Who's She? She's Me!

Tonight one of us sisters got to meet Molly Ringwald.  Molly Ringwald!  Molly Ringwald who brought to life Samantha Baker.  Samantha Baker!  Samantha Baker who got to kiss Jake Ryan.  Samantha Baker who got the guy.  For girls everywhere (and especially us redheaded ones) Samantha Baker helped us to feel understood.  Sixteen Candles will forever be burned in our hearts as our favorite movie and we realize that the movie would be nothing without Molly Ringwald's portrayal of Samantha Baker.  That character is all the angst and frustration and longing that being a teenage girl can be and Molly nailed it.  If you haven't heard, Molly has moved on and conquered many things including motherhood, writing (a couple of great books) and is now touring with her jazz band and is an amazing singer.  Which is where my sister met her tonight after hearing her band play at the Texas State Fair.  One degree closer to Michael Schoeffling.

Oh yeah, remember Michael Schoeffling?  Well we haven't forgotten about him either.  Yes it certainly has been awhile since we have written for this blog but in the meantime we have tracked him down.  Keep your panties on everyone.  We have not met him and we do not own any of his furniture....yet.  But we can now put to rest the myth that he is living quietly with his family in a small town in Pennsylvania.  He is.

We realize he is just a guy (who happened to embody a major female fantasy aka Jake Ryan) who deserves his privacy.  But what about the furniture???  Truly that is what our quest is about.  We still can't find evidence of his furniture making business or skills for that matter.  We really would love to own a piece of something that his hands have crafted and carved.

Tonight when my sister met Molly Ringwald she asked her if she owns any of Michael Schoeffling's furniture.
Molly gave her a quizzical look and then proclaimed "No! Do You??!!"

Who in the heck is Michael Schoeffling???

It appears we may have a little explaining to do here. Some of you may be asking the same question our Dear Old Dad asked when we told him about our project, "Impressive, but who in the heck is Michael Schoeffling???" The immediate response to this question was quite obvious to us. "He's a boy daddy...Jake is a senior and he's beautiful and perfect. I like him a real lot and he doesn't like me, OK...and he's got this incredible girlfriend. I'm just this ridiculous dork following him around like a puppy." This is the response given by Samatha Baker, the heroine in our favorite movie, Sixteen Candles released in 1984. She is hopelessly infatuated with Jake Ryan and just like that you have the main theme of the movie.
Jake Ryan is played by the actor Michael Schoeffling. An actor who really wasn't well known for any of his other roles of which there were few. An actor who conveniently and cleverly disappeared from any glint of limelight in the early 1990's. Clever because his one big role, Jake Ryan, is such an enduring icon that his legacy is still alive and well. You will even find the Urban Dictionary has defined "Jake Ryan" as "A term used by women to describe the 'perfect boyfriend'."
The Jake Ryan fantasy has stood the test of time because at its core it is an age old archetype that us modern women are still willing to fall for! And by disappearing Michael Schoeffling has perpetuated the power of the Jake Ryan myth. It almost makes us wonder, do we really want to find him?