Page 7 - Pop History: Dirty Dancing

Episode Date: August 17, 2021

Nobody puts Page 7 in the corner! This week we explore the history of the 1987 classic Dirty Dancing.Want even more Page 7? Support us on Patreon! Patreon.com/Page7PodcastKevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Page 7 ad-free.Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You're the one thing. Cucamba bologna now. And I fucked a grown man in a cabin next to my father. You were 18. It was fine. She had to get over her Lexi, Lexus Complex? Yes. I feel great about this movie.

So excited. I was so nervous that watching this movie again, because as someone that has seen this movie a hundred million times, but I haven't seen it in probably 12 years. Same Zies. I was like, all right, let me just see. Let me see if just crazy old horn dog Zabrowski, just like, but you know what?

Old crazy horn dog 34-year-old Jackie Zabrowski also, I'm like the wind. I'm out of his week. I just want to touch him. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to kind of be like a coming of, coming of age. Jizz movie. It's like the lift at the end

is her finally having an orgasm. Right, right. Becoming a full woman. In front of her parents and a bunch of people. Front of her parents. By the way, if I was her dad, I'd be like, sir, I'm going to throw you so hard

through the window after mandating my daughter in front of all of these people. Her dad says, you looked incredible. Yeah. It's like, ugh. I mean, it's impressive dance. I would be like great.

A, great dance moves. B, if that man runs his fucking hands over your side tit one more time. I'm going to fucking. But, daddy, it's dirty dancing. Daddy. Oh. You know what?

Jerry Arbac, I actually really appreciated his character. They took his eyes. I know. God, that's all I can't think about when I see him now. He still had his eyes in this. Don't think about the future. I can't ever get that out of my brain. He still had his eyes.

Have we said this before on the show what that means. Okay, yeah, there's billboards about how Jerry Orbach donated his eyes. He was promoting donating his eyes to... Well, he was dead. Yeah, he was dead, but he was promoting the fact that he donated his eyes to people. The whole time, I was just like, I wonder who is Jerry Orbach's eyes now when I was watching the movie? When he was a good father. I feel like, you know, for a father at this time period, I actually was very surprised at how he acts in this.

Again, as an adult watching this, I was like, you know, not good for him. For real. He gave her the money, didn't ask, like a trust you. Supported her education. Support her education.

Still, did the pursue, still helped her friend, even though afterwards he's like, you fucked up, you know you fucked up. Yeah. You know,

and, you know, kind of threw her in the dog house for a little bit there. But, I mean, I think, honestly, she was still slobbing on that knob in the night. Maybe she wanted to be in that dog house.

Yeah, she liked to be in that dog house. Yes, she does. It's just a sexy. Even on a rainy day for charades. I wonder what kind of charades they were playing. If you haven't watched it though in a bit, just, I would say pause this and go watch it again

and then come back to it because I am throbbing for this movie in the way that I really was hoping that I was going to after watching it again. It's also, it's like hour and 40 minutes. It is such a lovely, tight. Wait, wait, we're talking about the 2017 one, right? I'm going to talk about. Natalie watched the 2017 version.

The 2017 version is we will just note right here and now that it was absolutely horrendous. it was absolutely horrendous. And, you know, maybe we'll mention it again at the end. But I will say, I do want to get back to the personal gush of it all, right? Because for me, again, I feel like as with many episode topics for pop history, I didn't really explore this a lot

in my youth because not only was it, A, a girl movie for girls, it was also a parent movie for my parents. And so that soundtrack is just completely the background of my trips to the beach. That's how they got horny. Exactly, right, family vacations to the mountains. And I think my dad has OCD, so we have to listen to every track of the album.

So we definitely also always had to listen to that. Healthy hearts and hands. And we'd be like, dad, don't make us suck. This is like a weird joke song in the album. Like, fucking skip it. And he's like, oh, no, no. You got to look. Happy hearts and hands.

So needless to say, Holden was not as warmly today when we showed up as I was. I mean, I will say, no, I was actually weirdly emotional too, but I think that's also because I'm having a daughter soon. But I loved watching this movie finally for the first time all the way through. Knowing realizing, though, as I was watching it, was like, this was on in the background. I've definitely seen this whole scene before. I've seen this scene.

I probably saw every scene but the sex scenes, right? Only the good ones, you mean. Yeah, exactly. I missed all the good stuff and only saw the bad stuff. But I really do love this movie and also learning more about this film that it was really written in a lot of ways as like a feminist piece from this woman who she'd written a novel about before this two like strong female characters that were, you know, a part of, you know, protests and things like that and really getting in there with all this kind of stuff.

and really just, and we've seen this before in pop history episodes, and I love when people do it, really just like tricking the studio into letting her get this abortion subplot through that was really the most important part of the movie kind of in a certain way and in a political way and forcing it because it was so tied to the plot that it was undeniable. Yeah, that you couldn't just take it out of the movie easily, which is why she did that in the first place. It was an abortion, Michael.

And Jackie were just saying, as kids, I don't think either of us really understood what was happening there. They were just like, oh, she got sick downstairs and something happened. And I thought that she lost the baby. I think that as a young person, I was like, did it throw up down there? I watched it. I know. I just haven't watched it a lot. And it went from not understanding it.

Yeah, then into thinking that, oh, she lost the baby. And that's why she, which, you know, does also wreck your body. but it is which Eleanor Bergstein did say why he said the dirty knife and the folding table line is because they needed to get across without showing it that she got an abortion. They never say the word abortion. I don't think they say the word pregnancy. No, they said that she's knocked up. Yeah. Got her into trouble.

Yeah. You're the one I know it wasn't you that got her into trouble. Got her into trouble. And then he goes, who's responsible for this girl? Yeah, who's responsible? Yeah, Lexi pointed that out too. Who's responsible for this girl? I was like, what the fuck?

I was like, you know what I mean? I noticed for the very first time that there's blood in that scene. I'd never seen that before, but when they go to her bedside, it is all play. Maybe it's that 4K version that we got to see.

Also, though, so I wanted to ask you to this. I think it's way more interesting from your perspective, especially because I didn't really watch it when I was a kid. This movie not only had that abortion stuff, but also had this, like, unbelievable amount of horniness to it. What was that for y'all?

because I think that is the more interesting thing here that you're like taking in this film and like the dancing's fucking amazing and it's like a really fun movie for a young girl and at the same time it's got some heavy kind of more adulty kind of stuff going on maybe in the loin d'al area. Oh yeah.

So let's get, all right. I'm going to turn the lights down low a little bit. Oh, we're going to get into it. And I just want you to share us. Yeah, I want the two, you know, sister-in-laws. Yeah, to talk about our horniness. Speak about your horniness when you were young. For a hundred percent fact that the first time I started being obsessed with this movie,

I did think that Patrick Swayze was 55 years old. I mean, he was 35. And for someone at the age of like 10, 12, that you may as well be 100 million. And how else he's supposed to be? He's supposed to be 25, yes. And she's supposed to be 18, but in reality she was 27 and he's 35. Oh, she's so, so hot. Both of them are.

I mean, really, really are. and I, but the problem is that like I never was into Jennifer Gray. That really wasn't my type. So in watching it, I knew that it was horny, but really who I wanted to be was everyone else in the dirty dancing scene in the night. And there's the one woman. And I remember specifically with the short hair. Oh yeah. She's great.

That is Ben. That's who I wanted to fuck and who I wanted to be. I just, and I thought, I asked Natalie this before we started recording, I was like, I was like, is that what dancing people did in secret? I thought that there was like that there was a bandoliers of sexy people grinding on each other in the underneath somewhere. And I had to find it. And then I started going to raves and I was like, this isn't it? Yeah, I thought I'm bad.

There was baggy and comfortable and doing their mom. And they're like sucking on each other's necks, but I wanted grindage from fucking front butts to front butts. He said Edwards in a K-hole over there in the corner. You're like, Edward. Get out of here. He starts sucking on my ankles. He's like, oh, man, I'm doing it. I'm kicking ass right now.

He's really dancing great right now, right now. Everybody is pacifiers. But I wanted this kind of dirty dancing. I don't think in real life most of the people had 15 plus years of dance technique. Because all of these dancers clearly did. So lot. But yeah, I mean, that scene is fantastic. But also, I do actually think, Jackie, there was a thing.

like after a ballet show or a musical or whatever, a lot of those dancers would go to the club and like rip it up in a filter. Oh, yeah. Center stage has taught us anything. Yeah. And see, I think I just, I'm a bitch for both center stage and dirty dancing of this secret underground world of dancing.

Yes. That definitely, you know, reading about Eleanor Bergstein's life, who this is based on and whose experiences is based on, that did happen in the 50s and 60s, but it is not something. don't think that currently happens today or maybe it does like such a thing. No, everything must be recorded now.

Natalie, take me to the secret dance rooms. I know you know where they are. I did used to do it sometimes, especially in college, but I'm sure they still fucking do that, but it's hard to make anything private now. Somebody's filming it. Someone's filming it and someone's, yeah,

sucking a dick on camera. As a kid, I didn't actually think about it in a horny way at all when I'm Oh, okay, interesting. Yes, it was just like, I love this dance movie. I was so, I was so, I wasn't the romance. I was focused on the dance the whole time.

