Miss Molly in middle age

I was kind of ashamed of myself.

When I saw Molly Ringwald in 16 Candles a number of years ago all I could think was how much I’d like to kiss her on those luscious 16-year-old lips.

I was considerably older than 16 at the time.

I only make mention of Molly because last night I was watching her in an obscure Mazurski film called Tempest, which marked her screen debut at the age of 13. Even at 13 the mouth and flaming red hair gave her away.

Getting curious, I checked her out on the Internet and realized that Miss Molly turns 40 this year.

That was about the age I was when I thought it would be nice to kiss her yummy mouth.

Anyway, this isn’t a saga about middle-aged lechery; I’m really quite well-behaved. It is more to consider why Molly didn’t go as far as an actress as she showed the potential for when she was a kid.

She gained her initial fame in such delightful (and genuinely funny for the most part) John Hughes teen-oriented flicks as the aforementioned 16 Candles, the Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. And, you know, that was about it, which is amazing considering the almost preternatural talent she showed.

I liked her because she was a departure from the average adolescent female featured in movies. She wasn’t a bimbo, and she wasn’t an ugly ducking, either. Her strength came from the fact she played just ordinary girls, with all the angst, despair and also cuteness of ordinary girls of that age. Often, of course, it came to pass that young males recognized there was much more to this girl than the preconceived bombshells. She was genuinely attractive because she was so real. That should happen more often in real life. The divorce rate in young marriages would plummet if young bucks recognized 'potential' and character, rather than banal glitz.

That was why Anthony Michael Hall’s crush on her in 16 Candles had some veracity to it. He too was just an ‘ordinary’ kid with delusions of coolness, despite his geek friends (one of whom is an impossibly young and mega-geeky John Cusack). Therefore, who better to want to steal Molly’s panties?

Anyway, following her Hughes period, Molly’s career has been largely desultory. She has made films, but virtually none are notable. However, she is, as is the case with so many, invariably better than her material. I'm waiting for her comeback.

So, this is just my little nod to Molly. My teenage crushee long after I was young enough to be having teenage crushes.

But, there was that mouth, you see.