This blog discusses the movie Dirty Dancing, which was released in 1987 and starred Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. The articles discuss:
* literary aspects, such as characterization, motivation, interactions;
* the music and dances;
* the production of the movie;
* critical reactions.
During the movie Dirty Dancing, Johnny Castle's attitude toward Baby Houseman evolves from his sarcasm that she is a "Miss Fix-It" to his appreciation that she is a person who is "willing to stand up for other people no matter what it costs her".
In this post here, I will analyze Johnny's initial, sarcastic put-down that she is a "Miss Fix-It". He gives her that nickname in the scene where Baby gives the abortion movie to Penny Johnson. Watch the below video beginning at 1:07.
Johnny Castle
Yeah it takes a real saint to ask Daddy.
Penny Johnson
Thanks, Baby, but I can't use it.
Johnny Castle
What? What's the matter with you? You should take the money. Billy Kostecki (Addressing Baby)
I can only get her an appointment for Thursday.
They do their act at the Sheldrake on Thursday night. If they cancel, they lose this season's salary and next year's gig.
Baby Houseman
What's the Sheldrake? Billy Kostecki
It's another hotel where they do their mambo act.
Baby Houseman
Can't someone else fill in?
Johnny Castle
No, Miss Fix-It. Somebody else can't fill in. ....
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There are two problems in arranging an abortion for Penny.
1) The abortion costs $250 that Penny does not have.
2) The abortion will conflict in time with the Sheldrake performance.
Baby has just fixed the first problem and now suggests a fix for the second problem.
Johnny is resentful because Baby has the resources, practicality and initiative to fix problems that he himself has not been able to fix.
Penny and Billy, however, immediately recognize Baby's practical fix, which is that someone else could fill in for Penny at the Sheldrake. Johnny is compelled to go along with Baby's proposed fix -- and furthermore to train Baby as Penny's substitute.
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Johnny's resentment about Baby's practicality began already earlier in the story. When Johnny, Baby and Billy are going to the kitchen to help Penny, Baby asks Billy a practical question: what is Johnny going to do about Penny's pregnancy?:
Baby Houseman
So, what's wrong? What's the matter with her?
Billy Kosetecki
She's knocked up, Baby. Johnny Castle
Billy!
Baby Houseman (Addressing Billy) What's he [Johnny] going to do about it?
Johnny Castle
What's he gonna do about it? Oh, it's mine, right? Right away you think it's mine.
Here Johnny is changing the subject. He has no idea of what he might do about Penny's pregnancy, so he changes the subject to blaming Baby for implying mistakenly that he caused the pregnancy.
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Baby is a practical person. When she sees a problem that she might be able to solve -- or at least help to solve -- she takes practical steps to do so. If she can get some money from her father, she does so. If she thinks someone else might fill in for Penny, she suggests the idea.
Baby intends to obtain a higher education to learn how to study big social problems and to develop and administer solutions.
Baby is following the example of her father, who obtained a higher education in medicine to become a doctor who provides practical help to people with health problems.
In contrast, Johnny is an entertainer. He does not aspire to solve significant problems of other people.
The Houseman family conformed to the social conventions that worked well during the 1950s and early 1960s. The men attended universities and the developed professional careers. The women married and managed households that raised children to follow those conventions. Such families prospered.
Other characters in the movie followed the same conventions, although sometimes less than perfectly. Neil Kellerman attended a School of Hotel Management and was trying to find a suitable marriage partner. Robbie Gould attended Yale Medical School and dumped a girlfriend who turned out to be not suitable as a marriage partner.
The movie's major characters who failed to follow the social conventions were Johnny Castle and Penny Johnson, who were struggling to make their livings as professional dancers. Neither of them had obtained a higher education as their basis for developing their careers. Neither of them -- while already in their mid-twenties -- were orienting themselves toward marriage and children.
Johnny and Penny are artists who are struggling professionally and personally. Their economic futures seem bleak. Johnny might have to go back to painting and plastering houses. Penny suffered a close call with an unmarried pregnancy. Johnny and Penny feel intellectually inadequate and lack social self-confidence
Johnny resented the success that the Houseman family enjoyed by conforming to the social conventions. The Housemans either obtained higher educations or devoted themselves to becoming supportive wives and mothers. The Housemans prospered by fixing problems.
Because Jake Houseman had become a doctor, he earned enough money to give $250 to his daughter for some unexplained reason. Because Baby was a trusted daughter of such a prosperous father, she could use his wealth as a resource to fix problems.
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As the story continues, Johnny does not decide that he should follow the Houseman family's example, but he does come to respect the family's capabilities and conduct.
On the other hand, the Houseman family -- especially Jake -- comes to respect the capabilities and conduct of the struggling artists -- Johnny and Penny.
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From the movie's beginning, Billy respects the Houseman family. Billy sees Max Kellerman praise and honor the family when the family arrives at the resort.
Billy never treats Baby disrespectfully -- as the artists Johnny and Penny treat her. Billy supports all of Baby's intentions, suggestions and efforts.
Billy is an intermediary between the story's conventional families and struggling artists. He is employed to help the resort's guest families and to help also the resort's artists. Billy too is a practical fixer of problems, and so he appreciates Baby's being a practical fixer of problems.
In this post I will write about a series of romantic relationships, in which the movie and stage musical differ.
1) Billy Kostecki and Elizabeth
2) Jake and Marjorie Houseman
3) Neil Kellerman and Baby Houseman
4) Johnny Castle and Baby Houseman
Other relationships -- involving Lisa Houseman, Penny Johnson, Robbie Gould, Lisa Houseman and Vivian Pressman -- are essentially similar in the movie and musical.
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Billy Kostecki and Elizabeth
In my previous article about the musical's race aspect, I pointed out that Billy frequently sings with a Negro female co-worker. I perceived that he looks at her longingly, but I did not notice his saying anything romantic to her. According to the musical's program, the character is called Elizabeth.
In an earlier post titled The Resort Hotel's Employees, I reported -- based on Eleanor Bergstein's commentary in a DVD -- that the an early draft of the movie's story was supposed to include a scene showing that Negroes were allowed to use the resort's swimming pool along with Caucasians.
When the producers were selecting a resort as a location for the movie, they looked for a resort with a swimming pool, because the movie was supposed to show that the swimming pool was racially integrated. The author Eleanor Bergstein in her running commentary mentioned that the Jewish-owned resorts racially integrated their swimming pools before the other resorts did so, so apparently her original script included a reference to that fact.
However, the producers could not find an available resort with a swimming pool (we do see guests swimming in a lake). Therefore none of the movie’s dialogue refers to the racial integration of the swimming pool, although the dialogue refers several times to the Civil Rights movement that was developing in the South in the early 1960s. We can suppose that the African-Americans in the planned swimming-pool scene would have been the orchestra members, who were idle during the days.
Based on the stage musical, I now speculate further that the swimming pool scene was supposed to introduce a subplot about a romantic relationship between Caucasian Billy and Negro Elizabeth.
(In 1963 the polite words were Caucasian and Negro, and so I use them here.)
If there was some relationship between Billy and Elizabeth, then perhaps Elizabeth was involved somehow in Billy helping Penny getting an abortion. Below is my list of speculations.
