WEBVTT - The Misfits 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:08.640 Why Uzzy Media productions. You know, we just had the 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.840 revolutionary idea of working for a magazine we read. The 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.440 dream was relatively small. I just wanted to do a 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.160 magazine that I believed in and it would be successful 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.680 enough so I could keep doing it. And what came 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.799 afterwards I could not have imagined. That is what I 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.159 would like to accomplish. I would like to be a 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:34.839 good actress. Nineteen year old Norma Jean Doherty drove her 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.879 Ford coupe from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:41.280 the summer of nineteen forty six. She went to obtain 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.479 a divorce from her first husband. He didn't support her 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:46.600 career and she had no chance of making it in 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:50.159 Hollywood as a married starlet. Six weeks later, with a 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.240 quickie Nevada divorce in hand, she was a free woman. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.480 Norma Jean became Hollywood's Marilyn mone and years later she 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.520 returned to Nevada to start in a movie called The Misfits. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.640 It was the last picture she completed before her death. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.160 She played a woman who, like her younger self, comes 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:16.720 to Nevada for a divorce. Well, cheer up, I will. 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.319 I just hate to fight with anybody. When you win, 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.680 you lose, you know in your heart. The Misfits was 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.440 set against the backdrop of what some historians called the 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.520 Golden Age of divorce. In the center of that golden 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.959 age was the state of Nevada. Well is to Nevada. 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:36.640 Believe it state, the state, believe it state. You got money, 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.160 you want to gamble, Leave it here. You got a 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:40.560 wife you want to get rid of. Get rid of 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.720 her here, extra adam bomb. You don't need blow it 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.680 up here. Nobody's gonna mind. In the slightest Marilyn Monroe 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:49.880 was just one of thousands of women who traveled to 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.080 the leave it state to take advantage of its liberal 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:56.120 divorce laws between nineteen thirty and nineteen seventy. Without that 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.840 Nevada divorce, Monroe might never have become a star. Many 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.520 came to Nevada, like Monroe, obtained more than just a 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:06.120 decree from the courthouse. They won something far more valuable, 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:20.200 their freedom Rush Nevada. I'm Sean Braswell, and this is 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.960 the Thread. This season. On the Thread, we are traveling 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.120 through history again, turning the clock back one story at 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.320 a time to reveal the surprising series of events behind 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.919 a modern icon, the feminist writer and activist Gloria Steinham. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.360 If you're joining us for the first time, we encourage 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.840 you to go back and listen to episode one. So far, 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.079 our journey has taken us through the lives of three 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.280 American legends. We've been to the Playboy Club in New 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.600 York City, where Gloria Steinham stent as an undercover bunny 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:51.840 helped ignite her career as a leader in the women's movement. 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.440 We peeked behind the walls of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.400 mansion and empire to learn how he got his start. 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.200 And we ran with the wolves in Hollywood alongside the 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:07.160 unforgettable woman whose nude photograph helped launch Playboy, Marilyn Monroe. 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.040 Today we hear about the place that set Monroe on 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.160 her path to stardom. It is said that one out 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:18.560 of every five or six marriages and the United States 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:23.040 ends in divorce, and the mecca of the disillusion bride 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:27.200 is Renal, the gay little metropolis of Nevada. In the 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.360 nineteen twenties and thirties, Reno, Nevada became known as the 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:35.520 divorce capital of the world. The Immortal wedding marches of 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.400 Wagner and Mendelssohn become sadly distorted here in the arts 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:43.000 of the countless Brides and common Gold. Freed of their 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:48.280 marriagal obligations would completely disillusion and their dreams of conjugal felicity. 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.400 Why did so many people come to Reno for a divorce, Well, 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:56.760 for starters, it was not that easy to end the marriage, 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.400 and most other states at the time there were long 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.960 waiting periods in very few grounds for divorce. If you 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.520 wanted a divorce in New York, for example, you had 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.400 to prove that your spouse had committed adultery, which usually 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:12.600 meant hiring a private investigator. The migratory divorce trade or 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.600 people traveling to get a divorce, arose to give divorce 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.039 seekers an easier path. But the shift to easier divorces 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.919 was prompted by more than restrictive laws. There was a 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.479 lot of change going on in society. This is Mela Harman, 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.440 an expert on Nevada divorce and a former curator of 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.680 history at the Nevada Historical Society. Families were undergoing change. 