Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story to screen at Sunscreen Film Festival
The real Gidget, Kathy Zuckerman.
“Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story,” a documentary written, directed and produced by Brian L. Gillogly, will be screened at the Sunscreen Film Festival at 3 p.m., Saturday, at the Hermosa Beach Community Theater, Kathy “Gidget” Zuckerman and pro surfer Carla Rowland will join the two-time Emmy-winning director for questions and answers after the screening.
The documentary explores the story of the real Gidget, Kathy Zuckerman, as well as the evolution of the Gidget icon in film and on TV, and its influence on surfing and society. The film has screened from Noosa, Australia, to Coco Beach, Florida, to record-breaking crowds.
Gidget grew up in Pacific Palisades, the daughter of Academy Award winning screenwriter Frederick Kohner. His novel Gidget: The Little Girl with Big Ideas, was published in 1957 and is credited with popularizing surfing.
Gillogly learned to surf in the South Bay and watched his first surf films at the Pier Avenue Junior High auditorium in Hermosa Beach. Years later, as a student at UCLA, he helped regional surf film makers, including Hal Jepson, Scott Dittrich and Tuzo Jerger, show their films at Pier Ave.
Local surfers Holly Beck and Shelly Meistrell are featured in the documentary and veteran Manhattan Beach editor Brian Denny assisted in the edting.
Producer Brian L. Gillogly with the real Gidget, Kathy Zuckerman.
ER: How did you come to do a documentary about Gidget?
BG: I met the Kathy Zuckerman in 1980 when I was researching a feature for Surfer Magazine about Hollywood’s relationship with surfing. The thrust of the article was that many Hollywood notables surfed. A footnote was that there was an actual Gidget, Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, the daughter of Frederick Kohner who wrote the landmark 1957 novel, “Gidget.”
In 1999, it dawned on me that Kathy’s story would make an inspirational documentary. My own daugther was eight then and I likeed the idea that, like Gidget, she could be whatever she wanted to be if she set her mind to it.
ER: How did the project evolve over the years?
BG: My original thought was to center it completely on Kathy. But as I got deeper into the project I realized that the story is bigger than one person. Kathy is part of the icon, but so were the film and TV Gidgets, particularly Sandra Dee of the orginal feature film [1959], Deborah Wally of “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” [1961] and, of course, Sally Field, the TV “Gidget” [1965]. Although each portrayal was a little different, they all shared a wonderful sense of enthusiasm as they forged into the man’s world of surfing. The Malibu pit crew and the Hollywood directors who brought the movies and TV series to life all had unique insights into the true story.
ER: What was the biggest surprise of the project?
BG: You would not believe how many women who, when I mentioned the project, said, “Oh, I love Gidget.” This was particularly true of those who grew up with Sally Field’s “Gidget.” They were tremendously inspired by the character, plus the show harkened back to a more carefree time in their lives. Many of them never made it to Malibu or went surfing, but the Gidget girl still lives inside them.
ER: How was it working with Kathy, the real Gidget?
BG: I’ve spent lots of time with Kathy, to the point that I feel part of her extended family. Kathy is still that spunky surfer girl, which can sometimes make getting along with her, well, interesting. Of course, if she didn’t have that spunk, there never would have been a Gidget in the first place.
For more about the Sunscreen Film Festival and “Accidental Icon: the Real Gidget Story” visit ssffwest.com.