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Speaker 1: You are listening to History on Trial, a production of

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Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts. Listener Discretion advised this must have been how

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Speaker 1: King Solomon felt. Justice John Francis Carew thought that ancient

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Speaker 1: king had once confronted a similar problem to the one

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Speaker 1: Carew faced. Now. Two women had come to Solomon, each

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Speaker 1: claiming that a baby was theirs. The king watched the

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Speaker 1: woman argue back and forth, and then he spoke, saying,

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Speaker 1: bring me a sword. Once the sword was at hand,

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Speaker 1: the King said, divide the living child in two, and

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Speaker 1: give half to the one and half to the other.

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Speaker 1: One woman, horrified, said she would rather the other woman

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Speaker 1: kept the baby so that it could live. The other

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Speaker 1: told the king to go ahead. King Solomon knew at

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Speaker 1: once that the first woman must be the child's mother.

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Speaker 1: In some ways, the custody case in front of Justice

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Speaker 1: Carew was even harder than Solomon's. As a justice of

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Speaker 1: the New York State Supreme Court, Carew was not allowed

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Speaker 1: to use a sword to render judgment. Instead, he would

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Speaker 1: have to listen to weeks of testimony and to carefully

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Speaker 1: weigh his options. And things only got more complicated from there.

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Speaker 1: When Solomon administered his test the Book of King's records,

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Speaker 1: his subjects saw that the wisdom of God was in

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Speaker 1: him to do judgment. Justice Carew could not hope for

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Speaker 1: such a positive reception. No matter what he decided, people

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Speaker 1: would be furious, not just the parties involved, but the

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Speaker 1: crowds gathered outside the courthouse and the millions of people

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Speaker 1: who followed the case avidly in newspapers. For this was

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Speaker 1: not an ordinary custody case. The women fighting in front

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Speaker 1: of Justice Carew for custody of a ten year old

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Speaker 1: girl were not ordinary women. They were members of one

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Speaker 1: of the wealthiest and most powerful families in American history,

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Speaker 1: and in their battle for custody of this girl, they

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Speaker 1: would bring the full force of their names and connections

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Speaker 1: to bear, stopping at nothing, from hiring spies to destroying

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Speaker 1: reputations to get what they wanted. After all, they were

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Speaker 1: used to the world bending to their whims. It often

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Speaker 1: does when your last name is Vanderbilt. On the one hand,

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Speaker 1: there was the girl's mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, a defining

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Speaker 1: beauty of her generation, a friend to royalty and Hollywood,

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Speaker 1: a regular feet in the society columns. On the other hand,

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Speaker 1: there was Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Gloria's sister in law, the

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Speaker 1: enormously wealthy patron of the arts who had founded her

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Speaker 1: own museum. Between them was the girl also named Gloria,

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Speaker 1: ten years old, with a sleek cap, of thick dark

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Speaker 1: hair and a strange, nervous manner. What was she so

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Speaker 1: frightened of? The Justice wondered, was one of the women

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Speaker 1: the source of her fear? Could one of them cure it?

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Speaker 1: There was much to consider, and that was before the

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Speaker 1: high priced lawyers, and the interfering grandmother and the hysterical nanny.

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Speaker 1: Justice carew shook his head. Perhaps he needed a sword

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Speaker 1: after all. Welcome to History on Trial. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Mira Hayward this week the matter of Vanderbilt. For a brief,

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Speaker 1: beautiful period in the early nineteen twenties, it seemed that

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Speaker 1: all of New York society loved the magnificent Morgans. That's

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Speaker 1: what the newspapers called the Morgan twins, Gloria and Telma,

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Speaker 1: and the name fit. They were stunningly beautiful, intriguingly foreign,

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Speaker 1: and ever present. The twins had exploded onto the social

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Speaker 1: scene in nineteen twenty one, aged seventeen and made a

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Speaker 1: strong impression. No one minded that their pedigree was not

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Speaker 1: entirely blue blooded. Their father, Harry Hayes Morgan, was a

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Speaker 1: career diplomat and not related to the JP Morgans. Their mother, Laura,

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Speaker 1: was the daughter of a Civil war general and a

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Speaker 1: Chilean aristocrat. The twins had grown up abroad with their

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Speaker 1: two older siblings, a brother Hair and a sister Consuelo.

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Speaker 1: Their lifestyle had been nomadic and they had picked up

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Speaker 1: a number of languages as a result. At seventeen, after

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Speaker 1: sporadic schooling, the twins had been left alone in New

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Speaker 1: York City. Their mission, their mother, Laura, made it clear,

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Speaker 1: was to find husbands. Laura Morgan was a domineering, status

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Speaker 1: and money obsessed women, as her granddaughter would later reflect, quote,

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Speaker 1: Laura Morgan did not believe in married love, in friendship

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Speaker 1: between women, or that women could ever achieve positions of

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Speaker 1: power except through the men they married. The twins knew

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Speaker 1: that for their financial security they would need to make

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Speaker 1: good matches. Still, they were going to enjoy their independence

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Speaker 1: while they could. They showed up to parties in stunning

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Speaker 1: dresses they had sown themselves dancing until the wee hours

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Speaker 1: charming the social columnists. The photographer Cecil Beaten was one

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Speaker 1: of many who found himself drawn to Gloria and Telma.

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Speaker 1: They are alike as two magnolias, Beaten wrote, and with

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Speaker 1: their marble complexions, raven tresses and flowing dresses, with their

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Speaker 1: slight lisps and foreign accents, they diffuse an atmosphere of

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Speaker 1: hot house elegance and lacy femininity. Soon enough, Telma caught

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Speaker 1: the eye of Junior Converse, scion of a wealthy family,

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Speaker 1: and in February nineteen twenty two, the couple eloped. Upon

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Speaker 1: their return to New York, they hosted a dinner party,

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Speaker 1: and it was there that Gloria met the man whose

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Speaker 1: family would shape her life. He was unprepossessing, this man

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Speaker 1: nearly twenty five years older than Gloria, with a bushy mustache,

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Speaker 1: graying hair, and the flush complexion and bulging belly of

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Speaker 1: the heavy drinker he was. Despite all of this, the

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Speaker 1: man was considered the most eligible bachelor in New York,

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Speaker 1: all because his name was Reggie Vanderbilt. Wealth did not

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Speaker 1: serve Reggie Vanderbilt well born in eighteen eighty, he was

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Speaker 1: the youngest son of Alice and Cornelius Vanderbilt, the second

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Speaker 1: the couple who built the famous or infamous one hundred

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Speaker 1: and thirty eight thousand square foot Newport vacation home known

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Speaker 1: as the Breakers. Raised in luxury, Reggie wanted for nothing

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Speaker 1: and never faced consequences. On his twenty first birthday, he

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Speaker 1: inherited several trusts worth approximately fifteen point five million dollars.

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Speaker 1: That night, to celebrate his windfall, he went gambling and

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Speaker 1: lost seventy thousand dollars. By nineteen fifteen, as part of

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Speaker 1: an investigation into Reggie for tax fraud, authorities discovered that

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Speaker 1: all he had left was the income off of the

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Speaker 1: one trust, whose principle he could not touch. In fourteen years,

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Speaker 1: Reggie had spent nearly twenty five or in today's money,

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Speaker 1: nine hundred and twenty three million dollars. Four years later,

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Speaker 1: Reggie's first wife, Kathleen, divorced him. The couple had married

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Speaker 1: in nineteen oh three and had one daughter, also named Kathleen,

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Speaker 1: who in nineteen twenty two was almost exactly the same

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Speaker 1: age as her father's new love interest, Gloria Morgan. Kathleen

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Speaker 1: and Gloria were close for a while until Reggie told

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Speaker 1: his daughter of his plan to propose to her good friend, Gloria.

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Speaker 1: Kathleen fled to her mother's house in Florida. Reggie bought

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Speaker 1: a sixteen carrot heart shaped diamond engagement ring. Gloria Morgan

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Speaker 1: knew who she was married, wrying Reggie had told her

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Speaker 1: about his financial difficulties. He had explained his health problems

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Speaker 1: to her too. Reggie's drinking was quickly killing him, but

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Speaker 1: still Gloria wished to marry him. She seemed to see

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Speaker 1: Reggie as something of a father figure. Her own father

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Speaker 1: had often been absent, and she liked how Reggie took

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Speaker 1: care of her. After winning over Reggie's mother, Alice with

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Speaker 1: her bold personality, Gloria married Reggie on March sixth, nineteen

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Speaker 1: twenty three. Eleven months later, on February twentieth, nineteen twenty four,

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Speaker 1: Gloria gave birth to a baby who the couple named

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Speaker 1: Gloria Laura Vanderbilt. To keep the Glorias apart, I'll call

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Speaker 1: the child Little Gloria, as her mother's family did. The

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Speaker 1: couple designated Reggie's older sister, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney as Little

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Speaker 1: Gloria as godmother. Laura Morgan Glory, Loria's mother, helped her

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Speaker 1: daughter with the difficult early days of parenthood. Soon as

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Speaker 1: was her way, Laura had completely taken charge. She was

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Speaker 1: the one who selected and hired the baby's nanny, Emma

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Speaker 1: Sullivan Keislich. The thirty three year old nanny was well

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Speaker 1: trained and had worked with a number of other wealthy families.

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Speaker 1: But most importantly to Laura's mind, Nurse Keeslick had the

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Speaker 1: same view of little Gloria that she did. To their minds,

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Speaker 1: little Gloria was not an ordinary baby. She was special.

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Speaker 1: She was a Vanderbilt, practically American royalty. Laura and Nurse

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Speaker 1: Keeslick treated the baby like she was made of glass.

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Speaker 1: As author Barbara Goldsmith writes in Little Gloria Happy at Last,

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Speaker 1: her account of the trial, quote, the child was the

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Speaker 1: main concern of their lives and their justification for being

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Speaker 1: in Gloria's household. Their obsessive focus on the baby would

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Speaker 1: one day have devastating consequences for the entire family. On

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Speaker 1: September fourth, nineteen twenty five, Reggie Vanderbilt died from alcoholic cirrhosis,

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Speaker 1: aged forty five. Gloria barely had time to mourn her

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Speaker 1: husband before the bill collectors came knocking on her door.

