Karen Carpenter sang “Rainy days and Mondays always get me down,” but I think my crisis is more existential. Every time I read or watch a biography, I mourn. I just finished Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie … Continue reading Why do Biographies Always Make Me Cry?
Gloria Laura Vanderbilt collapses again. Little Gloria tells the judge her preferred custodian. Gertrude Whitney is silently accused of salacious conduct herself, by innuendo. Thelma Furness gives an impassioned defense of her sister. Continue reading Vanderbilt Custody Trial Week Four: October 23 to October 28, 1934
Little Gloria receives a threatening note. Big Gloria collapses. A settlement offer falls through. Start week 4 in the Vanderbilt v. Whitney custody trial Continue reading Vanderbilt v. Whitney Trial, Week Four, October 1934
Third week of the Gloria Vanderbilt custody trial ends with a heart attack. Continue reading Whitney v. Vanderbilt Trial 10/16 to 10/19/1934
Oh, that is nothing unusual to be in one’s pajamas at Biarritz. We seldom wore anything else after returning from bathing. We even had dinner in our pajamas, as everyone else does there. Why, even the nursemaid wore a bathing suit and she wasn’t a fine figure either. Continue reading Gloria Vanderbilt, Sr.’s Posse Arrives in Support
The butler and chauffeur give testimony in the Vanderbilt custody trial. Will they paint Gloria Morgan as a carousing, lush unfit to parent her daughter or do they see things differently than the maid and nurse did? Continue reading Vanderbilt v. Whitney 10/10 – 10/13/1934
A doctor says that he was called to treat Little Gloria for hysteria, so fearful was she of being forced to return to her mother’s home. Continue reading Vanderbilt v. Whitney 10/8 – 10/9/1934
During a three day trial Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and her attorney rally the troops, to battle against the fight to take her child both in the court of law and in the court of public opinion. Continue reading Witnesses Head to America to Support Gloria Morgan’s Custody Battle
Maria Caillot, the quintessential French maid, lull’s Morgan’s attorney into a false sense of security before dealing his client’s custody case the harshest blow of all on cross-examination Continue reading Vanderbilt Custody Trial Day 2
The Vanderbilt nurse testifies about what she saw while spying at her employer’s bedroom door at 3 am: pajamas, nightgown and a Prince, oh my! Continue reading First Day of Vanderbilt Custody Trial