Download or read book LITTLE GLORIA written by Barbara Goldsmith and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2011-08-24 with total page 980 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a story of money, glamour, and scandal (on the highest level); a story of American society and of European royalty; a story of family strife exploding into one of the most dramatic and publicized court battles of the century—the battle for a solemn ten-year-old child, “little Gloria” Vanderbilt, who in 1934 was the object of the epic custody suit between her mother, the beautiful and penniless Vanderbilt widow, and her aunt, the famous Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, whose $78 million could buy her anything she wanted. And what she wanted was “little Gloria.” The leading characters: Gloria Morgan, who was one of the fabled Morgan Twins (invented by society reporter “Cholly” Knickerbocker as the quintessential Café Society beauties) and who, as a shy, stammering eighteen-year-old, living on nothing a year, did what she was raised to do, becoming the wife of . . . Reggie Vanderbilt, at forty-three a worn-out alcoholic who had managed to go through almost $25 million in fourteen years and who died only two years after his marriage to Gloria, leaving his beautiful young widow nothing but their baby, their baby’s untouchable trust fund, and the Vanderbilt name . . . Gloria Morgan’s twin, Thelma, who, as Lady Furness, was for years the mistress of the Prince of Wales (until she introduced him to her “best friend” Wallis Simpson) . . . Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Reginald’s sister, a formidable Society woman, a sculptor and the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art, a woman who conformed—on the surface—to everything expected of American royalty and yet lived a hidden second life as a passionate bohemian . . . And the child—little Gloria herself—shunted out of her mother’s life, carted around Europe, depending for her existence on her neurotically overprotective nurse, Dodo, who never left her for a single day, and her mad Morgan grandmother, who insisted that her own daughter might murder the child for the Vanderbilt millions. Deserted, “dressed in rags,” neglected, she became an almost mythic incarnation of “the poor little rich girl.” This child, who was to grow up to become a world-famous fashion designer, her name—Gloria Vanderbilt—a household word. We come to understand and care about this child as we observe, close up, the astonishing lives and intrigues surrounding her. We see her at the age of ten brought to the courthouse, rushed through mobs of spectators, reporters, photographers. We follow a courtroom drama of sensation after sensation, the judge ultimately banning both public and press, the final scandalous testimony reaching to the heart of the English royal family. We listen to the parade of witnesses—servants, millionaires, society celebrities, aristocrats, family retainers. We watch the judge himself—a classic Tammany pol—becoming another of the many victims of the case, reviled on all sides. And finally we see little Gloria pushed to choose between her mother and her aunt, making the decision that will affect her whole life—with nobody ever asking her the basic question, “Why are you afraid?” For the first time, the thousands of pages of documents and sealed court testimony have been unearthed and explored. Hundreds of people have been interviewed. And a writer completely knowing about society and the period has used all this material to create a compelling narrative of vitality, resonance, and fascination. Combining her extraordinary abilities as an investigative reporter with the skills and sensitivity of a novelist, Barbara Goldsmith has given us a galvanizing story, a whole world of astonishing emotional and social circumstances, unforgettably revealed.

Download or read book Little Gloria Happy at Last written by Barbara Goldsmith and published by Pan. This book was released on 1981 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book New York Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1985-04-22 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.

Download or read book It Seemed Important at the Time written by Gloria Vanderbilt and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-09-09 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An elegant, witty, frank, touching, and deeply personal account of the loves both great and fleeting in the life of one of America's most celebrated and fabled women. Born to great wealth yet kept a virtual prisoner by the custody battle that raged between her proper aunt and her self-absorbed, beautiful mother, Gloria Vanderbilt grew up in a special world. Stunningly beautiful herself, yet insecure and with a touch of wildness, she set out at a very early age to find romance. And find it she did. There were love affairs with Howard Hughes, Bill Paley, and Frank Sinatra, to name a few, and one-night stands, which she writes about with delicacy and humor, including one with the young Marlon Brando. There were marriages to men as diverse as Pat De Cicco, who abused her; the legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, who kept his innermost secrets from her; film director Sidney Lumet; and finally writer Wyatt Cooper, the love of her life. Now, in an irresistible memoir that is at once ruthlessly forthright, supremely stylish, full of fascinating details, and deeply touching, Gloria Vanderbilt writes at last about the subject on which she has hitherto been silent: the men in her life, why she loved them, and what each affair or marriage meant to her. This is the candid and captivating account of a life that has kept gossip writers speculating for years, as well as Gloria's own intimate description of growing up, living, marrying, and loving in the glare of the limelight and becoming, despite a family as famous and wealthy as America has ever produced, not only her own person but an artist, a designer, a businesswoman, and a writer of rare distinction.