And I like, I don't know, like the scenery of it. Just like the tone the movie as this was really appealing to me. The conservative and versus the- Well, just like the pretty being at a camp. Yes. And a fancy thing and all that. You know, like I used to go to. But, yeah, no, I think now watching it as an adult,

I'm much more like, whoa. okay. Like I was very focused in on the like tight shots and stuff. That's, wow. That scene. And I love how little dialogue happens to when a lot of this chemistry is going down. That scene where he teaches her how to dance at the secret dance party. Mama me.

Like no dialogue at all. And there's so much stuff. I said after that scene in it, I was like, that was amazing. No dialogue. And so much happened between those two characters. And so much happened in terms of like their relationship development. and just in that moment together. They played a whole scene.

I love seeing stuff like that. It was so well done. And also reading a lot more about Patrick Swayze and his training before this movie made me, I was electrified by him in this watching of it. And I, you know, I love ghosts. I love Patrick Swayze and so many others,

especially like romantic-type things. But reading about how Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze didn't like each other, makes it that much more electrifying of the fact that they used the passion of, like, we have to make this magic together. Right. We don't have a lot of time,

and we have to capture it. It's what makes the chemistry work better. It's kind of like that say-anything moment with the speaker and how they were both uncomfortable with that scene and, you know, for different reasons. And that's why it charged it. Well, I think their opposition to each other

is what weirdly created the chemistry with each other. Yeah, and I really, I feel like, Jennifer Gray too just was one of the few people who could pull that part off in the right way because she didn't do the overly I'm so pretty thing she was really well I mean that in the 19 2007 remake of course as well yeah 2017 oh I'm sorry I was thinking of the 2007 one where they did like a Xanidu crossover oh yeah dirty zoo dirty zoo oh they both are the same choreographer We're a bunch of monkeys dancing in a zoo. It's dirty zoo for you.

I'm scared of dirty zoo. I feel like, oh, my clothes are going to be ripped off. What about Zana dancing? That sounds like Xana dancing. Zanax dancing. Zanax too, yeah. That's just mumble, right. Now we just come back to mumma rap.

Yeah, now we're in Lumber Rap. No, but yeah, I think with her, as a kid, I realized now looking back that I was so, like, fucked up by the 90s ideas of what pretty girls were. that I didn't understand how beautiful and like compelling charismatic she was as a kid because I was used to, you know, we had a very unhealthy version of what beauty was in the 90s, I think. Yeah. And it sucks because she's incredible in that.

And she's amazing and I'm sad that I didn't understand that as a kid. Yeah. And I love her also in terms of her performance. I love the joy she shows us when she's dancing. And like, especially in that final scene when she hits that lift, which was. a one-shot deal that she hadn't done for real until the day. They shot it in one take, the whole last scene. Unbelievable.

So like literally, but the joy in her face when they're dancing and that performance is so real and so, just communicate so well. It was interesting. I don't know. I think I'm just more emotional in general, but like it was weird. Like, as horny as it made me as much, made my penis get big, hard, and stiff, Jackie. It also made me emotional. Oh, yeah.

Well, you're about to have a daughter. Because, you know, yeah, with the family and the whole, you know, coming of age thing. So are you going to give your eyes? I will give my eyes to my daughter. No, I want them. All right, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to hide one in the North Pole and one in the South Pole. Oh, that's fun.

It's going to be called the Amazing Holdenic Race. And you're going to each chapter. You're going to have to find my eyes. You can choose which pole you want to start with, but she may choose the same pole. Oh, okay. I don't know. Okay. Should I end up with one eye.

What's the use? That's the thing. So then you have to try to. I'm gonna put it on my finger and go, Hell didn't seize you. Should do that. You freak me out, man. I put it on my forehead and be like, I see everything.

No. Yeah, and I'm gonna put it in my mouth and go, I'm the left. Yeah, please don't do that. I'm the left. I'm scared of you in your eyes. But you know Wallsah really attracted me in this movie in a different way? Cynthia Rhodes, who played Penny.

Oh my God. Because Penny is, I've never been so, I wasn't, I was never paying attention to her character, really. and she's just talk about, I couldn't keep my eyes off. I was like, I don't want to watch Shethafer Craig to it. I want to watch Cynthia Rhodes do the rest of it because she just, ooh, the way her body moved.

She's so mean at a pudding. She loves doing those leg lifts too. God, because she did it all the way up. I want to do that with somebody, nobody will do them with me. Oh, it doesn't. Henry, don't you guys have this anymore? He wouldn't even watch it with me last day. He went full child when he went like,

I don't want to watch that. That was exactly what Jeff did. You know what? With me, yep. You know what happened? He came in every five minutes and watched 10 minutes of it. Yeah, like a scene. Yeah, yeah.

And then you go back in. Dude, I'm telling you, bro. Look, I don't want to call your boyfriend's announcement out for being toxicly masculine. But dude, like, I think it's been drilled into us. Because Henry's not toxic man at all. No, neither is mine. But also, I think that he just, I don't know. It is.

It feels like, it felt like a kid thing from him. I felt like I saw 90s Henry. I'm telling you. Yeah. I've gone through a phase because like you guys They think it's just a romance. And you were and dance movies. You guys were just talking about these dance movies.

I've never seen. I'm totally into him now after especially this. But definitely I was like, fuck it, I've never seen footloose. I think you would like Center Stadium. Oh yeah. Oh, God, please.

Anytime it's one of my favorites. Oh, great. We should do a fucking episode. I would love you. I'm like all about these, these. I'm all like. Natalie and I do. We both, I love dance movies.

No, and I just saw, like, this is insane to say out loud, but I just saw what. Leslie story for the first time this week. And fucking loved it. I'm gonna watch Newsies probably over the weekend because that's another one that's been missing. And I'm now...

And also, Corey, the choreographer of Dirty Dancing was the director of Newsies. I know. Oh my God, we're gonna get into... And did like all the choreography, by the way, for like the high school musical movies. And like all the modern days. We've got so much to talk about.

I'm so fired up. Let's go. Dirty Dance is a 1987, romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, directed by Emil Ardolino and stars Jennifer Gray as Francis Baby Houseman, who goes with her family to a vacation resort and falls

in love with a dance instructor named Johnny Castle played by Patrick Swayzee. Oh yeah, also it's an abortion, Michael. Oh my God, there is an abortion, Michael. Before we get to that fucking shit, let's talk about Eleanor Bergstein. Eleanor Bergstein, the younger of two daughters of a Jewish doctor

from New York, tell me we've heard this one before. You've seen the movie. Uh-oh. Although we will get into, it's not just baby that she's based on. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Her mother mostly raised the girls with the father working all the time, and in the summer they would go to a luxury resort

called Grosinger's Catskill Resort Hotel in the Catskill Mountains. Berkstein said, while they played golf, it was the only place women were allowed to tee off early in the morning along with the men, and my mother was a champion golfer. I hit the, which also gives you some context of the time period, I hit the dance studios.

I pressed my 10-year-old nose against the glass windows and finally got to go inside. Every other night there was a champagne contest at the hotel, and I danced the mombo and the chas with professionals and always won. My parents drank the champagne. I think it was the idea of this appetitive little girl in her organdy ruffled dress doing these sultry dances with such determination that brought the house down each night. So definitely that aesthetic, right? the like very conservative from a rich Jewish family little girl ripping it up doing the mombo on the dance floor which is exactly what I thought it was going to be which I know you guys have heard the story of Henry and I on the cruise ship in the night going to the dance clubs on the cruise ships

and we would just like dance our asses off but everyone thought that we were married and also we were so fat and ugly that everyone thought we were in our 30s so no one ID'd us and we would dance on the floors, but it wasn't like dirty dancing. I kept wanting it to be like dirty dancing. Really what it was was a bunch of just like drunk swingers that were way too old for us to be dancing. Were you also at least drunk dancing? Yeah, yeah, I was 18 in drunk dancing.

Did you have any prospects there? Were they, were you? Well, there was one couple that certainly wanted to swing with Henry and I. And now we had to be like, we are brother and sister. And they're like, oh shit. And also we're children. Yes, go on. children and we're children.

And the other prospect was actually an old prospector. And he said, is there gold in them there ships? And then he brought me to a ship. And then it was the Titanic. And then we all died. It was an abortion, Michael. Don't. And then they did the clay on the subway. Oh my God, just like the ghost.

Oh my God, with the ceramic pots. Okay, I don't want to talk about that because I did start crying last night about him and his wife. Oh, don't. And then of course the remembrance, which we're going to get to. Why does it always have to be a sad tragedy underneath every single episode we do? He's a cowboy that also is a ballet dancer.

I fell in love with Patrick Swayze all over again. And his wife, I'm in love with his wife. God, damn. So much. Eleanor Bergstein also said, then in high school I dirty danced in basements with the street kids in my class. Like kind of Jackie was for secret dance parties. My parents were okay as long as I kept my grades up and was going to college.

