Gidget is an American sitcom television series by Screen Gems about a surfing, boy-crazy teenager called "Gidget" and her widowed father Russ Lawrence, a UCLA professor. Sally Field stars as Gidget with Don Porter as father Russell Lawrence. The series was first broadcast on ABC from September 15, 1965, to April 21, 1966. Reruns were aired until September 1, 1966.[1]
Gidget was among the first regularly scheduled color programs on ABC. With a Wednesday-night time slot that put it in direct competition with The Beverly Hillbillies and The Virginian, it did poorly in the Nielsen ratings and was cancelled at the end of its first season.
Background
The television series was based upon concepts and characters created by Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas,[2] which Kohner based upon the adventures of his teenaged daughter Kathy. The novel was adapted into a 1959 movie starring Sandra Dee, James Darren, and Cliff Robertson. The 1965 weekly half-hour television series is seen by some as a sequel to the 1959 film, despite numerous discontinuities in plot, time frame, and other details. It can also be seen as an independent incarnation, related to, but distinct from either the novels or the films. Kohner served as a script consultant on the show.
The series reintroduced Gidget's friend Larue and married sister Anne Cooper, both of whom appear in Kohner's original novel, but are absent from the motion-picture series. Gidget's brother-in-law, who appears in the novels as the intelligent but condescending child psychiatrist Larry Cooper, is reinvented in the television series as John Cooper, an obtuse but lovable psychology student.
Plot
Gidget centers on the father-daughter relationship between Frances "Gidget" Lawrence and her widowed father Russell Lawrence. Episodes follow Gidget's adventures in school, at home, and at nearby beaches. Russell Lawrence guides his 15-year-old daughter, while married sister Anne and husband John offer often unsolicited child-rearing tips. Gidget's friend Larue sometimes takes part in her escapades. More often than not, Gidget receives moral instruction from her father and gains wisdom from her experiences.
Each episode is narrated by Gidget; on occasion, she breaks the "fourth wall" and directly addresses her audience, usually reflecting on what she has learned from the evening's story, and sometimes ending with "Toodles!" (an expression Field improvised during production).[3] The pilot explained that her boyfriend called her Gidget because of her demure, petite build and short stature: "Girl midget, Gidget!"
Characters
Don Porter with Sally Field and Betty Conner, 1965
Frances Elizabeth "Gidget" Lawrence (Sally Field) is the prototypical southern California beach bunny free spirited and frequently barefooted.
Russell Lawrence (Don Porter) is Gidget's widowed father and an English professor at UCLA.
Anne Cooper (Betty Conner) is Gidget's older, married sister.
John Cooper (Pete Duel) is Anne's husband, a psychology student.
Larue Wilson (Lynette Winter) is Gidget's best friend.
While Jeff was Gidget's true love (she regularly wore his high-school ring around her neck), she regularly dated — or more accurately, pursued — other boys while he was away at college.
Scott (Carl Reindel), Richie Ryan (David Macklin) - "Love and the Single Gidget"
Toby (Robert Beach) - "I Have This Friend Who..."
Production
The show launched the career of 18-year-old Sally Field, who defeated 75 other teenaged girls for the title role.[3] Field exaggerated her surfing experience to the show's casting directors during her audition (she had none); she later took lessons from Phil Sauers just to be able to pretend to surf for the cameras. Sauers served as the series' "surfing technical consultant" and provided the surfboards used during filming of the series.
Don Porter had portrayed Gidget's father, Russell Lawrence, two years prior in the film Gidget Goes to Rome and was asked to reprise the role for the series.
While the Gidget of the novel and the original film are both blondes, the Gidget of the television series is a brunette.
The 151⁄2-year-old Gidget falls in love with a surfer and with surfing, discovering a new sport and a new lifestyle along with it; Anne reads Gidget's fanciful diary and assumes that all of her sister's outlandish entries ("...and I sink into nothingness") are true.
2
"In God, and Nobody Else, We Trust"
William Asher
Ruth Brooks Flippen
September 22, 1965 (1965-09-22)
Anne is worried when Gidget asks her husband John to be her date to a luau; John, wanting to fit in with the surfing crowd, tries so hard to be hip that Gidget's friends immediately pin him as a poseur.
Gidget becomes infatuated with a rootless surfer bum called Kahuna (Martin Milner) and wants nothing more than to accompany him around the world to the greatest surfing sites. She changes her mind after inviting him home for dinner and discovering he has middle-class aspirations.
4
"Daddy Come Home"
William Asher
Ruth Brooks Flippen
October 6, 1965 (1965-10-06)
Gidget encourages her widowed father Russell to start dating again. His first date goes well, but worries Gidget when he stays out late without calling.
Gidget plays marriage counselor for John and Anne.