* Elizabeth herself or a close relative or friend had had an abortion.
* Elizabeth remarked that Negroes were disadvantaged in getting legal abortions.
* Elizabeth helped cover for Billy or Penny while they were gone from work for an entire day.
The Billy-Elizabeth subplot was eliminated, however, as clutter around the time that the producers failed to find a resort with a swimming pool.
Years later, when Bergstein had the opportunity to retell her story as a musical, she restored Elizabeth into the story. Elizabeth sings with Billy, and he seems to be attracted to her, but their relationship is not elaborated further in the musical.
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Jake and Marjorie Houseman
Marjorie Houseman is much more prominent in the musical than in the movie.
They have a long conversation while they are playing golf. Unfortunately, I did not grasp that conversation's essence. I perceived that there was some tension between them. They seemed to be making biting remarks at each other.
(I did not take notes or record sound while I was watching the musical. I do not have access to the musical's script. Although the musical's sound system was superb, my hearing is becoming worse, and I could not understand every word. My account of the dialogue is based only on my memory and might be mistaken in some details.)
My perception might be based on the ABC original movie, in which they are approaching a divorce.
After Penny recovers from her abortion in the musical, she is so grateful to the entire Houseman family that she takes the initiative to give private dance lessons to Marjorie. During such a lesson, Penny mentions that Jake had treated her after her an abortion. Penny assumes that Marjorie knew about this, but Marjorie knew nothing until Penny mentioned it.
Marjorie is angry that Jake has kept this secret from her, and so she goes and confronts Jake about it.
Afterwards Marjorie confronts Baby. This scene in the musical is similar to a scene that was filmed for the movie but was deleted (8:17 to 9:02 in the following video).
In both the movie and the musical, Marjorie insinuates that Baby's actions have been wrecking the Houseman family. This insinuation makes much more sense when we understand that Marjorie fears that her marriage might be breaking apart.
Since all the marriage problems have been removed from the movie, Marjorie's insinuation is puzzling. How exactly has Baby been "wrecking everyone else's lives"? As far as the movie audience can see, Baby has only disappointed her father by lying to him about the borrowed money. Even in regard to Jake, Baby has not wrecked anything.
In the musical, however, Baby has caused a serious argument between Marjorie and Baby, because Penny unwittingly revealed to Marjorie the secret of Jake's involvement in the abortion. Since Marjorie and Jake have been having marriage problems, this revelation might be the straw that breaks the camel's back of the marriage. In that regard, Baby might have wrecked her parents' marriage.
The scene deleted from the movie was a superb, and it was acted superbly by the actress Kelly Bishop, who played the character Marjorie. Since the marriage problems had been eliminated from the movie, however, Marjorie's insinuation that Baby was wrecking everyone else's lives no longer made sense. That might be why this superb scene was deleted.
The marriage trouble between Jake and Marjorie was removed from the movie but later was restored to the stage musical and to the ABC original movie.
In the first part of Dirty Dancing, the relationship between Baby Houseman and Neil Kellerman is friendly, even affectionate.
In the movie's last part, Neil becomes a rather negative character. Therefore, people who have watched the entire movie develop a false memory that he was a negative character in the first part too. People persist in this mistake even as they watch the movie many times.
Early in the movie, Baby and Neil dance and chat together in the ballroom. A couple days ago, I re-watched that scene three times, looking for indications that Baby felt uncomfortable with Neil. I was surprised to find that she obviously is enjoying her time with him in the ballroom. This realization has caused me to reconsider Baby's and Neil's relationship.
Now I recognize that Baby was using Neil as her practice boyfriend, also known as a starter boyfriend, without his knowing his status.
[....]
Baby decided to use Neil as a practice boyfriend because she is not sure how to be feminine naturally. She wants to see how an interested man talks and acts with her, and she wants to experiment with her responses. For her, this is fun, and she is happy to remain in an elementary flirting stage for a long time.
She strings Neil along slowly. As the week passes, she gradually allows him more freedom to kiss and embrace her. Eventually she even allows him to touch a breast briefly through her clothes during a night's final embrace.
Baby likes Neil as a friend. He has many admirable qualities. After Neil and Johnny argue about the pachanga dance, she advises Johnny to discuss the issue with Neil again. She knows that Neil is a reasonable and accommodating person.
Baby thinks that Neil learned useful lessons about female-male interactions from herself too. She expects that he eventually will become a good husband for some other woman.
That interpretation of mine has been confirmed by my watching the stage musical. In particular, the musical includes an important conversation among Baby, Neil and Johnny in the scene right after the "Love Is Strange" dance. Neil enters the dance room and begins talking about the talent show, the pechanga, and so forth.
During this conversation, they talk about politics. Baby admires Neil for his political activism, for his intention to travel to Mississippi to help promote civil rights for Negroes. Johnny scoffs, saying that he himself never has voted even once in his life. Baby is appalled by Johnny's lack of even interest.
Then, however, Neil reveals that he will not travel to Mississippi after all, because he as a manager should not be gone from the hotel for a couple of weeks. Now Baby is somewhat disappointed with Neil for subordinating his political activism to his professional career.
This conversation is important in the story, because it gives Baby a reason to shift her romantic affection from Neil completely to Johnny. Although Johnny is not interested in politics, Neil's interest is more talk than action.
In general, I perceived throughout the musical scattered indications that Baby was affectionate and respectful toward Neil. These indications are related to the scattered mentions that Neil intends to travel to Mississippi.
In contrast, the movie mentions Neil's intention only once, when Neil and Baby are dancing in the ballroom during her first night at the resort. In that single context, the mention seems to be merely an empty boast to impress idealistic Baby.
The musical's continuing mentions of Neil's intended Mississippi trip support Baby's affection and admiration toward Neil during the story. Her disappointment in him occurs near the story's end and occurs suddenly.
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Johnny Castle and Baby Houseman
In the stage musical that I saw, Baby dances more poorly and improves more slowly than in the movie.
The musical's program reports that the actress, Kaleigh Courts, has attended the Houston Ballet Academy and has performed as a member of the Houston Ballet, so the actress can dance superbly. She purposely dances poorly in the musical.
She continues to dance poorly through the "Hungry Eyes" and "Hey, Baby" scenes. Only when she accomplishes the lift move in the lake does she seem to show improvement. Her dancing at the Sheldrake is likewise worse in the musical than in the movie. Her dancing during and after the "Love Is Strange" scene is about the same in the musical as in the movie.
Johnny's apparent affection for Baby corresponds to her dancing skill. In other words, his affection develops slower in the musical than in the movie. I didn't notice this difference in any dialogue. Rather, his coolness -- his iciness -- toward her is indicated by his body movements and voice tone.
Maybe other actors playing Johnny and Baby in other companies play their relationship differently. Maybe other actresses playing Baby dance better and maybe other actors playing Johnny speak more warmly. For the purpose of my article here, I must assume that the performance that I happened to see is the Baby-Johnny relationship that the stage musical is supposed to portray.
In the musical, the relationship develops more slowly, and so their decision to becomes sexual is more sudden and seems to be prompted by their mutual experience of seeing Penny in mortal danger after her abortion.
