Gidget

Gidget Lawrence, fifteen and a half years old, falls in love with Jeff, a college student, and takes up surfing to be with him. Gidget has a healthy, trusting relationship with her widowed father, Russell Lawrence, an English professor. However, Gidget's married sister, Anne, constantly checks on Gidget. In this, Anne is abetted by her husband, John Cooper, a student psychiatrist. Anne comes upon Gidget's diary and reads of a romantic episode, described with lurid overtones. Anne and John immediately relay their find to Russell. Slightly worried, Russell discusses possible problems that may have arisen for Gidget. When Gidget finally learns what he is referring to, she points out that the incident is entirely imaginary, being dated for the following day. Russell agrees to go along when Gidget writes another postdated entry, stating she is about to end it all. On reading it, Anne and John rush to the beach with Russell in tow. There, Jeff has been playing up to another girl to annoy Gidget. With the help of her friend, Larue, Gidget reaches an understanding with Jeff. Anne and John are embarrassed by the way they have been misled, but it is apparent that despite Russell's warning, they will not stop trying to run Gidget's life.

Gidget tells Russ she hasn't a date for Saturday's Luau. Suddenly both seize on John, Anne's husband, as the logical last minute choice as an escort. Gidget's appeal for sisterly help puts Anne in a generous mood. She overrules John's protests, convincing him he could use his research at the Luau for a term paper. Before the Luau, Anne begins to worry when she sees how mature some of Gidget's girl friends are, particularly "Treasure." Anne and Russ wait for the pair's return, until Anne, jittery, decides to go home. At the Luau, John achieves a unique notoriety with the kids by the direct, sensational nature of his field work questions. Unable to contain herself, Anne dons a Luau outfit and sets out for the party. Russ, deciding Gidget and John need protection from Anne, also heads for the beach. Arriving while John is really swinging, Anne lights into him, just as Russ is dragged from the bushes. At home, Russ moans that he'll never live down his reputation as a "Peeping Tom," but Gidget concludes her friends will talk about her family for one reason, the love and protectiveness they showed for Gidget.

Twenty-eight year old Cass Cobb, known to the surfing set as the Great Kahuna, takes up with Gidget to fend off Buff, a blonde beauty who has followed him from Hawaii. Not only does her relationship with the older man fill her waking hours, but Gidget dreams of an idyllic life with him on a native island. Russ goes to the beach to meet Kahuna. To Gidget's disgust, they become friendly. Russ gets Gidget to invite Kahuna to dinner. Kahuna arrives, having completely divested himself of all traces of his unconventional way of life. Gidget is stunned when Kahuna tells of his plans to settle down to a normal, completely unromantic existence. Although Gidget feels she is the victim of a plot hatched by Russ and Kahuna, she tries to fit herself into Kahuna's plans. Before he leaves, Kahuna suggests she have a talk with her father. The next day, at the beach, Gidget reads two letters, one from Kahuna, the other from Jeff, at college. Kahuna's letter announces he is settling down with Buff in Oahu; Jeff's tells of his plans to roam the world until he is about thirty.

Professor Russell Lawrence complains that surfing has become an obsession with Gidget. Pointing to his involvement in his professional duties, Gidget persuades her father to spend time at the beach with her. There Russ meets Sally Combs, an attractive woman in her mid-thirties. Gidget becomes alarmed by her father's interest in Sally, especially when Larue refers to Sally as a gold digger. When Russ takes Sally to dinner, Gidget gets really worried. Her efforts to arouse Anne and John fail, particularly when John, echoing her father, says that she is projecting herself into a mother role. At a late hour, when Russ doesn't return, Gidget, imagination working overtime, decides he has met with an accident. Gidget phones the police. Officer Joe Hanley locates Sally and Russ and is nonplussed when he discovers Russ' age. He tells Russ his mother wants him. Russ arrives home, furiously decrying the fact that he believed he could treat Gidget as an adult. He relents when Gidget makes him understand that she was genuinely concerned about his wellbeing. Gidget concludes that the world's problems arise because there is some adult in every child and some child in every adult.

Anne leaves John, claiming that he is so involved in his studies that he completely ignores her. With Anne taking over her room, constantly criticizing her and tying up the phone, Gidget searches for a way to get Anne to return to John. Mark Hillman tries to enroll Gidget in a dance course. Gidget arranges for Mark to give Anne a dance lesson, and phones John to come to the Lawrence home while the lesson is in progress. When Russ warns her not to meddle, Gidget tries to keep the three from meeting. All her attempts fail. The net result is that John and Anne, both blaming Gidget, are driven further apart. Sensing that she can effect a reconciliation if she gives Anne and John a mutual interest, Gidget sends a beautiful dance instructress to John's apartment. When John learns who sent her, he heads for the Lawrence home. There, forgetting all differences, Anne and John make up, after spanking Gidget, whom they regard as their mutual enemy. Gidget vows to stay out of other people's problems.

Gidget decides that the purchase of a hearse owned by King Mannix will make her independent of waiting for lifts to the beach. Although King wants $300 for the hearse, he accepts $6.23 as a down payment. When Russ points out that the old car will be in the repair shop most of the time, Gidget enrolls in the auto shop course at school. Later she learns that Jack Collins and his friends have pooled their money and bought the hearse. To prove that a girl can make it in a man's world, Gidget continues with the course, and also practices on Russ' car. Horrified by the results, Russ has a heart-to-heart talk with Jack. As a result, the boys in the class really treat her as an equal, with all the hard work entailed. Gidget struggles valiantly, but finds that the cost of equality is just too much. She dates Dreamboat, a handsome young man, after selling her share of the hearse to Jack at a hundred percent profit. After Jack takes Gidget and Dreamboat for a ride in the hearse, she decides that no woman is ever helpless as long as there is a man around and she remembers she is a woman.