Rick Cooper

Observing how nervously Gidget waits for Mark to pick her up, Russ tells her, in his day, wooing the girl was half the fun and he is sorry for the boys, who, by taking the girls for granted, are missing the excitement of the chase. Taking this to heart, Gidget leads Larue and her other friends into subtly getting the boys to be more chivalrous. Knowing the boys are not asking for dates until reports on weekend surfing conditions are in, Gidget plans a slumber party for the girls in her home where they will be incommunicado. The party is held even after the girls learn there will be no surfing that weekend. Russ screens all phone calls, with the girls agreeing to accept only emergency calls. The boys fail to crash the party, but learn the girls will take emergency calls. Using this as a ruse, the boys soon get all of Gidget's guests to leave the party, but everyone is depressed, since they feel they have let Gidget down. However, Gidget is overjoyed when Mark comes to ask for a date a week in advance. Certain the battle is far from won, Gidget decides no one can complain if the boys meet the girls halfway.

Gidget decides that "Ask Helpful Hannah," the advice column in the school paper isn't the least bit helpful. She finds that Norman Crowley, an engineering student, has unwillingly been running the column. When Norman quits, Peggy Bell, the editor, and Miss Beckley, the faculty advisor, persuade Gidget to take over the assignment. Then "Helpful Hannah" begins getting letters signed "Wretched." Gidget feels that the unfortunate writing the letters is in such a sad state that she must take a personal hand in his problem, but her attempts to discover his identity only result in several unfortunate mix-ups. Gidget concludes that her attempts to be helpful have failed when she discovers that "Wretched" is actually Norman. Then Peggy tells her she feels she could make some progress with him if her were not so occupied with model rockets. Gidget writes a feature story hailing Norman's achievements in rocketry. Norman is sure Peggy wrote the story. Although he learns he was mistaken, the story brings him and Peggy together. Happily, Gidget concludes it was all worthwhile.