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The Gidget Saga

posted 14 years ago by rudeboy8080
4 replies | jump to latest

When I was five years of age in the 1980's, I watched syndicated reruns of Gidget(1966-1967)on TV. I hope to read Frederick Kohner's 1957 book Gidget: The Little Girl With Big Ideas one day. Gidget is a portmanteau for "girl" and "midget". Here's my commentary on the Gidget adventures that I've seen:

Gidget(1959): I am not a big Sandra Dee fan, but she did give a sincere performance as Frances Lawrence/Gidget. A young Tom Laughlin(Billy Jack) co-stars in the film as well as a young Yvonne Craig(Batgirl). Joby Baker plays Stinky in Gidget(1959) and Judge Hamilton in Gidget Goes Hawaiian(1961) and Gidget Goes to Rome(1963). Most of the women in the film are curvy and well-endowed and they make Sandra Dee look girly and lean. I guess that helped the movie. The scene where The Big Kahuna tries to seduce Gidget was...a little creepy! Gidget(1959) is a solid film!

Gidget Goes Hawaiian(1961): Sandra Dee was busy acting in three movies in 1961 and the producers cast cute red-head Deborah Walley to play Gidget. GGH is a fun movie and it feels like a day at a theme park or finding $200 in your coat pocket! The film also shows how people can ruin eachother by spreading lies and misinformation! The "fallen woman" scenes are funny! Vicky Trickett plays Gidget's friend-foe Abby in the film. Trickett played a Latina in Pepe(1960). With dark hair, she could pass for one. Michael Callen plays dancer Eddie Horner in the film. Callen could've been the next Gene Kelly if the Great Hollywood Musical hadn't gone downhill. Callen was a good guy in The Magnificent Seven Ride(1972). The late Deborah Walley was a good Gidget, but she ended up getting typecast in teeny-bopper movies! She wanted to be a Broadway actress.

Gidget Goes to Rome(1963): Cindy Carol was miscast as Gidget. She tries to give a sincere performance, but she wasn't right for the role! Still, Gidget Goes to Rome is fun and breezy. John Williams(Black Sunday, Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark) wrote a solid music score for the film. Jessie Royce Landis does a good acting job and Cesare Danova was quite good in the film. They did dumb down the movie by looping English over Italian signs and some scenes have pacing problems! Don Porter plays Gidget's father Russ in the film and on the Gidget TV show.

Gidget TV Show(1966-1967): I love this show. This show sparked my interest in Gidget. Sally Field took the Gidget character and made it her own. Larue is one of the nicest and down-to-earth sidekicks ever. My DVD copy of this show has to be protected like a mother hen!

Gidget Grows Up(1969 TV movie): Karen Valentine(Room 222) is sexy and she gives a sincere performance as Gidget. The TV movie was based on Frederick Kohner's book Gidget Goes to New York. However, I felt so sad and gloomy while watching this! It felt more like Valley of the Dolls(1967) than Gidget! Liberals were protesting against the Vietnam War and Gidget and Moondoggie were still apart of the "Neat Elite" and the status quo! Gidget Grows Up was never released on DVD or Blu Ray. I saw it at You Tube! Paul Lynde injects...a little campy fun into the film.

I still haven't seen Gidget Gets Married(1972). I haven't watched The New Gidget(1986) in years. What do you guys think of Gidget?

[–] hka-3 14 years ago

A good read. Thanks for your commentary!

Most of the women in the film are curvy and well-endowed and they make Sandra Dee look girly and lean. I guess that helped the movie.

In Sandra Dee's autobiography she gave an account of how she actually had well-developed breasts in elementary school, so her mother taped her breasts down all the time (which can be surprisingly effective), and she also suffered from anorexia at a very early age. There's more to that story, but I can't help thinking of what Sandra went through in her personal life and how seeming to be underdeveloped happened to fit her role as Gidget.

The scene where The Big Kahuna tries to seduce Gidget was...a little creepy!

I didn't find it creepy since he was just trying to make her wish that she had not goaded him into giving her one of his 'private parties'...that is, up until the last few seconds when he wished she was old enough to follow through with it, but then he did the right thing by making her leave.

The 1961 and 1963 films didn't do much for me, especially without Sandra Dee, and they turned the character of Moondoggie into a bit of a creep, even more than he was in the original film. Although in the original it could be said that his abrasive attitude towards Gidget, at first, was to cover up any deep-down attraction he felt towards her.

I saw the original Gidget film before I saw the Gidget tv series from the 60s and the 80s. Considering how much I adored the original film, for them to create tv shows which I found entertaining was quite an accomplishment.

I don't believe I've seen Gidget Gets Married or the Karen Valentine movie (love her). I'll have to get ahold of those and watch them. I still want to read Kohner's book as well.

[–] queeniewahine71 14 years ago

First saw the movie when I was about 11 years old, and simply loved it. The story, Sandra Dee, the dresses, everything.
A few years later I purchased the book when a library in our town shut down. When I first read it (in German), I was a bit disappointed. The story was less romantic than in the movie, and it didn't have the twist in the end.
But the more often I read it, the better I liked it. It's much cooler, Gidget - although, I think, even younger than in the movie, is much more mature. She smokes and has a drink every now and then. In the end, getting Moondoggie is a nice thing, but surfing, being accepted in the group, and growing up is what it's all about.
Now I own the 2001 edition of the book (in English), with Kathy Kohner Zuckerman's foreword (Kathy is Frederick Kohner's daughter, the real Gidget - and one of the lovliest ladies ever).
GGH I only saw once, never any of the other movies or TV-shows.
I read a few of the other Gidget novels, but liked the first one best. If you ever get the chance to read "Cher Papa", you'll see how Frederick Kohner would have continued Gidget's story, hadn't it been for the movies. Of course, in the movies Gidget and Moondoggie had to stay together...

Hope one day I'll get the chance to see "Accidential Icon: The Real Gidget Story": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1602011/

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] rudeboy8080 12 years ago

The late Dick Clark made a cameo appearance in the 1959 movie trailer for Gidget(1959)!