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Saturday, March 25, 2017

Fan Fiction -- "More Dirty Dancing -- The Reunion"

The website Fan Fiction is a forum where amateur writers can publish their own stories based on various movies and other genres. The website has 184 fan-fiction stories about the movie Dirty Dancing.

Here I will summarize a fan-fiction story titled More Dirty Dancing -- The Reunion, written by Susan Friedman in 2002.

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In June 2000, on the weekend after Memorial Day, Francine "Frannie" Silver is driving in her new car on a trip to surprise her parents on their 25th wedding anniversary. Frannie Silver is the daughter of Baby Houseman, who now calls herself "Franny". Franny the daughter has found the diary of Franny (Baby) the mother. Franny the daughter stops her car at a rest stop and begins to read her mother's diary at its first page.

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The diary begins in May 1966. Frannie (Baby) writes that she has just completed her third year, majoring in pre-med, at Mount Holyoke college. Next year Frannie (Baby) will transfer to Columbia University.

During the two previous summer vacations, 1964 and 1965, Frannie (Baby) had worked with the Peace Crops. She would not do so during the summer of 1966, however, because she has been invited to attend Penny Johnson's wedding. Penny dances in the chorus line of a Broadway show, called "Dancing Feet", and she will marry the show's producer.

Frannie (Baby) will spend the summer of 1966 with her parents in their home in Great Neck, New York. Frannie's roommate and best friend, Rochelle Silver, also will spend the summer there with Frannie. (Frannie and Rochelle both have the last name Silver.)

While writing her diary in May 1966, Frannie (Baby) recalled the summer of 1963.
I'll never forget that summer. It was the summer that I lost my innocence, the summer of Kellerman's and Johnny Castle. We had lost touch over the years, with me going to college and the Peace Corps. Johnny was headed for New York, with Penny at his side.

After the last show of the seasons, Mr. Kellerman had apologized to Johnny and asked him to come back next season, but the answer Johnny had given him was no.

Two talent scouts had been in the audience and had approached Johnny with a deal. They had been watching the last dance on stage and his partner, but I  had said I wasn't Johnny's partner at all. That's when I identified Penny as his partner.
Writing her diary in May 1966, Frannie (Baby) thinks that she might meet Johnny at Penny's wedding.

On June 3, 1966, Frannie (Baby) wrote in her diary that she had settled back into her parents' home in Great Neck. Rochelle too is staying there. Frannie's sister Lisa is married to her interior-design instructor, owns an interior-design store, has given birth to a son, and is pregnant again.

One June 4, 1966. Frannie wrote in her diary that Rochelle and Franny have driven into Manhattan to watch Penny dance in her show, which is called "Dancing Feet". Rachelle and Frannie see on the theater's poster that the show's choreographer is Johnny Castle.

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Now the story returns to June 2000, when Frannie (Baby's daughter) is reading her mother's diary.  She recalls that her mother has told her about Johnny's successful career as a Broadway dancer and choreographer. Frannie (Baby's daughter) had been so inspired by her mother's stories about Johnny Castle that she (Baby's daughter) had studied dance and eventually became a ballet dancer.

Now as an anniversary surprise, she (Baby's daughter) wants to organize a dance tribute to take place at Kellerman's resort. While she (Baby's daughter) was organizing this dance tribute, she found her mother's diary.

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Now the story returns to June 1966, when Frannie (Baby) is writing her diary. In three days, Frannie (Baby) will be a bride's maid at Penny's wedding. Frannie (Baby) recalls that after watching "Dancing Feet" she had gone backstage and met Johnny. Frannie and Johnny had tearfully embraced and had said they missed each other.

In the following days, Frannie (Baby) and Johnny met several times at the theater. The show's director has a daughter named Camille who is trying to attract Johnny.

Johnny arranged for the theater to hire Franny (Baby) and her friend Rochelle to work backstage. In this situation, Franny (Baby) and Johnny gradually grow close together again. However there is a problem, which is that Franny (Baby) is engaged to a man named Paul Silver, the older brother of her best friend, Rochelle Silver.
Paul Silver and I weren't officially engaged yet. Not that he didn't want to or hadn't asked me over and over. For some reason, I kept putting him off.

Paul was Rochelle's older brother, though they hardly looked alike. He as twenty-three, just about Johnny's age. Paul had just graduated from the University of Maryland with a Liberal Arts degree. This way, he said, he could do just about anything and wait for me to finish Mount Holyoke.

He was taking a summer course in mathematics that would give him a certificate in Certified Public Accounting. He was going to work for a prestigious firm in the fall. He was excellent in math and wanted to be a mathematician all his life. The way that Paul explained it is that this would give him that opportunity. Once he was established, he said, after we were married, he would open up his own firm. He had so much confidence in himself that he knew it was going to work.

Paul Silver was very ambitious and a credit to any woman. I just wasn't sure if I was the right one.
Later, Frannie (Baby) writes in her diary about the rehearsal dinner for Penny's wedding. Franny as a bride's maid would be paired with Johnny.

After the wedding rehearsal, everyone went to a dinner at a pizza restaurant in Little Italy. There, Penny told the others about Robbie Gould. He had finished medical school and was getting into trouble for fooling around with nurses.

After the rehearsal dinner, Penny let Frannie (Baby) and Johnny stay overnight in her apartment. The diary does not say what happened that night in Penny's apartment.

Later, Frannie (Baby) wrote in her diary about Penny's wedding. It was a Roman Catholic wedding. Johnny played the role of Penny's father and gave Penny away in the wedding ceremony. The parents of Frannie (Baby) attended the wedding.
Daddy and Johnny spoke together as if they were old friends. At one point, my father put hs arm around Johnny's shoulders. I smiled, remembering back to 1963 when Johnny and I were standing on a hill watching my father walk out of the main house of Kellerman's with his arms around Robbie Gould and Lisa.
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Now the story returns to the summer of 2000, when Frannie Silver (Baby's daughter) is planning the dance tribute for her mother Franny (Baby Houseman) and father, Paul Silver. Frannie (Baby) ended up marrying Paul Silver because Johnny had eloped with Camille, the daughter of his Broadway show's director.

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That's about the first fifth of the story. I don't want to give away the story's ending. Read the whole story here.

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