The 60th Anniversary of the TV Series Gidget

Although not as well-known now as it once was, Gidget was a popular multi-media franchise in the mid-20th Century. It originated with the novel Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas by Frederick Kohner in 1957. The novel proved to be very successful and was followed by five more original Gidget novels. The first novel was adapted as the 1959 feature film Gidget starring Sandra Dee, which was followed by two more theatrical movies. With such success, a television series was perhaps inevitable. It was on September 15, 1965, sixty years ago today, that Gidget, starring Sally Field in the title role, debuted on ABC.

Frederick Kohner based the character of Gidget on his own daughter Kathy, who as a teenager became part of the surfing scene in Malibu Beach, which was dominated by men at the time. The novel Gidget centred on a teenage girl named Franzie (short for Franziska), whom the older male surfers nickname "Gidget (a portmanteau of "girl" and "midget") due to her petite size. The novel followed Gidget as she learned how to surf and became part of the surfing subculture. The movie Gidget (1959) would Anglicize her given name as "Francine." The TV show would change it again, this time to Frances.

To a large degree, the TV series Gidget was faithful to both the first novel and the movies. The show centred on Frances "Gidget" Lawrence (Sally Field) and her widowed father, UCLA professor Russell Lawrence (Don Porter). Like the movies, Gidget frequented the beach and was an avid surfer. Unlike the movies, the TV show concentrated a bit more on her relationship with her father and her life at school.

In many ways, the TV series drew more upon the first novel than the movies. The character of Larue Wilson (Lynette Wniter) was a minor character in the first novel and did not appear in the movies at all. For the show, she was promoted to Gidget's best friend. The TV show also included Gidget's older, married sister Anne Cooper (Betty Conner), who had appeared in the novels, as well as her husband John (Peter Duel). Gidget's boyfriend was Moondoggie (Stephen Mines), who appeared in both the books and the movies, appeared infrequently on the TV show. It was explained that he was away at Princeton. The show was narrated by Gidget herself, who often broke the fourth wall to address the audience directly.

The idea for a TV series based on Gidget, The Little Girl with Big Ideas, came about years before the TV show hit the airwaves. The January 9, 1961 issue of Television Digest reported that Screen Gems had acquired the television rights to Gidget and that Harry Ackerman would be the executive producer. If the name Harry Ackerman sounds familiar, it is perhaps because he had produced Leave It to Beaver and Bachelor Father, and would go on to produce Hazel, The Farmer's Daughter, and Bewitched.

A pilot script for a Gidget series was ordered in June 1960, but various hurdles would prevent the show from moving forward. Negotiations with Fredrick Kohner took some time.. Harry Ackerman met with Frederick Kohner in March 1961 to discuss the TV series. The two men agreed that the beach would play a large role on the TV show as it did in the novel. The show would also emphasize the relationship between Gidget and her dad, something that the movies did not really address. Ultimately, Fredrick Kohner served as script consultant on the TV show.

While negotiations with Frederick Kohner took a while, it was actually Screen Gems' parent company Columbia Pictures that was responsible for many of the delays. Columbia Pictures decided to go forward with another sequel to Gidget (what would become Gidget Goes to Rome) and nixed the television series as it would be in competition with their feature film. With concerns that the TV show might be delayed indefinitely, Harry Ackerman changed his plans for the Gidget TV show. By September 1961 the project was no longer called "Gidget." After going through such names as Billieken and Debbie, the project officially became Skipper. While Gidget centred on a girl surfer who lived with her father, Skipper centred on a girl water skier who lives with her father in Newport Beach. Unfortunately, Harry Ackerman was unable to interest anyone in Skipper.

Fortunately, by 1963 an official Gidget TV show became possible again. By June 1964 ABC expressed interest in the potential new show. The pilot was financed by Ford Motor Company, but would drop out after the pilot had been made, thinking the show might be too young in order for them to promote their new Mustang. Fortunately, Gidget picked up new sponsors in the form of Campbell Soup and Armstrong-Cork Company (manufacturers of Linoleum and other flooring products) and pharmaceutical manufacturer Menley & James.

