Animated Shorts – Last Day of Summer in the Tropical Zone

(or) Gidget Puts Away her White Shoes

Animated Shorts – Last Day of Summer In The Tropical Zone (or) Gidget Puts Away her White Shoes
14 x 8.75, digital painting
J Kearns 2007

Lightbox enlargement

We watched Gidget, which I realized, with some surprise, I’d never before seen.

The long and short of this trailblazer surfer movie…

For the girls: Get your feet wet in order to win the teen idol. Let him nearly drown you once, it’s all part of his resistance to growing up and crossing over from the boy gang to domestic bliss.

For the boys: Don’t be fooled by the Big Kahuna. He really wishes he had been a preppie, like you, instead of fighting in Korea.

Which was the most interesting part of the movie, the acknowledgment that from war return those who aren’t interested or can’t integrate themselves back into traditional society and aren’t anxious to talk why.

I was unimpressed, but watched because of its place in history and because Cliff Robertson was playing the Kahuna. There are a few surprises, like Gidget, who’s got goals and the determination to meet them, resolving all her problems with bribery. And some mysteries, like why James Darren always looked like a different person when he was singing.