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Speaker 1: The extent of Reggie's debts soon revealed itself. He owed

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Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of dollars. He had left Gloria with

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Speaker 1: almost nothing of her own. However, their daughter, Little Gloria,

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Speaker 1: inherited her father's one remaining asset, the inviolable trust, whose

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Speaker 1: principle he was never able to touch. She and her

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Speaker 1: older sister Kathleen, each received half of this money, two

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Speaker 1: and a half million dollars each, to be held in

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Speaker 1: trust until they were twenty one. Laura Morgan suggested that

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Speaker 1: Gloria reach out to a family friend, the lawyer George Wickersham,

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Speaker 1: for financial and legal advice. Wickersham sent over an associate,

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Speaker 1: Thomas Gilchrist, to help the thirty nine year old. Gilchrist

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Speaker 1: advised Gloria that her daughter would need a legal and

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Speaker 1: financial guardian. Gloria, who was only twenty at the time,

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Speaker 1: was not old enough to serve in these roles. The

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Speaker 1: law said you had to be twenty one. Wickersham agreed

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Speaker 1: to take on the guardian ships, with Gilchrist acting as

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Speaker 1: his representative. Eventually, Gilchrist would become an official guardian Gilchrist

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Speaker 1: and Wickersham helped Gloria prepare a petition asking that money

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Speaker 1: be withdrawn from Little Gloria's Trust to support herself and

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Speaker 1: her child. Justice James Foley of the Surrogate's Court, the

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Speaker 1: legal body which administered estates in New York, approved Gloria's

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Speaker 1: request for four thousand dollars into day money seventy one

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month. That is an enormous sum to

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Speaker 1: most of us, but within Gloria's circles, this was a

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Speaker 1: paltry amount, especially considering that Gloria soon began financially supporting

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Speaker 1: her parents. It should also be noted that this amount

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Speaker 1: was well within the income the trust generated each year.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty six, Gloria decided to move to Paris.

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Speaker 1: Little Gloria's guardian, Thomas Gilchrist, objected to this plan, believing

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Speaker 1: that it was better for the child to be raised

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Speaker 1: in America. He threatened Gloria, telling her that Justice Foley

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Speaker 1: would cut her income off, but Justice Foley had no

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Speaker 1: such plans. He told Gloria to enjoy life abroad, but

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Speaker 1: said that she ought to bring the child home when

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Speaker 1: it was school aged. Gloria happily agreed and set off

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Speaker 1: for Paris. These years in Europe were happy ones. Mostly,

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Speaker 1: Gloria lived the life of a beautiful young society widow,

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Speaker 1: staying out late, taking trips to the south of France,

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Speaker 1: throwing cocktail parties. Like nearly all wealthy women of her generation,

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Speaker 1: Gloria left the child care to the nanny. Nurse Keislich

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Speaker 1: and Laura Morgan created a loving, if over protective atmosphere

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Speaker 1: for the toddler, but beneath the surface, trouble was stirring.

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Speaker 1: In October nineteen twenty six, Gloria met Gutfried, Prince of

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Speaker 1: ho and Loah Landenberg on a ship. Friedel, as friends

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Speaker 1: called him, was close to Gloria's age, and the two

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Speaker 1: bonded as they crossed the Atlantic. Within months they were

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Speaker 1: in love. In March nineteen twenty seven, they announced their engagement.

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Speaker 1: There were two problems though. First, Friedel had no money

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Speaker 1: you would not have any until the death of his father,

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Speaker 1: Thomas Gilchrist told Gloria that her daughter's money could not

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Speaker 1: be used to support a new husband. Secondly, there was

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Speaker 1: the problem of Laura Morgan, Gloria's mother, Always tightly wound

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Speaker 1: and prone to hysteria had become increasingly unhinged. She was

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Speaker 1: obsessed with Little Gloria's safety. She saw Friedel as a

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Speaker 1: threat to her granddaughter's well being, and this threat was

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Speaker 1: not metaphorical. She believed, on the basis of no evidence,

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Speaker 1: that Friedel would murder Little Gloria for her money. Soon

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Speaker 1: this year expanded, Laura began openly claiming that Friedel and

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Speaker 1: Gloria were trying to kill the child. Nurse Keieslich, who

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Speaker 1: had become obsessed with the child, refusing to ever leave

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Speaker 1: her side, fell into step with Laura's paranoid fantasy. Little Gloria,

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Speaker 1: who loved her grandmother and her nanny fiercely, could not

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Speaker 1: help but absorb their anxieties. After a year of stress

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Speaker 1: from all sides, Gloria and Friedol decided to call off

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Speaker 1: their engagement. Gloria kicked her mother out of her house

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Speaker 1: in Paris. Laura moved into a hotel ten blocks away.

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00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:29,600
Speaker 1: Nurse Keislick took Little Gloria to visit her regularly. Gloria

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00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,000
Speaker 1: began spending more time in England, where her twin sister

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Speaker 1: Telma was living. Telma had by now divorced her first husband,

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00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,640
Speaker 1: married a wealthy English viscount and started an affair with

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Speaker 1: the Prince of Wales. Life was a whirlwind of parties

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00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,960
Speaker 1: and hunts, and even a presentation at court, but by

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirty Gloria was receiving increasing pressure from Gilchrist to

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Speaker 1: return to America. He held her financial position over her head,

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00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:05,320
Speaker 1: constantly threatening to cut her off. To Gloria, the arrangement

223
00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:12,400
Speaker 1: was unbearable. She later wrote, quote, everything was under constant surveillance.

224
00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:15,639
Speaker 1: I was never able to do anything on my own

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00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:19,520
Speaker 1: initiative when it came to expenditures without first consulting my

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00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:26,399
Speaker 1: child's guardians. Gilchrist's desire to control Gloria's life is at

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00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:31,080
Speaker 1: times difficult to understand. There are several factors that might

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00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,919
Speaker 1: explain it. A genuine desire to serve the child's financial interests,

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00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:43,639
Speaker 1: Gilchrist's condescending paternalistic feelings towards the elder Gloria, and most importantly,

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Speaker 1: the fact that he was receiving regular letters from Laura

231
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:54,000
Speaker 1: Morgan claiming that Gloria was an unfit mother. Eventually, Gilchrist

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00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,879
Speaker 1: and Wickersham issued an ultimatum. If Gloria and seven year

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Speaker 1: old little Gloria did not return to America in nineteen

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Speaker 1: thirty two, they would be cut off financially. Reluctantly, Gloria

235
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:14,159
Speaker 1: made reservations on an ocean liner. The America that the

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00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:18,000
Speaker 1: Vanderbilts returned to was a much bleaker country than the

237
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,720
Speaker 1: one they had left. The Great Depression had ravaged the nation.

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Speaker 1: Kidnappings for ransom were on the rise, and wealthy families

239
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,760
Speaker 1: were hiring bodyguards to protect their children. Nurse Kislich was

240
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,520
Speaker 1: terrified of Little Gloria being kidnapped and spoke constantly of

241
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:41,200
Speaker 1: the danger. This annoyed Gloria Vanderbilt, who did not believe

242
00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:45,080
Speaker 1: that her daughter was at risk. But she was wrong.

243
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,639
Speaker 1: Already plans were being put in place to take Little

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Speaker 1: Gloria away from her. It was not anonymous criminals who

245
00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:58,800
Speaker 1: were planning the kidnapping, though, it was the child's own family.

246
00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,960
Speaker 1: For all the conflict that would define Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt

247
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,240
Speaker 1: and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's relationship, the two women had a

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00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:15,160
Speaker 1: surprising amount in common. They had both been raised by

249
00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:19,960
Speaker 1: status ofsessed mothers, were both bound by strict social conventions,

250
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:24,600
Speaker 1: and both had a taste for pleasure. The biggest difference

251
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:30,480
Speaker 1: between the two ultimately was money. Gloria, despite her lifestyle,

252
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,520
Speaker 1: did not have any money of her own. Gertrude, on

253
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:38,679
Speaker 1: the other hand, controlled one of the largest fortunes in

254
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:44,160
Speaker 1: the world. Gertrude was born on January ninth, eighteen seventy five,

255
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,280
Speaker 1: the second daughter of Alice and Cornelius Vanderbilt. The second

256
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,240
Speaker 1: She was five years older than her brother Reggie, making

257
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,200
Speaker 1: her thirty years older than her sister in law Gloria.

258
00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:00,480
Speaker 1: From childhood, Gertrude had had an overwhelming a waywareness of

259
00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,240
Speaker 1: her social status and the expectations for a woman in

260
00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:09,399
Speaker 1: her position. She consciously developed a chilly, impenetrable shell of

261
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:15,119
Speaker 1: perfect manners which concealed her inner desires, perhaps because she

262
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:20,399
Speaker 1: knew that those desires would shock society. As a teenager,

263
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,840
Speaker 1: Gertrude fell in love with another woman. The two began

264
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,879
Speaker 1: a passionate three year relationship that lasted until Gertrude was

265
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:33,359
Speaker 1: twenty one. By eighteen ninety six, Gertrude's feelings for her

266
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:36,880
Speaker 1: girlfriend had begun to fade, and she turned her attention

267
00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:41,280
Speaker 1: to Harry Payne Whitney, the dashing, handsome air to a

268
00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:46,240
Speaker 1: prestigious family In eighteen ninety six, she married Harry in

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00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 1: the social event of the season. The couple would have

270
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Speaker 1: three children. Like Gloria, they left the raising of these

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00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:58,760
Speaker 1: children to Nanny's. Though their life was filled with luxury,

272
00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,400
Speaker 1: the marriage was not a happy one. The Whitneys had

273
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:08,119
Speaker 1: little in common, and Harry was frequently unfaithful. To occupy herself,

274
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,679
Speaker 1: Gertrude began to explore the art world. She took up

275
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,000
Speaker 1: sculpting and then collecting. By the nineteen twenties, she had

276
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:19,880
Speaker 1: established herself as one of the foremost patrons of American art.

