Gidget Gets Her Gadget Going Again



This article , which appeared in the May 1972 issue of Rona Barrett's Hollywood was written by Bill Royce

Having overcome a perverted pig, a broken marriage, the demands of motherhood, horror films, and her teenage image, Sandra Dee is making a comeback at the ripe old age of 28 !


What can you say about a 28-year-old actress who was "attacked by a perverted pig at Disneyland" and nearly died--laughing--from the experience?

You can say her name is Sandra Dee.

That the attack occurred years ago when Sandra took her then infant son, Dodd (now ten) , and a friend and her child to the internationally---celebrated fan emporium.

That the following is a verbatim account of the incident from Sandra's own lips.

"Once I had a very bad scene at Disneyland. One of the pigs attacked me ! I'm telling you the truth! I sent a letter to Walt! I'm not making this up!"

When Sandra told me about the attack, I must admit that, at first, I was slightly incredulous. But then, the whole afternoon I spent with Sandra had been more than slightly incredulous.

When the maid escorted me into the lush den of Sandra's new Beverly Hills home (she recently moved out of her "old mansion" in the Toluca Lake section of the San Fernando Valley ), I must have still harbored somewhere in the back of my mind the "old " image of Sandra Dee . You know, the cute-and -fluffy blonde who pranced her way though the late fifties in such films as Imitation of Life and Portrait in Black with Lana Turner and then, on her own, as Gidget and as the molasses-could -melt -in -her mouth backwoods girl in Tammy Tell Me True and Tammy and the Doctor.

But the moment Sandra entered the room, that image was instantly washed away. Sandra still looks 19 with her soft, blonde hair and her incredibly trim figure poured tightly into a tight, orange turtle neck sweater and a pair of muddy brown suede pants. But when she began to speak --at first nervously with the ever-so- slight trace of a stutter and then lightning fast --it was obvious that Sandra Dee is not even remotely like her screen cousins, Tammy and Gidget.

For Sandra is an uncommonly intelligent but down-to-earth young woman blessed with a fantastic and genuinely overwhelming sense of humor. In a town where image is King (or Queen) Sandra Dee is not afraid to laugh at herself. She can be raucous as the words come pouring out of her mouth, complete with exclamation marks. And she can be wickedly funny as she continually tries to pierce you with laughter.

So when I asked Sandra if she ever had any unusual experiences in public and she thrust the perverted -pig -at -Disneyland incident upon me, you can see why I may have been a little doubtful--at first. But as Sandra's face consistently explodes into fits of laughter as she talks about The Mean Pig, you know she isn't putting you on. After all,who could invent such a story?

"I had the baby and he was small", Sandra continued. "The pig had me...oh you, know, one of those men paid to dress up as storybook characters. Anyway, this man dressed up as one of The Three Pigs followed me the whole afternoon.

"My girlfriend started beating him on the head and you know what he did with his mouth? He took her hand and pulled her head inside that rubber mask they wear!"

Catching her breath, Sandra paused for a moment and then resumed her tale of woe.

"Now, I'm telling you that pig followed me around the whole day ! Everywhere! We had the little ones with us. It was scary! Bobby ( Darin, her husband then ) was in New York at the time. What could we do ? Well, I started crying. I mean I ran out of Disneyland like I was in...San Quentin!"

"That guys must have been nuts! You don't harass somebody a whole day. And do you know that the crowds just watched us and laughed ? I mean I was crying!"

"I don't know if he knew who I was but he finally pinned me like so against a fence," Sandra said. screwing her tiny body into a tiny ball of fur. "Now I'm screaming and the kids are scared right? So the kids started yelling 'Leave my mommy alone!' and "Leave Sandy alone!"

"You know it was funny at first," she said shaking her head in amazement. "It was , I mean, sort of cute in a sick kind of way. But this guy never gave up! This guy...this guy...oh! Let's face it! This guy was a perverted pig! Why, he even chased me on the Merry-go-round!"

At this point , you're probably thinking Sandra Dee is quite an unconventional young woman around whom quite unconventional events seem to revolve daily. And of course, you're right.

I suspect that's the way it's always been with Sandra. Just look at the way she got into show business-- modeling at Girl Scout benefit fashion show !

Harry Conover, the head of a famous modeling agency in New York, happened to be there and immediately signed the 12 year old girl from Bayonne NJ , to a contact. Eventually Sandra's face appeared on the covers of several top national magazines--until television beckoned.

At the time, in the middle fifties , television was still in what many critics have called it's "golden age" when live drama was a nighttime staple for America's tv- viewing audiences. The period provided an excellent training ground for young Sandra , giving her a polish and assurance that could only lead in the next possible direction--the movies.

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