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chapter 46 Gidget (1957) Frederick Kohner 1905–1986 Frederick Kohner, a Czechoslovakian Jew, studied in Paris and Vienna before emigrating to the United States following the rise of Nazi Germany . A longtime screenwriter in Hollywood, Kohner enjoyed his most success with the novel Gidget, based on his teenage daughter’s experiences at Malibu in the late 1950s. The popularity of the novel inspired a series of movies, additional novels (Gidget Goes Hawaiian, 1961; Gidget Goes to Rome, 1962), television shows, and a play. Gidget was the initial spark for the enormous popularity of surfing in mainstream culture that began in the early 1960s and continues today; because Kohner was not a surfer himself, Gidget has also become synonymous with the exploitation of the sport by non-surfers. Part of the novel’s appeal is its precocious heroine, fifteen-year-old Gidget, who recalls Princess Kelea of Maui in her dedication to surfing. As Kelea, in one version of the story, insists that “the surf-board was her husband, and she would never embrace any other,” so Gidget concludes about her summer at Malibu: “All things considered—maybe I was just a woman in love with a surfboard.”1 [Editor’s note: In the opening chapters, Gidget is swimming at Malibu Beach and must be rescued by Moondoggie on his surfboard; so begins her romantic interest with both Moondoggie and surfing. The story develops Gidget’s acceptance by the Malibu surfers (including their leader, Kahoona) and her onagain off-again relationship with Moondoggie. The action culminates in a wild beach party and an out-of-control brush fire. The next morning, Moondoggie discovers that Gidget has spent the night in Kahoona’s beach hut.] Fourteen I must have been sleeping way into the morning because when I opened my eyes the sun was filtering into the hut and I heard a roar from the outside as if all hell was loose. 175 The great Kahoona was nowhere in sight. My blouse and skirt looked a mess, all wrinkled up, and I decided to go out and have a morning swim before breakfast. I slipped out of my clothes and threw them on the cot and just as I was about to head out, the door to the hut opened. The sudden impact of the sun blinded me for a moment. “Morning, Cass,” I called out. Anybody could have made that crazy mistake. The guy who stood in the door frame was almost as tall as Cass and he wore jeans and a T-shirt like him. It wasn’t the great operator, however. It was one of his sponsors. It was no other than Moondoggie. But it wasn’t only me who hadn’t recognized him at first. There seemed to be something wrong with Jeff’s eyesight too. He gazed about as if he couldn’t focus very well, then he saw my skirt and blouse and I guess it was then that he recognized me. “Gidget,” he said flatly. “What in hell . . . .” My mind was jumping around so quickly—I hardly could keep track of it. Has he been looking for me? Did he think I had been sleeping with the great Kahoona? And if so—what would I tell him? I didn’t know what to say so I just gave a fine imitation of a deaf mute and tried to brush past him and get outside. “Hey, wait a moment . . .” He had grabbed me by the wrist. Well, here it comes, I thought. “I want you to answer me . . .” “Why should I?” I said. “You didn’t even talk to me last night.” “But now, now I want you to tell me . . .” For a moment I felt an impulse to call for help, when I spotted the great Kahoona. He had just come out of the surf which was something tremendous. Waves about twenty feet high. That’s the way it must look at Makaha at Zero break, I thought. I wished I could have seen him coming riding in. I had never seen them that bitchen, on my word of honor. Jeff still had me by the wrist when the Kahoona came towards us, his board shouldered. “Hi, man,” he said, quite calmly. “What a surf!” Only then he noticed the way Jeff was almost crushing my wrist. He didn’t say anything. He put the board down and leaned it against the hut. Then of all things he started to whistle. I guess it was...

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