Growing in to Grown Up

A Couple of Stories Involving Patrick Swayze | September 17, 2009

Patrick Swayze was a big part of my childhood. I can’t tell you how many times I watched Dirty Dancing between 1993 and 1997. I’d guess it to be pretty close to a thousand. My sister and I would put on the flowey dresses in the dress up box and spin in circles pretending to be Baby. After all, Jennifer Grey was my role model in the fifth grade.

Dirty Dancing still played a pretty significant role in high school and college. I mean, I wasn’t (usually) watching it on repeat or pretending to be Frances “Baby” Houseman anymore, but it was still considered a favorite. And I will admit to the one time I went to Orange City, Iowa with Amanda and we watched it in English, Spanish and French all in a row. We mostly just wanted to learn how to say “I carried a watermelon” in a variety of languages.

It’s not just about Dirty Dancing either. I loved, I mean LOVED, him in To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar. I really wish I was kidding. It’s just so hilarious and heart-warming at the same time. And let me tell you about watching two hours of Patrick Swayze in drag. I got the dvd for my birthday a few years back. You can borrow it sometime if you ask nicely.

And let’s not forget the noteworthy performances in Ghost, Roadhouse, and the Chippendale’s sketch from SNL. Patrick will definitely be missed. But that’s not what I want to talk about today. What I really want to tell you all about is a story about one of his very small unnamed roles that most of you won’t even remember. I want to talk about Dirty Dancing II: Havana Nights.

Let me take you back to Friday, February 27, 2004. It was my sophomore year in college and my friend Jenn and I were SO excited for the premiere! We had high, high, HIGH hopes that this would be THE BEST MOVIE EVER. I had class late on Friday and wouldn’t be finished till around 4:00. Jenn, however, had a better schedule and her weekend would begin around noon. The night before we hatched a plan, we wanted to make sure we got tickets before it sold out and wanted to be sure we got good seats. Jenn would go to the theater right after class and buy tickets for the show. She’d go back to the sorority house for a few hours, pick me up at 4 from class, we’d grab a very early dinner and head to the theater around 5 or 5:30 to get in line for the 7:15 show. We NEEDED TO GET GOOD SEATS!

We pulled up to the theater around 5:30 and I kid you not, the line was already wrapped around the building.  She and I looked at each other in horror. Our discussion went a little something like this: What if we we’re in the very front row? What if we can’t sit together? I knew I should have skipped class! We should have gotten here at 3:00! What a nightmare!

We waited, and waited, and waited in line and they finally opened up the theater. The line starts moving and as we approach the theater doors, we notice that this line isn’t for Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, but for The Passion of the Christ, which opened up two days earlier on Ash Wednesday. We quickly got out of line and walked two theaters over to where our movie was playing. And y’all? We were 2 of the 4 people in the  theater. Good thing we got there so early.