Those Gidget Movies

 Hi there

When I was a young teen I saw the movie "Gidget".  It starred Sandra Dee in the title role.  She fell in love with surfer Moondoggie.  I fell in love with Moondoggie too.  He was played by James Darren.  Oh, didn't my heart beat happily over the guy?

above: Sandra Dee and James Darren in "Gidget"        Stock photo

I so wanted to be Gidget.  Not just because she was cute, pretty, and tiny, but mainly because she was lucky enough to be loved by Moondoggie.

About thirty years later when I was a typist-in-charge in the government, there was a typist in the pool named Gidget.  I wondered why her parents had decided to call her that name?  I've now met several other Gidgets and I'm still wondering.

In the movie, 'Gidget' was a made-up name for our tiny heroine.  It was short for Girl- Midget. ... G-midget...  Gidget.    I would never call a child by that name.  Maybe the parents of these Gidgets never realised what a millstone it might be around the necks of their daughters?   Especially if they grew to be tall.

About ten years ago I met James Darren when I was in Las Vegas.  He'd stuck to his singing skills (surely original fans have never forgotten "Goodbye Cruel World"") and, now, had turned into a bit of a Vegas crooner.  Because of his crooner skills, he'd had a big continuing role in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" as a lounge singer hologram.  I sighed all over again when he started warbling.  James Darren certainly stood up to my expectations!

 

James Darren passed away recently.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013!!!!!!

Well, another year has gone by, and another year ahead of us.  So, happy new year to the two people who read this blog!  If I thought for one moment that more than 2 people were reading this, I would scream with embarrassment, quickly slam shut the laptop lid ,and never sign in to the site again.

Every year, more and more of my fave film stars and singers that I loved as I was growing up, are dying.  They were all, maybe, just a little bit older than me, or the same age.  How sad.

When I was a young teen, I fell in love with James Darren. I first saw him in "Gidget".   Goodness, I loved him so much (he came third, in my estimation, after Elvis Presley and Sal Mineo).  I was so happy when he got a leading role in a Star Trek series.  When I was in Las Vegas three years ago, I paid (yes, yes, I did, I did!!!) to have a Star Trek "Beam Me Up" Breakfast with him and about 50 other fans.  He moved from table to table to talk to us, a bit like speed dating, probably.  Because the others on the table knew how much I adored him, they let me monopolise him.  And, do you know what?  He is just as gorgeous now as he ever was back in the early 60's.  I also went to a show of his where he sang a whole lot of Sinatra-type songs, and he was totally divine.  (Totally divine?  Goodness I've retro'd back to the 40's).

I've been doing a lot of reading these holidays on Kindle.  For the first 6 months I only bought free books, then I wandered up into the $1.99 league and, oh dear, now I'm spending $2.99.  Where will this addiction end? 

I went swimming this morning (January 2, NZ time).  The waves were ferocious around Oriental Bay and there was nobody there, but at Hataitai Beach it was quite calm.   If J and I are swimming separately we try to write messages on the floor of the changing sheds to tell each other that we've been there.  Last week, apparently, J spent some time sculpting her initials with twigs and shells and leaving it on one of the seats in the changing rooms - a piece of artistic work I missed completely. 

We've completed our "at least 5 swims a month for 2012.  I am so happy and excited about this.   J presented me with my certificate - she has one, too - and the annual cup.  What a weight of our minds.  What will be this year's challenge, I wonder?

My Las Vegas (Star Trek) Holiday

I went to the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas at the start of August 2010. I should be in to knitting, and cooing over grand-children, and watching "Days of our Lives", right? Wrong. To heck with all that aforementioned stuff, I'm a "Star Trek" fan, in all its incarnations. I'm not a rabid fan, I just feel comfortable watching the shows.

So many stars. Seventy of them. From Shatner, right through to practically every woman Kirk had ever kissed on classic Trek (he was on stage in front of 15,000, the women were in the dealers' room hawking ancient photographs of their moment of glory). Attendees at the con ranged in age from about 10 years to, well ... me, and older (many of the stars would have topped me in age!)

What amazed me about Shatner on stage was how quick, witty, sharp he is. He ran rings around everybody. I thought his talk with Nimoy might have been scripted, but when he answered questions from the audience, he was just as quick and witty, running retorts out so fast that my head was reeling (we all have friends like Shatner, yes?: we love them to bits but within a half hour of greeting them, we just want to shout 'slow down, I've got a headache'; we couldnt possibly keep up with their sharp wit and intelligence on a longterm basis).

Present were Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Jeri Ryan, Jonathan Fraikes, Leonard Nimoy, etc.

I went to three "Beam Me Up Breakfasts" with about twelve stars, including James Darren (my childhood idol. He's still delicious). The breakfasts were like speed dating. The stars took turns sitting at every table (of about six) for five minutes. You had something like 15 seconds to take photographs at the beginning of the breakfasts. (In total, I took 169 photos, of which about nine came out, the rest were blurred because I zoomed in most of the time. Damn, my new Canon camera which I figure I hadnt learnt how to work properly!)

I went to a dinner at the top of the Stratosphere (equiv to our Skytower) where several of the Star Trek stars did some filking (putting different words to popular songs). Armin (Quark) and Max (Rom) were brilliant, especially dressing up in their Ferengi 'heads' and singing "Viva the Nagus" (the Nagus is the boss of the Ferengi race) instead of "Viva Las Vegas" (see photo).

One of the most stirring moments was at the dessert evening when four (male) fans who couldn't sing, bellowed out to karaoke "Faith of the Heart" (Enterprise theme). Everyone joined in, waving arms to music, swaying cigarette lighters, etc.

The entire convention was worth double the price and is on every year. Next year it will be at the Rio Suites instead of the Las Vegas Hilton because it just keeps growing and a bigger venue is needed. I believe NZ's Karl Urban will be there in 2011.