Medford mail tribune., July 28, 1963, Image 39

MOVIES
Cindy Carol is a
typically pert and wholesome
18-year-old who has hurst
into filmland prominence
by winning the role
of Gidget No. 3
Hollywood's
Newest Teen-Age
FOUR years AGO, Sandra Dee was catapulted to stardom as
the irrepressible teen-age heroine of the movie, "Gidget."
Two years later, Columbia made "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" as a sequel to
the highly successful comedy. Deborah Walley took over the title role because
Sandra Dee had become too mature and too expensive for the part.
A few months ago, producer Jerry Bresler was faced with finding a third
Gidget for "Gidget. Goes to Rome" because Gidget No. 2 was married and
about to have a child. After a nationwide search, Bresler found his new Gidget
right on the Columbia lot. She is Cindy Carol, and at the time she was dis
covered, she was playing one of Loretta Young's daughters in tv's "The
Loretta Young Show" (which was produced by Screen Gems, a subsidiary
of Columbia).
After I met Cindy, I realized it wasn't just studio nepotism that won her
the title role in the film. She seems ideally suited for the part of the typical
American teen-ager.
Cindy is 18, has brown hair and eyes, and is five-feet, four-inches tall. At
North Hollywood High School, she was a cheerleader for two years. She gets
her weekly allowance on Monday and is broke by Wednesday; loves jazz and
folk songs; plays the guitar; rides, swims, and water skis; hates cooking;
prefers the company of boys to girls; and has been going steady for two
weeks at a time "for years." She has two brothers, one sister, and a pet cat
named George.
As for her parents, Cindy explains, "My father is a high-school English
teacher, and my mother is from Texas."
According to Cindy, her mother is the more lenient of the two, but actu-
Star
Gidget No. 1 was Sandra Dee right),
followed by Deborah Walley (above).
M SI
By PEER J. OPPENHEIMER
ally it is her father whom she can wind around her little finger.
For example, when she first brought up the subject of acting, he said,
"Absolutely and positively NO!" But as Cindy recalls, "I played it coy. I
knew that, on a teacher's salary, he couldn't afford to Bend us all to college.
So when he poured cold water on my wanting to be an actress, I reversed
tactics and told him I wanted to be a teacher but that I would need money
to go to Bchool. If I could just do a tv show once in a while, I could make
enough money to pay my tuition. What could he say but yes?"
AN agent friend of Cindy's mother got her an occasional part Says
Cindy, "If Daddy had thought I wanted to take up acting seriously,
he would have had a coronary. This way, he got used to the idea gradually."
When she was offered a part in the pilot of "The Loretta Young Show,"
she wasn't about to take any chances of letting her father turn down the
series. She didn't confess it was a running part until the show was sold to a
sponsor. "He went along with it when I promised to go to college at night,"
she told me. "So I attend Valley State, but my heart is in acting."
By the time Cindy was offered the part of Gidget, her father had grown
accustomed to the idea of her as an actress. When the studio changed her
name froth Carol Sydes to Cindy Carol, she was upset, but he told her, "Don't
let it worry you, Honey, someday you'll get married and have to change your
name anyway."
How does it feel suddenly to make $300 a week with a chance of earning
$1,250 a week in seven years? Cindy answered, "Financially, it hasn't been
much of a boost so far. Dad only raised my allowance from $8 to $10."
Is she concerned about remaining levelheaded? "Daddy assured me that as
long as you are brought up in a normal home with a good set of principles,
you'll maintain them," Cindy replied. "He taught me to remember that today
is today, but that tomorrow is another day, to be grateful for what I have
because next week I may be in Lower Sfobovia."
family Wttkly, July 21. mi