New Britain Herald Newspaper, January 19, 1928, Page 19

THELMA. *Gloria differs from me in that she likes society and enjoys playing the role of gracious hos! " Writes Gloria’s Twin (Above), the Present Lady Furness. “NOW IT CAN BE TOLD!” F all th' glittering American girls whose romances have cap- tured the imagination of the public—from Anna Gould’s marriage to the fortune-hunting Count Boni de Castellane, to Millicent Rogers Salm’s honeymoon with her handsome South American—none has so piqued the curlosity ot readers as the young but epectacular Morgan twins, Gloria and Thelma. They are the “magical Morgans” becaus h, at seventeen, was a belle in international society; because each, though not wealthy, as the daughter of an American di t hobnobbed with kings and prince ch eventually married millions, to each love brought of after plumbing the depths of sorrow! Curiously enough, however, with all the glamor that surrounds them no one outside their exclusive intimates in the “400” really “knows” the twins. Gloria, particularly, is an enigma to the wrltf he seldom appears in public. She "has never been inter viewed. She refuses to see reporters on her frequent to-and-fros - tween the United States and Europe. She, even more than her twin, is under the famous Vander- bilt “no talking for publication” ban, a private agresment between members of that famous family. Now that the announcement of Gloria's engagement to Prince Godefroi ilohcnlnhe Lange- bourg has been made, interest is keener than ever in this young Vanderbilt widow who will wed a scion of a German family nine centuries old and who will soon be known as “Her Serene Highness.” 1t is, therefore, with no little gratification that the editors present on this page a “close- up” of Gloria by the one per- son who knows her best—her own twin, Thelma! The “close-up” is compiled from a series of articles written by Thelma soon after her twin's marriage to the late Reginald C. Vanderbilt. Thelma, herself divorced, found time heavy on her hands. She was separated from ter for the first long period he still thought Gloria the resting person in the world. romance with the famous g8 entrapped her imagination. 8o she sat down with pencil and paper and, in her own way, ‘m:n what she 1o-Be With Intimate “Close-ups’ of the First Great Love of the Young Widow Soon to Wed a Queen's Nephew THE PRINCE. Zodefroi Hohenlohe Langebourg, at Left, on the Deck of the Yeviathan wil th Princess lleana of Ruma It Was on the Ship That He Met Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and Fell in Love with Her. THOSE “MAGICAL MORGANS.” Twis doughters of Harry Hayes Morgan, fameus United States diplomat. Edseated abread, where they were the playmates of reyalty. Made their dobuts at viztosn and were the pets of Paris and Lendon seciety. THELMA. Married James Vail Couverse, scion of on old New York family, whes she only sixtoen. Separsted frem Converse ot seven- toen and divorced bim i Paris. Marvied last yoor Lord Purness, one of the richest men in England, and vow is o loader in Londen seciety. thought of that romance and Gloria Th ult was a most human and cture of one twin by the with Thelma the wife one of the richest and Gloria about to helma’s “close-up” of Gloria at the time of Gloria's first great love casf new and unique light on the Vander- bilt Princ -be. And now that Gloria is released from the Vanderbilt silence pact, it can be told—by Thelma! . interesting other. Today, By THELMA MORGAN CONVERSE. (New Lady Furness.) HAVE just returned to New York from a week-end with Gloria and Reggie at Sandy Point Farm, Reggie's Newport place, and if you tell me Amer- ica holds & pair of honeymooners more ardently devoted than these two, 1 simply can’t believe you. I watched Gloris, trailed by a dozen adoring Vanderbilt dogs, flitting about the rooms of the great mansion that is anything but & farmhouse, telling me as excitedly af little girl with a doll's house he for playing the Vander- bilt hot patting Reggie’s cheek as though re the woman of forty and he only a little be; w o constantly at her heels like ul angel himself and from what I saw of them during those few days— and from what 1 know of their romance since its inception—I am here to fell society that it simply doesn’t know what it is talking about when it whispers, “will it <4i BEFORE REGGIE'S DEATH. GLORIA. Married Reginald C. Vanderbilt, most famows “catch” in the New York “400," whea she was seventoss. Lived idylically with Vanderbilt asd was boart-broken when be died. Went abroad with baby davgh- ter. Now engaged to Prince Hobenlohe Langebourg, nephow of Queen Marie. A Recent Phote of Thelma - The Scien of the Vanderbilts with His Wife 'l:;r“- Cenveres, Taken Since and Baby Daughter. arriage te the Millionaire, Lerd F Tt wasn’t one of your love-at-first- sight cases. Though they saw each other