Gidget Grows Up Part Seven of Eight

Have you missed me? I thought so. Since the account is still here and functioning, despite the fact that I finally had to remove A Hollywood Christmas because another part of it was flagged (oh well...The whole movie was one big advertisement for Christmas Movie DVD's anyway so who's the loser here. Not me) I have decided to keep going...with a few things I've found that aren't holiday related although this film does have an Easter scene and a Fourth of July Scene.

I also thought it was fitting to bring you this edition of Gidget Grows Up because Room 222 Season One is making it's DVD appearance in March. Finally. Hmmm...wonder if there's a Christmas episode?

Anyway, Karen Valentine, who co-starred in 222 as Student Teacher Alice Johnson stretches her acting legs (well, maybe not) in this Made For TV edition of Gidget movies. And believe it or not, the movie's not that bad at all mostly thanks to the ever bubbly All American everybody's sweetheart (at that time) Valentine, who makes a pretty good Gidget and makes this movie more fun than it would have been otherwise.

Also on hand for some fun is Paul Lynde as a whacked out apartment owner/manager who is buried neck deep in movies nostalgia. He even has a marquee on his apartment building and that makes the brief 75 minutes you'll invest watching this movie worth it as well. Also on hand is Nina Foch, who shines also as a tour guide instructor and watch for a few quick scenes by Noxzema take it all off girl Gunilla Knudson as Moondoggie's main squeeze. Why is she the take it all of girl. You can find that video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_c_O8oJg10.

The job of playing Jeff "Moondoggie" Griffen lands on the shoulders of Paul Petersen from The Donna Reed Show, another series that just had its first season released on DVD and the part fits him although you won't get any songs from him like you did James Darren in the theatrical films. (Petersen did have a hit in the sixties called "She Can't Find Her Keys." Look it up.)

What really doesn't work is the romance between Edward Mulhare as Alex and Valentine's Gidget. When this movie was filmed he was about 46 and Valentine was a spunky 22 who seemed more like she was about 17. So Mulhare comes off as pretty much a lecherous old coot. Sometimes with the right combination, those kinds of relationships work on film. In this one it doesn't.

Which is probably why Gidget's dad, played here quite well by Robert Cummings, finally decides to meddle.

Oh, and we do get a song sung quite a few times by an artist who is unkown to me. This song gives Gidget a lot of time to walk around New York and Grow Up while the lyrics of the song go growing up and reaching out. Kind of fits right in. (By Freezing the end credits, the name of the song is Growing up by Shorty Rogers, sung by Jean King. Hmmm..Where are they now?) At any rate, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of seeing this again, or if it's the first time enjoy it for what it is.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Gidget
• Karen Valentine
• Paul Petersen
• Paul Lynde
• Nina Foch
• Robert Cummings
• Movie of the Week

[anticorpration]

I knew the fireplace wall in Alex's apartment looked familiar. Well it goes along with them using Bewitched cast member "Uncle Arthur". LOL

[Gnillob802]

Actually Bewitched used the Gidget sets. The original Gidget (1959) filmed on location at a real home in Santa Monica. The facade of this home was later reversed on the backlot of Columbia's Ranch and used for TV's Bewitched (1964). The patio and living room sets seen in Columbia's Gidget Goes to Rome (1963) were adapted for the permanent Bewitched in 1964.

[tomservo56954]

The Gidget/Alex romance may have been arranged more to benefit two other parties...ABC (it aired both Valentine's ROOM 222 and Mulhare's THE GHOST & MRS. MUIR--picking it up for a second season after a year on NBC) and 20th Century-Fox (it produced both shows).

[Gnillob802]

....I should also add that the Kitchen and some other exterior sets were first seen on Hazel.

[TIPTON340]

If you notice carefully throughout the film they use the "Bewitched" sets -- the house, the office, and so on.

[Yourdeadmeat69]

MY FAVORITE! Gidget get's LAID by old fart!