In the movie, they became gradually more affectionate while they are practicing for their Sheldrake performance. In the musical, they become suddenly more affection after they have become sexual, which they have done because they were upset about Penny.
Even after Baby has become sexual with Johnny, she still feels affectionate towards Neil. Only after Neil reveals that he will not travel to Mississippi after all, does Baby shift all her romantic attention to Johnny.
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I think that the musical's portrayal of the relationship among Baby, Neil and Johnny is closer to Bergstein's original concept than the movie is.
In the movie, Neil seems to be merely a tiresome creep, and so it is obvious that Baby should disdain him and prefer the exciting artist Johnny. Furthermore, the movie's Jewish subtext suggests that Baby feels pressured by her family to marry a Jewish man, like Neil.
In the musical, Baby continually admires Neil because of his political activism, which is symbolized continually by his intention to travel to Mississippi. In contrast, Baby is appalled that Johnny is so politically uninterested that he has never even voted. Therefore, Baby's dilemma about whether to select Neil or Johnny as her ultimate romantic interest is more conflicted. Her dilemma is resolved only when Neil reveals that he will not travel to Mississippi after all.
The removal of most of the racial aspect from the movie prevented the movie audience from understanding why Baby might admire Neil. The movie audience perceived Neil to be merely a tiresome creep.
The character Neil was played brilliantly as a tiresome creep by the actor Lonny Price, who furthermore is a rather short man. Perhaps the character Neil turned out to be more despised by the movie audience than Bergstein intended because of the decision to cast Price in the role and because of Price's brilliant performance of the role.
If my speculation that the musical's portrayal of the Baby-Neil-Johnny triangle is closer than the movie to Bergstein's original concept, then I judge her original concept to be the better story. In the musical, Baby is more conflicted about whether she should pursue a romantic relationship with a man like Neil or a man like Johnny.
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Most people love the movie Dirty Dancing so much that they reject reflexively other presentations of the story. This rejection happened especially in regard to the ABC original movie. (I have published twoposts praising the ABC version and intend to publish two more.)
However, the movie is somewhat different from Bergstein's original story. The movie was addressed to an audience in the 1980s and had to be kept to a standard length and had to kept rather simple. Therefore, much of Bergstein's story was not included in the movie.
The other presentations -- the stage musical and the ABC original movie -- were for audiences in the 21st century. Those audiences are already very familiar with the movie's story and they live in a more multi-ethnic society. The story can be told more briskly, making time for the racial aspect and the Housemans' marriage trouble to be restored into Bergstein's story. The later presentations are closer than the movie to Bergstein's original concept of the story.
The stage musical has provided new insights into the roles of Billy, Jake, Marjorie, Neil and Johnny -- and therefore into the role of Baby.
Baby and Johnny are lying next to each other on their backs in bed, relaxing after some sexual activity. Johnny says:
You want to hear something crazy?
Last night, I dreamt we were walking along, and we met your father. He said, "Come on," and he put his arm around me. Just like he did with Robbie.
Baby does not respond.
Johnny telling Baby about his dream
as they listen to the song "In the Still of the Night"
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That happened on the night of Saturday, August 31. The talent show will be on the following day, Sunday, September 1.
Johnny had his dream during the previous night from Friday to Saturday, August 30-31. The dream might have been prompted by the events that had happened on Friday, which I have summarized as follows:
Friday, August 30
At breakfast, Jake tells his family they are going home the next day (Saturday). Because Lisa wants to perform in the talent show (Sunday), Jake relents to stay. After Jake has re-examined Penny in her cabin and left, Baby and Johnny enter the cabin. Penny asks how their performance went on the previous night, and Baby says she didn't do the lift. After Baby leaves the cabin, Penny tells Johnny to stay away from Baby.
The Houseman family is inside a room because it is raining.
Baby returns to Johnny's cabin and they have fun and talk in bed.
That night, Baby and Lisa are in their hotel bedroom, and Lisa says she intends to "go all the way" with Robbie. Baby advises Lisa to wait and do it "with someone that you sort of love".
Baby slept in her hotel room with Lisa that night.
During the night between Friday and Saturday, Johnny has his dream. If Baby had spent that night in Johnny's cabin, he would have told her about his dream on Saturday morning.
(Maybe Vivian Pressman slept in Johnny's cabin that night. Vivian sure planned to sleep in Johnny's cabin during the following night.)
Then during Saturday the following events happen.
Saturday, August 31
Baby and Johnny do the "Love is Strange" dance in a practice room. Neil insists that Johnny teach the employees to dance the pachanga for the talent show. Baby advises Johnny to discuss the dance choice with Neil again. Johnny says he might have to go back to a house-painting job.
The radio announces:
It's almost over. The Labor Day weekend is here. Soon it's back to the old books and back to work. What a terrible thought!
Johnny gets mad because Baby won't tell her father about their relationship. Johnny leaves, but Baby finds him in Penny's cabin. Baby and Johnny go out onto the cabin's porch and begin to make peace with each other. Johnny fights with Robbie.
Various people are preparing for the Sunday talent show. Vivian invites Johnny to meet her later that evening. While playing cards, Moe offers Johnny money to give Vivian a dance lesson. Johnny refuses the money. Lisa goes to Robbie's cabin and finds him having sexual intercourse with Vivian. Baby goes to Johnny's cabin and has fun with him in bed again.
Then Johnny tells Baby about his dream that happened on the previous night.
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Let's think some more about Friday.
Friday morning at breakfast, Jake announced to his family that they all would leave on Saturday. Then he relented and agreed to stay through Sunday.
Later on that Friday afternoon, Baby went to Johnny's cabin and had fun with him in bed. While there, Baby surely told Johnny that her father knew she and Johnny were had become intimate. Her father had learned from Lisa that Baby had been away from their hotel room during the entire Thursday-Friday night. Her father was angry and had decided to separate Baby and Johnny by the family's leaving a day early.
Furthermore, Baby was worried that her father would watch her -- or arrange for someone else to watch her -- until the family departed on Sunday.
Because Baby thought she was being watched, she slept in her hotel room during the Friday-Saturday night.
This was the situation when Johnny went to sleep on Friday night and had his dream.
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Although Johnny spends considerable time with Baby during Saturday, he does not tell her during the day about his dream.
After the "Love Is Strange" dance, Johnny becomes angry at Neil about the talent show. Then Johnny becomes angry at Baby because she is not telling her father about them. The latter angry moment would have been a fit occasion to tell Baby about his dream, but he does not do so.
Johnny continues to be angry. He fights with Robbie.
He is stressed by preparing for the talent show.
He does not relax until he is in bed at night, and then he tells Baby about the dream he had seen during the previous night.
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So, Johnny's dream indicates that he wants Jake to become his buddy -- a day after Johnny has had sex with Jake's 17-year-old daughter right after Jake ordered her to stay away from Johnny.
Johnny barely knows Jake, who now has a valid reason for despising him. Baby is trying to prevent Johnny and her father from coming within eyesight of each other.
Johnny has sex with Vivian Pressman. Does Johnny dream about her husband Moe putting his arm around him?
