Twenty Years Later

 

Twenty years and still going strong. Read a navel-gazing retrospective on our other site.

Divorce Juárez Style

"I would love to have a plate of tacos and enchiladas."

- Marilyn Monroe, January 20, 1961

Divorce in the United States during the mid-twentieth century did not come easy. In some states, like New York, divorce could only be obtained on the grounds of adultery. In South Carolina in the 1930s, divorces were not granted for any reason. 

In 1932, the Chihuahua state legislature capitalized on the hungry US market by adopting some of the world's most liberal divorce laws, establishing Ciudad Juárez as a mecca for divorce. Juárez became ideal for quickie divorces due to its proximity to the United States and two main legal reasons. One, residency could be established and a divorce granted in 24 hours by divorce seekers placing themselves under the legal jurisdiction of the State of Chihuahua simply by signing a foreign visitors registry with the municipal registrar. And two, only one party needed to take part in divorce proceedings. Notification of the party being sued only needed to be provided by posting notice in the state's official gazette, a paper distributed at the time only to state officials.

Almost overnight, the Juárez divorce mill's productivity eclipsed that of America's divorce capital, Reno, Nevada. In Reno, "migratory divorce" was the requirement as prospective divorcees had to live in the state for at least six weeks. Meanwhile, a Juárez divorce could be done by mail. A divorcee could grant power of attorney to a lawyer in Mexico, allowing the lawyer to sign the foreign visitors registry on their behalf. Then the lawyer could complete the entire process without the divorcee ever having stepped foot inside Mexico.

According to reporting at the time by Vanity Fair, the Juárez mail-order divorce mill produced 2,500 American decrees in just it's second year of its existence, resulting in a gross income of $500,000 for the state of Chihuahua, over $12 million adjusted for inflation. 

Eventually, the laws tightened and the municipal registry book had to be signed in person, but this did not stop the money from flowing. In fact, forcing divorcees to show up in person created a cottage industry of divorce tourism. 

In the 1960s, package deals were available for a flat fee of $2,000 that covered the cost of the divorce, hotel accommodations, food, liquor, entertainment, and an escort. The escort, usually an employee of a Mexican divorce specialist, would take several clients at a time out on the town, see them through the court proceedings the next morning, take in a bullfight and lunch, then see them to their flight back home. 

Movie stars and other celebrities made Mexican divorces the stylish thing to do. An element of mystique or prestige grew around the practice. After all, it was good enough for Marilyn Monroe.

Mexican divorces became engrained in the pop culture, inspiring plotlines in pulp novels and television shows. They even inspired a 1962 song written by Burt Bacharach and recorded by The Drifters, Mexican Divorce: 

Eventually, the party had to come to an end, and with it went a multi-million dollar industry.  The federal government of Mexico had long despised Chihuahua's easy divorce laws. The quick establishment of residency in the state was seen as a usurpation of federal power to regulate immigration. The laws changed in 1970, effectively closing off divorces to non-residents, but not before Americans could make a mad rush to the border. 

No-fault divorce laws would soon be adopted across the United States, drying up the divorce tourism demand and decimating the private detective industry, but that's a tale for another day.

Here are some noteworthy Juárez divorces from the era.

Marilyn Monroe (1961)  

Arguably the most infamous Juárez divorce was Marilyn Monroe's divorce from her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller. The divorce made front page news in El Paso, placed along side President Kennedy's first executive order and well above the latest Cold War developments.

The press reported that Monroe looked "tired an upset" during her court appearance in Juárez. "The plane was delayed and I got upset," she was reported as saying. "I don't feel like being bothered with publicity right now. But I would love to have a plate of tacos and enchiladas." 

The divorce occurred just after the filming of the icon's final movie, The Misfits. The film, written for Monroe by Miller, tells the tale of a woman making friends in Reno following her quickie divorce. Sometimes life imitates art. 

Janet Leigh (1962)

The actress best known for Psycho divorced her frequent co-star and husband of 10 years, Tony Curtis, citing "outside problems." Leigh married stockbroker Robert Brandt the next day in Las Vegas; they remained married until her passing 42 years later.