And also, she was indeed nicknamed baby as a kid. I do want to say, so Eleanor Bergstein has openly seen. said as well that it like in her sisterdom, she also had an older sister like in the movie, but actually the personalities were switched. She was way more of the buttoned up one and it was her older sister that was a bit more of the free spirit that wanted to go out and do what she wanted to do. Because even like she said, she kept her grades up, she was going to college, she did this at night and it wasn't so much to like, I'm going to be my own thing, Daddy.

It was more of like a, well, you guys are doing other shit. so I'm going to go dance in the night and as long as I keep my grades up, it's fine. Yeah. And she also, so she feels that she's a mixture of Lisa, who is baby's older sister, baby, as well as the Penny character. Because as we'll learn later on,

she goes to start teaching at these resorts as well. And she feels a lot and that's why she, part of the reason why she needed to keep the penny abortion thing in because of the, like, solicitous relationship. Is that the word? Salacious. Calacious. Solicitous.

Yes. was selling her pussy, your two door. That's what that guy inferred when he was being. No, she had a salacious relationship with another dance instructor, which we will get to in a moment. Well, we should probably get to the next. My next thing is her, my next thing is her selling a script called It's My Turn. So if you want to fill us in up until that point when we get to her really working on the dirty dancing script, please. Don't get to.

In the summer of 1949. Lord, Jack is over here making these eye movements that I know what they mean. In the summer of 1949. Back when the dinosaurs roamed there. Johnny Castle. Then there was water parks. And finally, this woman was born. Johnny Castle is based on a real person

named Mike Terrace. Mike Terrace began working as a dance teacher at Grossinger's Hotel, the Catskill Resort, with the largest and most prestigious dance staff, which is also where Baby went as a teenager and who would start to teach dance at later on in her life. Mike recalls that his life at Grosinger's was filled with temptations to service wealthy women and more than just dancing, much like that of the dance teachers portrayed in the film Dirty Dancing. One summer, the tap dancer Georgie Taps, an idol of my toes.

Natalie and I right now are slowly backing out of the room. Okay, so I never know that. Sorry if we just completely leave for the rest of the other than that. Jack's in full reverie. Ooh, yeah. So Georgie Taps shows up. By the way, none of this is actually what happened. Jay's making all of this up, obviously, with these clearly fake names.

Georgie Tabbs is a dancer with Michael Terris. It's Mike Terris aside. And Georgie Tabs is, you're shit. You don't know how to dance. You want to learn how to dance? You go to ballet school. You sign up and take advantage of the GI Bill that's rightfully yours. You become a dancer.

You want to be a dancer? Give up the shit. All you're going to do is become a jigolo here. And then you're going to discard you when you're too old. Wow. And he took that to heart. He took the GI Bill. He became a dancer.

He comes back to teach. And eventually he meets Eleanor Bergstein. They shed up one summer when they were both consenting adults. And so that definitely came in to play when writing the character of Penny. Love it. And, man, Georgie Taps get fucked. So, all right. Wait, did Georgie Taps too bad.

Yeah, I thought he was good. No, Georgie Taps is great. George Tams good. Changed Michael Terrace's life. There you go. Johnny Castle went essentially the real-life version. Sometimes when she gets horny, her rage gets mixed in in bizarre ways, and she bursts out in weird strange. Oh, Michael Terris. I don't believe that.

Tap dancing on Mike Lerce. What is the same? Ryan Kitchen Table? This just means she wants to hate fuck the guy. That doesn't mean she actually hates the guy. So, cut to 1980. Eleanor is in her 40s, and she manages to set up. a script called It's My Turn, which is made...

It's my turn. And it's now... I dance with old men. Yep, it was made starring Michael Douglas, who is now old. It's about a woman in a passionless relationship who goes off and has an affair with a married man while visiting New York. Interesting. Yeah, it's, again, very, very, very much about, like, female empowerment, and this is

the theme in all of her work. It is not super memorable, but Eleanor does write a scene in the scene in the way. the script an erotic dancing scene which was cut by the producers from the film and this event prompts Eleanor Bergstein to write a whole story inspired by that scene and her dance competitions

of her youth and she pitches the idea to an executive at MGM named Eileen Missell who teams her up with producer Linda Gottlieb and it's Gottlieb who is going to be her partner to really get this unmakable movie apparently made even though it's super cheap to make and

seems like it would be a smart movie to make But of course, as always is the case, it's like this big fight to get this movie made. Gottlieb up to this point had only really done short films, made for TV movies. But honestly, and this is just throwing it out there in a general business sense, because I've seen this time and time again,

sometimes it's, in fact, a lot of times, especially if you're up and coming, it's actually way better to get paired with a producer or an agent or someone who is actually scrappy and hungry as opposed to the big deal agent who is kind of already high in the hog. you know, has a bunch of great clients and doesn't really need you as much. And it seems like this Gottlieb lady needs something, like big.

And so she's really a big cheerleader for Bergstein. And what is crazy is that it really is just like, man, ooh, I want to say a dog with a phone, but I don't mean that in a like, hey, I was a bitch with a big old bowl, a bitch soup. Got a big old red rocket. What's it, bitch soup first? What's in big soup? That's what I wanted to know. It's sass.

It's sass. Trauma. It's whatever. And garlic. And garlic. And horny and extra garlic. Extra garlic. I love extra garlic and a big soup.

It is interesting to watch. And also so inspirational that Bergstein and Gottlieb and them making this movie and how Bergstein wanted it the way that she wanted it. She wasn't going to concede the way that she had. in her previous project of dropping things. That's why she writes the abortion so funny into the plot.

It's an abortion, Michael. She wants to make sure that the bigger elements that she wants to include in this as well as, which we'll get to later, the music of the time period that she was very, very strict about. And she, especially because it was her story

and it was so personal to her that she refused to give up and we'll see that once they start hacking away at the money that they're going to give them to make it and everything else. Eleanor said, I wanted to use that world, which was my parents' world, what I would call the last summer of liberalism. When the world had one foot in either camp, but it was about to change, as Max says at the end.

The following summer, the summer of 64, you couldn't have told that story because all that music was above ground then, and all the guests would have been doing that kind of rock band thing. As I said, two months later, John Kennedy was killed, and two months later, the Beatles came in, And a few months later, radical action started. So this was the last summer, there could be an upstairs and a downstairs in that way, which I feel like we feel even more today than ever. Man, I can't even. I can't even.

Eleanor also said, yes, you can, Natalie. Women empowerment, yes, you can. I'm always very anxious, said Eleanor. To be in those moments just before transition. In my mind, it's like the year 2000, right, for us, or even 2001 before September. you know, or even in more modern times right before the probably the Trump presidency, right? Yeah, because I mean, 992,000 culture was kind of dead. Yeah, it was a little different in that sense.

Yeah, it's kind of revved it. I love it got to revved it up a little bit. But regardless, she said, I was enormously interested in bringing back that time, both politically and socially in America, when everybody really believed that the world had been made safe by World War II. And the only thing left to do was make it safe for everybody. So the large Jewish community gave lots and lots of money to SNCC and Corps and supported the freedom writers. And Martin Luther King made his speech that summer in 1963.

Just when the Housemans are at Kellerman's is the I Have a Dream speech in Washington. And now horrible GOP Republicans quote the one line from Martin Luther King. Yeah, if you can't handle me at my best, you don't deserve me. I remember that. Yeah, yeah. And this is also the, and like thinking of the like not only the political scene is, changing, but so is the music scene. In the summer of 63, it was the last real summer before rock and roll invaded the country.

And the Beatles came in and she said, I wanted to bring back that partner dancing, the Mambo, the Chacha, but also the music of partner dancing in a way that everything was about to change. And especially thinking of the naivete of not knowing that everything is about to change, which is also reminiscent of how baby changes in this. this summer of thinking it's just going to be a regular summer, and then she comes out of it completely different. Oh, won't you stay? Stay a little bit longer.

I do like Jennifer Gray had said that that's how she feels that this movie is timeless. She said it's the idea that transformation is possible with the synergy that happens when somebody else sees something in you that you don't see or that you wish someone else could see it. They don't change you, but the connection creates an opening, a possibility that we are all more, than we thought we could be with that limited idea. Isn't that kind of the dream? Maybe it's just me growing up, but it was always the dream that like somebody would come along

and just be like, I see you special. I can tell it in your eyes. But not like romantically, just like, they're going to make me a star. You got something, kid. We're going to take you to the moon. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, I'll take it to the moon.

Oh, with our front bucks. I will say when people say that. And then they're like, it's a bringer show. So we're going to need you to bring at least 15 people. Oh, great. Oh, cool. Or the other side of that is, I do see something in you. you must come to Micah Banya

for three hours. I do something at you. I see your vagina. You want me to crawl into your hammock? Okay. So yes, also, not to bring it back to Michael, but let's talk about Michael for a little bit. The abortion subplot was deliberately put

into this steamy romantic dance movie to get those audience members looking at and thinking about something they might not normally. And this is something I feel like, again, time-wise, we don't think about. I mean, an abortion as a part of a film. Fast time's the orange one.