Johnny has sex with lots of women. Does he dream about their husbands, boyfriends and fathers?
The entire Houseman family will leave on Sunday night or Monday morning. Then Baby and Jake will be gone from Johnny's life forever.
Why does Johnny care so much about Jake liking him during those couple of remaining days?
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Let's look at Johnny's dream story again.
You want to hear something crazy?
Last night, I dreamt we were walking along, and we met your father. He said, "Come on," and he put his arm around me. Just like he did with Robbie.
What really irks Johnny is that he feels socially inferior to Robbie. This feeling makes Johnny so angry that during the day following his dream he beats Robbie up.
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Johnny's beating Robbie up was Johnny's second encounter with Robbie during that day.
After the "Love Is Strange" dance and Johnny's argument with Neil, Baby and Johnny are walking outside and talking. Johnny says he might have to go back to painting houses.
Then Baby and Johnny notice Jake, Robbie and Lisa walking and talking about the Domino Theory. Baby makes Johnny duck down with her so they won't be seen by her father.
After Jake, Robbie and Lisa walk away, Johnny gets mad at Baby because she is not telling her father that Johnny is "her guy". Johnny is extra mad because he has just seen Jake walking and talking with Robbie.
A short time later that same day, Johnny beats up Robbie.
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I suspect that the dream was inserted into the Dirty Dancing story by Patrick Swayze. Eleanor Bergstein's original script portrayed Johnny as a confident, unapologetic and bold character -- similar to her character Ben Lewin in her previous movie It's My Turn.
All the insecure and neurotic characteristics of Johnny Castle were added by Swayze.
When Swayze wrote Johnny's monologue about the dream, Swayze did not even bother himself to write a response for Baby to speak. The scene is a moment for just Swayze to shine as an actor and to make his character Johnny more emotionally complex.
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Right before Johnny told Baby about his dream, he put on a record of the song "In the Still of the Night". The song plays while he is telling he about his dream.
The song's first two stanzas:
In the still of the night
I held you,
Held you tight,
Because I love,
Love you so.
I promise I'll never let you go --
In the still of the night.
Since Johnny chose this particular song to play while he told Baby about his dream, he apparently is fantasizing somewhat that he might become engaged with Baby and eventually join the Houseman family. Then Jake might put his arm around Johnny as his future son-in-law.
If Johnny joins the Houseman family, however, he might become Robbie's brother-in-law. Earlier that day, Johnny had seen Jake, Robbie and Lisa walking together. Obviously, Robbie and Lisa had reconciled.
Furthermore, Baby surely had told Johnny that Lisa intended to have sex with Robbie that same night. As far as Baby and Johnny knew, Lisa and Robbie were having sex right while Johnny was telling Baby about his dream.
If Lisa and Robbie were becoming an intimate couple and if Johnny was fantasizing about becoming engaged with Baby, then there was a real possibility that Johnny might become Robbie's brother-in-law.
In that sense, Johnny might have felt that his dream was prophetic -- that Jake eventually would embrace both Johnny and Robbie as his sons-in-law.
When Dr. Jake Houseman came to treat Penny Johnson in her cabin, Johnny Castle indicated that he was "responsible for this girl" (beginning at 0:55 in the following video clip).
OK. Yes, I know that hurts. We're gonna take care of that.
Who's responsible for this girl?
Johnny Castle
I am. Please, is she ...?
Billy Kostecki
Doc, thanks a lot. Johnny Castle
Dr. Houseman, I don't know how to thank you, to tell you ...
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Jake had seen Penny working at the hotel. He knew that she was an adult who worked for her living. When he came into her cabin, he saw that she was conscious and able to speak.
Why, then, did Jake immediately ask who was "responsible" for Penny? There were at least two reasons:
1) Since the hotel employed her, the hotel might have some rules about the provision of medical treatment to its employees.
2) Since Penny might lose consciousness soon, someone might have to approve, on Penny's behalf, Jake's decisions or recommendations.
As an experienced doctor, Jake knew that he was in a situation that might involve his own potential liability if Penny's condition turned worse after he began treateding her.
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However, there was another consideration that motivated Jake to ask his question. While his daughter Baby was bringing him to the cabin, she surely informed him that Penny was suffering the consequences of an illegal abortion. Given that information, Jake began to suspect whether Baby had asked him for $250 for that purpose.
Jake did not voice his suspicion to Baby right away. Rather, he waited to learn the situation in the cabin. If he learned who was responsible for Penny's abortion, then he might get a good clue about what Baby did with the $250 he gave her.
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Johnny identified himself as the responsible person in two senses.
1) Johnny, as the chief of the Entertainment Staff, was the official supervisor of Penny. For example, when Neil Kellerman, in the previous week, had wondered about Penny's absence from the dance in the gazebo, Neil had asked Johnny about Penny's whereabouts and had admonished Johnny to discipline her.
2) Johnny, as Penny's friend, had pressured Penny to get an abortion. Johnny had urged Penny to accept Baby's $250, and Johnny's cousin Billy Kostecki had arranged the abortion.
From the second sense, Jake deduced correctly that Johnny was involved -- was "responsible" -- in Penny's getting an abortion.
Neither Jake nor Johnny meant to communicate here about who had made Penny pregnant. Jake simply jumped to that conclusion because he -- like many others -- assumed that Johnny and Penny were a romantic couple.
Jake probably assumed also that Baby had been manipulated by Johnny and Penny to ask him for the money. Jake still had no idea that Baby alone had initiated her request for the money.
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As Jake and Baby left the cabin together, Jake voiced his conclusion that Baby gave his $250 to Johnny and Penny for the abortion.
Jake Houseman
Was that what my money paid for?
Baby Houseman
I'm sorry. I never meant to lie to you. Jake Houseman
You're not the person I thought you were, Baby. I'm not sure who you are. I don't want you to have anything to do with those people again.
Baby Houseman
But can’t I just explain? Jake Houseman
Nothing! You're to have nothing to do with them ever again! I won't tell your mother about this. Right now I'm going to bed. And take that stuff off your face before your mother sees you!
Baby intended to explain:
* Robbie had made Penny pregnant
* Robbie refused to help Penny pay for an abortion
* Penny did not have enough money to pay for an abortion.
* Penny could get an abortion quickly if she got the money.
That explanation would have been truthful, even if it had not satisfied Jake.
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Right after her father's prohibition, Baby went directly to Johnny's cabin in order to carry out her plan to seduce him. Baby was acting recklessly in regard to her father. She figured that her father eventually might find out that she was having sex with Johnny. No matter, she went and had sex with him.
Baby's private time with Johnny perhaps also gave her the opportunity to get their story straight in case Jake asked more questions.
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Neither Johnny nor Baby ever corrected Jake's mistaken assumption that Penny had become pregnant from Johnny. Baby easily could have corrected her father about that when she talked with him later -- in her "I'm sorry I lied" monologue.
Baby avoided talking with her father about who Penny was having sex with because Baby did not want any such conversation to get around to the question of who she herself was having sex with.
Baby Houseman
By the way, Daddy, Johnny did not have sex with Penny. She got pregnant from Robbie.
Jake Houseman
Thanks for correcting me about that, Baby. By the way, did Johnny have sex with you?
