Gidget (TV series)

Did You Know?

• Each episode is narrated by Gidget; on occasion, she breaks the fourth wall and directly addresses her audience, sometimes ending with 'Toodles!'
• On March 21, 2006, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Gidget: The Complete Series on DVD, including the original pilot and a short interview with Field.

Background

The 1965 half-hour TV series draws on Frederick Kohner's 1957 novel, which was inspired by his teenage daughter. That novel had already been turned into a 1959 movie. Some viewers consider the show a follow-up to that film, though it has many inconsistencies in plot and timeline; it also works as a separate version. Kohner acted as a script consultant. The series brings back Gidget's friend Larue and her married sister Anne Cooper, characters from the book but missing from the movies. Gidget's brother-in-law, a condescending child psychiatrist in the novels, becomes John Cooper, a well-meaning but clueless psychology student.

Characters

Frances Elizabeth "Gidget" Lawrence, portrayed by Sally Field, is a free-spirited southern California beach bunny often barefoot at home and at the beach. Her widowed father, Russell Lawrence (Don Porter), is an English professor at UCLA. Gidget's older married sister, Anne Cooper (Betty Conner), and Anne's husband, John Cooper (Pete Duel), a psychology student, offer child-rearing tips. Larue Wilson (Lynette Winter) is Gidget's best friend.

Jeff "Moondoggie" Matthews (Stephen Mines) is Gidget's boyfriend away at Princeton University; she regularly wore his high-school ring around her neck and dated other boys while he was away. Other schoolmates include Siddo (Michael Nader) and Randy (Rickie Sorensen). Guest characters include Kahuna (Martin Milner), Jack Collins (James Davidson), Roger Haimes (James M. Crawford), Mark (Robert Random), Bret (Randy Kirby), Tom Brighton (Daniel J. Travanti), Corky Cook (Peter Brooks), Tate Cook (Larry Merrill), Baxter Stevenson (Tom Gilleran), Durf the Drag (Richard Dreyfuss), Scott (Carl Reindel), Richie Ryan (David Macklin), and Toby (Robert Beach).

Production

The show launched the career of 18-year-old Sally Field, who defeated 75 other teenage girls for the title role. Field exaggerated her surfing experience during her audition; she later took lessons from Phil Sauers, who served as the series' surfing technical consultant and provided the surfboards used during filming. Don Porter had portrayed Gidget's father two years prior in the film Gidget Goes to Rome and was asked to reprise the role. While the Gidget of the novel and original film are both blondes, the television Gidget is a brunette. The theme song "(Wait 'Til You See) My Gidget" had lyrics by Howard Greenfield and music by Jack Keller; it was performed in the pilot by The Four Freshmen and in the series by Johnny Tillotson. In the pilot credits, John Cooper is listed as "Larry".

Reception

Gidget faced stiff competition during its initial run, airing Wednesdays at 8:30 pm opposite The Beverly Hillbillies and The Virginian. The series was moved to Thursdays at 8:00 pm starting with episode 18, where it performed poorly opposite Gilligan's Island despite airing after the top-five rated Batman. ABC cancelled the show in April 1966, just as it began to find a large teen audience. Summer reruns launched the show into the top 10, but ABC refused to renew it because it would have to admit its cancellation was premature, and industry practice at the time rarely allowed cancelled shows to be resurrected. The network instead created The Flying Nun (1967–70) for Field, who later said she had great affection for her work on Gidget but was embarrassed with The Flying Nun.