277
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:25,400
Speaker 1: She had also established a hidden private life, playing out

278
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:30,040
Speaker 1: beneath her public role as a respectable society matron. In

279
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:34,600
Speaker 1: the second life, she was a bohemian, throwing wild parties

280
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:38,239
Speaker 1: in her downtown art studio for her artist friends and

281
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:43,320
Speaker 1: having affairs of her own. In both lives, public and private,

282
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,800
Speaker 1: she was a force to be reckoned with. My ways

283
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,919
Speaker 1: are deep, Gertrude wrote of herself, and I cover my

284
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:57,199
Speaker 1: tracks with discretion, but nonetheless, when I want something, it

285
00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:03,639
Speaker 1: often happens. In nineteen twenty nine, the Metropolitan Museum of

286
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:08,680
Speaker 1: Art declined Gertrude's donation of her entire collection of American art.

287
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,200
Speaker 1: Gertrude wanted to keep her collection together, and she wanted

288
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,760
Speaker 1: it to be displayed. So she did what any passionate

289
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,800
Speaker 1: collector with a mind boggling fortune would do. She created

290
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 1: a museum of her own. The Whitney Museum of American

291
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,440
Speaker 1: Art opened in New York City in nineteen thirty one

292
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:31,880
Speaker 1: and today attracts more than seven hundred thousand visitors a year.

293
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:38,040
Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty Harry Whitney died, bequeathing Gertrude his five

294
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 1: thousand acre of Long Island estate, Wheatley Hills. It was

295
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:48,280
Speaker 1: at Wheatley Hills that the true trouble with Little Gloria began.

296
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,359
Speaker 1: In the summer of nineteen thirty two, after the two

297
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:57,080
Speaker 1: Glorias returned from their years abroad, a doctor informed Gloria

298
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,480
Speaker 1: that her daughter needed to have her tonsils removed. The

299
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,320
Speaker 1: surgery went smoothly, but a week after the night before

300
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,200
Speaker 1: Gloria planned to take a trip to Europe, the child

301
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 1: had a hysterical fit, screaming that she was going to die.

302
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 1: Gloria pushed back her trip. The next day, Gertrude stopped by.

303
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,359
Speaker 1: She asked Gloria if she could take the child to

304
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,280
Speaker 1: Wheatley Hills for the summer so she could recover from

305
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:28,919
Speaker 1: her surgery in a peaceful environment. Gloria readily accepted. At

306
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:33,439
Speaker 1: Wheatley Hills, little Gloria's troubles continued. She seemed to be

307
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:38,320
Speaker 1: in constant pain, but none of the eight physicians that

308
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,960
Speaker 1: Nurse Keeslick was constantly summoning to the house could find

309
00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: anything physically wrong with her. Little Gloria had night terrors

310
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 1: and emotional outbursts. Gertrude Whitney was concerned. She had received

311
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,639
Speaker 1: letters from Laura Morgan and Nurse Keeslick while they had

312
00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: been abroad, letters full of concerns over the environment that

313
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 1: Little Gloria was growing up in. They had portrayed the

314
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:09,520
Speaker 1: elder Gloria as an immoral pleasure seeker. Laura had also

315
00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:15,200
Speaker 1: expressed darker concerns, fears that Gloria might harm the child.

316
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,199
Speaker 1: Gertrude had thought these concerns far fetched, but now that

317
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:24,400
Speaker 1: she spent more time with Little Gloria witnessed her panic

318
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 1: and instability, she began to believe, especially as the child's

319
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 1: conditions seemed to improve while away from her mother. By

320
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,960
Speaker 1: the fall, little Gloria seemed happier and healthier, and even

321
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:45,120
Speaker 1: began school on Long Island. In September, Gertrude telegrammed Gloria

322
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,879
Speaker 1: in Europe and asked if little Gloria could stay through Christmas.

323
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 1: Gloria said yes. In January, Gloria returned to New York,

324
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,720
Speaker 1: but after her return, Telma wrote to her that their

325
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:03,280
Speaker 1: father was dying. Gloria quickly headed to Europe, but did

326
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 1: not tell Gertrude or Thomas Gilchrist why. Gertrude and Gilchrist

327
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:13,200
Speaker 1: were concerned. How could Gloria so casually leave her child.

328
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 1: Gilchrist wrote a sternly worded letter to Gloria demanding that

329
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 1: she returned to New York or be cut off, But

330
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,600
Speaker 1: when Gloria met with Gilchrist, he informed her that her

331
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,400
Speaker 1: daughter would be staying at Wheatley Hill's. Gloria was confused.

332
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 1: On the one hand, Gilchrist was telling her that she

333
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,119
Speaker 1: needed to have her daughter with her in order to

334
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,520
Speaker 1: receive money, but he was also saying that she could

335
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 1: not have her daughter back. Gilchrist also decided to alter

336
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:46,280
Speaker 1: the financial arrangements. Instead of Gloria receiving four thousand dollars

337
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,639
Speaker 1: a month to cover all expenses. He would pay household

338
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,159
Speaker 1: expenses straight from the trust, and Gloria would receive a

339
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: reduced income of seven hundred and fifty dollars a month,

340
00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,640
Speaker 1: plus two hundred and fifty dollars to give to Laura Morgan,

341
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:04,720
Speaker 1: who was supporting. Unbeknownst to Gloria, Gilchris used his new

342
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: power to hire household servants that spied on Gloria and

343
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:14,040
Speaker 1: reported on her lifestyle to him. This uneasy situation continued

344
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: through nineteen thirty three. Gloria visited her daughter occasionally at

345
00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:23,440
Speaker 1: Wheatley Hills, but spent most of the year abroad. In September,

346
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 1: she met with Gertrude to discuss Little Gloria. It was

347
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:33,120
Speaker 1: an unproductive conversation, as Barbara Goldsmith writes, quote, neither woman

348
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:37,600
Speaker 1: would speak of her true concerns. Gloria would say nothing

349
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: of what she felt to be the punitive financial measures

350
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,200
Speaker 1: that were being enacted against her because of the child's absence.

351
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:49,120
Speaker 1: Gertrude would not speak of her apprehension regarding the atmosphere,

352
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 1: which she had come to consider both morally and physically

353
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:57,000
Speaker 1: dangerous to her niece. There existed between these two women

354
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:02,720
Speaker 1: an exquisite non communication that avoided all the ugly realities

355
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 1: of their relationship. Concerned that things were progressing beyond her control,

356
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:14,040
Speaker 1: Gloria contacted a lawyer named Nathan Berkin. Berkin, of Romanian

357
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,199
Speaker 1: born jew had immigrated to New York as a child

358
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 1: and grown up in the tenements of the Lower East Side.

359
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:24,680
Speaker 1: Like Max Stoyer, the defense lawyer in the Triangle firecase

360
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,360
Speaker 1: covered in episode six of History on Trial, Berkin had

361
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,439
Speaker 1: used his intelligence and work ethic to rise to the

362
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 1: top of the legal profession. He represented many show business

363
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:39,680
Speaker 1: clients and to help found the American Society of Composers,

364
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:44,240
Speaker 1: Authors and Publishers to help musicians protect their intellectual property.

365
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 1: Now fifty four, Berkin had a long Island mansion of

366
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 1: his own and a thriving law practice. He quickly agreed

367
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 1: to help Gloria Vanderbilt. Berkin's hiring was seen by Laura,

368
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:02,480
Speaker 1: Gertrude and Nurse gos Keislick as another sign that Gloria

369
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,639
Speaker 1: was unfit to raise her child, not because she was

370
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: getting a lawyer involved, but because that lawyer was Jewish.

371
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 1: Berkin suggested that Gloria apply to become the sole guardian

372
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 1: of little Gloria and the co guardian of Little Gloria's property.

373
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 1: Gloria liked the idea, but was concerned that it was

374
00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:27,800
Speaker 1: too bold. She was worried about alienating Alice Vanderbilt, Reggie,

375
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 1: and Gertrude's mother, who she had always had a good

376
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 1: relationship with. Gloria also didn't have enough money to pay

377
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 1: Burkin's legal fees. But in April nineteen thirty four, Alice

378
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt died, aged eighty eight. She left Gloria one hundred

379
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in her will. Gloria told Burkin to move

380
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,640
Speaker 1: forward with the petition. He submitted the petition to the

381
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 1: Surrogate's Court on June eighteenth. Thomas Gilchrist, as the existing

382
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,160
Speaker 1: guardian of Little Gloria's property, received notice of the petition,

383
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:07,760
Speaker 1: and he quickly notified Gertrude Whitney. Gertrude was concerned over

384
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 1: the past two years, Little Gloria had grown strong and

385
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:15,560
Speaker 1: happy at Wheatly Hill's All that progress might be undone

386
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: if she had to return to her mother. Gertrude began

387
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 1: to hatch a plan. On July third, Justice James Foley

388
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:28,160
Speaker 1: of the Surrogate's Court heard Gloria's application for guardianship. It

389
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,440
Speaker 1: should have been a routine hearing, but once Nathan Burkin

390
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 1: finished reading the application aloud, a man at the back

391
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: of the courtroom declared, I object to the petition. Fully

392
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 1: summoned the man to the bench and asked on what

393
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 1: grounds he objected. On the grounds the man replied, of

394
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,840
Speaker 1: unfit guardianship, Foley said he would hear more in his

395
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 1: chambers after lunch. Gloria was horrified, and her shock only

396
00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:01,000
Speaker 1: increased after lunch, when it was real that the man

397
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 1: who had objected had done so on behalf of her

398
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:09,880
Speaker 1: own mother, Laura Morgan. Gloria didn't know it then, but

399
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 1: Gertrude and Laura had worked together, deciding that it would

400
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 1: look best if the child's grandmother was the public face

401
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 1: of the objection. Aware that the stakes were now raised,

402
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,800
Speaker 1: Nathan Burkin advised that Gloria take a more aggressive tack

403
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:29,120
Speaker 1: against Gertrude. He told her to begin gathering affidavits that

404
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 1: testified to her fitness as a mother. Burkin also hired

405
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 1: a private investigator to surveil Laura Morgan and gathered dirt

406
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 1: on Gertrude Whitney. The Whitney camp was working along similar lines,

407
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:47,640
Speaker 1: hiring detectives of their own to follow and investigate Gloria Vanderbilt.

