Gidget: All the Best Diseases Are Taken

Gidget: All the Best Diseases Are Taken
ABC
November 17, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B

A very '60s episode, with Gidget trying to recruit a protest-singer (sort of Dylanesque) to perform at the protest she's organizing at the local movie theater.  (Yes, that's Mr. Whipple, Dick Wilson, as Mr. Lefferts.)  Much of the episode is from Russ's perspective, as he wants to support her idealism but is concerned, especially when it may lead to trouble at his college (UCLA, we know from earlier episodes).  I like that there's no clear right or wrong here, and in fact that lack of clarity is addressed in the episode itself.  Amusingly, John (who appears without Anne for a change) organized a mild protest at his college.  (I think he's supposed to be a grad student now.)  Larue is loyal to Gidget like always, and doesn't walk out on the initial protest, unlike their male friend.  We find out that Larue has a brother at Berkeley.  And, yes, this is more than a dozen years before Fields did Norma Rae.  The title I believe refers to the fact that Gidget, because of her tender age, has to address smaller issues.  And the title of one of the movies, Beach Party Vampire, may be a gentle dig at William Asher.