Kahoona

The Kahoona (sometimes the Great Kahoona) is a character created by Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel, Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas. As "Kahuna", the character appears in the 1959 film Gidget and in some of the television work involving the Gidget character.

In the novels

Gidget describes the Kahoona's first appearance:

There was something about the way the other guys greeted him that told me he was a real hotshot.

Gidget and the Kahoona introduce themselves thus:

”Come along, kid,” he said. “What's your name?”

”It's Franzie,” I said. “From Franziska. It's a German name. After my grandmother.”

”Mine is Cass,” he said, real friendly, “from Cassius. After nobody.”

The Kahoona is a principal character in this novel and its immediate sequel, Cher Papa, alternately Gidget's friend, role model and potential love interest. He does not address or refer to Gidget by her titular nickname, but calls her Franzie or Angel. In the second novel, it is revealed that his last name is Jason, and that he served in the Korean War. In this novel Gidget becomes deeply infatuated with him. He does not appear in the subsequent novels, but is occasionally mentioned in passing, for example in the novelization Gidget Goes Hawaiian: