THE FANS' LOVE STORY: How The Movie 'DIRTY DANCING' Captured The Hearts Of Millions! (6 page)

It was obvious from the start that filming in the Catskills was not going to be possible due to budgetary constraints as the filmmakers had to make the movie for under five million dollars. The producers had already found Lake Lure Inn in North Carolina. Then in June 1986, the
Dirty Dancing
producers saw Mountain Lake Hotel in Pembroke, Virginia in an advertisement in Piedmont Airlines in-flight magazine, and went there and decided to make it the film’s Kellerman’s Resort. The movie was filmed at Mountain Lake from September 5 to September 20, 1986. Most of the exterior scenes were shot there as well as some interior scenes, including the outside of the main lodge, the kitchen, the dining room, the gazebo, the beach, the Houseman cottage (Virginia Cottage), and the lift scene in the lake (shot in about 30 degree weather). Most of the cast stayed at Mountain Lake—at least some of the time. Mr. Swayze stayed in Room 232 and Ms. Grey in Room 513. (See list of guests and room assignments.)

Regarding the history of Mountain Lake, it started out as a resort in around 1857. The stone lodge was built in 1936. The beautiful Mountain Lake 2,600 acreage (of which 2,455 acres are forests) is 4,000 feet above sea level in the Appalachian Mountains in Giles County, Virginia. Per the Mountain Lake Hotel website: “The Mountain Lake Conservancy is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 to help manage and protect the 2,600 acres of Mountain Lake Property and to provide environmental and cultural education to the public . . . Our mission is to further Mary Moody Northern’s desire to forge bonds between people and nature in Mountain Lake’s unique environment.”
¹²
The natural lake on the property is amazing because of how high up on the mountain it is and also it is one of only two fresh water lakes in the state. The water level is cyclical—high and low depending on how much rain and snowfall occur. In April 2009, the lake was rising again, and by July 2009, it was up to 43’ below full pond. With the snowfall from Winter 2010, the lake is said to be slowly rising again.

I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Mr. H. M. “Buzz” Scanland Jr., General Manager, and Mr. Mike Porterfield, Executive Chef, regarding the filming of
Dirty Dancing
at Mountain Lake.

January 16 & 17, 2009.

In-person interviews at Mountain Lake Hotel, Pembroke, Virginia.

Introduction: E-mail to me from Buzz, December 4, 2008.

If you have not been here, you should come. Also, have you seen the stage play? I thought it was great. I saw it in Toronto. It is now playing in Chicago and will open next year in Boston. You would not believe how many people come here just because of
Dirty Dancing
. The weekend before Thanksgiving, we had a
Dirty Dancing
Weekend and one couple came from England and another couple from Toronto. We get guests for
Dirty Dancing
from all over the world.

The first part of the interview on January 16th was done while Buzz was driving me to my first visit to Mountain Lake.

What was your position with Mountain Lake when
Dirty Dancing
was filmed?

I had just come to Mountain Lake. I was doing marketing. My first few weeks on the job were when
Dirty Dancing
was filmed.

Who in the cast did you have contact with?

I had minimal contact with Jerry Orbach and Jack Weston—like “hi”—that was it.

I met Jennifer Grey once and hadn’t even known who she was. Supposedly, Jennifer’s father, Joel Grey, sent Jennifer flowers every day. I didn’t have any contact with Buddy.

You know, Patrick wanted to be called Buddy.

When
Dirty Dancing
was being made, did you think it would be a big hit?

No. Nobody did.

While filming, were there guests in the hotel?

Yes, and we had to be careful regarding the noise.

Where did the movie people eat?

They ate where the guests did.

They would bus the extras over and give them lunch and $50.00 for all day.

The first choice for extras was for Jewish people from Blacksburg.

They would pay $100.00 a day for a vintage car to be in the movie.

There was a ’57 Chevy owned by Jan Gilley that was used in the movie. Buddy drove this car.

I’m getting excited!
(We were rapidly approaching Mountain Lake.)

Everybody that you talk to has heard of
Dirty Dancing
.

Of course.

Especially if you’re a young female . . . and we get a lot of telephone calls. They will ask us, “Is this where
Dirty Dancing
was filmed?” and we say, “Yeah” . . . and they’ll say, “This is where I want to come because I’m bringing my wife because she’s into that movie so much.”

Are you trying to tell me that the women like it more than the men?

Oh yeah . . .

It’s like when I saw it in Toronto—the stage play. The tickets were sent to me . . . the seats were down front about five or six rows. My two grandsons liked it . . . This lady was there with her husband . . . She said, “Well, my husband didn’t think it was such a great play.”

It’s a female movie . . . no doubt about it . . . but you get so many guys because their wives are into it, they are into it . . .

I interviewed one young man whose mom was really into it. She constantly played it in their house. He likes it, but I don’t think he likes it as much as his mom. (I interviewed his mom also.)

You know something, Mallory Longworth . . . she would never have come here if it wouldn’t have been for a teenage girl who was here with her parents, and she saw we were having a
Dirty Dancing
weekend. Then she saw an article (in
Newsweek
) about Mallory. She got on the phone . . . evidently there are two Mallory Longworths in the Detroit area and on the second phone call, she got a hold of Mallory . . . and that’s the reason Mallory came down here. (See interview of Mallory Longworth.)