Mia Farrow (1968)

Actress Mia Farrow was only 23-years-old when she hopped on a private plane to Juárez to divorce her husband of 18 months, song and dance man Frank Sinatra. 

Farrow would later cite the 29 year age difference between the two as cause for the separation. The two would remain friends following the divorce. Very close friends.

Gloria Vanderbilt (1955)

Socialite and heiress to the Vanderbilt fortune, Gloria Vanderbilt, divorced her second husband, conductor Leopold Stokowski, who was 42 years her senior. The 31-year-old Vanderbilt charged "incompatibility of characters" as grounds for ending the ten year marriage. Another factor might have been a legendary playboy making his second appearance on this list.

That's right, Frank Sinatra. While Sinatra did not appear at this divorce or his own thirteen years later, the Juárez divorce universe seemed to rotate around him. Vanderbilt had started dating Janet Leigh's Manchurian Candidate co-star while separated from Stokowski. Sinatra would go on to star in the 1965 film, Marriage on the Rocks, a romantic "comedy" about Mexican divorce that was so bad the government of Mexico banned Sinatra from the country.

Anyway, back to our list.

Rafael "Ramfis" Trujillo Jr. (1958)

Lt. General Ramfis Trujillo, son of Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo, is no longer a household name, but in the 1950s, this nominal army general was known for his reckless, playboy lifestyle and association with Hollywood starlets. The 29-year-old chief of the Dominican air force was said to be dating both Kim Novak and Zsa Zsa Gabor at the time of his divorce from Octavia Adolfina Ricart de Trujillo, mother to his six children. Even the son of a dictator couldn't get out of his marriage in his home country.

It was speculated at the time that the General would marry Kim Novak following the divorce, but the marriage failed to materialize. Following his father's assassination in 1961, the  junior despot briefly ruled the Dominican Republican before being forced into exile in Spain later that year. Ramfis died in 1969 from complications related to car crash outside Madrid. 

Paulette Goddard (1942)

Actress Paulette Goddard's divorce is noteworthy due to the more famous half of the breakup, film legend Charlie Chaplin. The actor did not contest the divorce, but remained silent on the validity of the marriage in the first place, never publicly acknowledging the union. 

Legal or not, the divorce became an issue a decade later when the United States government investigated the incident as possible evidence of "moral turpitude" that would justify barring Chaplin, a suspected communist, from entering the country.

Next time, a deep look into El Paso's rich history as a gambling town.

Holiday on Matador Island

 

A NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT:

Or Give Me Death is back from yet another lengthy hiatus and we're getting back to our roots with some fresh fake news. OGMD proudly presents our first ever fake news long read:

 Holiday on Matador Island (OR:A Cosmic Occurrence in The Most Serene Grand Duchy of Stierkämpfer).

Enjoy this travelogue from new OGMD contributor Nigel Mallory Smallbone. Stay tuned for exciting new content from Or Give Me Death Industries! 

Freddy Reno Went Missing - Awards Season Darling

A Message from Management

It's a stellar award season for Or Give Me Death Ind. as the screenplay adaptation of FREDDY RENO WENT MISSING has been named a finalist in the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival Screenwriting Competition. 

FREDDY RENO WENT MISSING has also been named a finalist by our webcomic hosting site, the Drunk Duck, for Best Mystery / Crime / Noir.

Thank you to all the readers for making this possible!

 

Yacht-Noir: A Guide

Freddy Reno Went Missing (Vol. 1) is out now in paperback! The graphic novel is described as yacht-noir, but what exactly is yacht-noir? Yacht-noir exists at the intersection of the hard-boiled world of neo-noir and the smooth, seaside aesthetic of 70s/80s yacht-rock. To celebrate the release of Freddy Reno Went Missing, let's take a look at classic films in the yacht-noir milieu. 

Cutter's Way (1981)   

Dir. Ivan Passer

Long before Jeff Bridges became an off-beat-neo-noir legend with his turn as The Dude in The Big Lebowski, he starred as gigolo and boat salesman Richard Bone in Cutter's Way.  John Heard keeps everyone on edge as the titular Alex Cutter, a paranoid Vietnam veteran and amateur sleuth in this frantic, ocean-adjacent thriller.