408
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: In the meantime, Justice Folly was holding regular meetings for

409
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,840
Speaker 1: the two camps to try to work something out. Eventually,

410
00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 1: a compromise was reached, although the terms were understood different

411
00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 1: by each side. In essence, Little Gloria would stay for

412
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,200
Speaker 1: a year with Gertrude, spending one month of the summer

413
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:12,080
Speaker 1: with her mother. Gloria could see her daughter whenever she wished.

414
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:16,680
Speaker 1: After that, Gloria believed that Little Gloria would return to

415
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:21,720
Speaker 1: her custody full time. Gertrude, on the other hand, believed

416
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,960
Speaker 1: that at this point a further discussion over custody would

417
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: be had. In August, Gloria sailed to Europe to collect

418
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:33,200
Speaker 1: affidavits from her friends. Upon her return in September, she

419
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 1: called Gertrude Whitney on the phone. The women realized that

420
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:41,200
Speaker 1: they had different understandings of the agreement, and Gloria became

421
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 1: frightened that Gertrude planned to contest her custody every year.

422
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,800
Speaker 1: She asked Gertrude to send Little Gloria to her house

423
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:51,960
Speaker 1: in New York City for the weekend and Gertrude agreed.

424
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:58,040
Speaker 1: Gloria consulted with Burkin about the development. He advised Gloria

425
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 1: to buy a house of her own near Girha Trudes

426
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 1: on Long Island. That would undermine Gilchrist and Gertrude's argument

427
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 1: that Little Gloria needed to stay at Wheatley Hills because

428
00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:12,440
Speaker 1: country living was better for the child. That weekend, Gloria,

429
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 1: excited about the plan, told Nurse Keeslick that Little Gloria

430
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:21,080
Speaker 1: would soon be living with her full time. This was

431
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:25,520
Speaker 1: a mistake. Nurse Keeslick, while out with Little Gloria, called

432
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 1: Gertrude Whitney. Gertrude told Keeslick to bring the child to

433
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 1: her quickly. Soon, Gloria realized that her child was missing. Furious,

434
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 1: she and her sister Consuelo sped to Gertrude's city home

435
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 1: and demanded to see little Gloria. Gertrude claimed that Little

436
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,520
Speaker 1: Gloria had gotten sick and that she was simply caring

437
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:53,000
Speaker 1: for her. Gloria was incensed and spotting Nurse Keeslick immediately

438
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 1: fired her. Then she asked for her daughter again, But

439
00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,280
Speaker 1: when Little Gloria appeared, she seemed to be terrified of

440
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,040
Speaker 1: her mother, take her away. Don't let her hurt me.

441
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 1: She's going to kill me, she cried. Gloria could not

442
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 1: understand what was happening. Two doctors were summoned to examine

443
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:17,200
Speaker 1: little Gloria. After some time with the doctors, little Gloria

444
00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: seemed to calm down, even hugging and kissing her mother.

445
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 1: But Gloria was still frightened. She believed that Gertrude and

446
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 1: Laura and Nurse Keyslich were turning her child against her.

447
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 1: She knew Little Gloria was supposed to say at Gertrude's

448
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 1: that week to attend school, but after the events of

449
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 1: the day, she felt she could not allow Little Gloria

450
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: to stay with Gertrude for one moment more. She went

451
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 1: to Nathan Burkin's office and told him she needed Little

452
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 1: Gloria back now. Berkin cautioned her against taking any drastic

453
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,520
Speaker 1: actions which could lead to a court battle, but Gloria

454
00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 1: was at the end of her rope. She had spent

455
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: the past two years in a date of limbo, and

456
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,080
Speaker 1: she felt it had been a mistake to wait so long.

457
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 1: She thought her child had been poisoned against her while

458
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:12,399
Speaker 1: she waited. She told Burkin to do whatever it took.

459
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:17,080
Speaker 1: On September twenty third, a process server arrived at Gertrude

460
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 1: Whitney's house at Wheatley Hill's. Gertrude refused to receive the

461
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 1: legal papers he had brought. He returned thirty minutes later

462
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 1: and told Gertrude's footman, quote, tell missus Whitney that unless

463
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:32,920
Speaker 1: she accepts in person, I will plaster the whole front

464
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 1: of her city mansion with these court papers. Gertrude Whitney

465
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,520
Speaker 1: came down the stairs and took the papers. Burkin had

466
00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:43,920
Speaker 1: sent her a writ of habeas corpus, an order to

467
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:48,400
Speaker 1: produce someone before a court. This writ demanded that Gertrude

468
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:52,240
Speaker 1: Whitney present little Gloria to New York Supreme Court Justice

469
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:57,280
Speaker 1: John Francis Carew. It also commanded her to explain why

470
00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: she had quote wrongfully recived, strained, and detained the child.

471
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:08,000
Speaker 1: After years of below the surface dealings, the Vanderbilt case

472
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:12,279
Speaker 1: had suddenly erupted into the public eye. There was no

473
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:16,240
Speaker 1: going back now, and if the actions of the first

474
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 1: weeks of September were any indication, things were going to

475
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:29,160
Speaker 1: get very, very ugly. On Monday October one, nineteen thirty four,

476
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,520
Speaker 1: The matter of Vanderbilt began in Courtroom number three hundred

477
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 1: and fifty five of the New York Supreme Court. Justice

478
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 1: John Francis Carew presided there would be no jury in

479
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,560
Speaker 1: this case. Justice Carew would hear all the testimony and

480
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,279
Speaker 1: make a decision on his own. Carew was fifty eight,

481
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 1: a lifelong New Yorker and a socially conservative, devout Catholic.

482
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,520
Speaker 1: He was inclined to keep children with their parents, telling

483
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:02,239
Speaker 1: Gertrude Whitney at a pre trie hearing quote, only the

484
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 1: most unusual circumstances warrant the refusal of custody of a

485
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,399
Speaker 1: child in favor of any other relative, no matter how

486
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,720
Speaker 1: unselfish the motives of the relative might be. The burden

487
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 1: of proof was on Gertrude to prove that Gloria was

488
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:22,719
Speaker 1: an unfit mother. Knowing that they faced a difficult fight,

489
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:27,760
Speaker 1: Gertrude's team had brought on an experienced trial lawyer, Herbert

490
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 1: Crommelin Smith. Smith's first witness with little Gloria's life, long nanny,

491
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:38,800
Speaker 1: nurse Emma Sullivan Keieslich Keeslick, now in her mid forties,

492
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 1: was a large woman with heavy features, Little Gloria called

493
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:48,120
Speaker 1: her Dodo Keeslich was devoted to her charge and had

494
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:52,400
Speaker 1: spent the past ten years harboring a growing hatred for

495
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 1: Gloria Vanderbilt. On the witness stand, her anger irrupted. She

496
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:03,560
Speaker 1: described Gloria Vanderbilt as an immoral party girl and an

497
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:09,520
Speaker 1: absentee mother. I will never understand the type of woman

498
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:15,320
Speaker 1: Missus Vanderbilt is. She said she had seen Gloria in

499
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:19,600
Speaker 1: bed with Prince Friedel. She claimed she and Little Gloria,

500
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 1: she said, had been abandoned in rat infested ramshackle houses

501
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 1: in France and England while Gloria swanned around. Her personal

502
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 1: dislike for Gloria was so evident that Justice Carew cautioned her,

503
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:39,680
Speaker 1: saying this credits a witness. When the witness seems to

504
00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:44,120
Speaker 1: be too eager, it throws a partisan spirit, which discounts

505
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 1: her testimony severely. His multiple warnings went unheeded, and Kislick's

506
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:54,920
Speaker 1: testimony became increasingly angry and unhinged. By the time she

507
00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:00,400
Speaker 1: stepped down. Many people watching, including Carew, were con discerned

508
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:03,759
Speaker 1: about the impact a woman like this might have on

509
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:09,440
Speaker 1: a child. The defense next called Maria Kyo. The twenty

510
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:13,000
Speaker 1: three year old frenchwoman had been Gloria Vanderbilt's personal maid

511
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:18,240
Speaker 1: for four years from nineteen twenty nine to nineteen thirty three.

512
00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 1: Like Kieslich, Kyo described troubling goings on in the Vanderbilt household.

513
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 1: There were parties that lasted all night and kept the

514
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:32,080
Speaker 1: child awake. Kyo said at these parties, people got so

515
00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:36,640
Speaker 1: drunk that they couldn't walk. Kyo also claimed to have

516
00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:41,760
Speaker 1: seen pornographic books and photographs in the house. On cross

517
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:46,480
Speaker 1: Nathan Burkin undermined Kyo's credibility, getting her to admit that

518
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 1: she had been promised money for her testimony, although she

519
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:54,400
Speaker 1: would not say by whom. Shaken Kyo seemed to crumble

520
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:58,840
Speaker 1: under Berkin's questioning, admitting that she didn't know if Gloria

521
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:02,040
Speaker 1: was frequently drunk, as she had claimed on direct examination,

522
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 1: but that she had only assumed that Gloria was because

523
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:11,920
Speaker 1: quote she always smiled and often repeated herself. Cayo admitted

524
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:16,200
Speaker 1: that many of Gloria's friends were perfectly respectable people. By

525
00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:19,240
Speaker 1: the end of the cross examination, Burkein must have felt

526
00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:24,400
Speaker 1: that Cayo had become his witness, but then he pushed

527
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:30,080
Speaker 1: things too far. You saw nothing improper in her conduct,

528
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 1: he asked. Kyo, paused, yes, I remember something. It seems

529
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:40,359
Speaker 1: to me very funny. Burkin should have quit while he

530
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:45,840
Speaker 1: was ahead, but instead he asked Cayo for details. Certain

531
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,080
Speaker 1: that this would be another non story like all her others,

532
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:53,880
Speaker 1: Cayoe obligingly described a scene in the south of France

533
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 1: where Gloria had been traveling with her friend Nadezhda, Marchioness

534
00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:01,880
Speaker 1: of Milford Haven. When I came into the bedroom one morning,

535
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:05,840
Speaker 1: Cayoe said, Missus Vanderbilt was in bed reading a paper,

536
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 1: and there was Lady Milford Haven beside the bed with

537
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:13,840
Speaker 1: her arm around Missus Vanderbilt's neck and kissing her just

538
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:19,560
Speaker 1: like a lover. A stunned silence fell over the courtroom.