As to casting Gidget, one cast member had actually appeared in a Gidget movie. Don Porter had played Gidget's father Russell Lawrence in Gidget Goes to Rome (1963). He had appeared in such movies as Buck Privates Come Home (1947) and The Racket (1951). On television, he had played Susie's (Ann Sothern) boss Peter Sands on Private Secretary and Ann Sothern's boss again on The Ann Sothern Show. While Don Porter was an experienced performer, Sally Field was a relative newcomer, although her mother was actress Margaret Field (often billed as Margaret Mahoney). Eighteen years old at the time, Sally Field beat out 75 other teenage girls in an open audition at Screen Gems. Sally Field had no real experience surfing, but took lessons from Phil Sauers so she could convincingly pretend to surf. Don Porter and Sally Field became close friends while working on Gidget, with Mr. Porter serving as a father figure and mentor to the young actress. He helped her a good deal with regard to acting and was also protective of her. Sally Field was historic as the first brunette to play Gidget. In the movies, Gidget had been played by blondes.

Upon its debut, Gidget was not well-received by critics. George Tashman of the newspaper column Tashman on TV was harsh on the show, particularly Gidget herself, writing, "Actually the program is rather amusing when Gidget isn't around, but she is around too much." The critic at Look magazine found the show forgettable, commenting that it was a "...blank in my memory...." The critic at The Los Angeles Times actually liked the show, describing it as "delightful."

While Gidget was not a hit with critics, initially it was not a hit with audiences either. It aired on Wednesday night, following The Patty Duke Show, opposite The Beverly Hillbillies on CBS (which ranked no. 7 in the Nielsen ratings for the year) and The Virginian on NBC (which ranked no. 23 for the year). Gidget did not receive good ratings. Unfortunately, this was true of many of ABC's shows in the 1965-1966 season. In an effort to salvage things, ABC decided to retool its schedule dramatically. Among the changes was that Gidget would be moved to Thursday night behind the second weekly episode a brand new show titled Batman on Thursday Night.

While Batman proved to be an outright phenomenon, its spectacular ratings did not help Gidget a lot. Its ratings did rise, but not enough. Unfortunately, Gidget once more aired opposite two popular shows: Daniel Boone on NBC (which ranked no. 26 for the season) and Gilligan's Island on CBS (which ranked no. 22 for the season). The fact that both shows appealed to largely the same young audience that Gidget did probably did not help.

It was then in May 1965 that ABC elected not to renew Gidget for the 1966-1967 season. It was then that something remarkable happened. Quite simply during the summer, Gidget rose in the Nielsen ratings to the point that it was in the top ten. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. Even with its late surge in the ratings, ABC would not be bringing Gidget back. Regardless, the late surge in the ratings for Gidget did confirm Sally Field's popularity, so that Screen Gems and ABC quickly provided her with another show. The Flying Nun debuted in 1967 and proved somewhat successful. Gidget also went into syndication where it proved somewhat more successful than the average single-season show.

It would seem that the late success of Gidget was not lost on producer Harry Ackerman, who would make attempts at new Gidget shows. The 1969 TV movie Gidget Grows Up was a pilot for a new show, in which Gidget, played by Karen Valentine (another brunette) becomes a tour guide at the United Nations. Her father was played by the legendary Bob Cummings and Moondoggie by Paul Petersen of The Donna Reed Show. Unfortunately, Gidget Grows Up failed to become a series. Another pilot movie aired in 1972, Gidget Gets Married. This time Gidget was played by a blonde, Monie Ellis. Macdonald Carey of Days of Our Lives fame played her father, while Michael Burns played Moondoggie. It failed to sell as well. 

It was not until the Eighties that Harry Ackerman would successfully launch a new Gidget series, although this one would be different. Gidget's Summer Reunion was a 1985, syndicated TV movie starring Caryn Richman as Gidget (once more brunette), Dean Butler as Moondoggie, and the legendary William Schallert as Gidget's father. The TV movie proved to be successful enough to launch a syndicated TV series, The New Gidget, again starring Caryn Richman, Dean Butler, and William Schallert. It ran for two seasons. The New Gidget probably should not be considered a sequel to the 1965 series or even Gidget Grows Up and Gidget Gets Married. In 1965, star Caryn Richman was only nine years old.

Today Gidget may be best known as the TV show that launched Sally Field into stardom. While this is certainly true, it seems likely that the show would not have done so had it not been popular with young viewers and continued to do so. While it received low ratings during its run, it would prove to have a better run as a syndicated rerun than most one-season shows. Indeed, it was still being aired on KPLR in St. Louis as late as the Eighties, sometimes back-to-back with The Monkees. Gidget might have lasted only one season, but it still proved to be a success.