Fletch (1985)

Dir. Michael Ritchie

The Chevy Chase vehicle based on the Gregory McDonald series of novels is a sun-soaked classic in the comedy-noir subgenre and adequately smooth, as evidenced by the theme by Stephanie Mills. 

Absence of Malice (1981)

Dir. Sydney Pollack

1981 was a good year for yacht-noir and its second entry on our list might be the most yachty. Legendary human being Paul Newman stars as Miami liquor wholesaler and avid sailor Michael Gallagher, a man beleaguered by runaway journos intent on defaming him in the papers, hiding behind anonymous sources. Hot-shot reporter Megan Carter, played by Sally Field, has a change of heart once aboard Gallagher's sweet yacht, Rum Runner.

Night Moves (1975)

Dir. Arthur Penn

Gene Hackman is Harry Moseby, retired football player turned private detective, in this seminal neo-noir from the golden era of the genre. Night Moves combines the traditional missing girl detective narrative with a nautical caper involving sunken treasure.

The Long Goodbye (1973)  

Dir. Robert Altman

One of the all-time great neo-noirs is unsurprisingly one of the best examples of yacht-noir. Elliott Gould's man-out-of-time take on Philip Marlowe contrasts the rumpled hard-boiled detective with sunny, seventies Hollywood.

OGMD Ind. Q2 Update

A Message from Management

It's an exciting time here at OGMD Ind. The website received a minor refresh and the team continues to make improvements to the online experience. The mobile functionality is greatly improved (only a decade late) and the blog is better integrated to the site. Look for more utilization of this platform in the future.

On the content front, OGMD Ind. broke new ground in Q2, running a long(ish) read, non-fiction story for the first time, read it here. We hope to bring you more original articles in the future.

Also out now is Chapter 4 of the groundbreaking graphic novel, Freddy Reno Went Missing. Buzz is growing around the "yacht noir." The comedy-thriller was recently featured on our hosting site, The Duck Webcomics, where it was hailed as a "compelling and addictive piece of work." Improvements to the first three chapters are underway, touching up the art and enhancing the yacht noir experience. An an all new print edition, collecting the first four chapters of the comic epic, is coming soon. Look for it online and in stores this fall.

Check back here for more updates and quality content.

Selling the American Dream One Square Inch at a Time

 

In a first for Or Give Me Death Industries, we have a piece of real news. Head over to the main page for a deep dive on a classic comic book ad (pictured).

http://www.orgivemedeath.com/one-square-inch.html

We hope to bring you more features like this in the future.

Vertical Intergration

 A NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT:

The company takes a great leap forward today as we have seized the means of production and become a true, independent publisher. Due to global supply chain stresses and issues with unnamed printers, there will no longer be a middleman between the reader and OGMD Ind. when it comes to comics (reliable ol' Amazon will keep churning out the books). We now ship direct, passing the savings on to YOU.

This also means Freddy Reno Went Missing is now a limited run comic, so get them while they last. The much anticipated fourth installment of Don M. Patterson's magnum opus is said to be over budget and experiencing production delays. The expected release has been pushed back to 2022.

Or Give Me Death at Fifteen

[Cue bed music]

​Fifteen years ago, a pick-up truck was spotted in an El Paso parking lot with a bumper sticker reading “GiveMeLiberty.com”. The aspiring, phony publisher who saw the sticker for the rambling and seemingly illegal political fundraising operation immediately wondered, “is the other half taken?” It wasn’t. And while financial constraints stalled the acquisition of the proper domain until 2008, OrGiveMeDeath[.blogspot.com] officially launched on September 15, 2005.

GiveMeLiberty.com is long abandoned while OrGiveMeDeath.com now celebrates its crystal anniversary. Fifteen years makes us a “legacy” website akin to Google, Twitter, or GeoCities. The internet was a different place in 2005. In that short and undeserved era of the blog, Or Give Me Death separated itself from the field of earnest logs of perspective by making up fake news - something far less controversial at the time. The site was inspired by that true institution of fake news and satire: The Weekly World News. Truly, we lost a piece of America when we stopped receiving Bat Boy updates at the grocery check out.