That is amazing!

That little girl is from Virginia. I couldn’t tell you what her name is . . .

I would love to find out who she is—you know because she was probably fifteen to eighteen then, and now she is thirty-five to thirty-eight—a little bit older. I would love to know what her reaction is towards
Dirty Dancing
. So you might ask Mallory . . . Mallory came twice for the
Dirty Dancing
weekends. (
Note: Buzz came up with the idea to have
Dirty Dancing
weekends.
)

We are getting closer . . .

We are on the backside now . . .

Snow . . .

We had somebody come here and stay a week last fall . . . and I think they were from Italy . . . and they just came up here because of the movie . . . Well, it’s nine degrees right now . . . When I came up this morning, it was eight below . . .

Well, it sure is pretty . . . it is beautiful . . . can’t imagine—you know the summertime . . .

Oh, my goodness . . . oh, my goodness . . .

It’s kind of funny, Miranda Garrison, when she came up here to do the movie, she stayed in one of these cottages . . . and that is where all of the dancers stayed when they came to make the television series (the UK show
Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life
). Miranda Garrison stayed in 315 . . .

When they did the television series, we used this house out here . . . The winners of the dance-off, they would come out here and have a special dinner with champagne and so forth . . .

Well, it’s gone back to six degrees . . .

Wow, a regular heat wave . . . very pretty . . .

They came in here and showed the hotel . . .

Oh my gosh.

From this angle—like they were coming to the hotel . . . and before we widened the road . . . they really came in the opposite way . . . it used to be one way around the hotel . . . you went in on the back side and came out on the front side, but now we widened this road since the movie. Also, these ballers and chains—they put those in to start with, and we have maintained them.

Awesome.

Of course, they parked here—right in front of the hotel.

Yes. “I don’t think I brought enough shoes.”

That’s the cottage right over there, and of course, we changed it around. It’s got a stone wall in front of it and the porch used to come off the front of it, and that’s the one the Housemans stayed in. It’s called Virginia Cottage. She (Baby) came out in front of it and came across the lawn . . . and came up to the hotel.

We went inside to the lobby . . . Oh, look at the poster!

I have one upstairs too . . . Somebody gave me that one . . . You can’t find Patrick Swayze cut-outs anymore . . .

Buzz shows me this huge book that has
Dirty Dancing
information, and says:

And these are contracts to the movie, and these are some drawings for the sets, the beach . . .

What are those?

These are the rooms. This is the system. In other words, Jane Brucker . . . She was in Room 103 . . . Jerry Orbach was in 117, Jack Weston was in 119, Lonnie Price was in 201 . . . I’ve got the original where they signed in . . .

Oh my gosh.

Kenny Ortega, Miranda Garrison, Jennifer Gilbert . . . every name is twice because the way you do it, the company pays for the room and the incidentals are paid for by the person . . .

Here’s some more information on where they were staying . . . Here’s your script . . .

Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe it.

Here are some pictures that we have . . . like Jennifer Grey talking to someone . . .

Oh, my goodness. Who took the pictures?

We probably took them ourselves . . . See we had a bridge almost similar to the one in North Carolina, and the funny part is we tore it out in between the time they made the movie and when the movie came out. There they are down by the beach . . .

Everybody has sweaters on.

Why do you think the movie is so popular?

It’s a feel-good movie. You know, it comes out good in the end. I think it’s going to be a classic. Maybe in another ten to fifteen years there will be a re-make.

Buzz told me that he took the contestants from the UK dance reality show to the river (twenty minute drive) in a bus for the lifts and got to know them well—got close to them. He said that was the same location that Dawn Porter used for her lifts. (Dawn Porter did the UK Documentary: Seriously Dirty Dancing in 2007).

Then when they came in the second time (2008), I was really close to the people who were in charge . . . the producers, the lady that was overseeing everything . . . you know—the day to day dealing with them.

Of course, Miranda (who was a judge) I talked to, Sean (Cheesman, who was a judge) I talked to the third judge, Kelly Brook—she is the girlfriend of Billy Zane—who played in
Titantic
. She played in
Smallville.
She’s English. But I never really had any long conversations with her.

How long did they stay?

About a month . . . each time.

Miranda—she was a super nice person when she was here. She talked to the other guests. As a matter of fact, she enjoyed her time here. She was into the movie since she was part of it and you do know the story behind it, you saw part of it in Dawn’s show. It was my understanding, the lady (Lynn Lipton) who was going to play the mother got sick and she wanted to see her personal doctor in New York . . . so she took off and flew back to New York. So Kelly Bishop, Vivian, the “Bungalow Bunny”—she dropped out of that part and took the mother’s part (Marjorie Houseman). I guess maybe somebody told her she would be better off if she took the mother’s part—it was a better part than playing the “Bungalow Bunny” . . . Miranda was just here as a choreographer and helping with the dancing. She of course had acting experience. Miranda stepped into that role of Vivian . . . which is almost like an accident. I thought the best part in the movie was Vivian. I guess because of age and everything . . . it kind of appealed to me . . . and I just thought that Miranda did a fantastic job.
(NOTE
:
There is a scene in the beginning of the movie that
Lynn Lipton is in briefly, which was shot the first day. She is riding in the car with the rest of the Housemans as they approach Kellerman’s, and you just see the top of her head
.)