I crushed it. Sure. That's about it though. You've got, yeah, maybe that and pretty much that. And there's not a whole lot else when it comes to darker themes

in a film such as this. And so this was really important that this was put into the film and that actually eventually lost them a sponsor, which Eleanor Bergman was clear a cell. It was clear a cell, which she was excited about because there were going to be clear a sell,

you know, advertisements on the poster for dirty dances. She was like, thank God they dropped. But they needed money so bad. So the fact that she again wouldn't, she was like, I'd be happy to cut it out, but it's the reason for the dancing. It's the reason baby meets Johnny that she learns to dance. They have sex and fall in love. It's the reason that her father gets involved without the abortion.

The whole story falls apart. What if she just gets pregnant, gets married, and has a beautiful family, and that's why she couldn't dance anymore. I think that you could dance even while pregnant. Like, see you hear me, you could do anything you put your pregnant mind to. She loves to dance with pregnant. But I do love this, that Birxine says that. if you want to put a moral message in your story, make sure it's written into the whole story,

and it's the reason the story takes place. Otherwise, it will end up on the cutting room floor. Also, this from Eleanor, and this is the most, like, radicalized person in the late 60s thing to say, but I'll still say it anyways, and I still enjoy it. What I would like to do is get young people

to understand that the most exciting, most sexual, most alive thing you can do is to be very, very active in politics. I think that's the only thing that will turn the world around and the way it needs to be. Yeah, we're crushing it. Yeah.

Also with that abortion scene, too, it's, of course, not surprising, but it's never talked about that the guy lied to her, abandoned her, and then calls her trash in the movie. It's always like, why is she so, why is she getting the abortion? It's like, look at the fucking dude who just knocked her up. He's a piece of shit. No, it's the woman's fault, Natalie. At least they do turn the lens on him by the end of the film when it comes to the dad. Don't worry, we'll get into the curse.

of the set because unfortunately the actor does get his, I guess and you can say. Oh wait, I don't know this one. Oh, we're going to get into the purse of dirty dancing. But before we do that, let's even just get this movie at all able to be made. Everybody hated the script. Everybody hates it.

Everybody hates it. And the MGM, who took them up on it in the first place, as always happens, the management turned over and the new fold they were like, we don't like this, get this out of it. That's what it is. So originally, Producer Gottlieb had costed the film out at $8 million at the very cheapest it could be made.

And when this turnover happens over to Vestron Pictures, they only gave them $5 million. They had already said yes, and then they took $3 million away from it. That's almost half the amount. And they didn't have any idea. And they said that if they see so much as a decimal point after the number five in the $5 million, the funding would disappear. So this is where they're at. Already she's struggling with trying to get people on board with the script. And she was very big into the music as well. So when she's sending this script out, she had made a cassette tape with, she would send in a cassette tape along with the script so that the people could listen to the tape of 60's music while they read the screenplay. And she said, or at least on their drive home, they would be as charmed by it as she was and see the value in making the movie. And yet still no big studios. bought the script, or gave her shit about the cassette tape that she sent in,

which sometimes in these stories you hear like, and then they sent in the cassette tape, and the one right person heard it when, give them all the money that we got. This is not one of those times. No, not at all. But it is good to have peripherals like that, and I have heard that happening.

Avatar, the last Airbender was an episode we did with the pitch. They brought in all these visuals. And sometimes it helps. Sold it on the visuals. Yeah. It is very good to have it. That's how they got always sunny, too. Yep.

Yes. And she did say, though, that she had received a, multiple messages from secretaries of the big men that she was sending the script to and the cassette asking if they could have another version of the cassette because they played it so much that it was worn out. That's when she knew, she's like, okay, then we'll get him with the music,

and we'll talk about that with, I've heard when I'm in my life. She's like the first. We got, oh, body close to me. I'm very sexually attracted to the music and the movie. We've got to talk about Emil. Adelaide. I mean Adelina.

Our director, our director grew up in Queens, started out as an actor and off-Broadway shows before moving over to production. As a kid, he saw the original production of Gypsy, and I could say that word because the name of a musical, 25 times on Broadway. He founded his own film company and got steady work in the 70s and 80s

for PBS doing profiles of dancers and choreographers for two different series, Dance in America, and live from Lincoln Center. He also designed the original multimedia concept for the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Before Dirty Dancing, he won an Oscar for his documentary about Jacques Damois, the founder of the National Dance Institute,

which promoted dance to children. The film was called He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing. Ardilina says, I do love dance. I do love music. It was a script in which the dance was used to move the plot along to reveal a character. And the story didn't stop, in addition to which I saw a subtext

of a body language throughout, so I related to all that media. Did you watch any of his interviews? At one point in my life, eating a person for four straight hours. I bet he has, because this man also goes on to make you guys know why I feel about the movie.

Chances are that no one gives a shit about, but I absolutely love it. But then he also then made three men and a little lady. He made Sister Act. And this is, like, Emil Adelino. He's very invested in the dance movies that he makes, especially. He said, I'm interested in scripts about character mainly,

whether it's a comedy, a romance, or a drama. I like audiences to feel something when they come out. I don't want them to come out numb. I really want them to feel and to think mostly feel. But honestly, your ascento Holden was a little spot on because he, ooh. You know, it's really interesting because even though dirty dancing is really sensual, it's not, it doesn't feel like it's through the male gaze. Like, it feels very empowering. It's not just like, look at them, my tittils.

and it feels like the women are actually people in the movie and it's not just like, you know, shaking. You could feel a touch on you. Yeah. Yeah. That's why guys are like, I guess we'll watch it. It's a good movie.

I hate seeing women in leotards. Artilino insisted that the actors, I love this, and I know you're going to love this too, Natalie. It's not like La La Land. He insisted the actors they hired could also actually dance as he did not want to use the stand-in' match. like they did in Flashdance. For the part of baby, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sharon Stone both auditioned, but the part,

of course, went to Jennifer Gray. She grew up in NYC, and her parents were both actors at the Dalton School in Manhattan. She studied dance and acting, after which she trained at the neighborhood playhouse school of the theater while working as a waitress. In 1984, at the age of 24, she got small roles in films like Francis Ford Coppola's the Cotton Club and starred in the war film Red Dawn. And who else was in that movie? Patrick Swede.

You so crazy I want to have your fucking baby I bet you'd want to fuck that girl baby Oh no Oh no Baby and have Patrick Swayze's baby It's crazy So yeah

They didn't like each other then though They hated each other They didn't like each other in Red Dawn And they certainly didn't like each other While making dirty dancing But the electric way they looked at each other Did they ever say why? It seems that he is

More serious He's very serious We'll just go ahead and talk about that. That whole part of the montage where she keeps laughing when he runs his hand and he's getting more and more frustrated. That was real. That was a real moment. And that shows exactly what their relationship is because he was a Broadway dancer that went in and like they only had two weeks of rehearsal before all of this. So he is very dedicated and he wasn't mucking about. And she's still very young and was like, well, and like also you could tell almost uncomfortable with how.

I think that like the character Jennifer Gray had to be with getting into like a sexy time when she had never really been in a sexy role like that before. I wouldn't be able to I've only done like one sexy character before and I couldn't stop laughing. Jennifer Gray said his fearlessness

and my fearfulness together was like a marriage where you have two opposites. He'd do anything and I'd be scared to do anything. So not only was she like getting the giggles on at points but she was also like would be very sensitive of other days where somebody would say some to her, she'd like break into, out in tears. And he had no, no. That's just not him, right?

He's just coming in to do the job. And I was, I will just say I was about to talk about it, that she was going to be like a pro football player until a knee injury stopped from that. So, I mean, obviously that shows from an early age. He was going to be something no matter what it was going to be. Oh, yeah. And he did that with everything. Like, what's his name from?

Oh, my God. Sorry, guys. The guy from the outsiders. Oh, I was about to mention outsiders. Matt Dillon. No, not Matt Dillon. Pony boy? Roblo.

Roblo. Roblo. Like in Roblo's book, he was talking about on the outsiders. Like Patrick Suizi was just like teaching himself different skill sets, like playing the guitar and stuff. You just like learn different things. Part of the issues though that they were having and why he was also getting frustrated is because of Sedney injury, which was in a bad state.

And yet still Patrick Swayze refused to allow anyone to come in and do the dancing or any of the scenes for him. So that was also part of the. frustration, but and yet still, when they were brought in for testing during the casting time period, because I've read two different camps, and I don't know which you also read. I read the dance chemistry test. It was the convinced. That was the convincing. Like, them dancing on camera together is what got him cast, because Berksin said a couple times, we wanted no one except Patrick Swayze. We always wanted Patrick Swayze. But then I've also

read that at the time, Billy Zane was originally cast. And that in the dance, we're in the dance, between him and Jennifer Gray, there was just nothing there. I just can't, I was trying to picture him in that role. I just, like, couldn't make it squish here. Yeah, but I want to watch it. And Val Kilmer. I would have watched this. Val Killer was also initially offered the role.