Baby avoided any such conversation with her father about the situation. She limited her conversation to her lying about why she asked for the money. She avoided talking about who was having sex with whom.
Johnny Castle was an extremely attractive man who was able to seduce many women, but he still benefited from having a wingman. When women socialize, they usually are in a group that includes at least one so-called cockblocker who interferes in men's seduction efforts. The Return of Kings website defines the following common types of cockblokers:
The deck is stacked against men getting laid by a prevailing culture of cockblocking. .... On a day-to-day basis, we’re more likely to face the more visible types of cockblocker: actual people who do things to your face — intentionally or not — to salt your game, and in the process, scare off your prospect, extinguish your hard-earned rapport, or rattle you enough that you drop the ball. ... Cockblockers break down into traditional taxonomies. ...
The Wrist Grabber
The classic cockblock move that remains as effective as it is simple. She drops in deus ex machina and extracts — often physically — your prospect from the conversation. The excuses range from a rushed, ambiguous “we have to go” to a more elaborate “we’re meeting our friend.” They’ll often fool less experienced players with the promise of going to the bathroom and coming “right back.” The goal is to “rescue” your girl whether or not she actually wants to be rescued.
The Snarky Color Commentator
This is often a problem in group settings where you’re outnumbered by her friends. You’ve successfully entered their group and captured everyone’s attention with your scintillating observational humor. But this girl, often on the uglier and fatter side, is accustomed to getting the laughs and loud-mouth attention in this hen house. She will compete with you for the group’s attention, interrupting you with bitchy remarks, resorting to inside jokes in an effort to exclude you, or lob thinly veiled insults at you in a passive-aggressive tone.
The Curtain Puller
This is one of your more hostile types. This is a sideline observer—often one of your target’s friends, but not necessarily — who’s taken up the mission of “exposing” that you’re hitting on your target. She will say rude shit like “Is that your line?” or “Do you always hit on girls here?” in an effort to rattle you and “warn” your “innocent” would-be “victim” that you have intentions. Given that you’ve done this before, you’re not phased by being outed, just likely irritated. More importantly, it may embarrass your target and ruin the interaction.
Even an extremely attractive man has to deal with cockblockers, and that is why he often benefit from having a wingman. The Urban Dictionary website defines the word "wingman" as follows:
A Wingman is a guy you bring along with you on singles outings (like to bars) that helps you out with the women. Typically in these ways :
• The Wingman will always be there to “occupy” least attractive girl of the pair so that you may engage in the “hotty”.
• Often, when an attractive girl is out with an ugly friend, she often feels restricted to not leave that ugly friend alone, thus making the hot girl, un-touchable.
• When the wingman technique is used, both girls are approached by the men, and the Wingman automatically engages in conversation with the ugly girl. ...
• The Wingman then offers the ugly girl to dance, (which rarley happens to her) so she wont be able to resist.
• At the end of the night, after you have worked your magic, the Wingman, AND ONLY THE WINGMAN, offers the girls to comeback to his place for a little ‘after-party’.
• Once everyone arrives, the Wingman “occupies” the ugly girl IN ANOTHER ROOM, leaving yourself and the sweet sweet little hotty alone so that you can bang her, bang her like a drum....
Learning and practicing the Wingman support system is an unbelievable asset if done right. Your wingman is an invaluable assistant for you so don't underestimate the value of finding a Wingman that can work with you.
The following two videos portray the wingman's role.
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The movie Wedding Crashers portrays a pair of successful pickup artists who were each other's wingmen.
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Johnny Castle was extraordinarily promiscuous, which was why Penny Johnson did not become his romantic mate. Johnny seduced a large number and variety of women at the resort.
Johnny was forbidden to romance the female guests, and he well might be fired if he were caught doing so. Therefore, most of the women he seduced were non-guests:
* The hotel's female employees -- maids, waitresses, hairdressers, receptionists, counselors, etc.
* Bungalow bunnies -- women who lived in rented rooms outside the resort grounds.
* Local women who lived in nearby towns.
* Girlfriends and wives of male staff members. (For example, Baby Houseman was the girlfriend of Neil Kellerman.)
* Visiting girlfriends of the above women.
Many of the non-employee women surely were able to get into the "dirty dancing" parties in the employees' bunkhouse.
Johnny was able to seduce many of those women -- often with the help of his wingman, who distracted the cockblockers while Johnny was trying to isolate his preferred women in a group.
The wingman's reward was that he too was able to seduce many women in the circumstances.
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I suppose that Johnny Castle's primary wingman was his cousin Billy Kostecki, who had the following personal qualities:
* Good-looking
* Sociable
* Self-confident with young women
* Loyal to Johnny
Billy recruited young women to become stooges for the magic shows. This task indicates that he was able to persuade and manipulate young women.
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As stated above, a wingman sometimes facilitates a another man's seduction by inviting a pair of women to an "after-party" in the men's apartment. The two women feel safer going together to the apartment. Later in the apartment, each man isolates one woman in a separate room.
Johnny's cabin certainly was large enough to include two separate sleeping areas. Therefore, in some cases Billy slept in Johnny's cabin when they were collaborating to seduce two women.
On some occasions when no women were involved, Billy might have spent the night in his cousin Johnny's cabin merely to keep Johnny company. On most occasions, of course, Billy slept in his own cabin with the ordinary employees.
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Another wingman task that Billy perhaps did was to drive the women home afterwards. If two women had spent the night in the cabin, then Billy drove both of them home if they needed rides.
Even in cases where just one woman spent the night with Johnny, Billy might have accompanied or driven her home in the morning. If the woman were a hotel guest, then Johnny could get into trouble if he were seen accompanying her in the morning. If the woman had to be accompanied or driven home, then Billy should do so instead of Johnny. Billy's being fired was less of a potential problem.
Johnny or Billy could have arranged a signal that would communicate to Billy that he would have to accompany or drive Johnny's lover home in the morning. For example, Johnny might place a flower pot at a particular location on the cabin's porch if Billy was supposed to come to the cabin in the morning.
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Based on the above reasoning, I think that that sports car in the following screenshot belongs to Billy.
A sports car waiting outside Johnny's cabin one morning.
On this particular occasion, Baby did not sleep in Johnny's cabin overnight. Perhaps the sports car belongs to some bungalow bunny who did spend the night with Johnny.
I prefer to think, though, that the sports car belongs to Billy, who is waiting to drive Johnny's lover home. Perhaps the woman is a hotel guest, and Billy will drive her closer to to her hotel room so that she will not be seen with Johnny.
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If my speculations about Billy are true, then there is an explanation of the absence of Baby's book from Johnny's cabin when the cabin was searched by the Kellermans after Moe Pressman's wallet disappeared.
When Billy arrived in the early morning, he went to the cabin door and knocked on it. Johnny came to the door and gave Billy the book and purse that Baby had brought the previous night. Billy took the book and purse into his car and waited there until Baby came out and kissed Johnny goodbye on the porch stairs. Then Baby got into Billy's car, and he drove her closer to her family's suite.
In other words, Baby's walk of shame was only from Johnny's cabin to Billy's car.
