Gidget (TV series): Difference between revisions

 

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|WrittenBy = Tony Wilson

|WrittenBy = Tony Wilson

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1965|11|17}}

|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1965|11|17}}

|ShortSummary = Gidget is inspired by protest singer Billy Roy Soames ([[Henry Jaglom]]). She would like to find a cause to get behind. Larue tells her that the local movie theater is raising it’s prices for Friday & Saturday nights. That’s when the kids usually go. As chairman of her local civics club, Gidget would like a better cause. After talking to Russell, Gidget decides to protest the ticket prices. Gidget and a couple friends go to speak with Mr. Lefferts ([[Dick Wilson]]) at the theater. Mr. Lefferts is unsympathetic. Gidget holds a small rally in front of the theater, but people still go in. Billy Roy Soames is in town and Gidget hopes to recruit him for her cause. Billy isn’t interested. Later, Billy comes by Gidget’s house and says he’ll help for one night, if she let’s him stay at her house. Russell is not thrilled about Billy being there. Gidget and Billy start their campaign, but the kids are more interested in Billy than the cause. Mr. Evans ([[Noah Keen]]), from the university, tells Russell he’s worried that things could get out of hand and spread to the campus. Russell tries to talk Gidget out of the protests. Gidget asks Russell if he stood up to Mr. Evans, which he didn’t. Russell tells Gidget that he’s behind her. Billy overheard the conversation. Not wanting Russell to get in trouble, Billy makes up an excuse to Gidget that he has to leave.

|ShortSummary = Gidget is inspired by protest singer Billy Roy Soames ([[Henry Jaglom]]). She would like to find a cause to get behind. Larue tells her that the local movie theater is raising it’s prices for Friday & Saturday nights. That’s when the kids usually go. As chairman of her local civics club, Gidget would like a better cause. After talking to Russell, Gidget decides to protest the ticket prices. Gidget and a couple friends go to speak with Mr. Lefferts ([[Dick Wilson]]) at the theater. Mr. Lefferts is unsympathetic. Gidget holds a small rally in front of the theater, but people still go in. Billy Roy Soames is in town and Gidget hopes to recruit him for her cause. Billy isn’t interested. Later, Billy comes by Gidget’s house and says he’ll help for one night, if she him stay at her house. Russell is not thrilled about Billy being there. Gidget and Billy start their campaign, but the kids are more interested in Billy than the cause. Mr. Evans ([[Noah Keen]]), from the university, tells Russell he’s worried that things could get out of hand and spread to the campus. Russell tries to talk Gidget out of the protests. Gidget asks Russell if he stood up to Mr. Evans, which he didn’t. Russell tells Gidget that he’s behind her. Billy overheard the conversation. Not wanting Russell to get in trouble, Billy makes up an excuse to Gidget that he has to leave.

|LineColor = ffda81

|LineColor = ffda81

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American television series (1965–66)

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.

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, Gidget, 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.

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!”

• Frances Elizabeth “Gidget” Lawrence (portrayed by Sally Field) is the prototypical southern California beach bunny free spirited and frequently barefoot at home and at the beach.
• Russell Lawrence (portrayed by Don Porter) is Gidget’s widowed father and an English professor at UCLA.

• Anne Cooper (portrayed by Betty Conner) is Gidget’s older, married sister.
• John Cooper (portrayed by Pete Duel) is Anne’s husband, a psychology student.
• Larue Wilson (portrayed by Lynette Winter) is Gidget’s best friend.
• Jeff “Moondoggie” Matthews (portrayed by Stephen Mines) is Gidget’s boyfriend, who is away at Princeton University.
• Siddo (portrayed by Michael Nader) is Gidget’s schoolmate.
• Randy (portrayed by Rickie Sorensen) is Gidget’s schoolmate.

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.

• Kahuna (portrayed by Martin Milner) – “The Great Kahuna”
• Jack Collins (portrayed by James Davidson) – “A Hearse, a Hearse, My Kingdom for a Hearse”
• Roger Haimes (portrayed by James M. Crawford) – “Image Scrimmage”
• Mark (portrayed by Robert Random) – “Chivalry Isn’t Dead”, “Gidget’s Foreign Policy”
• Bret (portrayed by Randy Kirby) – “The War Between Men, Women and Gidget”
• Tom Brighton (portrayed by Daniel J. Travanti) – “Now There’s a Face”
• Corky Cook (portrayed by Peter Brooks), Tate Cook (Larry Merrill) – “Too Many Cooks”
• Baxter Stevenson (portrayed by Tom Gilleran) – “I Love You, I Love You, I Love You, I Think”
• Durf the Drag (portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss) – “Ego-a-Go-Go”
• Scott (Carl Reindel), Richie Ryan (David Macklin) – “Love and the Single Gidget”
• Toby (Robert Beach) – “I Have This Friend Who…”

The show launched the career of 18-year-old Sally Field, who defeated 75 other teenage 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 lyrics of the theme song “(Wait ‘Til You See) My Gidget” were written by Howard Greenfield, with music by Jack Keller. The song was performed in the pilot by The Four Freshmen, and in the series by Johnny Tillotson.

In the credits for the pilot episode, John Cooper is listed as “Larry”.

The show ranked 68th out of 108 shows airing that season with a 26.8% audience share.^[4]

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]

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 cancelled Gidget 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]

Dell Comics published two issues of a comic book based on the series.^[9][10]

Two board games were made from the show. A self-titled game published by Standard Toykraft in 1965, and “Gidget Fortune Teller” game published by Milton Bradley Company in 1966.^[11][12]

A single example of a test issue Gidget trading card by Topps has surfaced.^[13]