To date, the most read piece on the site (and likely the most read thing ever written by this author) was a fake news gem from 2008: “1884 Adult Film Now Earliest Known Motion Picture.” That story continues to draw clicks as it shows up in search results for the earliest known motion picture; now that’s fake news with results!

When the fake news wells went dry, management pivoted to the even more saturated market of publishing. In 2012, the reborn Or Give Me Death Industries released its first print offering, a tight novella, Rhodium. Readers like you have helped make this cryptic book the 2,612,671st best selling book of all time on Kindle. Good work, gang.

After a couple of hit or miss fake news offerings came the first true book in the OGMD Ind. catalog, 2016’s Sierra Blanca by award finalist author Don M. Patterson. Released to some critical acclaim, the thrilling novella continues to be a selling book on the internet.

And now, Or Give Me Death Industries takes another blind leap into an overdone market, well past peak profitability: comic books. Freddy Reno Went Missing Issue no. 1 is available online and will be available in print.

Who knows what lies ahead for Or Give Me Death Industries? There is an honest to goodness novel on the way and a strong probability the Reno series will be finished. Or, maybe I’ll just do nothing. This site has a proud tradition of going on hiatus. Maybe I’ll start a podcast in 2030. Until then, buy and read all of the merchandise available on this ad-free website.

UPDATE

Just checking in so they don't shut me down.

Check out the new stuff: OrGiveMeDeath.com

Moving On

We've moved into some sweet new digs for 2017.  Check out Or Give Me Death Industries' new home at the same address:  www.orgivemedeath.com

New flashy site, same old inactivity.

Coming Soon...

Or Give Me Death Industries proudly presents new author Don M. Patterson's Sierra Blanca, the first ever (as far as we know) Cold War Western.  Stay tuned.

FOR SALE BY OWNER

A Statement From Management

This January, the world of satirical journalism was rocked when industry leader The Onion was purchased by Univision Communications.  Now, because Univision is co-owned by Clinton's top donor, Haim Saban, critics are accusing The Onion of running pro-Hillary Clinton propaganda.  

For ten, non-consecutive years, Or Give Me Death has sought to intermittently bring you top quality, competitive satire, but The Onion has always remained the gold standard.  I am not here to disparage them in any way.  Far from it.  In fact, I once again want to emulate their winning formula.  I'm putting us up for sale.

For the right price, you too can have thinly veiled, mildly humorous propaganda custom made to fit your campaign needs.  Hell, I'm even flexible on the name. (Or Give Me Trump?).  So if reaching out to the cynical voter is in your national media strategy, contact me and we can make a deal.  It's going to be a great deal, you're going to love it.

UPDATE:  This is satire.  

Amazon Delivery Drones Barred From Carrying Lethal Weapon

31 August, 2015 (Washington, DC):   Federal Aviation Administration regulators ruled Monday that online mega retailer Amazon will be barred from equipping its proposed delivery drones with copies of the 1987 hit action comedy Lethal Weapon.  An FAA advisory committee cited unspecified safety concerns in reaching its decision.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos blasted the ruling, accusing of the FAA of once again being out of step with advances in technology.  An FAA spokesperson said new rules will not apply to the movie's sequels as the agency could not foresee a scenario where such a ban would matter anyway.

Houston Astros Now Exclusively Courting Ironic Fans

19 August, 2013 (Houston, TX):  The Houston Astros front office has a bold new approach to winning: don't.  The ball club has mired in mediocrity over recent seasons but market research suggests a new breed of ironic fans are keeping ticket sales afloat - and management is looking to cash in.

"Our new target fan isn't all that interested in the outcome of the game," said new President of Baseball Operations, Reid Ryan.  "If [winning] is the only thing you're interested in, go see the Texans.  Our fans care more about the atmosphere, the aesthetics, and having a good time."

These new fans, mostly millennials, are showing up by the dozens to "root" for their favorite team.  Fans like Brooklyn transplant Teena Robinson, 23, are just the type the Astros hope to woo.  "My friend was like, 'wouldn't it be funny to go to an Astros game,'" recalls Robinson, "and I was like, 'are they still even, like, a team?  But the game was totally fun, I think, I don't really remember how it ended.  Also, the stadium has wi-fi and it's quiet so I actually got a lot done."