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:38.440 There was talk about birth control, women's suffrage, all sorts 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:43.839 of changes in society. But by the twentieth century things 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:48.280 were really changing and it just happened to land on 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:51.479 Nevada's doorstep. It helped that Nevada put out a big 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.120 welcome mat one that at first was not designed with 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.479 divorce seekers in mind. The period of time required to 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.520 become a bona fide citizen, which meant you could file 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.840 a lawsuit, which a divorce is, was six months, which 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.400 was relatively short. And the reason it was short was 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.839 Nevada was this little, tiny state. It didn't have a 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:15.000 whole lot going on. It was trying to attract a population. 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.680 The state attracted not only new residents but also wealthy 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:23.360 outsiders who wanted a more convenient end to their inconvenient marriages. 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.320 And what really put Reno on the divorce map was 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.200 a single, unhappy couple, a very rich and well known one. 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:34.920 In nineteen o five, the wife of William Corey, who 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.000 was the president of the United States Steel Corporation, which 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.640 would sort of be the equivalent of somebody like Bill Gates. 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.200 His wife came here and divorced him. She claimed that 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.240 Corey had deserted her for a showgirl, and that one 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.120 really hit the newspapers and all of a sudden, people 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.080 are going, what Reno, What is this all about? And 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.680 by nineteen o nine, a national magazine declared Reno the 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:02.599 new Divorce head Corps DS of the United States. Nevada's 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:06.040 new cottage industry was now open for business. This was 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.880 an economic boon for Nevada, which had very little in 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:15.440 the way of industry. Its main economic drivers were agriculture 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.479 and mining, which were boom and bust industries. Then other 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.279 states like Idaho and Arkansas liberalized their divorce laws, and 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.480 soon Nevada was losing business. And then things went from 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.680 bad to worse with the Great Depression. So leaders in 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:33.640 Nevada took some bold action. The state legislatures legalized gambling 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.520 in n It also lowered the residency requirement for getting 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.279 a divorce in the state to just six weeks, by 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.560 far the shortest in the nation. No other state in 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.479 the United States was willing to go that far. To 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.960 remain competitive, Nevada also tried to make divorce as painless 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.080 as possible. The new law ensued that divorce complaints could 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.760 be done in general terms without the petitioner having to 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:02.920 air any detailed or potentially embarrassing grievances. All proceedings took 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.800 place behind closed doors and all records were sealed. Nine 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:14.120 legal grounds for divorce were recognized. They included impotency, adultery, desertion, neglect, 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:19.360 habitual drunkenness, and mental cruelty Mela Harmon again, So it's 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.120 pretty wide array of possibility. So if you couldn't fit 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.720 your issue into one of those, you probably didn't deserve 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.360 a divorce. The most popular ground was mental cruelty, which 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.120 could cover a host of things. Harmon came across one 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.720 woman who saw a divorce because her husband criticized her 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.840 driving too much. Thanks to such leniency, however, Nevada was 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.440 back in business. Oh well, I guess divorce ain't much 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:45.880 more in the matter of traveling, you check out of 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:48.400 the state of matrimony and land in the state of Nevada. 