Rickie Sorensen

Gidget tells Russ she hasn't a date for Saturday's Luau. Suddenly both seize on John, Anne's husband, as the logical last minute choice as an escort. Gidget's appeal for sisterly help puts Anne in a generous mood. She overrules John's protests, convincing him he could use his research at the Luau for a term paper. Before the Luau, Anne begins to worry when she sees how mature some of Gidget's girl friends are, particularly "Treasure." Anne and Russ wait for the pair's return, until Anne, jittery, decides to go home. At the Luau, John achieves a unique notoriety with the kids by the direct, sensational nature of his field work questions. Unable to contain herself, Anne dons a Luau outfit and sets out for the party. Russ, deciding Gidget and John need protection from Anne, also heads for the beach. Arriving while John is really swinging, Anne lights into him, just as Russ is dragged from the bushes. At home, Russ moans that he'll never live down his reputation as a "Peeping Tom," but Gidget concludes her friends will talk about her family for one reason, the love and protectiveness they showed for Gidget.

Twenty-eight year old Cass Cobb, known to the surfing set as the Great Kahuna, takes up with Gidget to fend off Buff, a blonde beauty who has followed him from Hawaii. Not only does her relationship with the older man fill her waking hours, but Gidget dreams of an idyllic life with him on a native island. Russ goes to the beach to meet Kahuna. To Gidget's disgust, they become friendly. Russ gets Gidget to invite Kahuna to dinner. Kahuna arrives, having completely divested himself of all traces of his unconventional way of life. Gidget is stunned when Kahuna tells of his plans to settle down to a normal, completely unromantic existence. Although Gidget feels she is the victim of a plot hatched by Russ and Kahuna, she tries to fit herself into Kahuna's plans. Before he leaves, Kahuna suggests she have a talk with her father. The next day, at the beach, Gidget reads two letters, one from Kahuna, the other from Jeff, at college. Kahuna's letter announces he is settling down with Buff in Oahu; Jeff's tells of his plans to roam the world until he is about thirty.

Gidget decides that the purchase of a hearse owned by King Mannix will make her independent of waiting for lifts to the beach. Although King wants $300 for the hearse, he accepts $6.23 as a down payment. When Russ points out that the old car will be in the repair shop most of the time, Gidget enrolls in the auto shop course at school. Later she learns that Jack Collins and his friends have pooled their money and bought the hearse. To prove that a girl can make it in a man's world, Gidget continues with the course, and also practices on Russ' car. Horrified by the results, Russ has a heart-to-heart talk with Jack. As a result, the boys in the class really treat her as an equal, with all the hard work entailed. Gidget struggles valiantly, but finds that the cost of equality is just too much. She dates Dreamboat, a handsome young man, after selling her share of the hearse to Jack at a hundred percent profit. After Jack takes Gidget and Dreamboat for a ride in the hearse, she decides that no woman is ever helpless as long as there is a man around and she remembers she is a woman.

Gidget determines to surprise Russ with an expensive camera for his birthday. After her initial efforts to hold a job and earn the money fail, she hears that the Tom Cat Club, a sophisticated hangout, is hiring waitresses. There, both the interviewer, Miss Conway, and Gidget her" a teenage discotheque serving ice cream in a hundred combinations, where she is hired. Meanwhile, Anne and John question Russ about Gidget's strange babysitting schedule. When Anne finds evidence that Gidget may be working at the Tom Cat Club, Russ goes to investigate. Russ doesn't find Gidget there, but later spots her at a bus stop in front of the Tom Cat. Despite a feeling of betrayal, Russ decides not to confront Gidget at this point. Gidget returns home to find her family waiting. She allays their fears by revealing she has been working at the teenage club to buy Russ a birthday present. Russ is elated, even though Gidget tells him he has set a bad example by even going near the Tom Cat Club.