The screenplay was written by Gillian Houghton, who was then head writer of the soap opera The Secret Storm, using the pen name Gabrielle Upton.

Russ and Dorothy Lawrence grant their daughter's request as an early birthday present and the excited youngster returns to the beach to surf.

Kahuna is a Korean War Air Force veteran twice the age of Gidget who is fed up with all the rules he had to live by when he flew combat missions, and dropped out of normal society.

The cops are called to break up the fight between Kahuna and Moondoggie and, after leaving the beach house, they find Gidget stranded with a flat tire and without her driver's license.

[11] Howard Thompson wrote in the New York Times of April 23, 1959, "[The film] is enough to make anybody leave one of the neighborhood theatres, where it opened yesterday, and light out for Long Island Sound.

"[14] Harold Whitehead of the Montreal Gazette said that "this is a pretty aimless little item about surf-board acrobats and their peculiar views on life, but it is saved from complete lack of point by a charming performance from Sandra Dee, a pert little blonde teen-ager who is making a name for herself in the movies these days.

in the Montreal Star called it "a pleasant little comedy-romance [...] in which the teenagers are depicted as healthy and attractive young people— none of them are suffering from frustration or neurosis, none of them are juvenile delinquents.

"[16] A critic for the New York Daily News remarked that "adolescense is so seldom lensed without distortion that "Gidget" is a welcome sight for eyes sorely tired of the delinquency angle.

"[17] Marjory Adams of The Boston Globe remarked called the film "sparking and very youthful entertainment, designed to appeal to those under 25, but the intelligence of the adult theatregoer won't be insulted.

[19] Helen Bower of the Detroit Free Press called the film "summer sea-sand-and-sun fun" and noted that "older people can enjoy watching the bright, happy young ones idling away the hours on the Pacific ocean beach at Mali-bu, where much of the movie is set.

"[20] Mildred Martin of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that "the film is spiked with a song or two, spends endless Eastman Colored CinemaScope footage on "riding the curl" and other aspects of surfboarding and fairly crawls with energetic, carefree youth in all types of bathing costumes.

"[21] R.H. Gardner of The Baltimore Sun wrote that "it would be ironic if in the rubble of our present civilization, future generations unearthed a print of "Gidget," for, after seeing it, they'd never understand the kind of people we were.

Its characters—answering to the names of Moondoggie, Kahoona, Lover Boy, B. L., Hot Shot, Waikiki, Lord Byron, etc.—look like human beings instead of shaggy dogs, cartoon creations or science-fiction monsters, but their behavior brands them as products of a culture with which I am totally unfamiliar.

"[22] Kaspar Monahan of The Pittsburgh Press wrote that "although Gidget was obviously designed to appeal to the younger set, there's no law against an oldster viewing it and even enjoying it.

In fact, I found the new arrival at the Harris a most refreshing and original slant on the troubles and problems besetting a young maiden on the threshold of womanhood.

"[23] Leonard Mendlowitz of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph wrote that "there are no weighty problems or significant messages in this light and bright musical, might well have been called 'How Frannie Got her Fraternity Pin.

Campbell Dixon stated, in The Daily Telegraph that Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's Journey Into Autumn, "which will corrupt nobody's morals, has an 'X' certificate.

Gidget, a moronic story for teenagers about a girl suffering from sex in the head, is 'U', presumably because she is only 16 and, if she does succeed in getting herself seduced after long and patient effort, it will be all in girlish fun.

"[26] Margaret Winxman of the Daily Herald said that "when it comes to chilling the spine, you can keep your electro-plated invaders from outer space, mangled marrows from the interior of the earth and finned things from the bottom of the sea.

He added: Columbia's wardrobe department supplies Sandra Dee, the squeaking blonde in the title role, with 19 cute changes of bathing suit.