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.320 That's a taxi driver welcoming a divorce seeker. In the 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.480 ninety eight film Charlie Chan and Rena, people poured into 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.440 the city after the law was enacted. Some were forced 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.280 to camp on the city's river banks. Reno would become 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.400 home to more than one divorce lawyers and raking millions 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.200 of dollars per year, and by gosh, it's the one 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.800 business that even the depression don't hit. How you take 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.840 week for instance, or cotton? How much bother to the hotel? Oh, 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.800 you know, no matter how soon I get you there, lady, 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:22.120 it still takes six weeks. Well. The people who came 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.640 to Nevada for a divorce were about as diverse a 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:30.920 lot as you could imagine, from the very poor to 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:36.640 the very very ultra rich and everything in between. Most 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.280 of war seekers were women, and most arrived in Reno 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.240 by train. The Transcontinental Railroad went right through the city. 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.640 The journey itself was a life changing experience for many 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.839 Mela Harmon. I mean, you can imagine someone coming from 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:55.080 say the East coast, who had never been to the 0:08:55.120 --> 0:09:01.640 West couldn't imagine the vastness of nothingness that exists. It 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.280 must have been quite a shock to the system. Locals 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.600 called the train the Divorcee Special. It arrived at Reno's 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:12.000 little yellow station. The divorce seekers were often met by 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.640 their Reno lawyers. This is Sandra McGee, co author of 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.960 The Divorce Seekers. And for six weeks these people spent 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:23.720 their money in Reno. They spent it on accommodations, on 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:29.680 food on hairdressers, laundry taxis. Many of them bought western wear, 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.640 which they probably never wore once they went home, and 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.719 of course they also drank and gambled. Quite a lot 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.520 could happen in six weeks, and the VADA made sure 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.280 that those undergoing what came to be known as a 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:46.920 renovation had no shortage of options for passing the top. Yes, 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.480 sir is the biggest little city in the world, and 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.560 by gosh, is the liveliest. I guess these divorces figured 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:55.640 that as long as they're changing partners, that might just 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.280 as well danced. Well. They didn't actually have much choice 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.200 the va the law demanded the divorce seekers waited out 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:08.839 the entire six week period in the state. So now 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.240 Reno had all these temporary residents in town who needed 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.240 a place to stay. The locals were more than willing 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.160 to accommodate. Again Mela Harmon, people would do all sorts 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:23.160 of things like turn their homes into boarding houses. There 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:27.640 were instances where people would rent out bedrooms in their 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.240 private homes, you know, moved the kid onto the couch 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.439 while someone was living in their bedroom. But for those 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.720 with a little more money to spend than to hankering 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:39.120 to try the true Western lifestyle. The destination of choice 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.160 was the dude ranch or divorce ranch as they soon 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:45.959 became known. Divorce ranches came in all sizes. The more 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.520 expensive ranches, like the Flying m E Ranch outside of Reno, 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.120 offered large, comfortable guest rooms in a modern ranch house. 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:58.120 The divorce ranches were very interesting because, obviously being a 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.760 ranch and being in a remote area, there were lots 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.960 of interesting outdoor things for people to do. Many of 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.880 them had swimming pools, um Most of them had a 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:12.559 resident cowboy or two or three who would be more 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:16.600 or less responsible for entertaining the divorce seekers staying there. 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:24.480 They'd organize horseback riding trips, fishing trips, excursions into town 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:29.080 for shopping. There was always a cocktail hour every evening. 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.719 And what went on after that, I can only imagine. 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:41.760 I'm Bill McGee, famous cowboy from Montana. I'm only joking 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.960 a little bit here, but I spent a lot of 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:50.320 time with the various guests at the Flying Mmy and 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.080 loved a lot of them. Bill McGee co wrote the 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.680 book The Divorce Seekers with his wife Sandra, who you 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:01.040 heard earlier. McGee is now in his nine and possibly 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.400 the last living Nevada dude wrangler. He came to Reno 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.800 and the Flying Emmy Ranch during the nineteen forties. A 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:12.280 lot of guys that were very good cowboys grew up 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.839 on a ranch and knew all about ranching and horses 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:20.080 and cattle. They could not cut it as a as 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.720 a dude wrangler, because, well, the dude dranger you have 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.199 to have all those cowboys kills, but you also had 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.400 to have the skills with people. Dude wranglers were part ambassador, 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:35.360 part tour guide, part writing