When film critic Penelope Gilliatt's nanny was unable to look after Gilliatt's daughter, Nolan, wrote Groth, Gilliatt would bring Nolan to Groth and Nolan would sit with her at her desk for the afternoon. "She was very independent and didn't require much in the way of attention," she wrote. Later, Groth attended Nolan's birthday party at Gilliatt's house, which consisted of unusual entertainment for the time. "The adults present ... were a starry bunch," Groth wrote. "Maggie Smith, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, among others. Woody Allen sat with the children on the floor in front of the screen when we all watched a thirty-three-millimeter cut of 'Young Frankenstein.' Long before the days of the flat-screen or the DVD."