Download or read book Double Exposure written by Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-07 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1921 there burst upon the New York social scene the famous Morgan twins, Thelma and Gloria, whose names in the decade that followed came to spell glamour and excitement in that magic world of the “international set.” Two continents thrilled to Thelma Furness’s romances with Richard Bennett, Lord Furness, the Prince of Wales, Aly Khan, and Edmund Lowe. The whole world followed with bated breath the searing custody trial over young Gloria that pitted mother against daughter and shook the Vanderbilts and society. While much has been written from the outside about all of this, the two principals have never before disclosed the real truth behind the rumors and the headlines. And exciting as are their personal adventures and escapades, their story is also a portrait of an era. In every age there have been certain women who through a combination of beauty and personality have attracted the love and admiration of rich or famous men, and who seem to be the embodiments of the feminine charm of the period. The Edwardian era had its Lily Langtry, the Napoleonic its Josephine, the eighteenth century its Du Barry and its Lady Hamilton—and so on back to antiquity. In our time, among those women who have come close to fitting this role are Lady Furness and Gloria Vanderbilt. From childhood each had the elusive qualities that characterize the femme fatale. Both knew the love of many men, both suffered deeply, and now both have happily risen above the vicissitudes of their checkered careers and face the future with gallantry, humor, and without rancor or bitterness over the past. In this spirit, and with all sincerity, they have set down the story of their lives. In Double Exposure, we are given a matchless picture of life among the great—and the near-great—in the now-vanished world between the two wars. Above all, we come to know the minds and hearts and philosophy of life and love of two fascinating women, and something of the nature of fascination itself.

Download or read book The World of Gloria Vanderbilt written by Wendy Goodman and published by Harry N. Abrams. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gloria Vanderbilt brought the family name out of the Gilded Age and into the Digital Age, reinventing herself over and over along the way. Hers is a story of charisma, glamour, and heartbreaking loss. The illustrations include portraits of Vanderbilt and her extraordinary homes.

Download or read book Labor with Hope written by Gloria Furman and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2019-06-24 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world is filled with messages for women about pregnancy. Popular books and well-meaning family and friends offer unsolicited advice about what to expect and how to stay healthy—sometimes resulting in joy and excitement but other times leading to discouragement and fear. The Bible, too, has a lot to say about childbirth—offering real hope that nothing in this world can match. In Labor with Hope, Gloria Furman helps women see topics such as pregnancy, infertility, miscarriage, birth pain, and new life in the framework of the larger biblical narrative, infusing cosmic meaning into their personal experience by exploring how they point to eternal realities. Women will see that only Christ can provide the strength they desperately need in order to labor with hope.

Download or read book Miss D and Me written by Kathryn Sermak and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2017-09-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For ten years Kathryn Sermak was at Bette Davis's side--first as an employee, and then as her closest friend--and in Miss D and Me she tells the story of the great star's harrowing but inspiring final years, a story fans have been waiting decades to hear. Miss D and Me is a story of two powerful women, one at the end of her life and the other at the beginning. As Bette Davis aged she was looking for an assistant, but she found something more than that in Kathryn: a loyal and loving buddy, a co-conspirator in her jokes and schemes, and a competent assistant whom she trained never to miss a detail. But Miss D had strict rules for Kathryn about everything from how to eat a salad to how to wear her hair...even the spelling of Kathryn's name was changed (adding the "y") per Miss D's request. Throughout their time together, the two grew incredibly close, and Kathryn had a front-row seat to the larger-than-life Davis's career renaissance in her later years, as well as to the humiliating public betrayal that nearly killed Miss D. The frame of this story is a four-day road trip Kathryn and Davis took from Biarritz to Paris, during which they disentangled their ferocious dependency. Miss D and Me is a window into the world of the unique and formidable Bette Davis, told by the person who perhaps knew her best of all.