Astros marketing first noticed the trend of ironic fandom on social media in 2011 and were quick to capitalize.  "We're doing what we can to keep these new young fans digging our team," says owner, Jim Crane.  "We went with the retro look this year, you know the kids eat that up.  I mean, have you seen that blue number? You buy a jersey like that I bet you get a free PBR."

Longtime fans have also found an appreciation for the Astro's unconventional approach.  "I really prefer their old stuff," says lifelong fan Chuck Bennison, "but the ridiculously low payroll really gives the team indie cred.  They just signed these two obscure players from Mexico City; they're really big down there.  You probably haven't heard of them.  Plus, we got a kid named Hoes, how great is that?"

Looking to 2014, management has indicated it's commitment to the lovable loser status by trading off any players with potential to sell out and start winning.  "Part of our appeal involves staying out of the mainstream," says Crane, "so don't expect to see this team on television anytime soon."

The Alternate Cover

New Fiction: Rhodium

Hiro Kawabunga's thrilling debut novelette, Rhodium, is now available in digital and paperback! Get your digital copy now!.

For paperback follow these easy steps:
1. Download the digital version (available here)
2. Print it out
3. Staple pages together
4. Design your own wacky cover!

UPDATE: Now available in actual paperback!

COWBOYS PLAYOFF VICTORY ABHORRENT TO NATURE, PHYSICISTS THEORIZE

From the Sports Science Desk

The first place Dallas Cowboys will attempt to drive the New York Giants further down the division ladder this weekend when they visit the Meadowlands. The very real prospect of a playoff birth weighs heavily on the minds of everyone in Cowboys nation, but according to a team of scientists it may be all for not. Physicists have suggested that a playoff victory might be so abhorrent to nature that its achievement would ripple backward through time and stop the Cowboys before they could win, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

The theory was a largely overlooked footnote in a series of papers by Holger Bech Nielsen, of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, and Masao Ninomiya of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics in Kyoto, Japan. The papers mostly outline theories regarding the abhorrent nature of the Higgs Boson, the theoretical particle responsible for imbuing other elementary particles with mass; however, the inevitable failure of the Dallas Cowboys in the month of December and beyond was also evidenced by the research.

“It must be our prediction that all Higgs producing machines shall have bad luck,” Dr. Nielsen said in an e-mail message, “but our mathematical models also discovered other phenomena that are seemingly distasteful to nature. A Dallas playoff win appears to be one such phenomenon.”

This malign influence from the future, they argue, could explain why the Dallas Cowboys have seen one inexplicable failure after another, despite millions of dollars being spent on star talent; a pattern so unlikely that Dr. Nielsen calls it an “anti-miracle.”

“At first, we obviously questioned the results,” said Masao Ninomiya, “when Romo fumbled against Seattle in the ‘06 playoffs we assumed other, more obvious, elements such as inexperience were at work. In the 2007 season, we got a bit nervous when they just destroyed everyone in the regular season and even won the division. But our theory remained solid after they got lit up by New York - a wildcard team. In 2008, we didn’t even bother to double-check the math.”

The research was predictably met with skepticism and disappointment by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who was quick to site the Cowboys' multiple past playoff wins. The mathematical models, however, suggest the Cowboys may have reached a “critical mass” of wins in the late 20th century, 1996 to be precise.

Jones brushed off comparisons between the $1.15 billion Cowboys Stadium and the $9 billion Large Hadron Collider as silly and unimaginative.

UPDATE

Howdy folks,

This hiatus hasn't been a total waste, a new project is in the works and coming down the pipeline any day. Or Give Me Death industries is moving into the world of real publishing, not this silly online publishing that's so Goddamned popular. [I swear to God Almighty Jesus that if I hear one more puff piece about how Twitter is liberating Iran I'm going to shoot my computer execution style!]
Anyway, coming soon: shocking fiction from the producers of OrGiveMeDeath!

Let Freedom Ring!

Supreme Court Upholds Liberty in 5-4 Decision!

“You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.”
-Al Capone