instructor, part therapist, and sometimes 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:39.320 part casanova. Six weeks in a strange new place with 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.800 its hunky help was a period of liberation and exploration 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.400 for many of the female divorce seekers who came to 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:49.080 Reno and its ranches. One of them was the Lazy 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.920 Me Ranch. Its nickname was Layy Easy for the devoted 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.480 services of its staff. That's one reason dude wrangler was 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.760 considered the best job in Reno, something that Bill McGee 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.240 found doubt on his very first night at the Flying 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:08.000 Emmy Ranch. The first damn night on there, I had 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:12.120 taken this lady for a ride up to Little Valley. 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:15.400 She was nice. She was an attorney actually from New 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:19.680 York City, and I didn't think anything of it. The 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:24.079 Flying Emmy's longtime owner, Emmy would discouraged cowboys from fraternizing 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:28.200 with guests. But later that night, after dinner and I'm 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.440 over in my bunkhouse getting ready to go to bed, 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:34.560 this lady knocks on the door, and it was sort 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.520 of like, what am I gonna do? Now? Am I 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.000 gonna tell her she can't come in because Emmy's got 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.560 a rule? Hell no. The amorous encounter would not be 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:48.240 McGee's last. It happened with quite quite a frequency. Part 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.040 of my job was taking him into Carson City or 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.679 up to Virginia City or somewhere to drink after dinner 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.440 at night, and that was a part of my job. 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.640 I got to know all these ladies. It's part of 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:10.400 my job. Thanks to folks like Bill and diversions like writing, dancing, gambling, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.040 and sightseeing. Most of the women found it easy to 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.400 forget their troubles in Reno. But of course, each divorce 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.680 seekers stay always came to an end at the same place. 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.880 The Washoe County Courthouse became known as the House of 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.920 Divide for obvious reasons. The divorce seekers were required to 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.000 appear in court at the end of their six week 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:36.080 waiting period. You didn't have to prove anything, uh, you 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.400 just told your story and then you'd get your decree 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:45.120 and typically it was over within five minutes. Each divorce 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.560 also had to promise the court that they intended to 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:51.720 live in Nevada for the foreseeable future. Nobody, including the judge, 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.640 really expected them to do so. Most took the first 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:58.040 train out of town, but some some had other business 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.800 at the courthouse. This is so drew McGhee again. In fact, 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.720 it wasn't at all unusual for a woman, mostly a woman, 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.360 or a man to get divorced, walk out into the 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:13.040 courtroom hall, walked down a few steps to another courtroom, 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.760 and get married, all within an hour. Many divorce seekers 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.960 who got remarried and reno brought their new spouse with them. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.120 They were called spares. But reno was not just a 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:25.760 place to swap one spouse for another, or to kick 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.200 off your boots and have fun. So yes, some of 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.760 the divorces and reno were frivolous, but on the serious side, 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:37.040 the liberalization of divorce laws has impacted the way that 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:43.320 women and men divorced today. Nevada made divorce easier to get, 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:48.160 which was important for women because before then women were 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:53.359 sometimes referred to as shadows as property of their husbands. Consequently, 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.600 women had very little saying getting out of a bad marriage. 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.760 Mella Harmon says Reno helped many of its female visitors 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.040 at a new chapter in life. Reno's open attitude towards 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:08.320 divorce served to empower women by giving them freedom from 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.000 bad marriages. It also gave them a sense of self sufficiency, 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.400 and if you could come to Reno and survive and 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.880 support yourself, you could do it back home as well. 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.720 Reno launched Nevada as a divorce mecha during the nineteen 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.600 thirties and forties, but it was just the opening act 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:26.640 for what would prove to be a much bigger draw 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:30.280 in the state Las Vegas, the desert town where Marilyn 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.440 Monroe obtained the divorce she needed to pursue her film career. 