The author of Dirty Dancing, Eleanor Bergstein, lived in Princeton in 1986 when she wrote the movie (she was married to English professor and poet Michael Goldman). U.S. 1 Newspaper did a cover story on her. I remember her telling me what a tight time budget she had (less 2 months), how she wished she could have reshot some scenes, and that she based it on her adolescence doing what they called ‘dirty dancing’ (actually the mambo) at basement parties.
This article tells how they kept the cameras running during rehearsal breaks in case there was usable film, how she prepared to write the movie by emceeing dance parties in her Princeton home, how she was pressured to take out the abortion scene, which was central to the plot.
Another Princeton connection was one of the dancers, Jennifer Stahl
What brought it up now? An Urban Joker post on 35 things you probably didn’t know about the movie. And I fell in love with this movie all over again.
Princeton Comment 