Johnny Castle's alibi -- that he was alone and reading in his room -- was not believed, because a search of his room found no books.
Neil Kellerman
Moe Pressman's wallet was stolen when he was playing pinochle last night. It was in his jacket hanging on the back of his chair. He had it at.1:30, and when he checked again at quarter of four [3:45], it was missing.
Max Kellerman
Vivian thinks she remembers this dance kid Johnny walking by. So we ask him, "You have an alibi for last night?" He says he was alone in his room reading.
Neil Kellerman
There are no books in Johnny's room!
Baby Houseman
There's been a mistake. I know Johnny didn't do it.
Neil Kellerman
There's been similar thefts at the Sheldrake. It's happened here before. Three other wallets.
Johnny was not alone in his room. He was in his room with Baby Houseman, who was a compulsive reader.
On vacation, Baby is reading an economics textbook.
In her vacation hotel room, Baby had a pile of textbooks on her nightstand.
On the left side is a night stand,
on which is a pile of Baby's textbooks
Baby went to Johnny's room with the intention of spending the entire night there. Her intention was to give him as many orgasms as possible by the means of masturbation and humping.She herself would keep her panties on and would not have any orgasms.
Baby knew by now that Johnny tended to fall asleep after an orgasm. If she herself didn't fall asleep with him, then she might want to read a book while he slept.
Therefore compulsive-reader Baby brought a textbook to Johnny's room.
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While Johnny was not sleeping between orgasms, he might have browsed through Baby's book. Normally he did not read books. He did not even have any books.
Johnny was impressed by Baby's intelligence and education, and he surely was impressed by her textbook as he browsed through it in his room.
So, although Johnny was not alone in his room, he indeed was reading.
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On the following morning when Baby left Johnny's cabin on her walk of shame, she was not carrying a book. She was carrying only a pair of high-heeled shoes.
Baby is not carrying a book
on her walk of shame in the morning.
In the morning, before breakfast, the Kellermans searched Johnny's cabin looking for evidence that he had stolen a wallet from Moe Pressman. When Johnny was asked what he had been doing during the previous night, he answered that he had been "alone in his room reading".
Because no books were found in his room, the Kellermans deduced reasonably that he was lying in his alibi and so they fired him.
Because Moe's wallet disappeared between 1:30 and 3:45 a.m., Johnny could have said simply that he had been alone in his room sleeping. Johnny said that he had been reading, because he really had been reading.
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If Johnny indeed had been reading Baby's book, then what happened with the book? She did not take it with her on her walk of shame.
My best guess is that Billy Kostecki took Baby's book from Johnny's cabin. Furthermore Billy drove Baby herself from the cabin to her family's hotel suite.
On a previous morning, a sports car is seen parked outside of Johnny's cabin.
A sports car parked outside of Johnny's cabin.
Does the car belong to Billy Kostecki?
I speculate that the car belongs to Billy Kostecki and that he was Johnny Castle's wingman. In his wingman role, Billy sometimes drove Johnny's lovers home in the mornings.
The Urban Dictionary defines the expression Walk of Shame:
The walk from another person(s) house, apartment, condo, dorm, van, bar, park bench or other; to your place of residence wearing the same clothes you had on the night before.
Typically used when someone leaves the home of a sexual escapade (quite possibly with someone you met the night before) in the morning; hair sticking out in all directions, lines on your face, and missing at least one article of clothing. ...
Baby is wearing her party dress and carrying, in her hand, a pair of high-heel shoes.
Baby's walk of shame was seen by one other person -- by Vivian Pressman, who was beginning her own walk of shame.
Vivian Pressman sees Baby's walk of shame.
Vivian herself is beginning her own walk of shame.
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On the previous evening Baby was seen wearing the clothes in the below image.
Baby's clothes on the evening
before her walk of shame.
The that same previous evening, Vivian was seen wearing the clothes in the below image.
Vivian's clothes on the evening
before her walk of shame.
Later that evening, Baby and Vivian changed into party dresses, but the reason is not revealed in the movie. In the morning, Baby and Vivian are wearing their party dresses as they begin their walks of shame.
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On Friday, August 30 -- two days before Baby's walk of shame -- Baby father, Jake Houseman, declared at breakfast that the family would leave the resort early. Although Jake changed his mind already during breakfast, Baby was afraid that he would catch her socializing with the dancers and therefore decide again to leave the resort early. Therefore, Baby was very careful about being seen by her father socializing with the dancers.
On Sunday, September 1, Baby no longer worried much about being seen -- even is she was doing a walk of shame from Johnny Castle's cabin in the morning. Later that morning, she even admitted to her parents that she had spent the night in his cabin.
By Sunday, the family already was committed to stay through the talent show that evening. Baby and Johnny would perform their dance in the talent show, no matter what.
However, Baby did not foresee that Johnny would be fired during the day because of a stolen wallet.
While Marjorie and Jake Houseman are watching Baby Houseman and Johnny Castle doing their final dance, Marjorie remarks to Jake:
I think she gets it from me!
In the following video clip, Marjorie's remark occurs at 1:20.
Marjorie seems to imply that Baby inherited her apparent dancing talent from Marjorie. The movie audience has not seen, however, any evidence that Marjorie herself has any dancing talent. Marjorie has been seen in four dancing situations:
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1) Marjorie is participating in a class for beginning dancers conducted by Penny Johnson.
The Houseman family taking a class for beginning dancers.
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2) During their first evening at the resort, Marjorie and Jake are dancing to orchestra music. Marjorie's dancing is not remarkable.
Marjorie's unremarkable dancing with Jake in the ballroom
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3) During a later evening, some guests are dancing in the gazebo. Marjorie and Jake are not dancing, because they are waiting for an "a waltz" -- a simple and slow dance.
Marjorie: "We're waiting for a waltz"
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4) On the last evening, after Baby and Johnny have performed their dance, Marjorie is seen dancing with Neil Kellerman. Marjorie's dancing is a simple boogie -- not remarkable.
Marjorie boogie-dancing with Neil
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Marjorie's remark makes a bad impression that she is ditzy and vain. At that point she has seen Baby performing her dance for only one minute, but that short time has sufficed to see that Baby is performing rather well. Marjorie's apparent conclusion that Baby's performance is due to Marjorie herself seems absurd.
It's possible that Eleanor Bergstein intended to make Marjorie look ditzy and vain. The Houseman family seems to comprise two contrasting groups:
1) Lisa and Marjorie are ditzy and vain.
2) Baby and Jake are thoughtful and modest.
However, Marjorie's remark is said during the movie's happy ending. I think that Bergstein intended the remark to make a better impression about Marjorie, but Bergstein's intention went awry.
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Important context for Marjorie's remark was deleted from the movie. A few hours before the talent show, Marjorie and Baby had a serious conversation in which Marjorie compared herself to Baby. The conversation was filmed, but the scene was deleted when the film was edited. In the following video, the deleted conversation can be seen between 8:17 and 9:02.
Baby Houseman
Ma, please, you don't understand.
Marjorie Houseman
No, Baby, you don't.
I know about this. I really know.
When I was your age, I was in love with someone else before your father. And when it ended, it hurt so bad I thought I'd die of it, but I didn't.
