The Bungalow Folks

Character Analysis

A fun part of family vacations is meeting people you might never get to know otherwise. Baby bumps into a few of them during her stay at Kellerman's. Most important is Johnny's cousin, Billy Kostecki (Neal Jones). Billy introduces Baby to Johnny, setting the whole plot of the movie in motion.

Second is Vivian Pressman (Miranda Garrison), a "bungalow bunny." In other words, she's a cougar who wants to play with Johnny while her husband's away. She's vindictive, and she's responsible for getting Johnny fired after he turns her down.

Without Max Kellerman (Jack Weston) there would be no Kellerman's. Sure, Kellerman's is a little lame – you can only do the "Bunny Hop" and play volleyball with strangers so many times – but there's clearly a nostalgia for these somewhat simpler times. Kellerman knows his days are numbered, and he delivers this moving nostalgic speech about everything Kellerman's has seen over the decades:

KELLERMAN: Bubba and Zeyda serving the first pasteurized milk to the boarders, through the war years when we didn't have any meat, through the Depression when we didn't have anything. […] It's not the changes so much this time, Tito. It's that it all seems to be ending. You think kids want to come with their parents and take foxtrot lessons? Trips to Europe, that's what the kids want. Twenty-two countries in three days. It feels like it's all slipping away. 

Considering the inspiration for Kellerman's was abandoned shortly before filming Dirty Dancing began (see our Trivia for more on this decadent little tidbit), Kellerman was right on with his assessment.

Finally, we have the Schumachers (Paula Trueman and Alvin Myerovich). This charming old couple likes dancing, petty theft, and is wanted in three states. Johnny getting fired is upsetting, but the drama is tempered by the humorous revelation that the actual wallet thieves are this seemingly harmless pair of old raisins.