Gidget (film)

Gidget (film)

Gidget is a 1959 Columbia Pictures CinemaScope feature film. It stars Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, and James Darren in a story about a teenager's initiation into the California surf culture and her affiliated romance with a young surfer. The screenplay was written by Gabrielle Upton, a nom de plume of Gillian Houghton who was then head writer of the soap opera The Secret Storm. It was based upon Frederick Kohner's 1957 novel Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas. The film was directed by Paul Wendkos. Gidget was the precursor to the "beach party film" genre and was followed by two sequel films, various television series, several telemovies, and the spoof Psycho Beach Party. Gidget received one award nomination.

Gidget is credited by numerous sources (Stoked! A History of Surf Culture by Drew Kampion; The Encyclopedia of Surfing by Matt Warshaw; Riding Giants documentary film by Stacy Peralta - to name just three) as being the single main influence to bring surfing and the surfing subculture into the American mainstream.