cheer, making trips to local hospitals, senior citizens’ homes, even animal shelters.
Late last year, Skorupski had gone to the closing sale from the Broadway play, from which he managed to acquire some of Rum Tum Tugger’s leotards, large Christmas tree lights from the Jellicle Ball scene and a small cape of faux feline fur.
He keeps a photograph in his wallet from a trip back to see the musical, when he got the chance to pose with the actor playing the role of Rum Tum Tugger in the musical.
Skorupski is an employee of PSE&G and lives in Bloomfield. He and Patches the Clown – an employee from Verizon who refused to give her real name – travel around the state making appearances for good causes and other events. Skorupski as Tugger recently appeared in Atlantic City.
Patches does her good deeds through the Telephone Pioneers of America of Verizon. Both she and Skorupski have been doing special events since the 1980s. When they visit senior citizen centers, Tugger does his best to get the senior citizens stirred up, doing anything to get them to dance with him. Neither of them has any formal training.
“We taught ourselves,” Patches said
A typical appearance might include blowing up balloons, twisting them into animal shapes, face painting, and dancing. The duo has been known to appear anywhere from flea markets to kids’ shows.
Skorupski said he began dressing up at Tugger in 1985 after he saw the show for the first time and felt the need to imitate him, and to bring good cheer. Patches, who already involved in Verizon’s volunteer program, invited him to travel around with her.
“The first time we went somewhere, I asked if I could bring along Tugger the cat,” Patches said. “They thought I was going to bring a kitten for them to pose with and I showed up with a six-foot tall Tugger instead.”
Improving a quality of life for people and pets
Somehow – as weird as it might appear – it seemed appropriate to have a man dressed up in a costume from the Broadway play “Cats” come into Secaucus to help promote the town’s new dog run.
While the dog run won’t be open for a few months, local officials have been concerned for several months about relocating dogwalkers in the area.
With the proposed closing of two ballfields off Meadowlands Parkway, 3rd Ward Councilman John Reilly grew concerned about dog walkers from various parts of town that had used the area early in the morning.
“It wasn’t anything official,” he said. “And they always cleaned up after themselves. But it was a kind of unofficial club. People would get together as they walked their animals.”
The impending sale of that land to New Jersey Transit so they could run a rail line through the property left that club without a place to go.
“Setting up a dog run was all [Councilman] John Reilly’s idea,” said Mayor Dennis Elwell. “He saw the need and brought it to the council, and we went with it.”
And go with it the town did.
The town had a piece of property that it had acquired from the Secaucus Municipal Utilities Authority in the mid-1990s. Since then, it had served numerous functions, such as a parking area for Department of Public Works vehicles, even a place where the town stored its salt. But over the last couple of years, the fenced-in area, which is near the town’s dog pound at the end of Meadowlands Parkway near Castle Road, had remained vacant. Reilly realized that with very little work, the space could be converted to allow dog owners to let their dogs loose.
“You have to realize that we’re right near Harmon Cove,” Reilly said. “People there and in other condominium complexes in town don’t have a lot of space where they can run their dogs. Many of them were using the ballfields early in the morning, but with the ballfields gone they needed some place else. What we’re doing is providing them a service.”
But town officials weren’t satisfied with merely putting in a little gravel. They wanted to have some fun with the idea.
“We got some old fire plugs from the water company,” said DPW Superintendent Michael Gonnelli, “and we painted some old post office boxes.”
Besides these props, there is even a ramp-like structure, as well as some park benches and other amenities, some to benefit the dogs, some to allow their owners to sit while the dogs romp.
“It’s a quality-of-life issue,” Reilly said, “quality-of-life for people’s pets as well as for people.”
P&E&G wanted to get involved
When officials at PSE&G heard about the effort, they were already deeply involved with local animal preservation. Volunteers from the company along with kids from the local schools were participating in an initiative called a “cattery” inside the nearby animal shelter. By increasing the square footage of the area the cats have to play in, they will get more exercise and be more mentally, physically and emotionally stimulated. Then they will be healthier and happier – and in the end, much more adoptable. The projects done by PSE&G’s Environmental Partnership Team, comprised of volunteers from Secaucus’ Palisades Division and Jersey City’s Hudson Generating Station, are meant to teach young people about preserving natural living resources through environmental advocacy, education and conservation programs. The kids also receive career mentoring from PSE&G employees.
So Richard Dywer, one of PSE&G’s environmental volunteers, thought, why not help promote the dog run as well?
PSE&G has helped build housing units for animals in the pound, and has contributed props to the dog run. PSE&G also has held volunteer outings with kids to the pound, and the kids were there the day Tugger showed up.
“Our volunteers believe it is important to create community-based environmental partnerships to move PSE&G from advocacy and assistance to providing a forum for education,” Dywer said.” The team works with students to help them develop environmental leadership skills and to become environmental stewards. The students learn how to plan construction and woodworking jobs, take measurements, use hand tools, and learn safety practices. The PSE&G volunteers strive to demonstrate that parks and open spaces are environmental classrooms.”
The dog run is slated to open in early spring.