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.360 Monroe and thousands of other women might never have descended 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:39.800 on the divorce courts of Vegas if it wasn't for 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:44.360 another movie star, one just as famous as Monroe. Up next, 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.440 we learn more about the high profile divorce that kick 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:51.000 started the Vegas divorce business and helped launch the fabulous 0:16:51.080 --> 0:17:14.879 Las Vegas we know today the bright lights of the 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.879 world's greatest gambling city, Las Vegas, a city in the desert, 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.720 the city that never sleeps. It's hard to believe now, 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.360 but Las Vegas wasn't always the destination of choice in Nevada. 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:30.800 Melaharmin again well, Rena was the largest city in Nevada. 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:35.080 For many years, Las Vegas was a tiny stop on 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:39.800 a railroad and had nothing. Really, it was just a 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.680 small town. Las Vegas was hit particularly hard by the depression. 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.879 The building of the Hoover Dam in the nineteen thirties helped. 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.600 It brought millions of dollars and thousands of workers to 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.000 the area, but once those damn workers left, the town 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.800 fell in hard times again. Legalized gambling had not taken 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.720 off yet, and it was hard to get tourists to 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.080 come out to the middle of nowhere to enjoy the 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:05.080 desert town's two blocks of nightlife. But local leaders were 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.640 determined to turn Vegas his fortunes around, and the divorce 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:12.440 business seemed the best bet. Las Vegas was very interested 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:17.200 in um their economy and the divorce that they could 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.720 see obviously that it was lucrative for a reno. They 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:24.639 just couldn't figure out how to get things started. Everything changed, however, 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:28.320 when in ninety nine, Rha Langham Gable chose to go 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:32.240 to Las Vegas to divorce her movie star husband, Clark Gable. 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.439 Clark Gable, the thirty eight year old actor, was one 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.600 of the most recognizable men on the planet. He was 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.960 the king of Hollywood. He was also a terrible husband. 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:46.240 Clark Gable's second marriage was very tumultuous. This is Anne 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.399 Helen Peterson, a senior culture writer for BuzzFeed and the 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.800 author of Scandals of Classic Hollywood. They fought a ton 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:58.080 and uh fought publicly, and he cheated on her like crazy, 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.920 so that probably had something to do with it. Clark 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.639 Gable had married Ria Langham, a wealthy Texas divorce before 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.720 he was famous. They were an odd match. She was 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.919 seventeen years his senior and a homely socialite next to 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:15.040 her dashing husband. By nineteen thirty six, the still married 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.960 Gable started seeing his next wife, the famous actress Carol Lombard. 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:22.720 One night at a party in Hollywood, Gable and Lombard 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.320 ran into his wife, Rhea Hey, Lombard quipped as they 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:30.280 passed her by. Doesn't that old bag belong to you? Yeah? 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.320 Gable responded, and from the look in those eyes, I 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:35.760 figured that her asking price for a divorce just went 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:40.040 up by a hundred grand. Gable was probably right. Rio 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:42.520 was not about to grant him his freedom for nothing, 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:46.000 and so it took the salary that Gable received for 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.680 Gone with the Wind to be able to finally offer 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.400 a settlement to a second wife that would satisfy her 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.200 and force her to grant the divorce. Ria Gable packed 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.080 her bags for Nevada to get a quickie divorce, and 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.240 Clark Gable began filming Gone with the Wind, a movie 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:06.880 in which the subject of divorce often comes up. Scarlett, 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:09.320 I've been thinking things all that, and I really believe 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.119 it would be better for both of us if we 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:15.000 admitted we made a mistake and got a divorce. Yeah. 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:17.520 There's no point in our holding onto each other, is there. 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:21.800 Nevada was no stranger to divorcing celebrities, but lots of 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.120 There were lots of celebrities who came to Reno for divorces. 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.520 Some of them came for multiple divorces. Mela Harmon again. 