Patchwork - June 30, 2010

by Donna Smith Ammons

My how the years have flown by! Just yesterday I was a teeny-bopper swooning over Moondoggie in “Gidget Goes Hawaiian.”

Last weekend, I read that he was celebrating his 74th birthday. Unbeleivable--Moondoggie, the love of Gidget’s life--is OLD! He’s no longer the buff surfer of Malibu Beach, who sent teenage hearts throbbing many years ago. Don’t get me wrong, though. Moondoggie has aged well and he’s still one handsome man who makes my heart pump a little faster.

I discovered James Darren aka Moondoggie in 1961 when the movie “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” hit the big screen. Unbeknowst to me, he had already starred in the teen favorite “Gidget” back in 1959. My cousin, Dawn, was four years older than me and I thought I was hot stuff when Mom let me ride the train into Boston with her and a friend to see a double-feature of the two movies. I’m sure Mom would rethink that trip now...but we were safe and sound and just a short distance (maybe 12 miles) away.

At age 11, I fell madly in love. I wanted to be Gidget....I wanted to ride the big waves in Malibu and be serenaded by Moondoggie.

The closest I ever came to surfing was at Cocoa Beach in Florida, when my best friend Carol and I rented surfboards the summer after my freshman year in college. I never mastered the skill, but I have a great picture of me doing my Summer Blonde impersonation laying on a surfboard.

The closest I ever came to Moondoggie was through another best friend, Kathy, who met him while he was performing at Le Bossier in Bossier City years ago. She got to talk to him as part of her public relations job. (I would have slobbered all over myself, so I guess it was better if she had the opportunity. I never thought she appreciated that moment enough, though!)

Today, I have a few albums by my teenage heartthrob and I still read anything I can get my hands on. (Yes, Mr. G, I googled him for this column!)

I never was concerned when stars got older...that is until it came to Moondoggie!! I mean, look at Paul Newman.....he always looked good. John Wayne only got tougher and Clark Gable left us still looking like Rhett Butler. Besides that, there’s a certain appeal that older men exude.....they don’t get older, only better!! Take Fess Parker, for instance. The ultimate Davy Crockett, who inspired the coonskin cap and Disney movies, died at 85, several months ago. Needless to say, I was saddened....because he was one of my favorites, too!

Moondoggie has entered his “Golden Years” and unfortunately I’m not far behind.