What do you think happened to Baby after she left Kellermans?

[PrincessBiscuit]

Watching Dirty Dancing for the 1000th time, but probably the first time since I've had the DC and it's got me thinking.... what do you think happened after they went home?

Do you think she gave up her place at college to be with Jonny? She was happy and passionate about her future before she met him and it would be such a shame if she ditched it for a boy... even if he is Patrick Swayze!

How pissed off would you be as a parent if your kid did that?!

And yes, I am that bored that I'm spending my time thinking about this!

Well the parff egg nuts were right pushovers in the end.

Jonny wasn't a particularly likeable character.

I don't think they saw each other again.

Baby went to college to study law, but her idealism fades as she gets older and she finds it hard to compete against WASP men, so she ends up doing wealth management and estate planning, and then working part-time to support her husband's career after they have kids.

Johnny loses his job at Kellermans, and spends the next few years as a waiter/bartender with occasional dancing jobs and sex work on the side, but never manages a succesful dance career. He dreams of running his own bar/ dance club, but ends up becoming a mechanic. He has a string of short-term relationships, develops a drug habit and dies young, possibly of AIDS.

What a great question.
I love this film but always assumed the ending was it. Baby went to college. Johnny carried on doing his dancing thing.... in between.
Maybe they found each other again, 20 years on. 1st love reunited 💓

@AlexisCarringtonColbyDexter excellent summary!

We should get some teenagers on to watch it and answer the Q. They might say something a bit different.

Suddenly reminds me of ‘I Catute the Castle’ - another coming of age story, told by someone sort of telling it as if they were there, but really with an adult voice looking back and interpreting it.

Capture - another bad typo from me.

I’m surprised Baby wasn’t a writer, putting it all down in a diary - that’s how these reminiscing on coming of age things usually work.

I think she's still sitting in the corner (with a watermelon 🍉)

They went their separate ways but had great memories.

Johnny helped Francis to grow and mature, but that’s it; she outgrew him as soon as she left for college in the fall and they separated amicably.

He never got over her, forming a drink habit and spent the rest of his days sleeping with whoever would have him.

She looks back on their relationship from time to time and, whilst staring wistfully out of the car window, smiles fondly.

They split up, and she ends up in New York, where she has an affair with her best friend Rachel's fiancée called Barry.
She ends up marrying Barry, but not before Rachel has an affair with him first...

I recently watched a documentary about the making of Dirty Dancing. Jennifer Grey and Patric Swayze couldn't stand each other. And you know the lake they practiced the lift in? Completely dried up now :(

She became an environmental lawyer and married a doctor. They have a daughter. And a dog. And they live in an NY suburb in a lovely big house with a white picket fence.

Penny also moves to NY and meets a Broadway producer who she later marries. She also appears in Broadway shows thanks to her husband's influence but she proves critical wrong and is very well regarded in her field.

I don't think Johnny amounts to much tbh.

I don't want to ruin this thread but I found it interesting so wanted to share it in case you didn't know - but they hated each other and apparently she was terrible on set which is why she hasn't been in much apart from friends and the tickle scene where he is getting annoyed when she is laughing was actually genuine but they decided to keep it in any way.

I used to wonder this. It was like yeah, that’s great that they snogged on stage and Johnny was accepted by her dad at the end but seriously - how on earth was it ever going to work when baby was from an affluent NY family and she was off to Harvard of wherever and Johnny was erm...a dancer. And a bit dim to boot, let’s face it. It was never gonna last!

Did anyone ever watch that programme with Dawn Porter where she went and stayed at the real Kellermans? It looked ace.

I heard baby left and got a nose job.

Maybe Jonny ends up with Robbie. If the underground ballroom scene was a forerunner for the one in the 80s in Pose the dancers were probably all gay or bi anyway.

Johnny came out a few months after the end.

Best. Thread. Ever.

I know a lot of people have commented that the actors hated each other, but so did Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams during filming of The Notebook (and then ended up dating in real life!?) And I never watched Castle, but isn't that why it ended - because the big romantic leads hated each other.

Aside from that, I agree with everyone who said Baby went off to have a great life, whilst poor Johnny died sad and alone. Although I personally think Lisa is still alive and kicking - her chain smoking protected her from a certain pandemic in 2020...

I didn’t really see it as a love story. Did anyone? It was more of a forbidden fruit/excitement of young lust /romance kinda thing, surely?

I've never thought about their lives after that summer. What a great question.

There is a great 'making of' on Netflix. The Movies that Made Us. Fascinating

Well this is the most successful thread I've ever had! Whoo hoo for lockdown boredom!

I enjoyed the Katy Brand book "I carried a watermelon". A good 'lockdown' read.

Did none of you see the crap remake that was on a couple of yours ago with Abigail Breslin? They didn't end up together.

Jennifer Grey admitted that the nose job she had to further her big career was the thing that killed it. People wanted baby from dirty dancing. Nose job made her look too different.

They went travelling together. Then baby went off to college and that was that. Both older and wiser for their experience.

It was just a breathless, heady first romance for Baby, with some great sex thrown in, but she was far too level headed and intelligent to ever think Johnny was her soul mate. Don't think it ever even occurred to Johnny that she might stay with him, he knew she was way out of his league.

Baby headed off to college just with fond memories of Johnny. Johnny, with his new found self confidence starts his own dance school and ends up marrying Penny.