James Darren and a BIG cultural wave
The Surf Culture of the 1960s was born of a teenage girl's desire to be one of the boys.
James Darren was already 21 when I was born, but reading his obituary online this morning pushed my curiosity button. I began daisy-chaining my way back through cyberspace and into Tel Analogus, excavating bits and pieces of Darren’s story as I went.
In truth, I was looking for the connection between the 1959 cinematic gem Gidget, starring Darren, Sandra Dee, and Cliff Robertson, and the genesis of The Beach Boys, whose music defined the nascent Surf Culture in 1962. While Brian Wilson and crew were most influential in the 1960s, the cultural movement they spawned is alive and well in 2024.
Hawai’ian shirts, flip-flops, board shorts, and beach gear all pour from the spillway of ‘60s Surf Culture. While it’s true that none of these things existed when Darren, Dee, and The Beach Boys got the (beach) ball rolling, brands like O’Neill, Hurley, and Quicksilver net huge revenues outfitting the latter-day disciples of Moondoggie and The Big Kahuna.1
Who?
Before James Darren was Moondoggie, and Cliff Robertson, The Big Kahuna, in the 1959 film Gidget, there was Kathy Kohner—the template for Sandra Dee’s lead role. Kohner was a teenager in the late ‘50s and one of few girls brave enough to seek admittance into the male-dominated fraternity of surfers in Malibu, CA. Given her tenacity and dimunuative stature, the locals respectfully dubbed Kohner Gidget—a contraction of the unwieldy moniker Girl Midget.2
At Kathy’s urging, her father, Fredrick, a screenwriter, agreed to write a fictional story based on his daughter’s Summertime experience that he subsequently published in 1957 as Gidget: The Little Girl with Big Ideas. The title became a best-seller and spawned the original Gidget movie.3
For his part, James Darren was a well-known actor, singer, and producer on the Hollywood scene from the mid-1950s onward. His role as Gidget’s romantic interest in the 1959 film catapulted his career and led to teen heartthrob status on the cusp of the Surf Culture revolution to which he contributed.4
The Beach Boys came on the scene at the dawn of the 1960s and relentlessly played theatres, fairs, and shopping malls as they honed their trademark harmonies and etched their initials into the rock-n-roll landscape. By 1962, they had captured the imagination of a mostly landlocked generation with catchy melodies and titles like Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe, and Surfin’ Safari.
As with the Western movie genre that preceded it, Surf Culture blended myth and magic into a wave of populism that saw huge numbers, young and old, take to the surf scene for a piece of the action. I tried to learn how to surf as a high schooler around 1973. Suffice it to say, I did not Catch a Wave and was not Sittin’ on top of the World in my effort to hang ten.
Ronnie come lately
I finally saw The Beach Boys “live” at Anaheim Stadium in 1975. They had not lost their mojo. At one point, stadium officials stopped the show and warned the crowd about jumping up and down in time with the music—it seems the upper decks would have been at risk of collapsing had this behavior continued. The Anaheim Stadium show demonstrated the staying power of The Beach Boys’ melodies and lyrics and the resilience of Surf Culture whose tide has yet to ebb.
So, I’m missing James Darren this morning, just like many of you. I never met him and did not know him. But his connection to events intersecting my life—like that concert in 1975—is a portal to the sands of Malibu where Gidget fell in love with Moondoggie over half a century ago.
Though separated from him by nearly a generation—and a wide swath of life experientially—James Darren sprinkled Moondoggie dust on me nonetheless.
Rest in peace, James.
Staff, P. (2022, January 1). A guide to the Best Surf Brands of 2024. Surfd.com. Retrieved September 4, 2024, from https://surfd.com/guide-surf-brands/
Pickens, J. (2019, July 12). Gidget and the Dawn of the 1960s Surf Culture. Tumblr.com. Retrieved September 4, 2024, from https://www.tumblr.com/tcm/186244739089/gidget-and-the-dawn-of-the-1960s-surf-culture-by
(Pickens, 2019)
Romine, T. (2024, September 3). James Darren, actor in ‘Gidget’ and ‘TJ Hooker,’ dies at 88, Variety reports. CNN.com. Retrieved September 4, 2024, from https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/03/entertainment/james-darren-actor-death/
A few years behind you. I missed a lot of what moved you and this writing. It all happened when I was too small to care.
I did spend my formative years living in a beach town going to high school with a bunch of surfers. We all were washed with the waves that started as swells in your formative years. Thanks for paving the way.