It's just because, like, Patrick Swayze is so manly, like, so masculine in that traditional masculine way. And Billy Zane is beautiful, but in, like, Twin Peaks here, he was like a little, you know, cutesy, pretty boy. Agreed. Yeah, it was, I do think. too, though, the dynamic between Johnny Castle and

baby, it's the same, right? It's this young up and comer. Because he is frustrated by her. Yeah. Of course, yeah. He's been worn out from the industry. He's like bitter. He's burdened. He's older. He's, you know, been through the system. He's had a hard life, and she's just, like,

had everything kind of handed to her. She's sheltered and is, like, excited about life. And is doing this because it's fun. Because not only does she want to help people, but also, deep down she just is loving doing this. Sure. Yeah. That just shows so well just because of their real life shit. And actually, Bergstein does say exactly what you are saying about the characters,

where she's like, it's a love story, but it's also about honor. If you reach out your hand and behave with honor, at some point the world will turn on its axis, and that's what happened with Baby. She was very brave. She reached out her hand, and Johnny, who believed in nothing, saw someone behave with absolute selfless honor. toward him. And that's what gave him the courage to pull her back. And that is such a, like, I mean, obviously,

Bergstein knows these characters inside and out, but that is such an interesting way to describe the two of them together that, like, kind of, in reading that and then watching the movie, he was like, fuck yeah, that is what this is. Well, yeah, and he's not disrespecting her, and she's not disrespecting him. Well, and at the core of that character, too, he's a goodman. He's a good person in the core.

He's just had all this other shit put on top. of him. Yeah. And so it's almost like, even though this story is about baby, which I love, you know they're not gonna like end up together, but you like,

oh, Johnny maybe took this part of her into him. That's why Bergson didn't want to do a sequel. Because she was like, I, like, no one wants to see what happens between the two of them because it's not ever gonna work. I can maybe see, the only thing I could see is like a before sunset, before sunrise kind of thing where they meet back up

after being completely estranged from each other 10 years, 20 years later. And whatever that story, If Swayze was here, I would watch it now. Yeah, yeah. I would watch that movie. I would watch that now. But unfortunately, yeah, especially now that Swayze is out of the picture.

I mean, all we really needed is that 2017, right? So we're good to go. I will also say, I completely forgot. I, like, didn't put two and two together that Jennifer Gray was also Ferris Bueller's sister. Yeah. And they were dating and we'll get into that as part of the curse. And also, the choreographer was the one who did that fucking dope parade scene in Fierce Brioza.

Same choreographer. Yeah, yeah. The choreographer is amazing. I want to do a whole episode on Kenny Ortega. I feel ashamed I didn't know that was all the same choreos. Dude. Unbelievable, right? He just ripped it open for so many years as a choreographer.

Before we get to that, I will just say Patrick Swayze. His mother was a choreographer, dance instructor and dancer. He enjoyed dancing and acting himself in high school. But actually wanted to go pro football, as I said, until an knee injury took that off the table, which he battled with all through the shooting of dirty dancing, especially that log scene. He fell off that log so many times. He had to go take it to the hospital, a fluid drain from his knee. It was so bad. He had to just keep dancing through it. You would never know. He's like an angel. He's a

professional. He was a dancer for the Disney theatrical group for a while until he got the role of Danny Zuko in a replacement cast for Greece on Broadway. And then after that, he did various film and TV. But yes, man, I need to go back and rewatch 1983's The Outsiders. I mean, what a cast. Oh, yeah. Roblo. Amelia Estvez. Matt Dylan, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macho, and of course Patrick Swayze, most all unknowns at that point. And after that, he starts to become a household name in the 80s. And the first person that cast in the film was actually Cynthia Rhodes, his penny.

She was known for her dance film prowess, Flash Dance, Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. And, yeah, we already mentioned Jerry Orbach. They took his eyes! They did take his eyes! How's he going to dance? Also, big shoutouts. Actually, this was Wayne Knight's big breakout movie.

Hello, Newman. He's great in it. He's, of course, Seinfeld, he's Newman, Jurassic Park. Uh-uh, uh-uh, you didn't say the magic words. He's so good and he's great in this movie as that cheesy, you know, camp staff guy. He's, you know, yeah, he just is so right on for the role. Also, when Baby's Mom, played by actress Kelly Bishop. Yeah, Kelly Bishop, Emily Gilmore, what's all?

She says at the end of the movie, she gets that for me. That is a nod, isn't it, Natalie? It is. She was a Broadway dancer. But also, Kelly Bishop was not originally cast as the mother, and she was actually supposed to play the older woman that seduces Patrick Swayzee. But as part of the curse, that the mother that played Jennifer Gray's, the mother, the character that was played, the woman that you've been talking,

I'm not, the mother. You're thinking about her tini. The character that was supposed to brought up, what is wrong with me? the mother of Jennifer Gray's character. They, after the first day of shooting complained of fatigue and weakness, Gottlieb said her scenes were shot and she'd lied down a lot. Day two, it's clear to everybody that this woman will not be Jennifer Gray's mother for much longer. She was sent home at lunchtime, leaving the film with a hole in the cast,

and a scene involving said character to be shot in the afternoon, oh, with 200 extras on standby. Kelly Bishop, who was there to play the older woman, was immediately brought in to be her because she was essentially there. She was going to play the sexy, like, lady that Patrick Swayze was... Oh, wait, Kelly Bishop was going to do? Correct. Yeah, yeah.

She was going to be that lady. Yep. Oh, I wouldn't watch that. That character then was filled in by the film's assistant choreographer, Miranda Garrison. She continued her role as Swayze's off-screen dance coach, too. And then on day five, actress Paula Truman playing the Hotel Thief, collapsed on set. And then she recovered. But this is, I mean, again, getting into the curse.

Getting into the curse. She's an old, though. I actually get, I mean, I didn't know it was cursed, by the way, but, well, every set's always. Yeah, I've never heard that either. Yeah, yeah, totally a curse set. Absolutely. Before we get to the filming and the curse set, I do want to spend some time talking about

Kenny Ortega, we mentioned before as the choreographer. He. What a career. What an, just an amazing person. He went to high school, he went to high school in Palo Alto, California. He was a cheerleader and in the drama group there, started out as an actor that appeared in the touring productions of Oliver and Hair. Can I just say real quick that currently, or I think last year he was in an interview,

that after doing hair, Ordea recalled being falsely arrested at the age of 21. Think about being, this is where his brain is at for being a gay man in the 60s and 70s. He said he was falsely arrested at the age of 21 after a chief of police planted narcotics in his hotel room, allegedly upset by his performance in a touring production of hair. The charges were dropped after investigations were made, and Ortega recalled the arrest report, identifying him as George Berger, the name of the character he played in the show. So the fucking idiot cop decided to try to arrest him because he was upset about him being openly gay. Oh my God.

And didn't even bother to look up his actual name. Idiot. What a piece of shit. But this dude, man, the choreography, he did the choreography for Madonna. in the video for Material Girl. He did most of the choreography for Michael Jackson as well as for the This Is It documentary. So what happened was he was at this nightclub

just lighten the danceful on fire in San Francisco and a band called the Tubes. They saw him or just like, please will you be our choreographer? They were just a super 80s-Z band. Yeah. That got his start as a choreographer for musicians. Through that, he gets the attention of Cher

as well as the band Kiss. Choreographs their tours at the time. And then in 1980, he is hired to choreograph Xanadu. Zanadans, right? Zanadans, right? Yeah, so there is, by the way, a little bit of DNA, interestingly enough. And there he worked under the mentorship of Gene Kelly and really honed his talents. Then he did a couple of John Hughes films.

Already mentioned Ferris Bueller's Day Off and that amazing great dance. He did St. Elbow's Fire. He did Pretty and Pink. He did Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He did Sister Act. He did two Wong Vu. Thanks for everything Julie Newmore. He was crazy.

But then he also directed newsies and hocus pocus. Crazy good resume. I feel like I should have known this. I didn't either though. Yeah, you just don't realize some of these people are like... I have a dance degree. You're like, wow, this guy's like the background of my childhood. Yeah.

Like Chris Columbus for me. I was like, oh, wow, he just sort of defined my childhood, I guess. Ortega said, Gene Kelly really introduced me to the difference between choreographing for the film and the stage. He was kind enough to embrace me and. share with me his techniques and the art form of designing choreography for the camera, looking at things from all sides and playing with great levels of depth and scale, sometimes locations. There are a number of differences, and Gene was my mentor and my hero for sharing the talent he

had with me. Ortega also said about dirty dancing, we had this incredible tight-knit group, which were really focused, and we had such a ball, such a great time coming to know one another and building this movie. But I don't think any of us really had any idea would have the global reach or longevity that it had. It's really something really special. And this is the man, I believe, that is the backbone between him and Bergstein, the backbone of this movie and why it has the organic heat that it does. Because, I mean, Ortega openly

said that he didn't want it to just be like the rehearsals and the shooting of it. It's like the 5, 6, 7, 8, grind, grind, grind. He wanted it to be organic. He said it happened right before our eyes. He said, we have all of this, like, you put that into the bodies and all these incredible dancers that we had and watching them take it and play with it and evolve it into something that just became dirty dancing. We went into these Boy Scout sheds and turned on music

and for hours I would walk around and play with a couple and mold them. It came out of an incredible workshop and then it just makes me think of more like the center stage or I'm like and he's just walking around everyone just grind and dancing with each other. Who was banging on that set? Am I right? Come on. I really, I mean

the dancers in that scene, I think one of the reasons it's so impactful is that they do feel like characters, like their personality to their, like you just say. Full characters, yeah, not just like, learning some steps. Yeah, a lot of times you watch a dance movie in a scene like that, everyone's kind of doing the same thing, whereas that is

the opposite in, especially that scene where baby carries the watermelon. The woman with the short hair, always think about her. I'll be bad. I'll see her in the scene, too. I carried a watermelon. Also, can we just say real quick, how, like, that is such a thing that I feel like I would have said. I'm just,

being in a place like that, be like, hi. Oh, God. And that progression happens more naturally than I remembered it. Like, it really is smooth how they take her from like kind of just like Squares, McSquerson and into this like dance thing. Touches her hips. Can you imagine being that age and anyone touching your hips like that? I know that you were a dancer dally, so I feel like you were used to being touched more. I was never touched. And it was just the kind of thing like, hey, maybe someone will take my hips and bristling.

there is. All right, please. Maybe come back to that cruise ship. And they did. There was a couple old swingers. Nobody puts Jackie in the car. Yeah, it might a little bit, though. Oh, come on, you've been Blair Witched before we've talked about.

