The Movie's Old, Failing Characters

The movie Dirty Dancing, includes the following old characters. I have estimated their ages in 1986, when the movie was filmed.

Sidney Schumacher -- played by Alvin Myerovich, 81 years old

Sylvia Schumacher -- played by Paula Trueman, 89 years old

Tito Suarez -- played by Charles "Honi" Coles, 75 years old

Max Kellerman -- played by Jack Weston, 61 years old

When the movie was filmed in 1986, each actor was within the final decade of life.

Myerovich lived ten more years -- died in 1996

Trueman lived eight more years -- died in 1994

Suarez lived six more years -- died in 1992

Weston lived ten more years -- died in 1996 (final six years sick with lymphoma)

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The Schumachers seem to be a happily married couple, but they are thieves.

I assume that before they became old, their earned incomes enabled them to afford a lifestyle that included regular vacations at such resorts. Now, however, their old ages have made them unemployable.

At some point in their old ages, they began a resort vacation that they could not really afford, and there they happened to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity to steal some money from a fellow vacationer. Thus they began to develop a long career of stealing money at resorts.  

The first time they got caught was on this 1963 vacation at Kellerman's.

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Tito Suarez has been working as a musician at Kellerman's since the Great Depression -- since the 1930s. Now in 1963 he is conducting a big band that performs at Kellerman's regularly. He is ten years past the normal retirement age, but still has to work.

He is fairly healthy for his age, but his health will fail within a few years. He is likely to become rather deaf, which will degrade his ability to conduct his band.

His big-band music is becoming less and less popular, especially among young adults. The resort hotel will find itself less and less able to justify the expense of employing a big band playing ballroom-dance music.

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The character Max Kellerman suffered from a dangerous blood-pressure condition.

Jake Houseman
How's the blood pressure?

Max Kellerman
(Addressing Marjorie, Lisa and Baby Houseman)
I want you girls to know, if it were not for this man, I'd be standing here dead.

Max's business seems to be prosperous, but he perceives that his business is failing.

It all seems to be ending.

You think kids want to come with their parents and take fox-trot lessons? Trips to Europe, that's what the kids want. Twenty-two countries in three days.

It feels like it's all slipping away.

Apparently, Max's wife and children are gone from his life. His closest living relative seems to be his grandson Neil, who is learning to take over the family business.

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A central conflict in the movie Dirty Dancing is that Jake Houseman has wanted his daughter Baby to become a highly educated professional, such as a lawyer or economist. He wanted her also to marry such a man.

Baby complains to her father:

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.

Now Baby is rebelling against her father's advice and expectations. As soon as she gets her Bachelor's Degree from Mount Holyoke College, she intends to join the Peace Corps instead of continuing her higher education in a prestigious graduate school.

Even worse, Baby might decide to try to earn her living as a dancer.

Even worse, Baby might get pregnant and drop out of school to become a stay-at-home mother.

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In 1963, Baby is young, healthy and energetic, and she enjoys the support of wealthy parents. She is not thinking about the future consequences of ignoring her father's advice to become a highly educated professional.

If Baby will follow her father's wise advice -- if she earns a graduate degree, becomes a lawyer or an economist, and marries a Harvard graduate -- then she probably will enjoy a financially comfortable life and lifetime job security.

If Baby will not follow her father's wise advice, then she might suffer financial troubles through her entire life -- but especially when she becomes old. While she is rebelling against her father's advice, she is not paying attention to the examples of old, failing people around her -- Max Kellerman, Tito Suarez, and Sidney and Sylvia Shumacher.

If Baby drops out of college and attaches herself to Johnny and his dance career, then she is likely regret that decision when she will be an old woman.

Baby better follow her father's wise advice and take advantage of his financially supporting her higher education.