Gidget: Take a Lesson

Gidget: Take a Lesson
ABC
March 10, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B

Beverly Washburn, who was on the "slumber party" episode, returns, this time with parents who have other Gidget credits.  Her father is played by the incomparable Paul Lynde, who'd be one of the high points in two of the TV-movies.  And her mother, Jeff Donnell, was Gidget's mother in the second and third big-screen movies (which means that she was "married" to Don Porter in another version of Gidget reality).  The fun of this episode is mostly in seeing Field and Lynde play off of each other, with the episode ending with her imitating him.  Also, for a native Californian like me, it's funny to hear the references to the Valley and Pasadena.  Note, the cast seems unsure whether Washburn's character is named Sheryl or Shirley.  And I assume that Lynde having a "Cousin Arthur" is a Bewitched in-joke, not unlike the mentions of Liz Montgomery on the Ding-bats episode.  (Besides the William Asher connection, the Stevenses' house was neighbors with Gidget's.)