6
"A Hearse, a Hearse, My Kingdom for a Hearse"
William Asher
Story by : Louella MacFarlane Teleplay by : John McGreevey
October 20, 1965 (1965-10-20)
Gidget decides she needs her own transportation and puts a down payment on an old hearse with 99,000 miles; she then enrolls in auto-shop classes at school.
Gidget is convinced that her English teacher expects more of her than his other students because she is the daughter of his former English professor, Russell.
A nervous Gidget has a luncheon date to meet Jeff's parents, but causes confusion when she switches sweaters with friend Della Mae, who accompanies her to the meeting.
Gidget mounts a public-relations campaign to save her favorite restaurant, The Shaggy Dog, from being demolished to build a new museum, while unaware that Russell is on the museum committee.
24
"Ring-a-Ding Dingbat"
Hal Cooper
Barbara Avedon
February 24, 1966 (1966-02-24)
Gidget and Larue scheme to meet the popular British rock group the Dingbats.
25
"Love and the Single Gidget"
Hal Cooper
Story by : Lee Karson Teleplay by : John McGreevey and Stephen Kandel
March 3, 1966 (1966-03-03)
While Russell is out of town, Gidget attends a surfing tournament in Oceanside with Anne and John's blessing,unaware that they have hired a college student to look after her.
26
"Take a Lesson"
Jerrold Bernstein
Ruth Brooks Flippen
March 10, 1966 (1966-03-10)
Gidget is lured out of her house—in her pajamas—to join a friend on a surprise car-buying trip in Pasadena, which is complicated by her repeated attempts at contacting Russell to keep him informed of her whereabouts. Guest star:Paul Lynde as Herman Marshall.
27
"Independence — Gidget Style"
Bruce Bilson
Joanna Lee
March 17, 1966 (1966-03-17)
When Gidget gets a job at a local diner for teenagers to buy Russell a birthday present, the family mistakenly believes she is actually working at the Tomcat Club, a local gentlemen's club.
28
"One More for the Road"
Bruce Bilson
Austin Kalish & Irma Kalish
March 24, 1966 (1966-03-24)
Gidget gets a job driving a floral delivery truck, except she does not have a driver's license.
Gidget and Larue find themselves spooked, while unknowingly sharing the house with a friend of Russell's, with whom he had chance meeting at the airport—all during a raging thunderstorm. Guest star:Frank DeVol as Stu
31
"I Have This Friend Who . . ."
Christopher Cary
Story by : Gary Flaum Teleplay by : John McGreevey
April 14, 1966 (1966-04-14)
The father of Gidget's latest boyfriend insists on coming along on their date as a chaperone, so they scheme to find a way to be alone.
32
"Don't Defrost the Alligator"
Jerrold Bernstein
Ruth Brooks Flippen
April 21, 1966 (1966-04-21)
Gidget places a deceased frozen alligator in the freezer without mentioning it to anybody, causing chaos when it is discovered.
Home media
On March 21, 2006, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Gidget: The Complete Series featuring all 32 episodes of the series, on DVD in Region 1. The release included the original pilot episode and a short interview with Field.
On August 27, 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment announced it had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library, including Gidget.[5] They subsequently re-released the complete series on DVD on May 20, 2014.[6]
DVD name
Ep #
Release date
The Complete Series
32
March 21, 2006 May 20, 2014 (re-release)
Reception
Gidget faced stiff competition during its initial run. The show originally aired on Wednesdays at 8:30 pm, opposite The Beverly Hillbillies (CBS) and The Virginian (NBC), two established shows with strong ratings. The series was moved to Thursdays at 8:00 pm starting with episode 18 ("Like Voodoo"), where it performed poorly opposite CBS's Gilligan's Island,[7] despite airing after the top-five rated Batman.
ABC cancelledGidget in April 1966, just as the show began to find a large teen audience. Summer reruns launched the show into the top 10 as viewers looked for programs they had not seen during their original fall/winter broadcasts. ABC had a belated hit on its hands, but refused to renew the show because it would have to admit its cancellation was premature.[citation needed] In addition, industry practice at the time rarely allowed for cancelled shows to be resurrected.[7]
Rather than squander the newly found audience for which ABC was hurting at the time, the network scrambled to find a new starring vehicle for Field. The result was The Flying Nun (1967–70), where Field reluctantly portrayed Sister Bertrille for three seasons.[8] Field later commented that she has great affection for her young persona and was proud of her work on Gidget, but was embarrassed with The Flying Nun.[3]
The May 28 – June 3, 1966, issue of TV Guide featured Sally Field
Merchandise
Milton Bradley Company manufactured a "Gidget Fortune Teller" game, which used Field's image on the box, the playing board, and several game cards.[9]
^Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 197–198. ISBN0-8108-1651-2.
^Gidget by Frederick Kohner [1] (2001) Berkley Publishing Group.