And I didn't wreck everyone else's lives in the process either.
Here, Marjorie compares her own seventeen-year-old self with seventeen-year-old Baby. Marjorie too suffered a painful break-up with a boyfriend.
Marjorie's remark she she didn't wreck everyone else's lives either is ambiguous. This remark might mean
* Marjorie did not wreck lives, but Baby is doing so.
... or else it might mean ...
* Marjorie did not wreck lives, and Baby likewise is not wrecking lives.
I think that the second meaning is the correct interpretation. Marjorie is reassuring Baby that Baby will get through this personal crisis and that the Houseman family too will survive this family crisis. However, Marjorie also is suggesting to Baby that Baby's crisis is affecting -- albeit not wrecking -- the family.
Marjorie is helping Baby to understand her crisis with a proper perspective.
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My key point here is that in this deleted scene Marjorie compared herself to Baby. Although the scene has been deleted, we should use it as important context for Marjorie's remark, just a few hours later, that I think she gets it from me!
In that sentence, Marjorie's word it does not refer mainly to Baby's dance skill, but rather to Baby's emotional strength.
Marjorie and Jake both are aware that Baby is suffering from her breakup with Johnny. Although Johnny has disrupted the talent show and has taken Baby up onto the stage, the breakup continues.
Johnny's speech gives Marjorie and Jake a new perspective on Baby's recent actions. Baby has not been "wrecking everyone else's lives". Rather, Baby has been standing up for other people and has been teaching Johnny to be a better person.
Then, despite the emotional pain that Baby has suffered -- and still is suffering -- from her breakup, Baby focuses on dancing well and keeps a smile on her face. Baby makes the whole Houseman family proud of her.
Baby privately has stood up for and taught other people, and now she publicly is displaying grit and courage. In that regard, Marjorie sees her own young self in Baby and feels proud that she has raised Baby to become such an admirable young adult.
That is why Marjorie -- a mother proud of her daughter -- exclaims I think she gets it from me!
In order to convince Patrick Swayze to play the role of Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing, the producers granted Swayze great authority in changing the script. By 1986, when the movie was filmed, he had played major roles in about a dozen movies. (His first major role was in Skatetown USA in 1979). He also had taken acting lessons for many years and had seriously thought about all of his movies and roles.
Although Patrick's wife Lisa never became a star, she too studied acting, and she helped Patrick analyze all his roles. Patrick and Lisa deserve much more credit than they have received for improving the script of Dirty Dancing.
In his autobiography The Time of My Life, he describes (page 130) the original script as follows:
I read the script for Dirty Dancing one evening in our new house. Right away it filled me with emotion -- but not the kind it was supposed to. I didn't like it. It seemed fluffy -- nothing more than a summer-camp movie. Lisa read it, too, and she felt the same way.
Further, he tells (pages 136-137) how he rewrote the last scene.
Lisa and I stayed up the entire night before filming the final scene, where Johnny [Castle] grabs the microphone in front of everyone at the resort, so we could rewrite the big speech. Sometimes we'd be working on new dialogue right up to shooting -- and then continue fixing it between takes. We never stopped trying to make it better.
I felt all along that Johnny should ultimately end up with Penny [Johnson], as they were so much alike and a more realistic couple than Johnny and Baby [Houseman]. That change got overruled, which was probably for the best. ...
We [Patrick and Lisa] did a lot of rewriting of the big final scene, but one line that I absolutely hated ended up staying in. I could hardly even bring myself to say, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" in front of the cameras, it just sounded so corny. But later, seeing the finished film, I had to admit it worked. ...
The more we added and revised, the stronger the characters got.
The reason why Patrick and Lisa Swayze stay up all night "rewriting" Johnny's speech is that (I speculate) Eleanor Bergstein's original script did not have any such speech at all.
Swayze's book suggests that Bergstein's original script did include Johnny's statement Nobody puts Baby is the corner. However, I speculate that the statement was added during a last-day argument about the drastic change of the final scene. The argument was settled with a compromise that the scene would include the speech written by Patrick and Lisa during the preceding night on the condition that the scene include also the corner statement that likewise was added during the last-day argument.
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The song that originally accompanied Baby's and Johnny's triumphant dance was not The Time of My Life. Rather, the song was an unidentified song composed by Lionel Richie. In a previous article, I argued that the song was Richie's Dancing on the Ceiling.
The fact that the song was changed was revealed in an interview of Frank Previte, who wrote The Time of My Life.
When I [Previte] met Patrick at the Oscars [in 1988], he told me:
"You have no idea what this song ["The Time of My Life"] did for this movie. We filmed the movie out of sequence so the last scene was the first one filmed. We listened to 149 songs and hated them. We rehearsed every day to a Lionel Richie track. Good song but it wasn’t our song. We all felt the ending wasn’t happening and the movie was going to bomb."
"Then your cassette with you and Rachele Cappelli singing 'Time of My Life' came in. We filmed to that, and at the end of the day we all looked at each other and said "Wow, what just happened? This ending is awesome! Let’s go make this movie!"
It changed everything for them for the better. The camaraderie that wasn’t there was now there.
The above quote indicates to me the following considerations:
* As written in the screenplay, the final scene caused much dissatisfaction and dissension among top people making the movie.
* The final filming of that scene was postponed for a considerable time while various decisions and changes were made.
* After the scene was changed, the top people shared a consensus that the scene was dramatically better.
I am sure that Eleanor Bergstein herself agreed happily that the change improved her movie. She deserves praise for going along with her collaborators' constructive criticism. The result is that her movie is brilliant.
Nobody should think that I am trying to tarnish Bergstein's glory. Rather, I am trying merely to deduce the final scene that had existed before the collaborative improvements to which she agreed.
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In the above excerpt from Swayze's autobiography, the paragraph saying that Johnny should ultimately end up with Penny is sandwiched between 1) a paragraph saying that the Swayzes rewrote the big speech and 2) a paragraph about the Baby in the corner statement. This context indicates to me that Swayze argued that the final scene should include a revelation that Johnny would end up with Penny.
Swayze's argument about the Johnny-and-Penny ending surely boggles the minds of the movie's fans. However, when Swayze was making that argument, the story's ending was less about Baby's love for Johnny and more about Baby's rivalry with her sister Lisa.
As long as Baby outperformed Lisa in the talent show, Baby should be satisfied to relinquish Johnny to Penny, who was his better match. That was the essence of Swayze's argument, which was reasonable when the story still was mostly about the Baby-Lisa rivalry.
Keep in mind that Bergstein's original script had been rejected by all the major producers. It was rejected not because all the producers were stupid, but rather because the script "seemed fluffy" -- was different from the later, rewritten, final script.
Think about that before you scoff at me for speculating that the original story was mostly about the rivalry between Baby and Lisa. The movie ended with Baby outperforming Lisa in the talent show.
Baby triumphed over Lisa by sexually seducing professional-dancer Johnny so that he would help her organize a spectacular performance in the talent show.
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Based on my speculation, I hypothesize this story.
The movie begins with the Baby-Lisa rivalry. Baby reads economics textbooks and wants to pursue a career. Lisa reads women's magazines, frets about her personal appearance and wants to marry a medical student.
