Little Gloria... Happy at Last

I never thought I'd say this about a film made in my adult lifetime, but they just don't make them like this anymore. From 1975 until the early 1990's the miniseries was one of the mainstays of broadcast TV. In the better ones - which this was - the production values were high, the story intricately told, and prominent stars were involved.

In this day of people who seem to believe that they deserve what they have simply because they have always lived this way, this story of the super-rich set against the background of the Great Depression is timely. Gloria Morgan is the bride of 43 year-old Reggie Vanderbilt at 18, a mother at 19, and a widow at 20 when her husband, whose health has been ruined by a dissolute lifestyle, dies and leaves her penniless. The fact that she is the mother of one of Reggie's two surviving children leaves her the impoverished mother of a wealthy infant. As Gloria is an infant, though, and she is the surviving parent, big Gloria has an income of 48 thousand dollars a year on which to live, a limitation over which she complains endlessly. 48 thousand dollars a year would be roughly half a million dollars annually in today's currency.

Over the next ten years or so, Gloria travels around Europe and complains when the judge that is her daughter's guardian says that she must come back to America so that little Gloria can grow up there, as per their prior agreement. She gripes that she can't live the way she wants and that it is all Gloria's fault. Big Gloria seems to forget she would be living in a cardboard box were it not for little Gloria's existence. Eventually big Gloria's lifestyle, her vengeful mother, and little Gloria's religious nurse all work against her when her former sister-in-law, Gertrude, sues for custody of Gloria.

There are really no sympathetic characters in this story. The doctors are more than glad to give quack treatments to little Gloria and take the Vanderbilt money, the lawyers -as always - are glad to take anyone's money, the judge in the case is more interested in the Vanderbilt's opinion than justice, and Big Gloria doesn't come across so much as a bad mother as she does as someone who simply knows no other way to live than the way she has been living. Not exactly having a glowing example of motherhood upon which to rely, Big Gloria seems genuinely baffled as to why everyone is upset with her.

Unfortunately, miniseries such as these have been replaced with one reality show after another all of which are just variations on the theme "Human Beings Behaving Badly". Years from now I doubt anyone will be interested in them other than as exhibits on a degenerating culture. This film was a theatric reproduction of an actual true story, and for that reason it surprises me that Gloria Warren Vanderbilt's story has so many parallels in the biography of silent film star Lina Basquette. Her tragic tale can be found in the book Lina Demille's Godless Girl. That book is a rare title, but it is good reading if you can find it.

I remember seeing this one weekend years back, and really thought the story was cruel. The film portrays the custody battle of young socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, legend in the world of fashion design, and the possible ramifications of this emotional turmoil.

The thing that struck me about this movie was that it didn't feel like a movie. It was technically very competent, but didn't move well. There were props, there were costumes, there were sets, even one or two locations (though I seem to recall that most of the movie was comprised of interior shots), but there was little in terms of moving the story along, and less action.

Most of the film, from what I recall, was comprised of emotional vignettes. Like they were episodes out of a TV series as opposed to a feature film. Now that I've found this entry on the IMDb I understand that this was a made for TV movie, which makes a little more sense. Even so, not that I know that and it explains my viewing experience, I can't say that I would recommend this film nor call it good. It struck me as a movie made about a wealthy individual's childhood. A story that had emotional ups and downs, but otherwise wasn't much different than any other custody battle except that it involved the rich and famous.

And I guess that's what gets me about this film. For all of its gloss the basic tale wasn't anything more than a glitzed up version of "Kramer versus Kramer" or a made for TV movie thereof. We see suggestive tawdry details, but we're not really privy as to whether they're actually true or not. And that's the other thing that holds back this film; you don't know how much truth there is on either side of the trial. So, as a viewer, what do you do with that? I endured it, and sat through it, but to be exceedingly honest, I wish I had tuned it out.

I can't recommend this film in any capacity unless you're into the whole custody battle thing, and like stories about rich and famous people's childhoods. It's visually rich in terms of the shots that are there, and you do sympathize with young Gloria as her family tears itself asunder, but if this had been a couple in a trailer park, or a couple living out in rural or mountainous America, would you still find it interesting? If it had been a couple in India, Bhutan, outer Mongolia, Portugal, Brazilian Amazon, would you still tune in and sit through it? Of course you wouldn't.

I saw it once, and once was enough. To be fair it's an okay movie for what it is, but the entire production felt like it could have been more in terms of material portrayed, as well as trimmed down in terms of length.

Give it a shot.

I knew absolutely nothing about the Vanderbilt scandal, so when I watched Little Gloria...Happy at Last, I was completely surprised by every turn. Those who are very well versed in their socialite history might be a little bored or come to the miniseries with their own points of view. As it was, I got the distinct impression that William Hanley's screenplay, based on Barbara Goldsmith's book, had its own axe to grind. Without spoiling the story, I will just say that there is no clear-cut villain, but instead several potentials.

