At a party that Doubleday (the publishers) gave for Gloria Vanderbilt, the author of a new book called Woman to Woman:
… . … . … . . (Sharp intake of breath) “Gloria!”
… . … . … . . “Gordon.”
… . … . … . . (Sharp intake of breath) “Gloria!”
… . . “Ruth.”
… . … . … . . “Margaret.”
… . … . … . . “Tammy.”
… . . “Sean.”
… . … . … . . (Sharp intake of breath) “Gloria!”
… . … . … “Remember when she dieted down to a hundred pounds?”
… . … . … “Today, as you know, publishing is packaging.”
… . … . … . . “From where I stand, I can see a book titled Beyond Defeat.”
… . … . … . . “That is Gloria Jones.”
… . … . … . . “You mean …?”
… . … . … “Yes. There are an awful lot of famous Glorias here tonight. I am the least famous of them.”
… . … . … . . (Sharp intake of breath) “Gloria!”
… . . “Jerry.”
… . … . … . . “Did Gloria design the suit and blouse she is wearing?”
… . … . … . . “Gloria only designed the blouse.”
… . … . … . . (Sharp intake of breath) “Gloria!”
… . … . … . . (Sharp intake of breath) “Gloria!”
Titles of some chapters or sections of Gloria Vanderbilt’s book: “The Bright Garden of Memory—and Taste,” “Early Me,” “Learning More About Myself,” “The Romance of the Self: Fortuny, Karinska, Adolfo,” “Discovering Yourself,” “The Spirit of the Artist,” “Menus and Recipes.”
There are many pictures in Gloria Vanderbilt’s new book. Almost all of them have captions, and all of the captions perfectly describe the photographs: “Gloria in 1941.” “Gloria in 1953—in a publicity photo for The Swan.’” “At sixteen Gloria on the brink of Hollywood.” “Gloria dressed as a medieval damsel, Old Westbury, 1935.” “The famous Sphinx photograph—Gloria wearing a Mainbocher gown.” “Gloria in 1971—‘the past few years have greatly expanded our sense of what we can be.’” “Gloria, with Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, wearing one of her Faraway coolie hats.” “Gloria at work in her studio.” “Gloria returns Wyatt Cooper’s smile at a Broadway opening.” “Gloria in the Ten Gracie Square days.”
—March 19, 1979