A Derry Teddy Boy from the late 1950s inspired the central character in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever. Nik Cohn, who grew up in Derry, created the story that led to John Travolta's portrayal of Tony Manero.

Cohn wrote the 1976 article 'Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night' for New York magazine. He described Vincent, a top dancer at the 2001 Odyssey club in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge. The character owned multiple floral shirts, suits, pairs of shoes, and overcoats. Vincent had appeared on American Bandstand.

Cohn later stated he invented Vincent after visiting the club, where a fight occurred and someone vomited on his leg. He saw a figure in flared crimson trousers and a black body shirt but knew little about the scene. Cohn combined memories of a Bogside Teddy Boy from Derry with a London Mod to form the character.

Cohn was born in London in 1946. His father, Professor Norman Cohn, taught history and French at Magee College in Derry. In 1957, at age 11, Cohn walked streets near the Strand Road and docks on the Bogside border.

He observed teenagers, identified as Teddy Boys, dancing outside the Roseland Cafe. They wore fluorescent socks, pink drapes, drainpipes, and blue suede shoes. One dancer handled a two-foot greenish snake with a black hooded skull, twirling it in rhythm to rock 'n' roll from the jukebox.