Her Highness Sheikha Mahra Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum recently divorced her husband. Inspired by this event (or to celebrate it?), she's launching a new perfume called "Divorce".
Not exactly a perfume to give a romantic attachment. I guess she's aiming at a very specific market niche.
Preacher Bob Harrington's guide to a successful marriage, released in 1974. Three years later he got divorced. Info from wikipedia:
Harrington's Ministry ended in 1977 at the height of his popularity, the result of an extramarital affair. He divorced his first wife and was married the second time to Zonnya, then the Executive Vice-president of his organization. The new couple moved to Clearwater, Florida, where Harrington became a successful motivational speaker for automobile dealers, multilevel marketing and real estate in the 1980s and 1990s. This marriage did not last, and in addition to the divorce he suffered bankruptcy.
The story goes that, in 1976, Eugene Schneider cut his house in half with a chainsaw as a spiteful way of complying with the divorce requirement that he split his assets evenly with his wife.
But as you can see from the photos below, he didn't actually succeed in cutting the house in half, although he did a lot of damage with the chainsaw. It was all eventually repaired, and the house is still standing, in one piece, today. You can view it on Zillow or Google Maps.
Calgary Herald - Mar 30, 1978
Central New Jersey Home News - Aug 6, 1976
New York Daily News - Aug 3, 1976
Charges were filed against Schneider, but somewhat surprisingly (at least, I find it surprising) a jury cleared him of all wrongdoing.
Rev. Jensen evidently thought Mrs. Grote's sandwich tasted pretty good. His wife, however, was not amused.
Mrs. Jennie Jensen, in her court action, charged her husband with "taking several bites from Mrs. Grote's sandwich at a picnic party while refusing to take even one from hers."
Back in 1987, twice-divorced Manhattan lawyer Daniel Hirsch got the idea that divorcees were a potentially untapped audience for a magazine. As he described it:
"Divorce magazine was born in the waiting room of a doctor's office. My wife and I were waiting to see a marriage counselor. ... As it became clear that the marriage was doomed, what I wanted most was information. ... Later, reflecting on the experience, it occurred to me that there must be millions of people in this country who need good solid information about how to survive divorce and its after-effects. Thus, the idea for Divorce magazine."
media experts say Divorce was simply a flawed idea for a magazine. "Most life style magazines have a purchase cycle they can identify," explains Joshua Ostroff, an associate media director at Hill, Holliday Connors Cosmopulos. "But hopefully divorce is a one-shot deal. No one wants to stay in the category. They weren't going to make a lot of money off long-term subscriptions."
But it seems like it can't have been that bad of an idea because some googling reveals that there is in fact a Divorce magazine that's been in existence since 1996, and still seems to be going strong.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.