Now that I've ditched the wedding band, I'm gonna go out first thing and get properly laid.
A few days ago we commented that mid-century photo-journalists documented many sad moments that took place in police stations and courthouses, so we thought we’d flip the script and share some happy shots. Above you see a woman who’s just been granted a divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Note the smile. That’ll happen when you drop two-hundred pounds of dead weight. She has a name. It’s Vicki Richards, according to the photo data, and she’s got great expectations today in 1958. She’s nobody famous, but newspaper photographers, those parasites (that we love for having documented all this, but still parasites) routinely made shots of women who’d just severed the matrimonial bonds. We have some examples below, mostly from 1957 and 1958, with a couple from 1951, all culled from the University of Southern California’s digital archive. At the very bottom we also have, accessible via links, more divorce shots, including several featuring celebrities.
“I’m going to find a man who’ll make an absolute rat’s nest of my hair when we fuck.”
“I feel like an animal on the prowl suddenly. I feel like… I dunno, like a cougar! Hey, that’s pretty catchy.”
“I just want to be happy. Happy in a very public way that I can shove in my ex-husband’s ugly face.”
“It’s nice to be single again. And it’s self evident, wouldn’t you agree, that I’ll have a date before I even get out of the courthouse?”
“So, I’ve heard that what men really like is a lady in the street but a freak in the bed. I’m going to give that duality a whirl.”
The petitioner will please stop eye-fucking the bailiff!
“I know I look nervous, but it’s because there’s so much I don’t know. For example, during the ménage à trois I’ve set up for later do we start with sixplay?”
“That’s it? It’s over? I’m free? I might cry tears of joy with my vagina.”
“Trust me—underneath this demure white doily beats the heart of an unrepentant sex degenerate.”
“Heh. One of the other divorcées just told me that there are penises considerably larger than five inches. Women exaggerate so.”
“Who, me? I’m sorry, I can’t—I’m a married woman. But ask me again in about forty minutes.”
“I’ve been unfulfilled for a long time. I plan to become filled.”
“Maybe at home I’ll make some mint tea, run a bath and— Whoa! Look at the bulge on that hunk of man meat! Evening plans—ka-ching—changed!”
“My friends here have convincingly argued that I don’t need a man at all.”
American sci-fi/horror author Howard Phillips Lovecraft dies of intestinal cancer in Providence, Rhode Island at age 46. Lovecraft died nearly destitute, but would become the most influential horror writer ever. His imaginary universe of malign gods and degenerate cults was influenced by his explicitly racist views, but his detailed and procedural style of writing, which usually pitted men of science or academia against indescribable monsters, remains as effective today as it was eighty years ago.
2011—Illustrator Michel Gourdon Dies
French pulp artist Michel Gourdon, who was the less famous brother of Alain Gourdon, aka Aslan, dies in Coudray, France aged eighty-five. He is known mainly for the covers he painted for the imprint Flueve Noir, but produced nearly 3,500 covers during his career.
1964—Ruby Found Guilty of Murder
In the U.S. a Dallas jury finds nightclub owner and organized crime fringe-dweller Jack Ruby guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruby had shot Oswald with a handgun at Dallas Police Headquarters in full view of multiple witnesses and photographers. Allegations that he committed the crime to prevent Oswald from exposing a conspiracy in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have never been proven.
1925—Scopes Monkey Trial Ends
In Tennessee, the case of Scopes vs. the State of Tennessee, involving the prosecution of a school teacher for instructing his students in evolution, ends with a conviction of the teacher and establishment of a new law definitively prohibiting the teaching of evolution. The opposing lawyers in the case, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, both earn lasting fame for their participation in what was a contentious and sensational trial.
1933—Roosevelt Addresses Nation
Franklin D. Roosevelt uses the medium of radio to address the people of the United States for the first time as President, in a tradition that would become known as his “fireside chats”. These chats were enormously successful from a participation standpoint, with multi-millions tuning in to listen. In total Roosevelt would make thirty broadcasts over the course of eleven years.