Ortega had this to say about Patrick Swayze. You don't come across a guy that's a cowboy and a ballet dancer very often. This guy was like Gene Kelly, really. He had this edge of masculinity combined with his incredible grace and elegance. He was a brilliant dancer and a wonderful man and a powerful actor. And then about Jennifer Gray, Ortega said, she, quote, didn't have the kind of training Patrick had. She was really an improvisational dancer and quite good at it.

And again, that combo, whom, that's that special little sauce together. And it wasn't for that character because obviously she's a better dancer than that would be in real life. But she didn't look at the same level as any by any stretch of imagination. Right. Yeah. Completely agreed. Even as a layman when it comes to dance, you can see that and feel that. and it's just so, everything's so clear on the screen,

and so much of it is done through movement, it is incredibly impressive. Like, I really love, again, just all the scenes where, man, there's so little talking and so much happening in front of us. And I also feel that a lot of that was created because, in Ortega, I said this earlier, about how it was, like, a tight-knip group, but they were also partying a lot on this set.

So when I think that that was a way to flesh that out was a way, like, that apparently the director would kind of throw a party every night and everybody would like hang out and dance and talk and get to know each other in different ways besides just being on set with each other. And that just creates a sense of taking these what could be 2D characters and turning them into 3D characters no matter how small they are. It also kinds of turns it into summer camp, which is what it was. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Also, also. Because they're all staying on that in the campgrounds. And we also said it was a curse set, but even the ghouls and the ghosts would show up for these

parties. And everyone goes, I like to do it. with you. The mommy would show up and the wolfman would show up and honest that's actually at a young Bobby Pickett would show up. And then Dorota Orney would show up and his eyes would fall out

and his eyes go and move back in. A young, I think his name's Bobby Pickett, the writer of Monster Match. Yeah, oh my God. That is where Monster Match came from with the set of Duran dancing. It's where he got the Nards line from. He was working at a lab.

Late last night, yeah. It's the last night. It's Monster Squad. But, uh, yeah, Since many of the Borsh Belt resorts were shut down by this point, they couldn't find a solid location to shoot in the Catskills, and I think this might have added to my parents' love of this movie that was mainly filmed in the South,

in Lake Lorne, North Carolina, which is where my parents and I am from, and Mountain Lake Hotel near Pembroke, Virginia. Lake Lorr was home to a former Boy Scout camp, but is now a private residential community called Firefly Cove. And a murder probably happens there once a year. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

There they fill. I hope it's a dirty dancing themed cult. Oh, yeah. Dance to you die and dance to your life. Dance to the hate it takes your eyes! Jerry Orbach, girl! Jerry Orbach, he started the cult. He's the leader of the cult.

Oh, that's where he went. That's where he ended up. He still also did give his eyes. Yes. There, they filmed stuff like her practicing on the stairs at Lake Lour. Johnny's cabin, the staff cabins, the famous log scenes, those were Lake Lour.

Mountain Lake is where they did the dining scenes, Kellerman's Hotel, the Houseman Family Cabins, Mountain Lake Lodge, apparently, that is where you should go if you want to enjoy a dirty dancing themed weekend. They host three a year, Mountain Lake Lodge and Mountain Lake, uh,

in what, Pembroke, Virginia. Check that place out, uh, if you want to get into that. I, I could be down. They do dance classes. I'm gonna be done. There's definitely a much of weird old horny people that are swinging in the hotel rooms. Ready for it. Filming took place starting into September of

they had to deal with some hot as fuck temperatures. It was the hottest of times and the coldest of times, apparently. So there were days where there was 105 degrees and it was just a nightmare. And one on one particular shoot day, within 25 minutes, 10 people passed out later because the shooting had to get, I believe, paused for a little bit and then restarted. Either way, it got very, very cold because it was the kind of the end of summer into fall. Once it switched over to fall, that famous swimming scene with the lift apparently was done. It almost got hypothermia. Yeah, freezing cold waters.

I saw an interview with her. She's talking about how it was really hard to look. Like you were having a sexy fun time. Right. Right. Oh, I can't. Nightmare. And then, yeah, they even had to set decorators had to spray paint the leaves green.

That's also why they didn't show any of the close-ups of the actors during that scene because their lips were actually blue. Covered in goose pimples. So, yes. I mentioned before, there was a lot of improvisation in this movie. We talked about it when it came to her dancing. We talked about it when it came to that amazing moment in the montage that I think is one of the most defining moments in the whole movie

where she keeps laughing every time he runs his finger down her arm and against her breast. Yeah, yeah. And then he's laughing. And then he's getting frustrated. And then his knee, he said, because most of the cartilage of my knee was gone, the bones were just grinding painfully on each other during those logs scenes.

I mean, this is so crazy because you look at it and he's not even showing an ounce of it. He's a professional. Another improvised moment, which I was very surprised to see, was that dancing on the floor to Mickey and Sylvia's Love is Strange. Oh, I love that scene. That apparently was actually them, I think that is like, might be the best scene in the movie, but that was them just trying to get into character.

And they didn't even realize the cameras were really. Also really crazy to think that now, like, as you're saying, like, how sexy that scene is, they don't really show a whole lot. And talk about, and it's funny because, Holden earlier thought I was talking about Twilight and the sexiness. And he's like, oh, it's just kind of crazy. I thought.

And I'm like, no, no, not Twilight. Because if you think about it in the comparison, Dirty Dancing does the edging properly. Oh, yeah. Because you don't see all of it, but you're like, I just want to see it. Oh, I had the worst blue balls after this movie. I had to get him drained by a team of doctors. Of course you did. It is just so, it's throbbing in this movie.

Yeah. Blue balls in my heart. Uh, yeah, no, for real. They do the right amount, you're right, they do the right amount of edging, which of course is not present in Twilight. But, yeah, yeah, no. No, it's just, Twilight's just wall-to-wall Cummings.

Yeah, it's all Cummings. Yeah, they just let it happen. Also, one other thing to say about the filming is that Swayze really hated the line. Nobody puts baby in a corner. Hated it. Fought it. It was like, don't maybe do this.

And then was convinced upon the opening night that it was indeed a great choice. And maybe though again, going back to the say anything moment, maybe that begrudgingness helps the performance a little bit. But that is also to say that I was watching this movie, I'm like, this movie is definitely like ham-fisted. The acting is very, it's very like over the top and I am here for it. I love how intense Johnny Castle is, baby, we're never going to have another thing

like this, you know, and Jennifer Gray, I'm never going to leave, you know, if I leave this room, never feel the way I feel about you, you know what I'm not? But you also think about like the anachronistic style of this whole movie already. Like it is a fusion of the early 60s, late 50s with the 80s. Like it's, because it's seen in the soundtrack as well as the performances of like, that was the love that was so glorified in the 50s and the 60s in different ways. You know? Yeah.

Lexi like had a hard time with it, but I loved how the fashion was very 80s, even though it was set in the 60s. Like there was this mishmashing that was happening. It was, I think, confusing to me culturally as a kid. Yes. I didn't know when it was supposed to be. Old times. Yeah.

It was older. Times before me and it all mishmashed together. Then I had to kind of figure out where the actual timelines of all this music and fashion feed out. Now I think it's a lot fun. It kind of reminds me of dazing infused a little bit in that sense. Yeah. Like it didn't distract me ever. I felt in the moment.

Because sometimes like when people try to do modern old. old school, like time pieces, and it doesn't work very well. And in fact, I think it makes a lot more sense because I always was a little weirded out when baby has the whole scene of talking about how, like, I can't let you go because of the feeling. Apparently that was Bergstein's favorite line. The line that means the most to me, she says, and gets the most letters is, most of all, I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my life the way I feel

when I'm with you. And I always thought that was too ham-fisted. But then she says, I think everybody has a moment in their life, in their future, their past, or they're hoped for a future when everything hinged on doing this or that. And they hope to do the brave thing or their life boomerangs back to that moment when they didn't do it. A moment in your life when you think, if I don't do this, I will wonder the rest of my life what would be if I had or if it hasn't come, what will I do when it arrives? And it made that scene that I thought was too much Make so much grounded sense. It's such a teen thing too.