539
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,880
Speaker 1: Homosexual behavior was a crime in most states at the time,

540
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:29,880
Speaker 1: including New York. Homosexuality itself was seen by many to

541
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:35,040
Speaker 1: be immoral, deviant, and indicative of mental problems. The news

542
00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:39,439
Speaker 1: of Gloria Vanderbilt's alleged lesbian relationship with a British aristocrat

543
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:45,799
Speaker 1: made international news. Justice Carew was horrified both by the

544
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 1: allegation and by the potential damage the testimony might have

545
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:53,560
Speaker 1: on the child. He ordered that the trial was to

546
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:58,400
Speaker 1: be private from that moment forward. The next morning, Carew

547
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:01,799
Speaker 1: called all the lawyers into his chambers. He told him

548
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:06,240
Speaker 1: that he recommended an out of court settlement. Frank Crocker,

549
00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:10,600
Speaker 1: a longtime legal representative of Gertrude Whitney, told Justice Carew

550
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:14,600
Speaker 1: that there would be no more scandalous testimony. Their case

551
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:19,319
Speaker 1: was based on neglect, not character assassination. Carew allowed the

552
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:23,040
Speaker 1: trial to proceed. He also said he would again admit

553
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:27,960
Speaker 1: the press, but he never did. Carew's approach to the

554
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:32,560
Speaker 1: press would be baffling for reporters. He wanted to protect

555
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:37,400
Speaker 1: the trial participants privacy and reputations, but he also didn't

556
00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:41,280
Speaker 1: like being criticized for cutting the press off. He decided

557
00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 1: to give the reporters summarized versions of each day's testimony,

558
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:50,120
Speaker 1: but his summaries were often vague and inaccurate, and both

559
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:54,240
Speaker 1: sides quickly began leaking transcripts favorable to their own cases,

560
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,600
Speaker 1: So the story that emerged for the public was full

561
00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:04,960
Speaker 1: of contradictions and contextless statements. The public was absolutely obsessed

562
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:10,680
Speaker 1: with the trial. Conditions in America were dire. Thousands of

563
00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:15,440
Speaker 1: people were unemployed and hungry, and this kind of glamorous

564
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:21,880
Speaker 1: yet tragic trial was the perfect distraction. Public opinion largely

565
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: favored Gloria Vanderbilt, who many saw as a struggling widow

566
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:29,880
Speaker 1: being persecuted by her wealthy sister in law. Crowds of

567
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:33,560
Speaker 1: women would gather outside the courtroom and cheer for Gloria

568
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:38,920
Speaker 1: when she emerged. Laura Morgan felt no such sympathy for

569
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:43,720
Speaker 1: her daughter. During her testimony on October ninth, she ripped

570
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:47,400
Speaker 1: into Gloria, It is not my daughter's fault, but she

571
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,640
Speaker 1: has not been born with a maternal instinct. She was

572
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:55,279
Speaker 1: indifferent to the child, she proclaimed. Laura also focused on

573
00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:59,800
Speaker 1: the gaps in Little Gloria's religious education. The issue of

574
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:02,839
Speaker 1: real religion had come up several times during Kieslik and

575
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 1: Cayote's testimony too. In truth, religion had not been especially

576
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 1: important to any of Little Gloria's caregivers, but it was

577
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 1: very important to justice carew and so lawyers on both

578
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:19,040
Speaker 1: sides instructed the witnesses to discuss how they wished to

579
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:23,359
Speaker 1: raise Little Gloria as a good Catholic. Laura Morgan held

580
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,960
Speaker 1: a large gold crucifix in her left hand throughout her testimony.

581
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:31,920
Speaker 1: When Herbert Smith asked her about Gloria's morals, Laura began

582
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:36,440
Speaker 1: to sob and raise the crucifix in front of her face.

583
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:41,680
Speaker 1: A strange fact emerged during Berkin's cross examination of Laura.

584
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:46,719
Speaker 1: During a routine line of questioning about guardianship, Laura revealed

585
00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 1: that she believed Gloria to already be the child's legal guardian.

586
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,479
Speaker 1: Berkin explained that she was not because she had only

587
00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:59,000
Speaker 1: been twenty when Reggie died. That is not true, said Laura,

588
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:03,440
Speaker 1: claiming that Gloria had been twenty one. She said her

589
00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:06,879
Speaker 1: twins had been born on August twenty third, nineteen oh four,

590
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:11,359
Speaker 1: not August twenty third, nineteen oh five, as the guardianship

591
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:15,719
Speaker 1: papers declared. This came as a shock to everyone in

592
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 1: the courtroom, Gloria Vanderbilt included Laura. It later came out,

593
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:25,120
Speaker 1: had lied to her daughters about their birth year, believing

594
00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:30,319
Speaker 1: that younger women were more eligible brides. This pointless lie

595
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:34,440
Speaker 1: had sparked years of misery. Had Gloria known she was

596
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:37,320
Speaker 1: twenty one at the time of Reggie's death, she could

597
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:40,959
Speaker 1: have become her daughter's legal and financial guardian and none

598
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:45,239
Speaker 1: of this would have happened. But unfortunately, it was too

599
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,799
Speaker 1: late to go back now. There were a number of

600
00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:53,560
Speaker 1: other witnesses who testified for Gertrude's case, Gertrude herself who

601
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,360
Speaker 1: spoke mildly about Little Gloria's happy life at Wheatley Hill's,

602
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:02,239
Speaker 1: employees of Gloria's who discussed her fast living. These were

603
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:05,319
Speaker 1: the same servants that Thomas Gilchrist had hired to spy

604
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:09,800
Speaker 1: on Gloria, and several doctors who discussed Little Gloria's physical

605
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:14,800
Speaker 1: and emotional problems. They all provided helpful information. But just

606
00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:17,680
Speaker 1: as Carew knew that he now needed to speak to

607
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:22,440
Speaker 1: Little Gloria herself, wishing to spare her the ordeal of

608
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:26,520
Speaker 1: public testimony, krew decided to have Little Gloria speak to

609
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:30,480
Speaker 1: him in his chambers. Herbert Smith and Nathan Burkin were

610
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:34,719
Speaker 1: also present. Little Gloria quickly made it clear that she

611
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 1: hated and feared her mother. She has never been nice

612
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:43,320
Speaker 1: to me, little Gloria said. Carew asked her about letters

613
00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 1: she had written to her mother, where she said that

614
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:50,000
Speaker 1: she loved her. No, I did not, never, said Little Gloria.

615
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:52,080
Speaker 1: I used to write letters to her because I was

616
00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:55,040
Speaker 1: afraid of her. Do I have to go back to her.

617
00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:59,720
Speaker 1: Little Gloria asked, I think you will want to Carew replied.

618
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:07,520
Speaker 1: Little Gloria began to sob. No, she cried. Carew was

619
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:13,880
Speaker 1: deeply troubled, but there was something strange about Little Gloria's answers.

620
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 1: She could not explain why she did not like her

621
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 1: mother or why she was afraid of her. She could

622
00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:23,279
Speaker 1: not give examples of any way in which her mother

623
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:27,400
Speaker 1: had hurt her, and there was something else. She seemed

624
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:31,520
Speaker 1: to have anticipated what questions would be asked, sometimes giving

625
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:35,800
Speaker 1: answers that seemed rehearsed, but her tears and her fear

626
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:42,120
Speaker 1: seemed very real. Un Settled, Carew turned to more familiar ground,

627
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:46,600
Speaker 1: the Catholic Church. He began testing Little Gloria on a

628
00:46:46,680 --> 00:46:51,920
Speaker 1: litany of Catholic prayers and rituals. Nervous Little Gloria froze

629
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,719
Speaker 1: and struggled to remember words. After nearly two and a

630
00:46:55,719 --> 00:47:00,560
Speaker 1: half hours of questioning, little Gloria left the courthouse. Carew

631
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:05,719
Speaker 1: was concerned. The child was clearly troubled, but he could

632
00:47:05,719 --> 00:47:10,719
Speaker 1: not understand just what was going on. Unfortunately for Gloria,

633
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,000
Speaker 1: her own witnesses did not do much to counteract the

634
00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:18,960
Speaker 1: damaging testimony. Of her daughter. Nathan Burkin had originally threatened

635
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:23,000
Speaker 1: to go after Gertrude's reputation, calling in witnesses from the

636
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:27,040
Speaker 1: art world who could testify to her own partying and bisexuality,

637
00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:32,759
Speaker 1: but Theobald Matthew, a lawyer representing Lady Milford Haven, advised

638
00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:37,320
Speaker 1: Berkan against it, warning that this would cause Gertrude's lawyers

639
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:40,799
Speaker 1: to go after Gloria even harder than they already had.

640
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:46,279
Speaker 1: So Instead, Berkan presented a number of Gloria's friends, all

641
00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:49,399
Speaker 1: of whom said that she was an affectionate and caring mother.

642
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:54,160
Speaker 1: Gloria's former fiance, Prince Friedel, came over from Europe with

643
00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:58,520
Speaker 1: his wife, Princess Marina, both of whom testified on Gloria's behalf.

