![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/glhgvkzqiy79q7ix2ada6egsjmrdryiep8g4d4ozcymc9ffl.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=auto\" "\\"82401748\\"")
Though not solely responsible, the book and film certainly played a key part in the explosion of interest in surfing across the United States.<\/p>
October 2021<\/p>
I don\u2019t recall what the prompt was that made me realise I hadn\u2019t read the book Gidget by Frederick Kohner.\u00a0 Considering the book\u2019s place in surfing culture, and the role both the book and the hit movie played in exposing thousands of people to surfing and surf culture, I felt this was rather remiss of me. \u00a0A few clicks and a couple of days later the book was pushed through the letterbox.<\/p>
In 1956 Kathy Kohner started surfing.\u00a0 She was only 15 but hung out at Malibu, California, with surfers such as Miki Dora, Mike Doyle and Micky Munoz.\u00a0 The surfers at Malibu gave her the nickname Gidget (girl midget).<\/p>
Kathy explained to her father, Frederick, that she was going to write a story about her summer days at Malibu but Frederick, a Hollywood screenwriter, fascinated with her tales, new words and phrases that Kathy brought home from the beach, volunteered to write the story for her.<\/p>
Six weeks later the novel Gidget was written and released in 1957, a hit movie version followed in 1959.<\/p>
Though not solely responsible, the book and film certainly played a key part in the explosion of interest in surfing across the United States.<\/p>
To quote from Matt Warshaw\u2019s The History of Surfing, \u201cWhen Gidget got her Hollywood close-up in 1959, it was the starting bell for a nine-year surf boom that took the sport from a California-centric phenomenon to a nation craze to a hot international export\u201d<\/p>
Also, in The History of Surfing, Matt writes \u201cKathy \u201cGidget\u201d Kohner went from an unknown fifteen-year-old Malibu mascot to the subject of a hit movie, which in turn put an entire generation of new surfers in the water \u2013 most of whom decided to hate Gidget as a surf-Eden destroyer until they later came to love it as a memento of their beachgoing youth.\u201d<\/p>
For anyone who has an interest in surf culture I highly recommend this short novel.<\/p>","urlTitle":"malibu-and-gidget","url":"\/blog\/malibu-and-gidget\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/malibu-and-gidget\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/inkydeep.com\/blog\/malibu-and-gidget\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1634483212,"updatedAt":1634498161,"publishedAt":1634498161,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":149030,"name":"inkydeep"},"tags":[],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lutgnyjfsteid5g0fc66ykpherkdeyycyjrpcgxovgjjnikw.png","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lutgnyjfsteid5g0fc66ykpherkdeyycyjrpcgxovgjjnikw.png.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lutgnyjfsteid5g0fc66ykpherkdeyycyjrpcgxovgjjnikw.png.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"Malibu and Gidget","metaDescription":"Gidget, surf culture, Malibu, California","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":11674,"title":"The Life of Ply","url":"\/blog\/the-life-of-ply\/","urlTitle":"the-life-of-ply","division":149030,"description":"6 June 2021","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/2hnkdkc6257uzkaebghwjhyhu29uacpg5r8qbmwcup6hbcwh.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/2hnkdkc6257uzkaebghwjhyhu29uacpg5r8qbmwcup6hbcwh.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":12187,"title":"Collab: Artist & Illustrator Annahita Zielonka","url":"\/blog\/collaboration-artist-illustrator-annahita-zielonka\/","urlTitle":"collaboration-artist-illustrator-annahita-zielonka","division":149030,"description":"Sunrise & Sunset - new t-shirts on inkydeep.com","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/th1qewjp4ttle91myqmpqi85th1y3bclmcucel3a4zzz9d1a.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/th1qewjp4ttle91myqmpqi85th1y3bclmcucel3a4zzz9d1a.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":12077,"title":"Surf film ingredients...","url":"\/blog\/surf-film-ingredients\/","urlTitle":"surf-film-ingredients","division":149030,"description":"Wind + Rain","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/v11vwugyz4jareerfge7fd3dqywbu6vbbr3slo5h3kei6azu.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/v11vwugyz4jareerfge7fd3dqywbu6vbbr3slo5h3kei6azu.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}