Neil Kellerman comes into the dance-practice room. Neil and Johnny argue about the dance that will be performed at the talent show on Sunday evening -- the last evening of the Housemans' stay at Kellerman's.
After the argument, Johnny and Baby are walking outside. During this conversation, Baby realizes that a marriage between herself and Johnny could not succeed. He lacks self-confidence, and he will become a house-painter.
Johnny CastleJohnny and Baby overhear Lisa talking with her father and Robbie Gould.
That little wimp. He wouldn't know a new idea if it hit him in the pachenga. I could have told him some new ideas.
Baby Houseman
Why did you let him talk to you that way?
Johnny Castle
What, fight the boss man?
Baby Houseman
You tell him your ideas. He's a person like everyone else.
Johnny Castle
Look, I know these people. They are rich and they're mean. They won't listen to me.
Baby Houseman
Why not fight harder? Make them listen.
Johnny Castle
Because I need this goddamned job lined up for next summer. My Dad calls me today. "Good news," he says. "Uncle Paul can finally get you in the union."
Baby Houseman
What union?
Johnny Castle
The House Painters and Plasterers. Local #179 at your service.
Lisa HousemanAfter Lisa, her father and Robbie walk away, Baby and Johnny continue their conversation.
I've been thinking a lot about the Domino Theory. Now, when Vietnam falls, is China next?
Baby HousemanBaby has decided that she never will tell her father that she and Johnny are a couple, because she realizes that her relationship with Johnny will not continue past Sunday. She cannot marry such a man who cannot fit into her own family's social class.
I don't think they saw us.
Johnny Castle
Fight harder, huh? I don't see you fighting so hard, telling Daddy I'm your guy.
Baby Houseman
I will. With my father, it's complicated. I will tell him.
Johnny Castle
I don't believe you, Baby. I don't think that you ever had any intention of telling him, ever.
Baby's sister Lisa will marry a man like Robbie, who will become a doctor and who will discuss intellectual issues with the Houseman family. Baby cannot marry a house-painter who is afraid to speak his mind and who is interested only in dancing.
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On Saturday night Baby goes to Johnny's cabin again for more sexual fun. He tells her that he dreams about marrying into the Houseman family.
Johnny CastleBaby does not support Johnny's fantasy, because she knows already that their relationship will end after the talent show on Sunday evening.
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.
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On Sunday morning, Baby goes to her father, to make peace with him. Her relationship with Johnny will end on that day, but her relationship with her father will continue forever.
She herself already has decided to terminate her relationship with Johnny because of his low social class -- because he will become only a house-painter -- but she projects her own social discrimination unfairly onto her father.
You told me everyone was alike and deserved a fair break. But you meant everyone who is like you. You told me you wanted me to change the world, to make it better, but you meant by becoming a lawyer or an economist and marrying someone from Harvard.For sure, Baby's father never said that only people like himself deserve a fair break. For sure, he never said that she had to marry someone from Harvard.
Baby herself has decided that Johnny does not "deserve a fair break" because he will become a house-painter and that she has to marry someone with a higher education and a professional career. Those decisions are her own -- not her father's.
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The relationship between Baby and Johnny does not continue even until the talent show on Sunday evening. Rather, the relationship ends already on Sunday afternoon, because Johnny is fired from his job at Kellerman's. Baby accepts Johnny's early departure with controlled emotion, because she has known already for a day that sometime on Sunday they will part forever.
In the coming months, Baby will fully accept her own decision to terminate her relationship with Johnny. She will stop blaming her father. She will go on with her life and will find a guy as great as her dad.
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In 1963, union membership in the USA was high but had begun a long decline.
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| Percent of the work force belonging to labor unions after 1880 |
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| Percent of work force belonging to labor unions after 1950 |
If Johnny had joined a labor union in 1963, his union would have remained rather strong until about 1975. Then, however, his union's strength would have begun to decline rapidly. The workers in his labor union would have had to compete more and more with non-union house-painting companies.
A growing portion of the US population came to believe that labor unions were bad for the economy. The following graph of Gallup opinion polls (click on the image to enlarge it) shows that in 1963 about 21% of the US population disapproved of labor unions.
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| Growing disapproval of labor unions after 1963 |
In the following 50 years, disapproval of labor unions doubled from about 21% to about 42%. During those 50 years, approval of labor unions declined from about 68% to about 52%. Most of the people who still approve of labor unions are government workers, not private-sector workers.
In the last years of Johnny's career as a house-painter, he would become increasingly angry that his company would be losing business to non-union competitors -- many of whom would be low-skill immigrants and illegal aliens.
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One reason why labor unions weakened in the USA was competition from imported automobiles. As late as 1996, only about 11% of new automobiles in the USA were imported. In 1963, the portion of imported automobiles was far lower than 11%.
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| Rise in percent of imported automobiles -- 1995-2009 |
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Johnny Castle was a future loser in the US economy. He would become a house-painter mostly because of that occupation's labor-union advantages. In the following decades, however, his labor union and his own job security would weaken in the growing competition with non-union house-painting companies.
If Johnny and Baby had married, his career as a labor-union house-painter would have disappointed Baby more and more, as she watched her sister Lisa prosper as a doctor's wife.
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