644
00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:04,360
Speaker 1: So did Glodelaria's twin Telma, and her brother Harry. None

645
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:08,279
Speaker 1: of their testimony was very compelling, and the absence of

646
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:14,040
Speaker 1: certain witnesses implicated in Gloria's scandalous behavior, including Lady Milford Haven,

647
00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:21,000
Speaker 1: raised questions about whether the allegations against them were true. Finally,

648
00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:26,640
Speaker 1: Gloria herself testified during the trial. Nathan Burkin had urged

649
00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:29,880
Speaker 1: her to appear weak and helpless to feed into the

650
00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:35,040
Speaker 1: public narrative, but Gloria didn't need to act. She had

651
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:38,800
Speaker 1: had health problems ever since catching diphtheria right before her wedding,

652
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:41,680
Speaker 1: and the trial had driven her to the point of

653
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:47,200
Speaker 1: emotional and physical collapse. She had lost seventeen pounds off

654
00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:50,960
Speaker 1: her already slim figure by the time she testified on

655
00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:55,920
Speaker 1: the stand. Gloria frequently felt fate, cried, and took breaks.

656
00:48:56,760 --> 00:49:00,200
Speaker 1: Berkin led her through her early life, marriage and the

657
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:05,440
Speaker 1: birth of Little Gloria. Emotionally, Gloria proclaimed her love for

658
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:08,880
Speaker 1: her daughter, Mister Burkin, the only thing I want to

659
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:13,200
Speaker 1: say is this. I loved my baby then as I

660
00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:16,840
Speaker 1: love her now, and there is no use asking me

661
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:20,319
Speaker 1: how much I love her, because I do love her.

662
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:28,040
Speaker 1: Fragile and passionate Gloria made for a sympathetic witness, but

663
00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:33,040
Speaker 1: Herbert Smith's cross examination of her was damaging. He brought

664
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:36,120
Speaker 1: up letters that Little Gloria had written to her grandmother

665
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:41,960
Speaker 1: in which she criticized her mother. In one, Little Gloria wrote, quote,

666
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:45,680
Speaker 1: my mother was in Paris enjoying herself, while poor me

667
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:50,279
Speaker 1: was unhappy in England. Gloria claimed that Little Gloria had

668
00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:53,239
Speaker 1: been forced to write this either by Nurse Keieslich or

669
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 1: by Laura Morgan, but she had no evidence to support

670
00:49:56,640 --> 00:50:01,360
Speaker 1: her claim. More damning was Smith's account of Gloria's travels

671
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:05,520
Speaker 1: during her daughter's lifetime. Between nineteen twenty five and nineteen

672
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:10,799
Speaker 1: thirty three, Gloria had traveled almost constantly, never staying in

673
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:14,240
Speaker 1: one place for more than a few months. After Smith

674
00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:18,480
Speaker 1: took her through all of these trips, he asked, quote,

675
00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:22,080
Speaker 1: did you spend one percent of all the days of

676
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:26,000
Speaker 1: the year with your child? Later, when Smith pressed her

677
00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:29,720
Speaker 1: on the issue again, Gloria shot back that Gertrude traveled

678
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:35,080
Speaker 1: nearly as much, which was true, but Smith quickly rejoined, quote,

679
00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:39,240
Speaker 1: how does that compare with your absences time and again

680
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:43,880
Speaker 1: with your daughter lying sick? He had made his point

681
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:50,000
Speaker 1: On Tuesday, November thirteenth, after nearly seven weeks, both sides

682
00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:54,680
Speaker 1: rested just as Carew paused for a moment and then spoke.

683
00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:59,959
Speaker 1: In the matter of Vanderbilt, he had concluded that the child,

684
00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:12,520
Speaker 1: Gloria Laura Vanderbilt, should live with Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Justice.

685
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:16,160
Speaker 1: Carew's full statement in court that day was a somewhat

686
00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:21,920
Speaker 1: ambiguous one. What he said was this quote. This child

687
00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:25,279
Speaker 1: is very much better off where it is than where

688
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:30,080
Speaker 1: it was. Nevertheless, this mother is a young woman. I

689
00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:33,280
Speaker 1: don't think this child should be altogether taken from this woman.

690
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:38,880
Speaker 1: The child certainly today is very very strongly prejudiced against

691
00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:42,000
Speaker 1: the mother. I would be glad if the mother could

692
00:51:42,080 --> 00:51:45,440
Speaker 1: have an opportunity, first of all, to win back the

693
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:49,720
Speaker 1: confidence and affection of the child, and second to show

694
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:53,160
Speaker 1: that her future conduct will not be as her past

695
00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:59,000
Speaker 1: conduct has been. Nathan Burkin was confused. How was Gloria

696
00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:02,080
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt supposed to make a stronger connection with her daughter

697
00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:05,880
Speaker 1: if the child was living with another woman, a woman

698
00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:10,440
Speaker 1: who was hostile to Gloria. Carew responded that that was

699
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:14,239
Speaker 1: for the lawyers to sort out. The custody arrangement would

700
00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:16,759
Speaker 1: be hammered out in a series of conferences over the

701
00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:21,000
Speaker 1: next week. Ultimately, it was determined that little Gloria would

702
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:24,080
Speaker 1: stay with Gertrude during the school week and with Gloria

703
00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:28,359
Speaker 1: on the weekends. Carew especially wanted Gloria to have her

704
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:31,320
Speaker 1: daughter on the weekends so that they could attend Catholic

705
00:52:31,400 --> 00:52:36,359
Speaker 1: Mass together, which seemed to be his largest concern. No

706
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:40,280
Speaker 1: one was happy with this outcome, it wasn't an outcome

707
00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:44,520
Speaker 1: that made much sense from a variety of perspectives. For

708
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:48,120
Speaker 1: those with firsthand knowledge of the case, who had witnessed

709
00:52:48,160 --> 00:52:53,400
Speaker 1: little Gloria's apparent terror of her mother, it seemed preposterous

710
00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:57,200
Speaker 1: that weekends together would reconcile the pair. For those on

711
00:52:57,239 --> 00:53:00,600
Speaker 1: the outside, in the press and the public, the decision

712
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:07,240
Speaker 1: seemed illogical. Justice Carew's full decision criticized Gloria Vanderbilt's quote

713
00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:11,840
Speaker 1: mode of life. If her mode of life was so terrible,

714
00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:15,480
Speaker 1: many wondered, why was he allowing her custody at all.

715
00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:19,799
Speaker 1: The United States Law Review published a cheeky poem which

716
00:53:19,840 --> 00:53:23,600
Speaker 1: summed up the public feeling quote, rock a bye baby,

717
00:53:23,960 --> 00:53:29,040
Speaker 1: up on a writ Monday to Friday. Mother's unfit as

718
00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:34,120
Speaker 1: the weekends she rises in virtue Saturday's Sunday's mother won't

719
00:53:34,200 --> 00:53:40,080
Speaker 1: hurt you. A Family Court judge, writing on the decision declared, quote,

720
00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:43,759
Speaker 1: the mere fact that the court believes the parent is

721
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:46,799
Speaker 1: not pursuing the wisest course in the rearing of the

722
00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:50,560
Speaker 1: child does not justify taking the child from the parent.

723
00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:55,520
Speaker 1: People also criticized the idea of a judge dictating a

724
00:53:55,640 --> 00:54:02,399
Speaker 1: child's religious education. Carew had somehow not expected this criticism.

725
00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:06,080
Speaker 1: Throughout the trial, he had struggled with the high profile

726
00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:10,560
Speaker 1: nature of the case. By November, he had begun screaming

727
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:15,759
Speaker 1: at reporters. He called press conferences and then abruptly canceled them.

728
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:19,960
Speaker 1: He compared himself out loud, this time to King Solomon,

729
00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:25,480
Speaker 1: leading reporters to dub him the Socialites Solomon. The bad

730
00:54:25,600 --> 00:54:30,239
Speaker 1: reaction to his decision seemed to deeply affect Carew. Two

731
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,200
Speaker 1: years later, he checked into a hospital in Connecticut that

732
00:54:33,280 --> 00:54:38,759
Speaker 1: specialized in treating nervous breakdowns. Nathan Berkin was also profoundly

733
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:43,359
Speaker 1: impacted by the trial. Normally tough and unrelenting, he had

734
00:54:43,400 --> 00:54:47,120
Speaker 1: become emotionally involved in this case and was brought to

735
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:52,200
Speaker 1: tears by Justice Carew's decision. He felt personally responsible for

736
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:57,239
Speaker 1: Gloria Vanderbilt's public humiliation. It had been his imprudent questioning

737
00:54:57,400 --> 00:55:02,640
Speaker 1: that elicited Maria Coyote's scandalous TESTI. He promised to appeal

738
00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:07,120
Speaker 1: the case. His first appeal failed. The Appellate Division of

739
00:55:07,160 --> 00:55:11,400
Speaker 1: the New York State Supreme Court upheld Carew's ruling. Burkin,

740
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:16,480
Speaker 1: undaunted appealed again asking the United States Supreme Court to

741
00:55:16,520 --> 00:55:20,440
Speaker 1: review the case. He worked day and night on this

742
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:24,040
Speaker 1: final appeal, but in the spring of nineteen thirty six,

743
00:55:24,239 --> 00:55:28,800
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Several months later,

744
00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:34,240
Speaker 1: on June sixth, nineteen thirty six, Nathan Burkin died, aged

745
00:55:34,360 --> 00:55:39,880
Speaker 1: only fifty six. He had a great heart, said his associate,

746
00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:46,319
Speaker 1: Herman Finkelstein, and I think this case broke it. And

747
00:55:46,440 --> 00:55:51,560
Speaker 1: what of Little Gloria. After the trial, everyone simply forgot

748
00:55:51,600 --> 00:55:56,760
Speaker 1: about Gloria. Her cousin Gerda Henry recalled. Gerda, who grew

749
00:55:56,840 --> 00:56:00,680
Speaker 1: up at Wheatley Hills with Little Gloria, described their childhood

750
00:56:00,680 --> 00:56:04,760
Speaker 1: as a lonely one quote, we were so much alone.

