It does so too! Because “Cuban Pete” is … wait for it … a rhumba! Rhumba or rumba is a group of Afro-Cuban percussive patterns and the songs and dances based on them. The word rhumba comes from the Cuban Spanish word for party, and hearing one playing makes you want to dance, so that makes sense.

The only scene in The Mask that I thought was genuinely funny (had me rolling on the floor, helpless with laughter) was the Cuban Pete scene. I was going to embed the video, but embedding was disabled, so here’s the link to the Cuban Pete scene from The Mask.

I was, however, able to get the embed code for a clip from an old I Love Lucy episode, so here are Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo doing the rhumba.

WRITING PROMPT: Write a character who doesn’t like to dance suddenly hear a song or rhythm that makes him or her want to dance! Right here! Right now!

MA
p.s. Since this is the 21st, I’m posting at The Write Type, today on the subject of Rewrites.