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:34.200 Franklin Roosevelt's sons came to Reno for a divorce. Rita Hayworth, 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.360 who had a very famous divorce there, Um Maureen O'Hara, 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:44.080 Mary Pickford, William Powell, Rudy Valley, Lana Turner. I mean 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.520 that the list is probably endless. The steady stream of 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:51.200 celebrity visitors brought with them flocks of reporters, so there 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:55.800 was always a keen interest in who was coming to Reno, 0:20:55.880 --> 0:21:02.280 and in fact, Reno had press offices from many many 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.920 UH newspapers across the United States. The New York Times, 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:10.120 for example, had an office in Reno. Ranch owners tried 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.640 to shield their celebrity guests from unwanted publicity, but few 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:18.040 divorces remained secret from the press's prying eyes. Now the Gables, 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.359 the Gables were really famous, which is why Ria planned 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:23.919 to keep a low profile in the lesser known divorce 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:28.320 hub of Las Vegas. So she went to Las Vegas 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:33.560 and her lawyer uh leaked her presence to the to 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:36.840 the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Las Vegas 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:41.920 Review Journal. Sandra McGee. Again, Rio wasn't very happy about that. 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:47.000 She wanted to have a very quiet six weeks in 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.480 Las Vegas, so a deal was struck. Las Vegas leaders 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:53.639 were desperate to promote the city's divorce trade, so they 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.840 came to an arrangement with Real Langham Gable. They would 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.080 keep the reason for her Las Vegas visit out of 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:03.240 the news until you left. In return, Maria agreed to 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:07.600 let the press follow her around and photograph her having 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:12.800 fun on Lake Mead boating, fishing, gambling, and at the 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:16.960 Apache Club. After the Gables divorce was finalized, the Las 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:21.679 Vegas papers released the story nationwide. That was sort of 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:26.320 the first high profile divorce for Las Vegas, and from there, 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.600 of course, they built on that. Las Vegas granted more 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:33.120 divorces the following year than it ever had before, and 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:36.800 pretty soon people were running, you might say, to Las 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:40.200 Vegas to get a divorce, because everyone wanted to get 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:43.159 a divorce where the Gables had gotten theirs. So the 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:46.879 story goes, the Las Vegas divorce trade expanded throughout the 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:49.760 nineteen forties. They caught up to Reno and then became 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:54.040 the divorce destination of choice, especially for residents of Southern California, 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:58.800 including Hollywood celebrities. Mela Harmon Las Vegas was a lot 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:02.240 closer to Los Angeles, US then was Reno. So when 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:06.320 Las Vegas became uh sort of on everybody's radar as 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:11.200 a divorce center, uh, it was obviously better for people 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:15.359 in Hollywood. And so seven years after Clark Gable's divorce 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.280 put Las Vegas on the map, a nineteen year old 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:21.120 Marilyn Monroe turned up there to divorce her first husband 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:24.160 in the hopes of becoming an actress. And once Monroe's 0:23:24.160 --> 0:23:27.639 acting career takes off, her stardom and her nude body 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:30.919 will help launch Shugh Heffner's Playboy Empire, which will in 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.440 turn open the eyes of a young reporter named Gloria Steinham. 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:38.840 Could Monroe of Gondarino or somewhere else for that divorce, sure, 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:42.480 but she didn't, Hince. Our thread runs through fabulous Las 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:45.639 Vegas as well and onto Clark Gable, and it is 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.880 rather fitting that it does. Gable was the young Monroe's 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:51.600 favorite actor, and he meant much more to her than that. 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:56.440 Here's how Monroe put it during an interview, and Clark Gable, 0:23:57.280 --> 0:24:00.720 I'm sure he won't mind if I say it. I 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:04.399 used to always think of him as my father. I 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:09.080 pretended that he was my father. I was just seven 0:24:09.160 --> 0:24:13.040 years old and he was a very young man, and um, 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:15.120 I thought, that's how I want my father to look. 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:19.320 Monroe used to loiter outside his Hollywood home, hoping to 0:24:19.359 --> 0:24:21.680 catch a glimpse of him, and she would one day 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:23.760 get to share the screen with her hero in a 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:27.960 film about Nevada divorce. That's right, The Misfits, and which 0:24:27.960 --> 0:24:31.680 Monroe plays a washed up starlett and Clark Gable plays Yep, 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:36.600 a reno cowboy. Here's one of their scenes together. I 0:24:36.640 --> 0:24:40.800 think you're the saddest girl I ever met. The first 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:45.639 man never said that. I'm usually told her happy. I am. 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:52.080 That's because you make a man feel happy. I don't 0:24:52.160 --> 0:25:01.520 feel that way. I don't get discouraged, girl. You might 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:07.280 in real life, Clark Gable was just as persistent when 0:25:07.320 --> 0:25:10.800 it came to his pursuit of women. Next episode, we 0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:14.199 continue our thread with Clark Gable, the man whose divorce 0:25:14.280 --> 0:25:17.520 helped launch Las Vegas. His marriage to real Langham was 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:20.520 just one of many obligations the movie star would abandon 0:25:20.680 --> 0:25:24.040 or avoid in his rise to the top of Hollywood. 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:27.840 And it is with this dog that we say farewell 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:43.679 to Romantic Nevada. The Threat is produced by Libby Coleman 0:25:43.800 --> 0:25:48.200