751
00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:08,640
Speaker 1: My grandmother and my parents both would leave for months

752
00:56:08,640 --> 00:56:13,520
Speaker 1: at a time. We never saw anybody but servants. Little

753
00:56:13,560 --> 00:56:18,440
Speaker 1: Gloria and Gertrude's relationship was always a distant one, mainly

754
00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:23,360
Speaker 1: due to Gertrude's aloofness. Little Gloria would later write, quote,

755
00:56:23,840 --> 00:56:25,719
Speaker 1: I felt that she wanted to be close to me

756
00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:28,000
Speaker 1: as much as I wanted to be close to her.

757
00:56:28,880 --> 00:56:31,920
Speaker 1: She extended herself to me as much as it was

758
00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:37,200
Speaker 1: possible within her nature to do. The hard shell that

759
00:56:37,239 --> 00:56:41,360
Speaker 1: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney had cultivated to protect her interior life

760
00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:46,000
Speaker 1: prevented her from ever making a true connection with her niece.

761
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:51,239
Speaker 1: As Little Gloria grew older, she chafed against Gertrude's strict

762
00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:55,800
Speaker 1: restrictions on her. In nineteen thirty nine, when she was fifteen,

763
00:56:56,280 --> 00:56:59,480
Speaker 1: she asked the court to adjust the custody arrangement so

764
00:56:59,520 --> 00:57:03,520
Speaker 1: that she could her mother whenever she wished. Both Gertrude

765
00:57:03,560 --> 00:57:07,440
Speaker 1: and the court agreed to this arrangement, and then in

766
00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:12,399
Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, Little Gloria, now seventeen, moved to Los

767
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:15,920
Speaker 1: Angeles to live with her mother and her mother's twin, Telma.

768
00:57:17,040 --> 00:57:21,760
Speaker 1: But even then a happy home life eluded her. Her

769
00:57:21,760 --> 00:57:25,200
Speaker 1: mother seemed uncertain of how to act around her, and

770
00:57:25,400 --> 00:57:28,720
Speaker 1: more interested in her own social life than in connecting

771
00:57:28,720 --> 00:57:34,000
Speaker 1: with her daughter. The elder Gloria drank heavily, unexpectedly, disappeared

772
00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:37,520
Speaker 1: on weekend trips, and spent many nights at the apartment

773
00:57:37,520 --> 00:57:42,160
Speaker 1: of her girlfriend, the actress Keeddy Kevin. The situation was

774
00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:47,120
Speaker 1: untenable for Little Gloria, now no longer so little. In

775
00:57:47,160 --> 00:57:50,720
Speaker 1: her memoir, she wrote, quote I couldn't go on living

776
00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:53,480
Speaker 1: with my mother, and I wasn't going back to live

777
00:57:53,480 --> 00:57:59,480
Speaker 1: with Aunt. Gertrude best get married quick. On December twenty eighth,

778
00:57:59,600 --> 00:58:04,640
Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, two months before her eighteenth birthday, Gloria

779
00:58:04,760 --> 00:58:10,280
Speaker 1: married thirty two year old Pat de Chico, a Hollywood agent. Unfortunately,

780
00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:16,000
Speaker 1: Di Chico was physically and emotionally abusive. Gertrude strongly disapproved

781
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:19,400
Speaker 1: of the marriage, and the relationship between aunt and niece

782
00:58:19,520 --> 00:58:24,240
Speaker 1: became strained. Four months after the wedding, on April eighteenth,

783
00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:29,760
Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney died, aged sixty seven.

784
00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:34,680
Speaker 1: In nineteen forty five, Gloria turned twenty one and got

785
00:58:34,720 --> 00:58:38,680
Speaker 1: control of her trust. She divorced Pat di Chico and

786
00:58:38,880 --> 00:58:43,520
Speaker 1: married conductor Leopold Stekovski, forty two years her senior, the

787
00:58:43,600 --> 00:58:48,160
Speaker 1: next day, shortly after, she cut her mother off financially.

788
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:51,440
Speaker 1: She later said that it was Leopold's idea for her

789
00:58:51,480 --> 00:58:54,240
Speaker 1: to do this, but it was true that the mother

790
00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:59,440
Speaker 1: and daughter were estranged. They fought publicly in the press.

791
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:03,480
Speaker 1: Gloria and Leopold had two sons before divorcing. In October

792
00:59:03,560 --> 00:59:07,880
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five. Laura Morgan died in nineteen fifty six.

793
00:59:08,680 --> 00:59:13,440
Speaker 1: Gloria married the director Sidney Lamette the same year. They divorced.

794
00:59:13,480 --> 00:59:18,200
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty three. Gloria would write of her many marriages, quote,

795
00:59:18,640 --> 00:59:22,200
Speaker 1: my search for love has and always will be to

796
00:59:22,320 --> 00:59:27,360
Speaker 1: revive the dream of fulfilling the half forgotten, inevitably frustrated

797
00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:33,919
Speaker 1: wishes for perfect harmony and complete mutuality, wishes that originated

798
00:59:34,040 --> 00:59:38,439
Speaker 1: in the now buried fantasy of obtaining the perfect mother

799
00:59:39,160 --> 00:59:45,320
Speaker 1: to love me unerringly and unceasingly. The men are substitutes,

800
00:59:45,640 --> 00:59:53,400
Speaker 1: let's say, substitutes for my old sweetheart. In nineteen sixty three,

801
00:59:53,440 --> 00:59:58,200
Speaker 1: Gloria finally found a good substitute, a writer named Wyatt Cooper.

802
00:59:59,000 --> 01:00:02,840
Speaker 1: Wyatt came from a tight knit Mississippi family, and Gloria

803
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:07,600
Speaker 1: would later remember quote, when I met his large, loving family,

804
01:00:08,080 --> 01:00:10,720
Speaker 1: I was overwhelmed to see what it must have been

805
01:00:10,880 --> 01:00:14,760
Speaker 1: like to experience a supportive family behind you. Wyatt and

806
01:00:14,800 --> 01:00:19,120
Speaker 1: Gloria had two sons together, including Anderson, who became a

807
01:00:19,120 --> 01:00:24,200
Speaker 1: famous news anchor. Wyatt tragically died during surgery in nineteen

808
01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:28,920
Speaker 1: seventy eight. He was, in Gloria's words, quote the most

809
01:00:29,080 --> 01:00:32,840
Speaker 1: honest person I've ever met, and his sense of values

810
01:00:32,960 --> 01:00:36,480
Speaker 1: taught me what the loving parenting I never had could

811
01:00:36,560 --> 01:00:41,480
Speaker 1: be like. Two years after Gloria and Wyatt married, the

812
01:00:41,560 --> 01:00:46,960
Speaker 1: elder Gloria died on February thirteenth, nineteen sixty five. The

813
01:00:47,000 --> 01:00:50,520
Speaker 1: mother and daughter's relationship had never been an easy one,

814
01:00:50,640 --> 01:00:54,680
Speaker 1: but in recent years it had thawed. In nineteen eighty seven,

815
01:00:54,920 --> 01:00:58,880
Speaker 1: Gloria wrote of her mother quote, although I still search

816
01:00:58,960 --> 01:01:02,920
Speaker 1: for her, and part of me probably always will, it

817
01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:06,200
Speaker 1: is an ache I have learned to live with, and

818
01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:10,360
Speaker 1: we have found she and I a place of peace

819
01:01:10,600 --> 01:01:14,640
Speaker 1: where we rest together, closer perhaps in death than we

820
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:21,240
Speaker 1: ever were in life. On June seventeenth, twenty nineteen, little

821
01:01:21,240 --> 01:01:26,400
Speaker 1: Gloria herself died, aged ninety five. She had found great

822
01:01:26,440 --> 01:01:30,080
Speaker 1: success in the field of fashion design and true happiness

823
01:01:30,200 --> 01:01:34,280
Speaker 1: in her family and friends, but her childhood haunted her.

824
01:01:35,080 --> 01:01:39,200
Speaker 1: How could it not. Her early life was deeply unstable,

825
01:01:40,040 --> 01:01:42,760
Speaker 1: populated by people who were supposed to care for her,

826
01:01:43,280 --> 01:01:47,240
Speaker 1: but who, for their own reasons, could not. No one

827
01:01:47,320 --> 01:01:51,000
Speaker 1: had ever simply sat down with little Gloria and tried

828
01:01:51,040 --> 01:01:54,040
Speaker 1: to figure out what would be best for her. The

829
01:01:54,120 --> 01:01:57,680
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt money, which brought so much luxury to its owners,

830
01:01:58,280 --> 01:02:03,880
Speaker 1: also brought great stree. It prevented family members from talking

831
01:02:03,920 --> 01:02:09,520
Speaker 1: to each other, from being honest. It inspired greed and possessiveness.

832
01:02:10,400 --> 01:02:14,120
Speaker 1: It hired lawyers. It made what could have been a

833
01:02:14,200 --> 01:02:19,640
Speaker 1: simple problem a horrifically difficult one. Is it any surprise

834
01:02:19,800 --> 01:02:23,840
Speaker 1: that when little Gloria, now grown up, first saw the

835
01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:28,959
Speaker 1: television program Judge Judy, she had a fantasy that this

836
01:02:29,040 --> 01:02:32,920
Speaker 1: woman could have solved the problem for her. Judge Judy

837
01:02:33,000 --> 01:02:36,360
Speaker 1: wouldn't subject me to the hostile formality of a trial,

838
01:02:36,480 --> 01:02:41,480
Speaker 1: Gloria wrote. Instead, I'd be invited to sit up beside

839
01:02:41,480 --> 01:02:45,040
Speaker 1: her on the bench for a cozy chat, so she

840
01:02:45,120 --> 01:02:47,880
Speaker 1: could get a sense of what I was like and

841
01:02:47,920 --> 01:02:53,320
Speaker 1: what I wanted. That's the story of the matter of Vanderbilt.