Oh, yeah, she's 18, you know. Going back to Romeo plus Juliet, I mean, that's how we felt. It was, baby, you know, put you in a corner. Like, that's how it fell. Everything felt that at high stakes. But what a horrible night for a curse. Starting out, it starts out curse. We already talked about how the, you know,

they were getting fucked by the production, that they wanted to take a bunch of money, away from them. And then on top of it, then we'll get into the soundtrack. But even from the beginning, that the place where they had originally gotten to put all of the cast and crew fell through a couple of months before shooting started because there were terrorist incidents in Europe that took place in 1986. So all of the U.S. hotels got booked up and they got canceled because they wanted to raise all of the prices of the hotels that they were going to put them in. And so she secured a hotel in Virginia on the condition.

that the cast and crew shot in September, which is why everything that was supposed to be done over the summer was pushed. And that's where that interim time came from it being way too hot into it being way too cold because it wasn't supposed to be done in September. It was supposed to be done earlier in June,

but it all got pushed. So we've got that. We already got into what happened with Baby's mother and we don't know exactly what went on with that. We just know that she went away. That she fainted, she went away. Day five, actress Paul, She collapsed.

She got put away. And that was the beginning of the curse. And then on the sixth day is when everything went bug nutty. On one day, okay? Burglars ransacked the film's rehearsal space. Cool. And then an urgent journey to get replacement material had to be made because a lot of the materials like cameras and shit were stolen.

And on the same day, there had been severe flooding. The roads were blocked. And for added fun, an art department. station wagon destroys a prop department van as well on the same day because it had slammed into it so they lost a bunch of props. They have no money to get more. And also on the same day, the set director fell off of his ladder and injured himself. The second assistant director broke her wrist. The wardrobe assistant broke her toe.

Oh, and three of the crew were hit by food poisoning, including Jennifer Gray. Oh, yeah, I heard that. That is just the sixth day of this shoot. Uh-oh. It all went down. What a horrible fucking night for a curse, which was in Castlevania. Two reference that Marcus had guys tattooed on his body.

And they had to continue and keeping the reigning part of the movie in. Wait, Johnny Castle. Castlevania. It all makes sense. No, it does it. And they kept raining. And they were losing everything. And everything was going to shit.

And then they had to halt production because of all of this flooding and everyone getting hurt. And then the lead makeup artist quits and goes home for personal reasons. And then on the same day, a wasp infestation was discovered and Jennifer Gray's arms were covered in stings. By the time filming was complete, one producer was so dissatisfied with the footage that he suggested they should burn the negatives and collect the insurance. On top of this, Swayze's knees kept giving out. That's not the knees. That's not the knees. Yes.

And then after the makeup lady originally left, the new makeup person that was brought in that lasted just over a week. She broke her wrist and two fingers of her right hand, and she was not left-handed so she couldn't continue putting the makeup onto the people. And that after the shoot, This is what I was referring to before. Now, Natalie remembered this. Remember when Matthew Broderick killed those two women in the car?

Yeah. Who? How could I not? They were, so this is at a time buried when Jennifer Gray was dating Matthew Broderick. And two weeks before the premiere of Dirty Dancing, they went to Ireland as a fun romantic trip. They get into a car accident. Matthew Broderick is driving. He kills an old woman and her daughter.

He went into the wrong lane. It was his fault. It was completely his fault. and Jennifer Gray was also in the car and was so beside herself with what happened that it started the undoing of her on the inside.

It is part of what led her to also getting the fateful nose surgery that was not good that she ended up having lots of complications with and she also didn't look like herself enough anymore and fucked up her entire career

so with the mental anguish as well as the physical anguish that she was going through it fucked it all up. And then there's, Robbie, played by Max Cantor, who died an untimely death at the age of 32, right after this movie, he stopped acting, and he was working as a journalist. Max died of an overdose of Prozac heroin and cocaine after starting to abuse substances while obsessively researching the murder

of dancer Monica Beirle, who had been dismembered by a killer and cannibalist Daniel Rockowitz in 1989. Also, Rockowitz, by the way, had boiled Burrell's head and made soup from his brain. Can we stop with this already? Jesus, God, it's dirty dancing for fuck sick. The set was cursed. I have a quote right here also from Billy Zane. That's right.

I did it. You want the chemistry? I'll give you a chemistry. The chemistry of a witch's cursed. No, don't do it, Billy Zane was not cast in the film, and therefore his replacing was their undoing. Oh, God. And that's how he didn't get the mummy, but everyone thinks he's in the mummy, even though

he's not in the mummy. That makes a lot more set. So the music, let's brighten it back up a little bit with this amazing soundtrack and score. Berkstein used her own personal collection of gramophone records for the dancing when they actually got to choosing the music for the film. Jimmy Yienner, I believe it's an I, not an L.

Yiner was brought on as music supervisor. What I love about that was that he supported the film instead of trying to make it his own thing when it came to the music selections. He loved the stuff that Berk's, He had produced for John Lennon. He'd produced for Three Dog Night. He was a bit of a pro for sure.

And he thought that stuff was great and just set out to fulfill the promise of getting her the licenses for those songs from her childhood. Ianner also did get Swayzey to do, She's Like the Wind. She's like the Wind. Which he had written a few years earlier with Stacey Whitelitz for the film Grandview USA, which he starred in, of course. But it went unused there. So perfect, right?

really does listening to... It works there. I listen on the way to the studio today, and I was like, man, this actually weirdly, completely not made for this, totally works for this so well, especially if you assume they're not actually going to stay together that she's now going to go off after this little... She is like the wind. She is like the wind. And she really fought Berksina to fight tooth and nail to get the songs onto the soundtrack and into the movie that she wanted because the studios really wanted them to only include covers of the original songs by current artists.

He was like, no, I'm trying to create, trying to encapsulate the feeling of I had during those summers. Can you imagine if it was just Caga Jujoo or whatever? Like 80s as fuck covers would not be cool. It would not have worked properly in the same way that they knew that they had to find the exact song

that they needed for the I've had the time of my life song. So apparently Ortega and his assistant Miranda Garrison, they went through this huge box of tapes looking for their finale song. And according to Ortega, it was the last tape in the box. They threw it on and they heard the time of my life.

What's a hilarious addition to this, so Bill Medley is the guy they got to sing the male part for it. He at first refused to do it thinking this was some kind of softcore pornography film. Because again, you have to remember, this was not... Called Dersy dancing. And it was a total sleeper hit.

This was not supposed to be successful. This was supposed to be essentially, a straight to video or deal, a straight to video affair. Yes. That was the word of it. Anything give me soft core pornography

depending on what you're into. I mean, it works better than most softcore pornography in terms of getting my fucking Johnson spewing that white white goo. Yeah, and I had no idea that this was actually written. It was supposed to be written

as if it was the two characters in the future singing to each other. And that makes a lot more sense and listening to it make a lot more sense. Oh, don't worry, they do that literally in the 2017 version.

Oh, fun! But with this song, talk about how, again, how the studios fuck them from the beginning to the end of this. So originally, this movie was supposed to come out in June. So they set it up for, I've had the time of my life,

to be released to go along with it because they knew that it didn't sound like any other song that was big at this time period. And of course, what happened? It flopped because the pictures, the studios pushed back the release of the movie a couple of months without pushing back the release of the song. And so over the summer, no one gave a shit about this song because it didn't sound like anything else because the whole point of this song is that Bergstein said, we tried very hard to make you believe that it was a song you'd never heard before.

But still one from the 60s. The anachronistic combination, nostalgic while looking forward, had a thematic, purpose within the scene. And so it wasn't until the movie dropped, and it started getting momentum that people started listening to the song. But for months, they thought it was all just a horrible car crash, because they're like, well, they were supposed to come out at the same time, and everything got fucked. I will also say the two singers had clips from the film playing as they recorded the

song, and I did love this quote from Medley, because I think it perfectly describes it. We sang to each other and to the movie. when he raised her up in the air, I knew it had to be joyful. And that's why there's a real spirit and joy in the vocals. That's not fake. We were having a good time. He was actually lifting her up during the Monday. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, they were fucking too, dude. They were sucking, bro. Because that's the thing. They weren't in the movie, so they didn't have to have the blue balls. They got to just be naked and having sex while singing the song. Also, I will say the score. It was done by John Morris, who was, like, big in the 60s and 70s, doing stuff like Baker Street on Broadway.

And he did a lot of stuff from Mount Brooks. We may have mentioned him. He definitely did the original arrangement for springtime for Hitler. He also did stuff for Young Frankenstein. That's why I said we might have mentioned him. And yeah, it's great. Everything about the music is great and it has to be great, right? Because you don't have anything without a fantastic soundtrack.

Also, also, stuff like B by Baby, Big Girls Don't cry. All that shit really is what led to. And I remember when this happened with my parents, a big oldies revival in modern music. So like golden oldies and all that kind of stuff. Apparently Dirty Dancing really set that off. Of course, this movie, as you said, fucked over by the producers from every angle.

