In honor of Women’s History Month, Sadie Magazine is going to finish off the rest of our March days with anecdotes about teenage girls that define cool in all different ways. The first one up is classic cool, as this teen set the precedent years ago...
Gidget, surfboard in hand, was the face of American teens in the 1950’s…and behind this face was a name—Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman, the inspiration for the television & movie character. In the 1950s, Kathy was one of the only girls to come of age surfing the waves of Malibu. At a time when the surf culture was even more male dominated than it is now, it was practically unheard of for a girl to hop on a board. Imagine how that must have made the boys feel—a tad jealous, and probably pretty impressed too! Other girls may have tried here and there, but from the moment Kathy rode her first wave, she defied convention and fell in love with surfing. And get this—she started surfing at 15 years old! It is even rumored that she sometimes traded her lunch for a ride on a surfboard. Gidget: The Little Girl With Big Ideas was written by her father, Frederick Kohner, and was based entirely on her journals of her trips to Malibu. The book sold thousands of copies, and in 1959, it was adapted into a film…and then two more films, Gidget, Gidget Goes Hawaiian, and Gidget Goes to Rome. Eventually, the famous television series starring Sally Field was made. Gidget is still an American girl icon, and an inspiration to surf betties everywhere. —Josie, Editor, SadieMagazine.com
I enjoyed reading your article on Giget. As a teacher of the most impressionable teen- age girls, 12-15, I am glad to have something for them to read other than make-up and fashion yet "cool". I am passing out this web page to all my students as well as sadiemagazine's.
Posted by: Angela Logan | March 24, 2008 at 05:35 AM