Gidget *** (1959, Sandra Dee, James Darren, Cliff Robertson, Arthur O’Connell, Mary LaRoche) – Classic Movie Review 3384

Sandra Dee stars in director Paul Wendkos’s wholesome-as-apple-pie 1959 teen comedy as  young Francie Lawrence aka the Gidget, who is initiated into the California surf culture during one formative summer. As a result, she falls in love with young surfer Jeffrey Matthews aka Moondoggie (James Darren) though dallies awhile with Burt Vail aka The Big Kahuna (Cliff Robertson).

With a screenplay by Gabrielle Upton, based on Frederick Kohner’s 1957 novel Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas, it is a naive but hugely successful mix of love affairs and beach frolics. ‘Gabrielle Upton’ is a nom de plume of Gillian Houghton, then head writer of the soap opera The Secret Storm.

It seems all pretty daft and empty-headed, but Dee’s spunky performance and the movie’s niceness are the pluses. There are three songs (Patti Washington-Fred Karger). Gidget spawned an astonishing five sequels as well as two TV series. Gidget is a contraction of ‘girl midget’, incidentally.

Also in the cast are Arthur O’Connell, Mary LaRoche (as Gidget’s parents), Jo Morrow as Mary Lou, Doug McClure as Waikiki, Joby Baker as Stinky, Tom Laughlin as Lover Boy, Sue George as Betty Louise aka B.L., Robert Ellis as Hot Shot, Yvonne Craig, Burt Metcalfe, Richard Newton, Ed Hinton and Patti Kane. Darren, Robertson, Laughlin and McClure all obligingly provide the bare-chested beefcake.

The film was shot in the winter of 1959 at Leo Carrillo State Park.

Gidget is directed by Paul Wendkos, runs 95 minutes, is released by Columbia, is written by Gabrielle Upton, is shot in ColumbiaColor by Burnett Guffey, is produced by Lewis J Rachmil, and is scored by Morris M Stoloff.

Darren repeated his Moondoggie role in the two cinema sequels Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and Gidget Goes to Rome (1963) with two other Gidgets: Deborah Walley and Cindy Carol. In 1965, Sally Field played Gidget in an ABC TV series cancelled after one season. In 1969, a telemovie Gidget Grows Up starring Karen Valentine was aired. The adult Gidget appeared in the telemovies Gidget Gets Married (1972) and Gidget’s Summer Reunion (1985). Another TV sitcom was produced in 1986, The New Gidget starring Caryn Richman.

Gidget is based on author Kohner’s daughter, Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman, and her adventures growing up in the surf culture on the beach at Malibu in the Fifties. The movie was significant in helping to bring the surfing subculture into the American mainstream. The film’s popularity led to a Miss Gidget contest, won by Barbara Bouchet in 1959.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3384

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