Ira Glass

Our public radio colleague, the host of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Mr. Peter Sagal, used to be a playwright. And to give you a sense of the kind of work that he did as a playwright, his most successful play, he says, was about a Holocaust denier and the Jewish attorney who represented that Holocaust denier in court.

Our public radio colleague, the host of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Mr. Peter Sagal, used to be a playwright. And to give you a sense of the kind of work that he did as a playwright, his most successful play, he says, was about a Holocaust denier and the Jewish attorney who represented that Holocaust denier in court.

Back in the 90s when all this happened, Bender read Peter's play and liked it and called him up and asked Peter if he wanted to write a movie. And Peter basically had been waiting for this phone call from Hollywood forever.

Back in the 90s when all this happened, Bender read Peter's play and liked it and called him up and asked Peter if he wanted to write a movie. And Peter basically had been waiting for this phone call from Hollywood forever.

So after tossing around some different ideas for this film, Lawrence Bender introduces Peter to this woman who he works with, who at 15 had been an American in Cuba when the Cuban Revolution happened. Maybe there's a film in that. So Peter starts writing this film that's half romance, growing up film, half politics, about an American teenage girl in Cuba in the 50s.

So after tossing around some different ideas for this film, Lawrence Bender introduces Peter to this woman who he works with, who at 15 had been an American in Cuba when the Cuban Revolution happened. Maybe there's a film in that. So Peter starts writing this film that's half romance, growing up film, half politics, about an American teenage girl in Cuba in the 50s.

And eventually this film did get made. It did. It did. It finally got made a bit later, and I'm just going to play a clip here from it.

And eventually this film did get made. It did. It did. It finally got made a bit later, and I'm just going to play a clip here from it.

So that's a clip from the film. You want to just let people know the title of the film?

So that's a clip from the film. You want to just let people know the title of the film?

I have to say, I watched the movie last night. I watched Dirty Dancing 2.

I have to say, I watched the movie last night. I watched Dirty Dancing 2.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So how does a film go from political coming-of-age drama to Dirty Dancing to Havana Nights? Well, of course, it's an old Hollywood story. Peter writes his film. He turns it in. They ask him to make it more like, maybe could it be more like Dirty Dancing?

So how does a film go from political coming-of-age drama to Dirty Dancing to Havana Nights? Well, of course, it's an old Hollywood story. Peter writes his film. He turns it in. They ask him to make it more like, maybe could it be more like Dirty Dancing?

He says each draft got worse and worse. Even he didn't like it. Finally, it was shelved. Years later, the producer who actually owned the rights to the film Dirty Dancing teamed up with Lawrence Bender to make a sequel, and somebody thought of Peter's old script.

He says each draft got worse and worse. Even he didn't like it. Finally, it was shelved. Years later, the producer who actually owned the rights to the film Dirty Dancing teamed up with Lawrence Bender to make a sequel, and somebody thought of Peter's old script.

All the politics of the film got reduced to this one moment where, really unconnected to anything else in the film, somebody attempts to shoot some unidentified political figure at the climax of the dance contest. And then later, in a moment of obligatory foreshadowing, our couple talks about whether Castro would ever kick out Americans from Cuba.

All the politics of the film got reduced to this one moment where, really unconnected to anything else in the film, somebody attempts to shoot some unidentified political figure at the climax of the dance contest. And then later, in a moment of obligatory foreshadowing, our couple talks about whether Castro would ever kick out Americans from Cuba.