- Gidget
Infobox character
colour =
name = Gidget
caption = "Gidget", first edition dustjacket
first = "Gidget, The Little Girl With Big Ideas"
last = "The New Gidget "
cause = End of the series
nickname = "Gidget"
gender =Female
age = "Fifteen-and-a-half years old" (late 1950s, 1960s or early 1970s)
born = circa 1941 (early novels), circa 1943 (motion pictures and later novels), circa 1950 (TV sitcom, first two telemovies), circa 1958 (third telemovie and "The New Gidget"),
occupation = Student. Also waitress ("Cher Papa"), teacher ("Gidget in Love" and "Gidget Gets Married"), fashion model ("Gidget Goes Parisienne"), tour guide ("Gidget Goes New York" and "Gidget Grows Up") and travel agent ("Gidget's Summer Reunion" and "The New Gidget").
family = Professor Russell Lawrence (father)
Anne Cooper (sister)
John Cooper (brother-in-law)
spouse = Jeff "Moondoggie" Griffin (by the 1980s)
relatives = Danielle "Dani" Collins-Griffin (niece)
residence = 803 N. Dutton Drive,Santa Monica, California
portrayer =Sandra Dee Deborah Walley Cindy Carol Sally Field Karen Valentine
Monie EllisKathy Gori (voice)Caryn Richman
Sabrina Kramnich (stage)| creator = Frederick Kohner"Gidget" is a character created by author Frederick Kohner (based on his teenage daughter, Kathy) in his 1957 novel, "Gidget, the Girl with Big Ideas". The novel follows the
surf culture adventures of a boy crazy teenage girl and hersurfing friends on the beaches of southern California. The name Gidget is aportmanteau word of "girl andmidget ". "Gidget"(2001) by Frederick Kohner, Berkley Publishing Group, New York, NY (first edition 1957)] Following the novel's publication, the character appeared in several films, television series, telemovies, and was spoofed in theCharles Busch off-Broadway play and film, "Psycho Beach Party ".Novels
The original Gidget was created by Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel "Gidget, The Little Girl With Big Ideas" (reprinted numerous times under the shortened title "Gidget", by which it is more widely known), written in the first person and based on the accounts of his daughter Kathy (now
Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman ) of thesurf culture of Malibu Point. Kohner, a prolific screenwriter with one Academy Award nomination, published seven sequels to this novel, five of them original novels: "Cher Papa" (1959), "The Affairs of Gidget" (1963), "Gidget in Love" (1965), "Gidget Goes Parisienne" (1966) and "Gidget Goes New York" (1968), plus two novelizations: "Gidget Goes Hawaiian " (1961) and "Gidget Goes to Rome " (1963), adapted by Kohner from films of the same titles, based on original stories by Ruth Brooks Flippin.In the original novel, Gidget gives her name as Franzie, short for Franziska, after her grandmother, but she doesn't give us her last name. In subsequent novels, her name is Franzie Hofer. In the films in which she appears her name is changed to Frances Lawrence, and the names of some other characters are changed as well.
Kohner also wrote other novels about the experiences of different teenaged girls, including "The Continental Kick" and "Mister Will You Marry Me?", as well as non-fiction books such as the biographies "
Kiki of Montparnasse " and "The Magician of Sunset Boulevard".Films
Frederick Kohner went to William Morris Agency, a publishing deal was instantly hatched, and the movie rights went to Columbia Pictures for $50,000. Frederick gave Kathy ("Gidget") five percent (an act that would be described nowadays as “buying the rights” to a subject’s story). [ [http://www.californiaauthors.com/2006/08/10/essay_stillman/ info on the film deal] ]
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the character Gidget (the prototypical
beach bunny ) was adapted for three films, all directed byPaul Wendkos and released byColumbia Pictures :* "Gidget" (1959), starring
Sandra Dee .
* "Gidget Goes Hawaiian " (1961), starringDeborah Walley .
* "Gidget Goes to Rome " (1963), starringCindy Carol .Although the later two were billed as sequels to the first, there was little attempt at continuity other than in the plot. Only
James Darren , playing Gidget's boyfriend Moondoggie, has the same major role in all three films. For "Gidget Goes Hawaiian ", some scenes from the first film were re-shot with the new cast, to be used as flashbacks.Gidget was spoofed in Charles Busch's off-Broadway play (1987) and film (2000), "
Psycho Beach Party ". The play was originally titled "Gidget Goes Psychotic", but changed due to copyright concerns. In the original 1987 production, Charles Busch played the role of a Gidget-like beach teen, "Chicklet". Deciding that he might not be believable on film in the role of a sixteen-year-old girl ("while I can still manage, with the aid of a sympathetic cameraman, to play a sophisticated 25, 16 would be a stretch"), he added and portrayed the character of Monica Stark to the film. Stark is a female police officer investigating a series of bizarre murders among the surfer crowd.Television
In 1965, the character was adapted for television in the
sitcom series "Gidget", starringSally Field ."Gidget: The Complete Series" [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3L7DM] (2006). [DVD set] . New York: Sony Pictures.] New to the established Gidget mythos were the introductions of a best friend for Gidget,Larue Wilson , a timid, awkward girl who often accompanied Gidget on her zany escapades, and an older married sister Anne Cooper and her psychology student husband who offered Russ Lawrence child-rearing tips and advice. Gidget regarded both her sister and brother-in-law as clueless squares. In one of the first episodes, the producers sent Gidget's boyfriend Moondoggie east to college with the convenient understanding that both were free to date others while separated, thus opening plots to a variety of complications and guest stars. The sitcom essentially focused on the father-daughter relationship with Gidget receiving moral instruction from her father at episode's end and growing a little wiser from it. The sitcom ran for only one season, but spawned a devoted cult following.There is some thinking that it was written as a sequel to the films. Arguments in favor of this theory include its use (for the most part) of character names from the films that were changed from those in the novels, the casting of
