"Gidget" (1965)

When I see the mature actress that Sally Field is today, it is hard to reconcile that woman with the girl she played on the 60s sitcom "Gidget". This was not the first trifle of a sitcom to be aired on TV, and it probably won't be the last. The show was based on a 1959 movie of the same name, that starred Sandra Dee.

Gidget was actually Francine Lawrence's (Field) nickname. It was a melding of the words "girl" and "midget". As Gidget was female and short (Ms. Field is under 5 feet tall, I believe), the name fit. The teenager lived at home with her dad, a widower who was a college professor. Anne and John Cooper (Betty Conner and Peter Deuel) were Gidget's sister and brother-in-law. Gidget and her friend Larue (Lynette Winter) found as much fun as they did trouble in school and on the sunny California beaches they hung out on. Gidget's college boyfriend Jeff (Stephen Mines) was out of the picture a lot.

Ms. Field appeared in a couple of more sitcoms including "The Flying Nun" (1967-1970), then rocked the world by proving she could take on serious roles. Peter Deuel later appeared in the short-lived Western, "Alias Smith and Jones" (1971-1973).