They saw a rough cut. They're like, this is going to be a flop, see? Nothing good can come out of this movie, see? Apparently their test showed that only 39% of you, or that 39% of the... viewers did not understand that an abortion was going on in the subplot. Only 39%. You're not alone.

The production company Vestron intended to release it in theaters for just a weekend and then home video right after, but instead the movie ends up being, of course, a triumph. Yeah. Does incredible at the box office. It breaks the record for most popular home video rental. That song that he thought was for a softcore porno ends up getting an Oscar. Grammy, Golden Globe. I mean, it really just lights the whole.

world on fire. Of course, I mean, if you had parents at that age, you know, or even if you're listening to this and you were that age, that would be our parents like, man, it was just a part of the lexicon. Like, absolutely. There's no denying. Like my mom always says, Patrick Swayze, he can leave his boots under my bed any day. There you go. All right.

That is, I just always, I never understood that between Patrick Swayze and Harris, unfortunately, always said that he can leave her boots. And then finally, I was like, oh, you won't fuck me. Oh, you're going to fuck for. Oh, you're a fuck for. Walk them. So, yeah, we'll talk a little bit about these sequels and things like that.

To the stage we go, apparently the musical, Dirty Dancing, the Classic story on stage in 2004 is when it started. Apparently, it's pretty good. It did quite well. It did well in Australia. Then it went to the West End in London. Then it went to Canada and the U.S. in 2014. And it's been quite a successful run. I would definitely be interested, more interested in watching that than anything else.

Definitely not Havana Nights. Havana Nights is the weirdest thing ever. I think there's an American Life episode on it, but I can't remember. Oh, man. I don't know if you know about this, but I'll just briefly say it because it's a whole thing. I'm pretty sure there's an American life, a whole episode on it, so just listen to that. This is like a very good example of how shit works in Hollywood. The original screenplay was written by NPR host Peter Seagall.

It was called Cuba Mine. It had no dancing. It was in no way a sequel to Dirty Dancing. And it was about a young American woman who witnessed the Cuban Revolution and had a romance with a young Cuban revolutionary. It was based on a real person. Oh yeah, it's just like Dirty Dancy. Oh, yeah. No, no, no, I get it.

It's so funny. It was based on a real experience of a producer named Joanne Jansen. And later it's bought by Lawrence Bender, who produced on Pulp Fiction and the film studio took the script. It was in production hell forever until way later Lawrence Bender decides, hey, I want to make a sequel to Dirty Dancing. So they take this script that has nothing to do with Dirty Dancing, just completely rewrote all of it, with barely a skeleton of whatever was in there from that original script and turned it into Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights.

Which was absolutely trashed by reviewers, was terrible at the box office. Although it came out in a very particularly horny time in my life, because I remember watching it and just be like, yeah, look like I'm dance on your. I never watched it. Do they do the, does she do the lift with the hips? I'm going to throw it out there.

I don't fucking remember it all. I don't even possibly. I didn't even think about watching it because it is just such an after-buck. I think I was drinking peach schnops. It's like one of those times in my life. All I remembered was that that weird script thing happened. And it's so fascinating. That's exactly, Hollywood is so weird with scripts and screenplays and the what they do with them.

Decimate them. Yeah. It's so bizarre. But anyways, we also have the 2017 remake, Natalie, take it away. You got 30 minutes on the, no, I'm just kidding. We're not going to talk about it. I need more than 30 minutes. Well, just very briefly explain why it's just.

And then I'll close this out with Patrick Swirsney quote. I feel bad for Abigail Breslin because I like her. She's a good person actor. I don't know if she's a good person in real life. She was the little girl in a little Miss Sunshine. She's been in a lot of stuff. She's great. Not a dancer.

No. Also, I don't know who the lead guy is, but also doesn't seem to be a dancer. You felt he looked weird. And yeah. Yeah, I think that it was directed by Tommy Wazzo also. That can't be real. No, but it looks like it. It's very bizarrely shot.

It's awkward. Yeah, but it's one of those things that they do like we were talking about where they're like do the live version. I think it's a lot. No, it's actually not live because they do this weird thing. Natalie. After the end scene, they cut to Abigail Breslin in the audience watching it as a play. She's watching herself as a play. And then she's getting out of the theater and then he shows up.

And he's like, hey. She goes, hi. And then they like hug each other. And it's the least climactic ending. But also it's just like, man, Abigail Breslin is beautiful. And whoever put her in outfits must have hated her because she is just dressed. Yeah, I like barely looked at it because I was like, I can't with this. But yeah, everything looked awkward, including her costuming.

Yeah. You can also watch Deborah. messing awkwardly sing at an old man who's her husband in the movie. I don't know. And like Petty Johnson says, oh, come on, ladies, God wouldn't have given you Maracas if he didn't want you to shake on. You know, I feel like this is just the perfect thing that's just its own thing and nothing else around. Maybe the musical, the actual live musical, that's the one thing. It's supposed to be great. I would maybe consider seeing that, but I think it's a great film that is standalone that should not be tampered with. I do kind of, I will say the 2017 is memorable because

of what happens in front of your eyeballs. I think Jerry Orbach's grateful. Hey, at least you got him. He should be glad he would have him. But at least, you know, it's not boring. I almost want it to be as bad as it is or not at all. Right, exactly. It's better that it's terrible than good.

Yeah, then just in the middle. They just be like, this was fine. All right. Well, I have one quote from the late Great Patrick Swayze to close this out. Do you got anything else, Jack? Oh, you don't want to get into all the lines of people talking about him after he's past because it's very sad. I don't have any cry.

I don't have it in me to cry a quote. No, I will only say he got married to his wife in, I think, like, 1971, and she was a dancer at his mom's company. And they stayed married all the way up into his death. And they have a huge ranch where they lived. And she was a pilot. So she would, she's a badass. And she would fly him to his cancer treatments and stuff. And then as he was dying, they wrote a book together called Time of My Life.

Oh, God. I can't with it. Stop. Natalie, you crying? That's the first time we got Natalie to cry. No, it's not true. I cried, um... No, I cried at him.

I cried at Joe. No. If anybody's got your cry bingo cards out, please put one to you, Natalie right now. All right. This is my final quote from Patrick Swayze, and I do feel emotional about him as well, and I just love the guy so much. Let's see if I can get through it. It's got so much heart to me.

It's not about sensuality. It's really about people trying to find themselves. This young dance instructor feeling like he's nothing. but a product. And this young girl trying to find out who she is in a society of restrictions when she has such an amazing take on things. On a certain level, it's really about the fabulous, funky little

Jewish girl getting the guy because of what she's got in her heart. That's it. That's it. He always is there. He was almost there. He was almost there, but he didn't do it. No, this is sweat. Don't worry about it. Oh, yeah. I forget he's got the old sweaty eyes. But Jerry Orbach doesn't. He doesn't. He doesn't have sweat his eyes because his eyes

were donated. He didn't know I'm proud of him. His eyes were donated, Michael. All right, thank you so on. If anybody out there has his eyes, let us know. That's sick. Okay. This has been pop history.

I do want to say because I've got a little baby girl on the way, and I'm going off on maternity leave. We're going to take a little break from pop history, but we're going to return for one hell of a spooky season. And I'll tell you what, since we've got a little time, why don't you all hit us up and let us know what you would like to hear more about in a scary episode. Yeah.

We're all ears. We haven't decided what those episodes are going to be yet. No, we haven't. Not yet. So hit us up. We are all ears of corn. And all eyes. Well, our eyes I haven't been taken yet, but I am an organ donor.

Thank you guys so much for joining us on this, I mean, horny for me and I hope horny for E episode of Pop History. Thank you, Dirty Dancing for giving me the slip of a lifetime. My name is Jackie Soprowski, and you can follow me on Instagram at Jack Thatorm. You can also come check me out. I'll be screaming into the ether without my work husband around over on Twitch. TV forward slash, oh no, it's Jackie. Check me out while I'm not during the month of August, after August 19th until maybe

late September, if not October. Check me out on Twitch, twitch. Twitch. Twitch.com slash Holdenaders hoe. when I come back, I'll have Monday, Tuesday, Friday streams. I feel like we're sending you off to the war. I know. I feel like I'm putting me in a boat and I'm going to the place at the end of Lord of the Rings. Hope you don't die young.

And what else? I guess I'm gonna die young. Check out the catch episode if you want. There's a good three-part or two-parter. I digress. Holdnators ho. Oh, that was the other thing. Patreon.com forward slash page seven podcast. Check us out.

Want to support us further. Jackie is reading a bunch of twilight. And we do weekly episodes called Talkin TV, and it's a good time. Natalie. The Natalie Jean. And you can listen to me and Amber talk about really sad missing women's cases that are also very interesting, I guess. Is that a weird thing to say? Someplace underneath.

And you can also follow that on Instagram and TikTok. Is that a Molly. All right, everybody. Oh, she's like the wind. She's like the wind. Go get her. Bye, guys. We'll talk to you soon.

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