She chose Katharine Gibbs School in New York over Wellesley and Smith because she wanted to be independent. “Wilhelmina (Billy) Hunnewell Winthrop was the central character in Judith Krantz’s best-selling 1978 novel Scruples. Out of the corner of her eyes she was aware that someone was stationed by the elevator door checking out each girl for gloves, hat, dress, and makeup, of which there must not be much.” She did not look mean, thought Billy, only as if she knew all about you and had not decided whether to actively disapprove–yet. Gibbs, preserved with all its stern, implacable presence in the portrait that hung over the receptionist’s desk. “As Billy stepped off the elevator into the entrance of the Katharine Gibbs School, the first thing that met her eyes was the gaze of the late Mrs.

Below is an excerpt from Katharine Gibbs: Beyond White Gloves. In 1978 Judith Krantz used Katharine Gibbs School as a model of excellence in her first novel Scruples. JUDITH KRANTZ WROTE ABOUT GIBBS EXCELLENCE. One example is the novel Scruples by Judith Krantz. Katharine Gibbs became an important symbol of excellence. Some graduates went on to become famous in careers quite different from their first jobs.

Katharine Gibbs School hired famous faculty. Brown in Providence, Harvard and MIT in Boston, and Columbia in New York provided lecturers for Gibbs and also appropriate escorts for her students.” Chapter 3 “By 1918 Katharine Gibbs had three schools in cities with prestigious colleges.

Scruples by judith krantz