842
01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:56,320
Speaker 1: Stay with me after the break to learn the answer

843
01:02:56,360 --> 01:03:00,600
Speaker 1: to the trial's most enduring mystery, why who was Little

844
01:03:00,600 --> 01:03:10,320
Speaker 1: Gloria so afraid of her mother? In nineteen eighty, the

845
01:03:10,400 --> 01:03:15,720
Speaker 1: journalist and author Barbara Goldsmith published Little Gloria Happy at Last.

846
01:03:16,400 --> 01:03:19,840
Speaker 1: The book, which is an extremely well reported and comprehensive

847
01:03:19,840 --> 01:03:23,440
Speaker 1: account of the case, brought renewed interest to the trial.

848
01:03:24,240 --> 01:03:27,080
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty two, the book was adapted into a

849
01:03:27,120 --> 01:03:30,800
Speaker 1: television mini series, which was nominated for six Emmy Awards.

850
01:03:31,600 --> 01:03:34,520
Speaker 1: The little Gloria in question was now in her late fifties,

851
01:03:35,000 --> 01:03:38,280
Speaker 1: and she was not happy about the book or TV show.

852
01:03:38,560 --> 01:03:42,040
Speaker 1: Her son Anderson Cooper recalled she never read the book

853
01:03:42,160 --> 01:03:46,600
Speaker 1: nor watched the series. But in nineteen eighty five, perhaps

854
01:03:46,680 --> 01:03:50,600
Speaker 1: in response to Goldsmith's book, Gloria published her own account

855
01:03:50,600 --> 01:03:53,640
Speaker 1: of the trial as part of a memoir called Once

856
01:03:53,760 --> 01:03:58,960
Speaker 1: Upon a Time. In this memoir, Gloria finally explained her

857
01:03:59,000 --> 01:04:04,160
Speaker 1: own behavior jury the trial, which had long unseettled observers,

858
01:04:04,240 --> 01:04:08,320
Speaker 1: Gloria had seemed to experience extreme fear at the idea

859
01:04:08,360 --> 01:04:11,480
Speaker 1: of living with her mother. This fear was central to

860
01:04:11,680 --> 01:04:16,320
Speaker 1: Justice Carew's decision to have her live with Gertrude. Goldsmith

861
01:04:16,400 --> 01:04:20,120
Speaker 1: had theorized in her book that, based on the constant

862
01:04:20,200 --> 01:04:23,880
Speaker 1: fears about kidnapping at the time, and exacerbated by her

863
01:04:23,920 --> 01:04:28,400
Speaker 1: grandmother and nanny's obsession with the subject, little Gloria had

864
01:04:28,440 --> 01:04:31,800
Speaker 1: been afraid that her mother would kidnap and kill her.

865
01:04:32,840 --> 01:04:36,640
Speaker 1: In Once upon a Time, Little Gloria provides a different answer.

866
01:04:38,200 --> 01:04:41,080
Speaker 1: Her fear was not of having to live with her mother.

867
01:04:41,200 --> 01:04:46,400
Speaker 1: She said it was of losing her beloved nanny, Nurse Keislich,

868
01:04:46,800 --> 01:04:53,600
Speaker 1: who she called Dodo. Dodo, despite her helicopter nannying loved

869
01:04:53,680 --> 01:04:57,280
Speaker 1: and cared for Gloria, and the child was terrified of

870
01:04:57,320 --> 01:05:00,440
Speaker 1: losing her. Why did she believe that that her mother

871
01:05:00,520 --> 01:05:05,880
Speaker 1: would fire Dodo because her grandmother, Laura Morgan, had told

872
01:05:05,920 --> 01:05:10,720
Speaker 1: her so. Gloria paints a terrifying portrait of Laura Morgan,

873
01:05:11,360 --> 01:05:15,560
Speaker 1: a woman so obsessed with status that she schemed to

874
01:05:15,640 --> 01:05:19,640
Speaker 1: remove her granddaughter from her daughter's custody in order to

875
01:05:19,720 --> 01:05:24,560
Speaker 1: bring herself closer to the Vanderbilt name and fortune. Gloria

876
01:05:24,640 --> 01:05:27,760
Speaker 1: said that Laura had fed her harsh words to write

877
01:05:27,760 --> 01:05:30,640
Speaker 1: down in letters about her mother, letters that would later

878
01:05:30,720 --> 01:05:34,600
Speaker 1: be used at trial. Laura told Gloria to pretend to

879
01:05:34,720 --> 01:05:38,720
Speaker 1: hate her mother. She told her to play sick. She

880
01:05:38,960 --> 01:05:43,000
Speaker 1: told her to be affectionate towards Gertrude Whitney. If she

881
01:05:43,120 --> 01:05:47,640
Speaker 1: did these things, Laura told her, Gloria would not lose

882
01:05:47,760 --> 01:05:54,720
Speaker 1: her beloved Dodo. Unfortunately, Laura's scheme fell apart. The only

883
01:05:54,840 --> 01:05:57,960
Speaker 1: clear outcome of the trial was the loss of Dodo,

884
01:05:58,440 --> 01:06:02,080
Speaker 1: whose disturbing performance on the stand had convinced both sides

885
01:06:02,160 --> 01:06:05,880
Speaker 1: that she needed to go. She was instructed to leave

886
01:06:05,960 --> 01:06:10,960
Speaker 1: Wheatley Hills and cease contact with the child. Gloria wrote

887
01:06:11,000 --> 01:06:15,240
Speaker 1: of the horrifying moment that she learned Dodo would be leaving, saying,

888
01:06:16,080 --> 01:06:20,120
Speaker 1: from that moment to this nothing has ever been the

889
01:06:20,200 --> 01:06:27,200
Speaker 1: same again. When Gloria finally reunited with Kieslik as a teenager,

890
01:06:27,560 --> 01:06:31,680
Speaker 1: she vowed to never leave her again. She financially supported

891
01:06:31,760 --> 01:06:34,960
Speaker 1: Kieslick for years, even having her live with her at

892
01:06:34,960 --> 01:06:42,160
Speaker 1: one point. However, even this relationship eventually soured. Kieslick loved Gloria,

893
01:06:42,480 --> 01:06:46,160
Speaker 1: It's true, but the love was not a healthy one.

894
01:06:46,200 --> 01:06:49,600
Speaker 1: She saw the child as an extension of herself, not

895
01:06:49,920 --> 01:06:55,080
Speaker 1: as an individual. Reflecting on this dynamic, Gloria wrote, quote,

896
01:06:55,600 --> 01:06:57,840
Speaker 1: when I was a child, she gave me the love

897
01:06:57,960 --> 01:07:00,800
Speaker 1: of a mother, But when I grew up, it was

898
01:07:00,880 --> 01:07:04,240
Speaker 1: hard for her to do this. Perhaps some mothers can

899
01:07:04,320 --> 01:07:08,680
Speaker 1: love their young only when they are that. The final

900
01:07:08,720 --> 01:07:12,760
Speaker 1: breaking point came during Gloria's marriage to the director Sidney Lamett,

901
01:07:13,280 --> 01:07:17,520
Speaker 1: who was Jewish. Kieslich was anti Semitic. She had, in

902
01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:20,880
Speaker 1: fact made anti Semitic comments to Nathan Burkan during the

903
01:07:20,960 --> 01:07:25,720
Speaker 1: trial and Gloria could not tolerate her prejudices. By the

904
01:07:25,760 --> 01:07:29,680
Speaker 1: time Keeeslick died in nineteen seventy three, Gloria had not

905
01:07:29,800 --> 01:07:33,200
Speaker 1: spoken to her for more than a decade, but not

906
01:07:33,320 --> 01:07:36,200
Speaker 1: being by Dodo's side at her death would be one

907
01:07:36,240 --> 01:07:40,840
Speaker 1: of Gloria's greatest regrets. The Dodo, for all her faults,

908
01:07:41,360 --> 01:07:45,920
Speaker 1: had loved Gloria, and love, as Anderson Cooper notes in

909
01:07:45,960 --> 01:07:49,360
Speaker 1: his account of the trial, is the one thing that,

910
01:07:49,960 --> 01:07:54,560
Speaker 1: despite all of their other privileges, the Vanderbilt family never

911
01:07:54,640 --> 01:07:58,880
Speaker 1: seemed to have enough of. Thank you for listening to

912
01:07:58,960 --> 01:08:02,360
Speaker 1: History on Trial. My main sources for this episode were

913
01:08:02,400 --> 01:08:06,760
Speaker 1: Barbara Goldsmith's book Little Gloria, Happy at Last and Gloria

914
01:08:06,880 --> 01:08:11,360
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt's memoirs, including Once Upon a Time and It seemed

915
01:08:11,400 --> 01:08:15,400
Speaker 1: important at the time. For a full bibliography, as well

916
01:08:15,440 --> 01:08:18,639
Speaker 1: as a transcript of this episode with citations, please visit

917
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:25,519
Speaker 1: our website History on Trial podcast dot com. History on

918
01:08:25,560 --> 01:08:29,519
Speaker 1: Trial is written and hosted by me Mira Hayward. The

919
01:08:29,560 --> 01:08:33,240
Speaker 1: show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising

920
01:08:33,280 --> 01:08:38,320
Speaker 1: producer Trevor Young and executive producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams,

921
01:08:38,640 --> 01:08:42,320
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick, and Mira Hayward. Learn more about the show

922
01:08:42,400 --> 01:08:46,360
Speaker 1: at History on Trial podcast dot com and follow us

923
01:08:46,400 --> 01:08:50,679
Speaker 1: on Instagram at History on Trial and on Twitter at

924
01:08:50,920 --> 01:08:56,120
Speaker 1: Underscore History on Trial. Find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by

925
01:08:56,200 --> 01:09:00,479
Speaker 1: visiting the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

926
01:09:00,520 --> 01:09:01,559
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.