Laura Bush had the fortune (or misfortune, depending on your view) of feeling like Cinderella on Friday when her shoe accidentally got stuck in a crease of the stage platform at the National Italian American Foundation’s luncheon.

As Secret Service mildly panicked, NIAF Board Member Vincent Viola — who, when he’s not replacing the shoes of first ladies, is a senior strategic adviser of the New York Mercantile Exchange — leaped to the rescue and helped guide Mrs. Bush’s shoe back on her foot … ever so eloquently, of course. “And the shoe fit …” as the fairy tale goes.

The following evening, when Viola was picked to introduce “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo, he noted that “yesterday I got to put a shoe on first lady Laura Bush’s foot, and today I get to introduce Ellen Pompeo.  … I’m the luckiest person in the world.”