Anyone seen my Gidget?

Suzie Harrison

To surf or not to surf has never been a question in the mind of

Kathy Zuckerman. She dove into the lifestyle as a teenage girl back

in the 1950s. She defined the surf lifestyle for millions of people.

If she sounds like a real-life Gidget, she should. She is.

The surfing icon paid a visit to Laguna as part of the Laguna Art

Museum’s Surf Culture Lecture Series. “All About Gidget” took place

Sunday at the museum.

Zuckerman had a lei around her head and the appropriate California

glow -- it was easy to picture her back in her teenage surf days.

Told when she was a young girl that she was a girl midget because

of her stature compared to others on the beach, she came to be known

as Gidget among the Malibu surfers.

Zuckerman, along with author Deanne Stillman, recalled the world

of Gidget and her influence in popularizing the surf culture.

Her life story as Gidget and the happenings at Malibu Beach in the

‘50s were first published in a book written by her father, Frederick

Kohner.

“It was loosely based on diaries as a teenager I wrote about the

giant combers, my big crush,” Zuckerman said. “It’s a wonderful story

that captured my life at Malibu.”

The connection between Zuckerman and Stillman is that, as a

writer, Stillman studied subculture and became interested in the West

Coast’s subculture when doing research for her book “29 Palms.”

She had been so charmed by Kohner’s Gidget that she had to track

her down.

“It struck me as ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ for girls,” Stillman

said.

Once she realized that Gidget was based on a real person and the

book was about real surf life in the ‘50s -- she knew she had to find

the real Gidget.

“She tracked me down and I read her some of the diary passages,”

Zuckerman said.

“It was the Holy Grail of surfing, with all the language, slang,

idioms, characters -- all have found their way into American pop

culture,” Stillman said.

“It was like going into King Tut’s Tomb when she unveiled them,”

she added.

Zuckerman was comfortable with her father writing the book. Though

she said most of her characters were real, some of the material was

embellished for dramatic purpose.

“Our bond was so incredible and trusting,” Zuckerman said.

During the lecture, Stillman prodded Zuckerman to read some

passages of the summer she turned 16.

“The board felt like feathers, I slide on the board and shoot over

the foam like a steamboat, as high as houses,” Zuckerman read.

She said that bit was somewhat embellished, but her feelings were

real.

“Thinking back, the innocence of the time, I really had respect

for the time I was a kid, a real sense of priority,” Zuckerman said.

“Guys hanging at Malibu -- I really wanted to be a part of this

group.”

Zuckerman said that she is thrilled that there seems to be a

Gidget revival and new surfers exploring Gidget now are what keep it

alive.

The book can be bought online and in most bookstores around the

country.