Gidget Grows Up

Gidget Grows Up is a 1969 American made-for-television comedy film directed by James Sheldon with stars Karen Valentine, Edward Mulhare and Paul Petersen as well as alphabetically listed special guest stars Warner Anderson, Bob Cummings, Nina Foch and Paul Lynde. Freely adapted from the novel Gidget Goes New York by Frederick Kohner, the film premiered on ABC on December 30, 1969, and was intended as a pilot for a possible new Gidget series, possibly a sequel to the 1960s sitcom Gidget.^[1]

Gidget Grows Up
Karen Valentine and Paul Lynde
Genre	Comedy
Based on	Gidget Goes New York by Frederick Kohner
Written by	John McGreevey
Directed by	James Sheldon
Starring	Karen Valentine Edward Mulhare Paul Petersen Guest Stars: Warner Anderson Bob Cummings Paul Lynde Nina Foch
Theme music composer	Shorty Rogers lyrics by Kelly Gordon sung by Jean King
Composer	Shorty Rogers
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Harry Ackerman
Producer	Jerome Courtland
Cinematography	John M. Stephens
Editor	Aaron Nibley
Running time	74 minutes
Production company	Screen Gems
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	December 30, 1969 (1969-12-30)
Related
Gidget Gidget Gets Married

Plot

After two years of college abroad, Gidget returns to Santa Monica. She discovers that the letters she wrote to her boyfriend Jeff, intended to make him jealous, have backfired, and her attempts to patch things up with him are rebuffed. Inspired by a speech she hears on television made by the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, she hops a bus to New York City to work for the United Nations.

She meets the ambassador, who finds her a job, but because she has only two years of college education, the best position the United Nations will offer her is tour guide. She meets and has a fling with Alex Mac Laughlin, an Australian agronomist who finds her and two of her fellow employees an inexpensive Greenwich Village apartment, managed by the eccentric Louis B. Latimer, a grown child actor has-been attempting a comeback as an independent film director.

Gidget has a number of comical and romantic adventures before being reunited with former boyfriend Jeff.

Cast

• Karen Valentine as Gidget
• Edward Mulhare as Alex Mac Laughlin
• Paul Petersen as Moondoggie

Guest stars in alphabetical order

• Warner Anderson as Ambassador Post
• Bob Cummings as Russ Lawrence^[2]
• Nina Foch as Bibi Crosby
• Paul Lynde as Louis B. Latimer

Cast members listed only in end credits

Susan Batson	Diana
Hal Frederick	Lee
Helen Funai	Minnie
Mario Aniov	Abdul
Gunilla Knudsen	Katrina
Doreen Lang	Mrs. Willard
Michael Lembeck	Arnold
Davis Roberts	Bukumbu Representative
Cynthia Lynn	Dispatcher
Donald Symington	Clerk
Harlan Carraher	Ben
Margot Jane	Rae Ellen
Leo G. Morrell	Turkish Delegate
Lloyd Kino	Japanese Delegate
Hugo Bianqui	Italian Delegate

See also

• Gidget (film)
• Gidget Goes Hawaiian
• Gidget Goes to Rome
• Gidget Gets Married
• Gidget's Summer Reunion
• The New Gidget
• List of television films produced for American Broadcasting Company
• United Nations in popular culture