I recently had the privilege of meeting the real-life Gidget—that’s right, the famous Malibu Beach surfer girl who inspired a generation.
I met Kathy Kohner Zuckerman and her husband, Marvin, in Huntington Beach at an Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser where she was the featured speaker.
Re-runs of the 1960’s era “Gidget” TV show were a favorite of mine while growing up in rural Ohio in the 1980’s. For though separated from the Gidget TV character by time and geography, I felt a real connection with this “good girl” who could hang with the hunky surfers while not compromising on character or personality.
In all of my forty-four years combined I don’t think I’ve ever had the energy of one day in the life of the real-life Gidget. She was inspiring, full of life and a joy to behold.
She described growing up in Brentwood and frequenting Malibu beach with her family. It was there she was introduced to 1950’s beach culture. She was one of the few girls to take up surfing, and her surfer friends (some of California’s surfing pioneers) gave her the nickname “Gidget” (a contraction of “girl” and “midget”) giving birth to the legend.
She had kept an ongoing diary of her beach adventures. She read an excerpt that told the story of a particularly embarrassing day—her bathing suite kept falling down. She said she was red, and not from the sun.
She shared these stories with her parents and told her dad she wanted to write a book.
Her father, Fredereick Kohner, a Hollywood a screenwriter, wrote “Gidget” in six weeks. It was an immediate best seller and eventually sold 500,000 copies. It spawned movies and the 60s TV show.
In real life Gidget, was a serious surfer who worked hard to master the waves. She was listed number seven of the 25 most influential surfers for “Surfer Magazine’s” 40th anniversary issue.
She was also named “Woman of the Year” in 2011 for the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame. Her plaque is directly in front of the Wells Fargo ATM machine on Main Street.
When she was fifty five, she rejoined Mike Doyle to surf again and said it was “a wonderful day.” Although she doesn’t surf anymore she does enjoy bodyboarding.
She has been married to Marvin Zuckerman for the past forty-seven years. When asked if he liked to surf, he said, “No.” He doesn’t even care for the beach.
Gidget currently works at Duke’s of Malibu as a hostess.