frefiuemly at teas, the acquaintance ex- tended no further. Reggie was an eternal subject for the match-predicters, but no one suspected a romance between him and Gloria then. About a month before I sailed for Europe I gave a party at the Beaux Arts. ghe guests were Mary Terry, Countess Zichy, Reggie, Angier Duke and Julian Little. Gloria promised to join us after the theatre and she did. I noticed that night for the first time that Reggie Vanderbilt seemed smitten with my twin, and she glowed under his ardent eyes. Chance added fuel to the flame that began to burn between them. And a few weeks later, on the day I sailed, Reggie arrived at the dock just as the Lap- land was towed out. I thought 1 glimpsed him in the crowd at Gloria’s bacf, but not until weeks later did 1 learn what important events hinged on my departure that blus- tery January day. “l was crying when Reggie came up all out of THE PRINCESS.TO-BE. Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt in Ro Drese Ball. breath,” Gloria tells me. *“‘He told me to cheer up and said, ‘Let's go to lunch.’ So I went to lunch with him and—well, that was really when we fell in love, Thelma.” Gloria was on the eve of sailing for Havana with Mrs. aruch. Reggie begged her to marry him. She was stop- ping at the Waldorf with our aunt, Mrs. William Rafferty. She told Reggie shg would have to have time in which to make up her mind—the month in the tropics. But he was too impetuous for her. Three days later they were engaged and within a month the wedding took place. When 1 returned from Europe 1 found Reggie and Gloria, instead of occupving the mansion at Sandy Point Farm, living like a pair of true honeymooners in a small vine-covered cottage in the rear of it. The effect was quite Arcadian, I as- sure you. Not at all what you would e: pect of & multi-millionaire and his bride. When they are in town, Gloria and Reg- gie will live at Reggie’s house, in Seventy- seventh Street. There each floor it a sepa- rate suite with a lift running from floor to floor, which one operates himself Reg gie's living quarters during his bachelor days were very much of the same char- ter as the Sandy Point trophy room— sporting prints, photographs of thorough breds, a big blue divan, s buge polar bear Coprrigh, 1901, Internetionsl Fusture Gervies. Ine., Grest Briteis Righs Beserved obes at a “400” Fancy rug in front of the fireplace. The only books I can recall from a quick glance a* his library are Burton's Unexpurgated Edition of the Arabian Nights. A most comfortable rookery—Reggie's Bachelor Hall. T wonder if he minds giving up his glorious bachelor ease. Seriously «peaking, 1 am sure he doesn’t. The simple truth is that he loves Gloria and Gloria loves him. That shou!d be enough to make a successful marriaye, if there weren't plenty of other reasons. Though she is only 17, Gloria is no flapper. She has the goise and judgment of a woman twice her age. She has seen too many marriages smashed to have any false illusions. She went into matrimony open-eyed, determined to make it a 5. Gloria not only differs from me in that she likes society and enjoys playing the role of gracious hostess, but she wiil occupy an impr le position. Reggie inherited ten millions when he was 21 and another five millions on the death of his brother, Alfred G. Vanderbilt. The wife of a Vanderbilt doesn’t have to make any social concessions. His mother, the dowager Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, regards Reggie as the apple of her eye. She has been awfully sweet to Reggie'’s wife and that approval in itself is enough to smooth Gloria's pathway wherever she goes. GLORIA. it will last Gloria and T were born abroad and lived abroad until we were twelve years old. And almost every Summer, after we finally came to the United States to complete our education, back we had to trot to Antwerp or Brussels or wherever my father and mother happened to be. ‘Then—Paris, Monte Carlo, Deauville, thi; watering place and that—the tedious rou- tine began all over again. I suppose it was an interesting life after a fashion. We knew, young though we were, Lu- cerne, Stuttgart, Amsterdam, Barcelons, Hamburg, Antwerp, Brussels—all cities where my father was stationed. Until we were nine Gloria and |1 knew no language but French. Then we learned Spanish. We still speak with a marked foreign accent. Our nussemaids and governesses were either French or Swiss or Dutch or Spanish or Belgian, de- pending on the country where father was representing the United States. | know the fairytales—and the swear words—ot half the nations in Europe. The result of this cosmopolitan child- hood of ours, instead of making cosmo- polites out of us, intensified our love for America. Our speech, our dress, our manners, and our standards were all for eign, but our hearts were red-white-and- blue—and they still are!