Lucy Gutteridge takes the lead as Gloria Vanderbilt, the older. It's a little ironic that Lucy Gutteridge was cast as Mother Gloria Vanderbilt, when she bore such a striking resemblance to what Little Gloria grew into as an adult. As a teen girl, Lucy gets swept off her feet by the older, world-wise Christopher Plummer. They marry, much to the delight of her money-hungry mother, Glynis Johns, but soon after the birth of their daughter, Chris drinks himself to death. Young, alone, and with an inheritance she believes is unfair, she becomes a careless mother who would rather galivant in nightclubs. The baby's nurse, Maureen Stapleton, forges a bond with Glynis and vows to help the child grow up with a Catholic faith, despite her Protestant christening. As Lucy becomes more distant and self-centered, Maureen becomes the most important fixture in the child's life. With the Lindbergh kidnapping case in the newspapers, Little Gloria becomes fearful and clings further to Maureen.

I loved Bette Davis's performance as Lucy's formidable mother-in-law. Stripped of her false eyelashes and over-the-top makeup, she really toned down her delivery and channeled her inner Gladys Cooper. A far cry from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, she seemed to finally adapt to modern times. Martin Balsam was once again cast as a lawyer who's not very good at his job (poor guy), and it was ironic because he also played the defense attorney in the tv movie The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case. Angela Lansbury's character was my favorite, as she was the only one who acted unselfishly and with the child's best interest at heart. Also toned down, she was subtle, savvy, and played a good match as Bette Davis's daughter. If the story interests you, rent this three-hour miniseries for a lot of soap and some very beautiful costumes and houses. It's a little dated, and part of it is upsetting, but you should be expecting some soap opera elements to a Vanderbilt story.

Watching Little Gloria forthe first time what struck me about this film is how the women were totally running the show. Old Commodore Vanderbilt may have made the family fortune from the New York Central Railroad, but by the 20s and 30s the women were certainly running the show.

The only male Vanderbilt is Christopher Plummer playing Reginld Vanderbilt and he's a wastrel just wasting away. In his 40s he marries Lucy Guttridge and the marriage lasts long enough to produce Little Gloria our subject. Plummer dies from the excesses of a partying life Prohibition spirits no doubt helped.

Jennifer Dundas plays Little Gloria the heir to a trust fund set up by her grandfather who wisely knew Plummer would blow it. But when he dies Dundas becomes the center of a custody battle between Guttridge who has a hedonistic lifestyle in Europe and Plummer's sister Angela Lansbury.

This was a good mini-series which even had an appearance by Bette Davis playing Plummer and Lansbury's mother the Vanderbilt grand dame. But the appearances I liked were that of Maureen Stapleton the nurse who poisoned Little Gloria's mind against her mom and Glynis Johns who was Guttridge's mother and quite the character herself.

All this was entertainment fodder for the Depression masses. Little Gloria certainly captures the mood of the times.

"Little Gloria...Happy at Last" is a 1982 miniseries and a clear indication that they just don't make TV movies like they used to. For one thing, the miniseries is gone; for another, since no murder was committed, this type of story is no longer of interest to producers. One thing it might have going for it today - it is true.

The miniseries is based on the Barbara Goldsmith book covering the custody battle between Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and Gertrude Hay Whitney for Gloria Vanderbilt, who was 11 at the time. According to Goldsmith's excellent book, the insecure Little Gloria's fears of being kidnapped were fed into by her deeply religious nurse, Dodo, and vengeful grandmother, Laura Fitzpatrick Morgan while her mother traveled and she visited with her Aunt Gertrude. With all the talk done in front of her about the Lindbergh kidnapping and other copycat crimes, Gloria came to fear her own mother would kidnap and kill her. Never asked to explain the origins of her fears or what they exactly were, Gloria was then paraded in front of doctors and prescribed all sorts of things for her upset stomach and night terrors. Gertrude eventually refuses to return Gloria to her mother, starting an enormous court case, scandal and publicity.

This opulent film is wonderfully acted, beautiful to look at and engrossing, with a top cast including Lucy Gutteridge as Gloria's mother, Angela Lansbury as Gertrude Whitney, Christopher Plummer as Reginal Whitney, Gloria's father, Glynis Johns as Laura Morgan, Maureen Stapleton as Dodo, Jennifer Dundas as Little Gloria, John Hillerman, Martin Balsam, Michael Gross and Barnard Hughes. One more star: Bette Davis as Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt, Little Gloria's grandmother. The casting of Lansbury as Davis' daughter is inspired! The entire cast, as one may imagine, is magnificent.

The story of Little Gloria, today mother of Anderson Cooper, is heartbreaking and shows not only how the power of money continues to corrupt the legal system but the pathetic way that children were raised and treated in our society in the 1930s. Much is made of Gloria's mother traveling and living away from her daughter as if she was the only one doing it; in reality, most wealthy people handed their children to nurses and took off for months at a time. Though Gloria was assigned a guardian, no one unbiased ever talked to her, and doctors were too glad to take the Vanderbilt money, prescribe her laxatives and keep her out of school. You can't count the judge (who was a patient at a mental hospital); he was pro-Vanderbilt and concerned only with Gloria's religious upbringing, not the undue influence she had been under because of her nurse. One's sympathy is with Gloria's inept, confused, passive, overwhelmed mother, who was not a mean-spirited woman, just someone who knew only one way to live. Gertrude, perhaps at first well-meaning, emerges as someone who used her money to buy the justice she needed by getting the help of Mrs. Morgan and the nurse.

A really wonderful movie. Don't miss it.