Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door

Here are the women that we Baby Boomers wanted to be, date, or go shoe shopping with in mid-century America. What a fabulous shindig Herbie J Pilato has thrown to celebrate these luscious legends! Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door is a joy for any TV fan who was there when these classic shows were new, and a must-read for anyone who wasn’t.

This book is a marvelous feast of observations that celebrate the glorious days of Hollywood’s Gidgets and glamorous women that we should never forget. Herbie J Pilato is a brilliant author who preserves Hollywood history in a way that no other author has succeeded in doing.

From Loni Anderson to the Lennon Sisters, Herbie J Pilato’s collection of small screen legends reminds us that America’s pop-culture icons have never fit neatly into one simple mold. Americans have always been drawn to beauty and glamour, but there is more to the timeless subjects of Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door, and it is revealed more clearly with each turn of a page.

Fans of classic TV will surely treasure Herbie J Pilato’s insightful new collation of our favorite ‘girls’ from yesteryear. Herbie’s reflections and his collection of rarely seen photos will transport you back to simpler times and wonderful memories of these glamorous ladies.

Why is it that so many books written about the entertainment industry aren’t entertaining? Not so with Herbie J Pilato’s Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door. He’s clearly enamored with the business and the actresses, and it’s a fun read. This isn’t one of those tell-all books, revealing private secrets that should’ve stayed untold—it’s a positive, fact-filled celebration of these women.

As soon as I began to read Herbie J Pilato’s Glamour, Gidgets and the Girl Next Door, a wide grin appeared on my face. It never disappeared. This book is a joyous account of the wonderful women from yesteryear’s television. I’m happy to say that I knew and worked with many of them. Anybody who watched their delightful shows appreciated their talent and beauty.

Pilato pays tribute to the women who lit up the small screen in such now-classic shows as I Dream of Jeannie, Charlie’s Angels and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He devotes 5 to 10 pages to each actress, recounting her rise to fame, her experience on the show (or shows) she starred in, and some basic facts about her life. Among the profiled are Sally Field, who rose to fame in two very disparate roles in Gidget and The Flying Nun before going on to movie stardom; Cher, whose variety show launched her singing career; Patty Duke, who charmed viewers as Patty and her look-alike cousin Cathy on The Patty Duke Show but was forbidden to watch the show by her tyrannical managers; and Nichelle Nichols, who made history on the bridge of the Enterprise in Star Trek. With photographs of the leading ladies and plenty of quotes culled from magazines and interviews, Pilato’s guide will be a welcome trip down memory lane for many readers and a terrific resource for all film and television buffs.

Pilato (The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery) highlights 45 female television stars from the 1950s through the 1970s, focusing on the archetypal and nubile characters they portrayed. Dividing the actresses into six sections—from Gilligan's Island, Tina Louise (Ginger) is a 'Liberated Soul' while Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) is a 'Country Girl'—Pilato provides a three- to five-page overview of each actress's life, characters, and TV productions, and closes with a summary of iconic facts. It's impossible to argue with Pilato's picks, and his breadth of knowledge allows him to spotlight lesser-known roles such as Anne Francis's single season as detective Honey West alongside more recognizable 'Supersleuths'—Diana Rigg's Mrs. Peel or Barbara Feldon's Agent 99, for example. . . . Pilato offers a breezy, fun retrospective for nostalgia buffs.

This is a great read for anyone who is nostalgic for the simple times of classic television sitcoms or who want to know about the women who led the way for the pioneers of the 21st century.

Back in the '60s and '70s, women on TV really knew how to work their magic on viewers, especially those playing witches or genies. Now, television historian Herbie J. Pilato celebrates those small-screen sorceresses, as well as the surfer girls, sweethearts, and superwomen that were the stuff of male baby boomers' fantasies, in the new book Glamour, Gidgets and the Girl Next Door. . . . Pilato has penned breezy profiles of 45 ‘iconic’ actresses, from Gale Storm (MyLittle Margie) to Mary Tyler Moore, who personified boomer TV in chapters with titles like ‘Teen Angels,’ ‘Country Girls,’ ‘Wonder Women,’ and ‘Liberated Souls.’ Peppered throughout are interviews from many of the women, including Elinor Donahue (Father Knows Best), Adrienne Barbeau (Maude), Diahann Carroll (Julia), and Lindsay Wagner (The BionicWoman). There's also plenty of trivia. Dawn Wells, for example, played Mrs. Howell in a stage musical of Gilligan's Island. And while it's clear the women enjoyed the spotlight, they also seem humble. ‘It's flattering that anyone would consider me an icon,’ Donahue says in the book, ‘but I don't.’

Had a crush on a TV star from the 50’s, 60’s or 70’s? This is a new guide to the lovely ladies who headlined television shows of the era. Whether it was Diana Rigg in the Avengers, Goldie Hawn in Laugh-In, or Suzanne Pleshette in The Bob Newhart Show, this is your compendium of lovelies from the past.

Pilato has authored another book that TV buffs shouldn’t live without - this one a fun look at the women who lit up our screens in the 50s through the 70s. Boys had crushes on them, girls wanted to be like them. Now we can all enjoy this collection of breezy, affectionate profiles. . . .The book is warm and winning nostalgia.