Jake Houseman

Dr. Jake Houseman is father to Baby and Lisa Houseman and husband to Marjorie Houseman.

Jake is very affluent in his profession as a doctor, but as such his upper class status dictates to him to look condescendingly upon the lower classes, particularly the working class..

At Kellerman's resort, where Jake and his family are vacationing, Baby finds out that Johnny Castle's dance partner Penny Johnson is pregnant by Robbie Gould, a philandering med school student working as a waiter at the resort, and Baby borrows money from her dad Jake which she secretly uses to pay for an abortion for Penny (which in 1963 was illegal). When the abortion is botched Penny later develops life-threatening complications, and Baby calls Jake to stabilize her. When Jake asks who's responsible for Penny, Johnny speaks up, which Jake takes to mean that it was Johnny who got her pregnant. After treating Penny, Johnny offers his hand in gratitude but Jake refuses it. As he walks Baby back to their bungalow he deduces that she borrowed the money to pay for Penny's abortion; he refuses to listen to her explanation and orders Baby to stay away from Johnny and the others, but she secretly continues to see him.

Later, when Vivian Pressman accuses Johnny of stealing her husband's wallet (this in retaliation for Johnny refusing Vivian's indecent proposal), Max Kellerman is ready to fire Johnny as he has no alibi, but when Baby suggests that the Schumachers, an elderly couple whom Baby saw with several wallets, could have done it, Jake immediately presumes their innocence. Having no other choice, Baby vindicates Johnny when she tells Kellerman that she was with Johnny when the theft occurred.

Johnny later tells Baby that the Schumachers were indeed guilty, but then reveals that he was still fired for his dalliance with Baby. Jake is disappointed in his daughter and gives her the silent treatment, and Baby later apologizes for letting him down, but not for her romance with Johnny. Seemingly, she then hits a nerve when she accuses Jake of being prejudiced against working class people.

At the end-of-the-season talent show, Jake gives Robbie a check to pay for his med school, but when Robbie reveals that he, not Johnny, was the one who got Penny pregnant, and then insults her and Baby, Jake angrily snatches back the money and walks away. After watching Baby and Johnny perform an impromptu final dance at the show, Jake tells Johnny that he now knows that he was not the one who got Penny in trouble and admits his mistake saying, "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong", and then reconciles with Baby telling her "You looked wonderful out there."