Download or read book You Can Get There from Here written by Paul LeBlanc and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2013-06-27 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forward Dear Paul M y friend Paul LeBlanc and I have had many wonderful adventures together over the years. I knew we were going to be friends when we first met on a film called Silence of the North in 1981. We were shooting in northern Canada in40 degree temperatures. I had a scene where I had to run out of my cabin because a bear was on the roof, and shoot the bear. Paul and I were inside the cabin, just the two of us, waiting for my cue. When the bear went on the roof, the rafters of the cabin started sagging and the snow came pouring in. It looked like the roof was going to give way and the bear fall through and join us in the small cabin. We were terrified. At which point, Paul wailed, Oh, please, I just wanted to be a hairdresser! I laughed so hard I dropped my rifle. And what a hairdresser he is. Hes always been my favorite, not just for his amazing artistry, which he demonstrated on me over and over again in many films, but most particularly in Requiem for a Dream in 2000. Hes done my hair not only for films, but also for the Oscars, the Tonys, in Paris, in London, in limousines, in all temperatures and under every imaginable condition. But weve always had a great time together and hes always made me laugh, as Im sure readers of his book will. Ellen Burstyn (2006)

Download or read book Gloria Vanderbilt Book of Collage written by Gloria Vanderbilt and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Women of Warner Brothers written by Daniel Bubbeo and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2001-10-29 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lives and careers of Warner Brothers' screen legends Joan Blondell, Nancy Coleman, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Glenda Farrell, Kay Francis, Ruby Keeler, Andrea King, Priscilla Lane, Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker, Ann Sheridan, Alexis Smith, and Jane Wyman are the topic of this book. Some achieved great success in film and other areas of show business, but others failed to get the breaks or became victims of the studio system's sometimes unpleasant brand of politics. The personal and professional obstacles that each actress encountered are here set out in detail, often with comments from the actresses who granted interviews with the author and from those people who knew them best on and off the movie set. A filmography is included for each of the fifteen.

Download or read book Obsessive Genius written by Barbara Goldsmith and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Using original research (diaries, letters, and family interviews) to peel away the layers of myth, Goldsmith offers a portrait of Marie Curie, her amazing discoveries, and the immense price she paid for fame."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Mitzi s Mitzvah written by Gloria Koster and published by Kar-Ben Publishing ™. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adorable puppy Mitzi visits a nursing home where she helps the residents celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New year.

Download or read book Once Upon a Time written by Gloria Vanderbilt and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Vanderbilt Women written by Clarice Stasz, New England Publishing Associates Inc and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2000-01-25 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lucius Beebe said that "The nearest thing to a royal family that has ever appeared on the American scene was the Vanderbilts … their vendettas, their armies of servitors, partisans and sycophants, their love affairs, scandals, and shortcomings, all were the stuff of an imperial routine." Stasz reveals new facts and insights into the fascinating lives of three generations of Vanderbilt women who dominated New York society from the middle of the eighteenth century through the twentieth. Of special interest are the discovery of unpublished letters and a pseudonymous lesbian novel that shed light on the complex character of the most currently famous Vanderbilt woman, Gloria Vanderbilt.

Download or read book Agatha Christie on Screen written by Mark Aldridge and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-10-21 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a comprehensive exploration of 90 years of film and television adaptations of the world’s best-selling novelist’s work. Drawing on extensive archival material, it offers new information regarding both the well-known and forgotten screen adaptations of Agatha Christie’s stories, including unmade and rare adaptations, some of which have been unseen for more than half a century. This history offers intriguing insights into the discussions and debates that surrounded many of these screen projects – something that is brought to life through previously unpublished correspondence from Christie herself and a new wide-ranging interview with her grandson, Mathew Prichard. Agatha Christie on Screen takes the reader on a journey from little known silent film adaptations, through to famous screen productions including 1974’s Murder on the Orient Express, as well as the television series of the Poirot and Miss Marple stories and, most recently, the BBC’s acclaimed version of And Then There Were None.

Download or read book The Last Castle written by Denise Kiernan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller with an "engaging narrative and array of detail” (The Wall Street Journal), the “intimate and sweeping” (Raleigh News & Observer) untold, true story behind the Biltmore Estate—the largest, grandest private residence in North America, which has seen more than 120 years of history pass by its front door. The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York’s best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House. Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness. He summoned the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to tame the grounds, collaborated with celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to build a 175,000-square-foot chateau, filled it with priceless art and antiques, and erected a charming village beyond the gates. Newlywed Edith was now mistress of an estate nearly three times the size of Washington, DC and benefactress of the village and surrounding rural area. When fortunes shifted and changing times threatened her family, her home, and her community, it was up to Edith to save Biltmore—and secure the future of the region and her husband’s legacy. This is the fascinating, “soaring and gorgeous” (Karen Abbott) story of how the largest house in America flourished, faltered, and ultimately endured to this day.