Don Porter as Gidget's father in both "Gidget Goes to Rome" and the ABC sitcom "Gidget", author Kohner's participation as story consultant, and the fact that it (the sitcom) occasionally refers to events in the films. Arguments against this theory include Gidget's age (sixteen through nineteen in the films, but only "fifteen and a half" in the sitcom), the complete absence of Gidget's sister Ann (a principal character of the sitcom) from all three Hollywood films, and the portrayal of Gidget's acquaintance with the "Kahuna "—events leading to her close friendship with him in the 1959 film are repeated as though for the first time in episode three ("The Great Kahuna") of the sitcom.Sally Field's
brown hair completed thehat trick for Gidget's natural hair color. Sandra Dee and Cindy Carol wereblonde s, and Deborah Walley a redhead. Gidget tells us in "Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas" and "The Affairs of Gidget" that she is a natural blonde; in "Gidget Goes Parisienne" she states that she has black hair, but never says that she is a natural brunette. Nowhere in the novels is she ever said to be a redhead.In 1969,
Karen Valentine starred as Gidget in thetelemovie "Gidget Grows Up", freely adapted from the 1968 novel "Gidget Goes New York", but also functioning as a sequel to the 1965 sitcom series. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065778/ IMDb credits for "Gidget Grows Up"] ]In 1972, another telemovie was made titled "Gidget Gets Married", in which Gidget finally married longtime boyfriend Moondoggie. Monie Ellis played the title role. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068639/ IMDb credits for "Gidget Gets Married"] ] This incarnation of Gidget is unique in that it gives Moondoggie's real name as "Jeff Stevens" (in the novels, the other telemovies and "The New Gidget" he is "Jeff Griffin"; in the Hollywood films and the sitcom "Gidget" he is "Jeff Matthews"). Later that year,
Hanna-Barbera produced a 60 minute animated feature for television, "Gidget Makes the Wrong Connection", withKathy Gori as the voice of Gidget. [ [http://www.toontracker.com/satsup/ssm2.htm Saturday Superstar Movies 2: Hanna-Barbera Productions, "Gidget Makes the Wrong Connection"] ]In 1985, a follow-up of the 1965 sitcom series was launched with the
telemovie "Gidget's Summer Reunion", starringCaryn Richman as a grown version of the character played bySally Field . [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089202/ IMDb credits for "Gidget's Summer Reunion"] ] This was followed by a sitcom series "The New Gidget ", which ran for two seasons 1986-1988. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090488/ IMDb credits for "The New Gidget"] ]The Gidget/Bewitched connection
The 1959 Columbia Pictures' "Gidget" filmed on location at a real home in Santa Monica (at 267 18th Street) as seen in the film. The blueprint design of this home was later reversed and replicated as a house facade attached to an existing garage on the backlot of Columbia's Ranch. The reversed "Gidget" house was primarily used on the Columbia/
Screen Gems hit television show "Bewitched " which premiered in 1964. The patio and living room sets seen in Columbia's "Gidget Goes to Rome " (1963) were soon adapted for the permanent "Bewitched " set for 1964. In the TV series from 1965–66, Gidget (played by Sally Field) is often shown with a "Samantha" doll in her bedroom (a merchandise cross promotion for the other Columbia TV show), and in 1986's "The New Gidget " (produced by Columbia executive and producerHarry Ackerman ) the facade used in shots for her home is the reversed "Gidget" house (better known by TV audiences from those subsequent decades of reruns as Samantha's home on"Bewitched "). [ [http://www.seeing-stars.com/Locations/TVLocations2.shtml info on the Santa Monica home replicated] ] The exterior and kitchen sets of the 1965 television series starring Sally Field had been previously employed in the sitcom "Hazel" starringShirley Booth .Gidget timeline
*1941 Kathy Kohner born.
*1956 Kathy Kohner learns to surf and is nicknamed "Gidget".
*1957 "Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas" published.
*1959 Motion picture "Gidget" released, "Cher Papa" published.
*1961 Motion picture "Gidget Goes Hawaiian " released, novelization "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" published.
*1963 "The Affairs of Gidget" published, motion picture "Gidget Goes to Rome " released, novelization "Gidget Goes to Rome" published.
*1965 "Gidget in Love" published, TV sitcom "Gidget" first airs.
*1966 "Gidget Goes Parisienne" published, TV sitcom "Gidget" canceled.
*1968 "Gidget Goes New York" published.
*1969 Telemovie "Gidget Grows Up" airs.
*1972 Telemovie "Gidget Gets Married" airs, animated feature "Gidget Makes the Wrong Connection" airs.
*1985 Telemovie "Gidget's Summer Reunion" airs.
*1986 Frederick Kohner dies, TV sitcom "The New Gidget " airs.
*1987 Off-Broadway spoof "Psycho Beach Party " byCharles Busch
*1988 TV sitcom "The New Gidget " canceled.
*2000 "Psycho Beach Party" film release.In popular culture
*The names "Gidget" and "Moondoggie" were also used for two characters of the
anime series "Eureka Seven ", among many other nods to surf culture.*In 1979, the Southern Californian
punk rock groupSuburban Lawns had a small cult hit with theparody single "Gidget Goes To Hell".*Ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Bradley Stewart took the first part of his stage name, Gidget Gein, from Gidget, and the second half from serial killer
Ed Gein .*She is mentioned on the song "Mama I'm a Big Girl Now" from the musical "Hairspray" on the lines: "But now I'm just like Gidget and I gotta get to Rome!"
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