On the Houseman family's first day at the resort, while they still are unloading their car, Billy Kostecki appears and offers Baby a job. She can earn some money by working secretly as the magician's stooge. Baby agrees. Because she will be a focus of attention during the magic show, she wants to look sexy, so she tightens her bra straps to lift her breasts.
Billy has told Baby to go to the resort's main building at the time when the Entertainment Staff will arrive. There she will meet the magician, who will instruct her how to act as his stooge in his magic tricks. When Baby arrives at the main building's back door, she sees Max Kellerman lecturing his waiters about flattering the guests' teenage daughters, and she sees the Entertainment Staff arrive, led by Johnny.
Baby learns from the magician how to help do the magic tricks, and subsequently she acts as the stooge in the magic show later that evening.
Later, when Baby wanted $250 for Penny's abortion, she perhaps tried to get the money from the magician and/or Neil Kellerman. These conversations might have introduced the idea of Baby participating in a spectacular magic show on the last night. Maybe the show's best performance would win a $250 prize.
While Baby is learning to dance with Johnny for the Sheldrake performance, she starts to think how she could incorporate her new dance skills into the last-night magic show. Baby's dance performance at the talent show will be far better than Lisa's dopey singing of the song I'm So Pretty.
However, Baby foresees that Johnny will have little interest in herself after Penny recovers from her abortion.
Therefore, Baby schemes to seduce Johnny right after the Sheldrake performance. Baby threatens Lisa to prevent Lisa from informing their parents about Baby's absent all night. On the drive to and from the Sheldrake, Baby bares her breasts to Johnny in the car. Finally, Baby does to Johnny's cabin and accomplishes her seduction.
To continue enjoying sex with Baby, Johnny continues to spend time with her and helps her practice and perform her talent-show dance. Together, Baby and Johnny begin to develop the talent-show performance. Scenes of their practice sessions are accompanied partially by Swayze's song "She's Like the Wind", because Baby flies through the air in her fearful, clumsy attempts to master the lift movement.
The planned performance gradually takes shape. Baby will be sawed in half by the magician. Then there will be some magic trick involving the ceiling. Then Johnny will come onto the stage and will rejoin the magician's sawed-in-half box. Then Baby will emerge with her whole body from the box, and she and Johnny will perform their dance.
Baby's and Johnny's practice sessions are shown in the movie. Also shown are Johnny's teaching the hotel staff Cuban-soul dances. There are lots of dance scenes.
However, during the final days before the talent show, Johnny squabbles with Neil and is falsely accused of stealing money from Moe Pressman, and so Johnny is fired. As Johnny says goodbye to Baby, he jokes, Maybe they'll saw you in seven pieces now in order to fill all the time in her truncated talent-show performance.
Baby is disappointed, because all her efforts for the talent show have turned out to be inconsequential. By default, Lisa will shine as the family's star performer with her "I'm So Pretty".
However, instead of driving home to New York City, Johnny drives just 20 minutes to the Sheldrake Hotel, where he gets hired immediately for the next season. Now financially secure, Johnny drives back to Kellerman's just as the talent show is about to end.
The planned magic tricks have been abandoned (the movie audience already has seen the tricks being practiced), so Johnny just grabs Baby from her table and leads her up onto the stage. Tito Suarez's orchestra begins to play Lionel Richie's song "Dancing on the Ceiling", and Baby and Johnny perform their dance. This time Baby leaps up into the lift fearlessly and flawlessly.
After that dance, the movie's denouement happens essentially the same way it happens in the current movie.
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Swayze argued that the denouement should include a moment revealing that Johnny would get together with Penny. After all, Baby was going away to college and career, so the movie audience should be happy to see Johnny and Penny get together.
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In the current movie, the final scene begins with Billy Kostecki putting a single record onto a record player and playing the song "The Time of My Life". During the denouement, however, the movie audience sees that Tito Suarez is conducting his orchestra, which is playing the song. At that moment, Max Kellerman asks Tito:
Do you have sheet music on this stuff?
Indeed, in the original story Suarez and his orchestra did have the sheet music, because Baby and Johnny had planned and practiced their performance and so had provided the sheet music to Suarez's orchestra.
Since all the practice for the talent-show dance has been removed from the movie, however, the final scene has to begin with Billy Kostecki putting the record onto the record player. Now the dance seems to be spontaneous, and the orchestra's sheet music is mysterious.
Norell compares various kinds of business networking as depicted in the movie Dirty Dancing.
.... The term “dirty networking” refers to both the idea that you are using people by pretending to befriend them in hopes of selling to them, and to this study that shows some people feel physically dirty after networking events. It’s all a bit icky, and would turn anyone off to the idea of meeting people in a professional capacity.
The term for networking with the purpose of advancing your career by using those relationships is called “instrumental networking”, and I want to shower just from thinking about it. I once knew someone who befriended a man solely because they knew that man was married to someone they wanted to do business with. ....
I optimistically call for us to all ... create a better business network full of kind and honest relationships instead of being used.
I love this movie [Dirty Dancing], but it’s just full of people using one another.
Norell writes that Baby Houseman used "dirty networking" when she helped Billy Kostecki carry a watermelon into the employees' party.
Baby uses the opportunity to help Johnny’s cousin [Billy] carry watermelons to the back house so that she can meet her newfound crush, Johnny Castle (Patty Cakes, as I like to call him). She carries a watermelon, and soon after she gets to meet Patty Cakes, she ditches the cousin and goes for the guy she really wants.
On the other hand, Baby used "clean networking" when she offers to substitute for Penny Johnson's Sheldrake performance.
By agreeing to help with the big dance at the Sheldrake, Baby honestly wants to aid in Penny’s availability to…(tip-toeing here) make big decisions, despite the way Penny treats her. Although it does mean she’ll get to spend time with her favorite dance instructor, she is earnest in her motivations of helping Penny, whom she ultimately admires.
As other examples of "dirty networking", Norell points to Robbie Gould and Neil Kellerman.
Robbie is a sleazebag. A gross sleazeball, who woos Baby’s sister Lisa, so he can get to their father. Robbie wines and dines both Lisa and her parents, pretending to be a class act deserving of college tuition from the Housemans. He is not worthy, and he’s a jerk.
Also DIRTY, and in the same vein, is Max’s grandson (let’s be honest, no one remembers his name) tries to make Baby his girl, because she’ll look good on his arm.
Norell concludes with the following wise advice about networking.
The best type of networking develops from treating the people you meet in a business setting the way you would any potential new friend: Listen to what they’re saying, Be there with them, respond thoughtfully, and make an effort to keep the relationship going. Networking is really about making friends, and if you can say you’re a good friend, you’ll likely do a great job with business relationships, too.
Putting baby in the corner equates to (in networking terms) not respecting her enough to actually listen and get to know her … it means branding her as Baby from Dirty Dancing Studios, who is a great lead for you.
When you’re out there in the networking world, don’t let anyone put you in a corner … you are Miss Frances Houseman, and if you want to be more than __ who works at __, then get on stage and show ‘em you can dance.
Having some Swayze arm candy doesn’t hurt your case either.
