Gidget Grows Up

This is a late 60s incarnation of Gidget...with Karen Valentine instead of Sandra Dee, Deborah Walley or Sally Field. In fact, to date 8 different ladies have played this character! Because it's the late 60s, the film has a definite stamp of the era--with groovy (?) music and fashions...as well as a love of the UN and an optimism you'd never see today.

When the film begins, Gidget has returned home from a long trip to Europe. During this time, she stupidly send letters to Moondoggie (Paul Peterson) saying she was being wined and dined by a lot of men. He is, not surprisingly, cold towards her and soon announces he's heading off to Greenland...as he's joined the Air Force!

Soon Gidget sees the US ambassador to the UN on TV talking about a need for young folks to volunteer to work as 'Peace Heroes'. Well, in typical Gidget fashion, she rushes into this role--with very little forethought...but lots of energy! She eventually finds herself in a training program and seems to fall into the routine rather well (other than practically causing a major incident involving Mobutu). But there is a hitch...she really does love Moondoggie and vice-versa but neither is willing to take the first step. So, in the meantime, she begins dating a man much, much older (Edward Mulhare, who was 46). Can she ever get down to business with Moondoggie or is she destined to marry this nice Aussie (who actually was played by an Irishman)?

This is mildly enjoyable BUT with one major warning--the music is often god-awful! There are many musical montages which would make most viewers today ill...very ill. Even for the standards of the day, the music sucked and was very invasive. Apart from that, enjoyable and slight--exactly what you'd expect from a Gidget outing.

Loosely adapted from Frederick Kohner's novel "Gidget Goes New York", This 1969 ABC MOW is remarkable principally for two standout performances: Karen Valentine is excellent as Gidget (of the seven women who have portrayed her in cinema and TV, I rank her second only to Sally Field), and Paul Lynde is hilarious as Louis B. Latimer, Gidget's eccentric and narcissistic landlord. Paul Peterson is alright as Jeff (though sometimes boring), and Robert Cummings is a bit flat as Russ Lawrence. Edward Mulhare seems to think he's in a 1960's soap opera. There are some truly beautiful performances in the smaller parts: Nina Fochs, for example, is magnificent as Mrs.Crosby, Gidget's job trainer (shades of Miss Jean Brodie), and the two girls who play Gidget's roommates are delightful and lovable. The plot is lame, and moves slowly, but Valentine and Lynde do a good job of buoying it.

No mention is made of Gidget's mother or sister, perhaps in an attempt to fudge continuity with both the Hollywood movies (no sister Anne) and the 60's sitcom (mother deceased).

Gidget fans will enjoy "Gidget Grows Up", but for anyone else it is a slightly above average MOW.

Another incarnation of Frederick Kohner's enduring "Gidget" character, here a college drop-out tired of the beach (and sometime-boyfriend Jeff) who hears a speech on television from the Ambassador to the United Nations and decides she wants to lend her services. In the lead, Karen Valentine certainly had big, perky shoes to fill, and she does so amiably (though her round, perpetually-teary eyes and overly-sincere gaze makes her seem more like Mary Tyler Moore than Sally Field or Sandra Dee). Gidge gets her foot in the door after arriving in New York City and trains to become a guide at the U.N., dating an older chair member from Australia while rooming with a black girl from Uganda and an Asian girl from the States. It's very neat and tidy, with general asides to the upheaval in our political world circa 1969. There's good location work, including some window browsing at Tiffany and Co., but all of the indoor scenes were obviously filmed on sets (several of which look suspiciously like the "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" interiors from TV). Harmless fluff, bolstered by a strong supporting cast of character actors (including Paul Lynde as a former child star still in love with Helen Twelvetrees!).

I adored this movie when I first watched it as a young thirteen year old on TV when it premiered. I've always loved Karen Valentine ever since I first spotted her on Room 222. What a wonderful movie and step back in time. I have also been trying to find Gidget Goes Hawaiian on the Internet for years, but to no avail. They never show that one anymore. *Sigh* For anyone who Loved the Gidget movies, you are going to LOVE this one. Karen V, Paul L, and Paul P were the absolute BEST! It is great to see Gidget doing something other than surfing and hanging out at the beach. And as much as I have always loved Gidget and Moondoggie as a couple, it was also nice to see her not pining over him this time. I guess she really did "Grow Up!" I Loved It! Thank you for uploading this wonderful movie...

I am so old now I remember watching Gidget Grows Up when it premiered on television when I was twelve years old! :) I loved the on-screen chemistry Karen Valentine had with Edward Mulhare in this film, plus the snappy, upbeat soundtrack. Paul Lynde was also delightful in the supporting cast, and had me laughing out loud. In the intervening years I have re-watched this delightful version numerous times. It's also great to see NYC in 1969 when everything looked so clean and everyone dressed so nicely. It was a different world and honestly I miss it very much. RIP Edward Mulhare, our beloved Captain Gregg. I will always love you.