"Last week I took a girl away from Jamie the lifeguard" -- Part 1

The Houseman family arrived at Kellerman's Mountain House on Saturday, August 10, 1963. On that evening Baby Houseman and Neil Kellerman became acquainted and danced in the ballroom together.

The next day shown in the movie is Sunday, August 18. On that evening Baby came into the "dirty dancing" party in the employees' bunkhouse.

The next day shown in the movie is Friday, August 23. Baby is in the gazebo, where older couples are dancing. Neil comes into the gazebo and reprimands Johnny for not knowing the whereabouts of Penny Johnson. Baby and Neil leave the gazebo, stand alone together and talk.

Neil and Baby talking on the evening of Friday, August 23

Neil Kellerman
I love to watch your hair blowing in the breeze.

Baby Houseman
Maybe my parents are looking for me.

Neil Kellerman
Baby, don't worry. If they think you're with me, they'll be the happiest parents at Kellerman's. I have to say it: I'm known as the catch of the county.

Baby Houseman
I'm sure you are.

Neil Kellerman
Last week I took a girl away from Jamie, the lifeguard. And he said to her, right in front of me: "What does he have that I don't have?" And she said, "Two hotels."

Why did Neil remark to Baby that in the previous week he took a girl away from another guy?

I analyze Neil's remark as follows.

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The previous week -- the week when Neil took that girl away -- was the week from Sunday, August 11, through Saturday, August 17. Neil was not involved with Baby during that week, and so he felt he did not need to hide from Baby the relationship he had experienced with some other girl during that previous week.

Although Baby and Neil had become acquainted and danced in the ballroom on the evening of Saturday, August 10, they did not involve themselves with each other during the following week.

Baby and Neil began to involve themselves with each other during the evening of Saturday, August 17, or the day of Sunday, August 18. On that latter evening, Baby was walking alone in the woods and she began to follow Johnny Castle. While doing so, she encountered Billy Kostecki. She wanted to follow Johnny into the employees' bunkhouse, but Billy told her:

No guests allowed. House rules. Why don't you go back to the playhouse?

I saw you dancing with little boss-man.

Baby ignored that remark and instead offered to help Billy carry a watermelon into the bunkhouse.

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I recapitulate the story's chronology as follows.

* Because Neil remarked to Baby that he had been involved with some other girl during the week of August 11-17, Neil and Baby must not have been involved with each other during that week.

* During the evening of Saturday, August 17, or the day of August 18, Baby and Neil danced together in a place called "the playhouse".

* On the evening of Sunday, August 18, Billy remarked to Baby that he had seen her and Neil dancing in that playhouse.

* On the evening of Friday, August 23, Baby and Neil are standing alone, and he is playing with her hair. He remarks that in the previous week he had taken a girl away from a lifeguard.

So, Baby and Neil were involved with each other from about the evening of Saturday, August 17, through the evening of Friday, August 23.

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I described their relationship in a previous article titled Baby Houseman's Inner Conflict About Femininity -- Part 6. There I wrote:

Baby was using Neil as her practice boyfriend, also known as a starter boyfriend, without his knowing his status. ...

A young woman with a practice boyfriend can experiment in her responses to the various male remarks, compliments, suggestions, requests, teasing jokes and physical advances that she will experience later with men in real relationships. For a young woman, interacting with a practice boyfriend is lots of fun. ....

Baby was insulted by Billy's remark -- and gave him back the watermelon and started to walk away -- for several reasons:

* She had thought that nobody saw her dancing with Neil, her practice boyfriend, in that secluded room -- "the playhouse".

* She resented Billy's insinuation that she chose Neil as her practice boyfriend mainly because he was a manager -- a "boss-man".

* She was embarrassed that her practice boyfriend was so short -- "little boss-man".

* She did not think that her having a practice boyfriend should disqualify her from following Johnny up the stairs to the party.

Earlier that evening, August 18, Baby had put on her party dress -- the same dress she had worn on August 10 in the ballroom -- and flat shoes. Thus dressed, she met with Neil, and they practiced dancing in "the playhouse". She wore her party dress so that she could watch in the room's mirrors how she looked when she danced. She wore the flat shoes because Neil is so short. When she saw herself and Neil in the mirrors, the appearance of her dress's prettiness was spoiled by her practice boyfriend's shortness.

For some reason, Baby and Neil parted from each other after their dance practice. Because he was her practice boyfriend, she allowed him to give her to embrace her and give her a brief kiss on her lips. Then Neil went off to do some management duty.

Baby is in a good mood. Still wearing her her party dress and flat shoes, she goes on a stroll through the woods. Then she notices Johnny with a female guest amid the trees. He is tall and is wearing his handsome tuxedo. Johnny is fondling and kissing the woman in a manner that she never has permitted to her practice boyfriend to do to her. The sight arouses her, and she decides to follow Johnny as far as she can, just to enjoy watching him some more.

Baby is having some fun on her adventure to watch naughty, tall Johnny. She walks past the prohibiting sign. When she encounters Billy heading toward the stairs, she immediately grabs one of his watermelons as an excuse to follow Johnny further.

Billy enables Baby to follow Johnny's path up the stairs to the "dirty dancing" party in the employees' bunkhouse. There she has great fun.

In the following days, she does not tell her practice boyfriend Neil about her adventure, because she was not supposed to go into the employees' bunkhouse and because he would be upset to learn that she had dirty-danced with tall Johnny.

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The next scene involving Baby and Neil takes place on the evening of Friday, August 23. In the gazebo, some guests are dancing, and Johnny is dancing with Vivian Pressman. Baby is standing morosely between her father and mother and is watching Johnny and Vivian jealously.

Neil comes into the gazebo and asks Johnny why Penny is absent. Johnny says that Penny is taking a break. Neil scolds that Penny better not be taking an all-night break. Then Neil says to Baby:

Come on, Doll. Let's take a walk. I love to watch your hair blowing in the breeze.

Since Neil now has been Baby's practice boyfriend for a week, he calls her "Doll", and she goes on a walk with him. They walk far from the gazebo and stand near each other. He fondles her hair, which she allows him to do. As her practice boyfriend, he may fondle her hair and has done so many times.

At this point, however, Baby is considering that she maybe should dump Neil as her practice boyfriend soon.

Then follows that conversation -- quoted at the beginning of this article -- in which Neil remarks that during the previous week he had taken a girl away from Jamie the lifeguard.

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I will continue this article in Part 2.