Gidget Grows Up

Gidget Grows Up
ABC
December 30, 1969
TV-Movie, Dramedy
VHS
C+

Twenty-two-year-old Karen Valentine, around the time she started Room 222, plays the latest but far from the last incarnation of Francie "Gidget" Lawrence.  She has some Sally-Fieldesque mannerisms, like this sort of duck-footed walk when she's in a hurry, but she also makes the part her own.  I wish that the rest of the movie were at her level, but the performances range from pretty good to forgettable.  Bob Cummings is the latest Professor Russell Lawrence, while Donna Reed's Paul Petersen plays Moondoggie, and Irishman Edward Mulhare (the Captain from The Ghost & Mrs. Muir) plays Australian Alex MacLaughlin.  And Paul Lynde is sort of Paul Lynde if he were a grown-up '30s child star.

The main problem is in the writing.  The story is based on the novel Gidget Goes to New York, and John McGreevey had written for the Gidget sitcom, so that would seem to bode well.  But there are too many underdeveloped plot threads, including both of Gidget's romances.  We're supposed to believe Gidget is in love, and the two men are in love with her, but we never really get any sense of it.  She's apparently going to a New York college while working at the UN, after two years of studying in Europe, but we never hear about any of her classes or even see a campus montage.  Her tour guide boss is set up to be a self-described "old biddy" but we never get an actual confrontation.  Also, although this is clearly the '60s (Valentine's white go-go boots are a strong reminder), it feels odd to have Jeff stationed in Greenland and about to be "shipped out to closer to the action," without this discussed any further.  And so on.  Still, I can't really knock a movie that gets Paul Lynde into an Easter Bunny costume.


Helen Funai, as Minnie Chan, would return for the '72 Gidget TV-movie.  Nina Foch, who's Bibi Crosby, would appear on That Girl.  Hal Frederick, who plays Lee Basumba, would do a couple voices for Wait Till Your Father Gets Home.  Harlen Carraher, who's Ben, would have two Brady roles.  Lloyd Kino, who plays the Japanese Delegate, would be a Soldier on M*A*S*H four years later.  And, yes, that's 21-year-old Michael Lembeck as Arnold, his first on-screen role.

Since this closes out the '60s (airdate-wise anyway), I will give you my Top Nine of the decade.  (Too many B's to choose from for a tenth best.)

1. Gilligan's Island: The Producer--The only A- so far and just a delight on so many levels.
2. Gilligan's Island: Castaway Pictures Presents--Both the filming of the movie and the result are funny and sometimes sexy.
3. Gilligan's Island: Don't Bug the Mosquitoes--Three rock bands for the price of one!
4. That Girl: Thanksgiving Comes But Once a Year, Hopefully--Don, Ann, and their parents, the kind of show they should've done more of, especially in the later seasons.
5. That Girl: Decision Before Dawn--Great cameos by Larry Storch and Vic Tayback, mixed with the Don & Ann and Lew & Helen couples.  Donald serenading Lew is hysterical.
6. Gilligan's Island: The Postman Cometh--A shipper's delight and some fun celebrity impressions.
7. That Girl: The Other Woman--Farce that works, with Ethel Merman.
8. Gilligan's Island: The Second Ginger Grant--Identity-swapping, including gender-swapping, plus a new take on Gilligan/Mary Ann.
9. That Girl: Leaving the Nest Is For the Birds--You wouldn't think a nagging aunt and a suicidal Jerry Van Dyke could lead to a funny episode, but this is much better than it has any right to be.