Interview with Bill McGee, KOLO-TV, Reno (Video)

Ed Pearce of KOLO-TV, Reno, interviews former 1940s Nevada dude wrangler Bill McGee on the site of the famous Flying M E divorce ranch, Washoe Valley, Nevada. November 2004.

 

Interview on Nevada Public Radio – Take a Listen!

Take a listen to Tales from Reno’s Divorce Ranches...  This informative interview on March 1, 2011 was aired on Nevada Public Radio’s KNPR in Las Vegas and features the following on-air guests:

• Author Bill McGee - former 1940s dude wrangler on Nevada’s Flying M E divorce ranch
• Author Marilu Norden -divorce ranch guest at Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch in the 1950s
• Beth Ward - former owner of the Whitney Guest Ranch in Reno
• Mella Harmon - Reno divorce historian     Click Here To Take a Listen

RENO DIVORCE JARGON, 1930s to 1960s

 In the heydays of the Reno divorce era, publicity about the Reno six-week divorce — also known as the “quickie divorce” –  generated its own terminology. 

 (Excerpted from Reno Divorce Glossary, THE DIVORCE SEEKERS: A Photo Memoir of a Nevada Dude Wrangler by William L. McGee and Sandra McGee.)

 The Spare                    The euphemistic name for the man or woman a divorce seeker brought with them to Reno for six weeks. The divorce seeker provided accommodations for “the spare” and usually intended to marry them when the divorce was final. Another term for “the spare” was “the cousin”. “Spares” and “cousins” kept the divorce seekers company during the six week residency period.

Alimony Park          The park across the street from the Washoe County Courthouse.

Bridge of Sighs         The  Truckee River Bridge where divorcees were said to toss their wedding rings into the Truckee River.

Divorce                       From the Latin divortium, to turn different ways, to separate.

Divorcé                       A man divorced

Divorcée                    A woman divorced

Divorce Capital of the World            Reno, Nevada

Divorce Mecca            Reno

Divorce Mill                Reno

Divorce Trade             Reno

Divorce Ranch            A term used by the national media during the quickie divorce era for a dude ranch catering to divorce seekers, usually from the wealthy or upper-classes.

Divorcée Special         Any train bringing divorce seekers to Reno

Divorce Seekers           Males or females coming to Reno for a six-week divorce.

Going Reno                 A term for divorce seekers on the loose in Reno.

Golden Age of Divorce   1930s – 1960s.  Also: Heyday of Divorce.

Graduation Day          The day a divorce seeker — or “graduate” as they were called — receives  their divorce decree.

I’m Going to Reno!    A popular phrase used by a wife or husband to announce to their spouse that they’re going to Reno for a divorce.

Quickie Divorce          A divorce granted after a six-week residency in Nevada.

“The Reno”                 A type of bra that both “separates and supports.” The idea is attributed to Ruth Lusch, a colorful Reno publicist in the late 1940s.

Reno Divorce Colony      The Reno social set composed of locals and visiting divorce seekers.

Reno-vation                A term coined by Walter Winchell for the change that despondent spouses went through in Reno. Also: “Reno-vated” and “Get Reno-vated.”

Separation Center of the West            Reno

Severance Stay            Six weeks in Reno

Sin City                       Reno

Six-weekers                 Divorce seekers

State of Easy Divorce             Nevada

The Cure                     Synonym for divorce.  Also: “To Take the Cure”.

The Separator              Washoe County Courthouse

The Women’s Exchange         Washoe County Courthouse

Widow’s Corner         The Corner Bar at the Riverside Hotel, located down the street from the Washoe County Courthouse, where the Reno divorce colony met.

Featured in TRUE WEST MAGAZINE, June 2010

 

“The Divorce Seekers – An old-time wrangler recalls Reno, the ‘city of broken vows,’ through his days at the Flying M E ranch” by William L. McGee

TRUE WEST (June 2010) features a four-page story written by former Nevada dude wrangler, Bill McGee, who gives a firsthand account of life in the post-war 1940s on the Flying M E, an exclusive divorce ranch outside of Reno catering to wealthy Easterners. As McGee puts it, “I may be the only dude wrangler ‘still above ground’ who saw the six-week Reno divorce era up close and personal.”   Click here to read…

  

 

 

 

 

 

Dedicating the Emmy Wood Mile on the Tahoe Rim Trail

Mount Rose, Nevada, November 2009 — On a chilly fall morning, Bill McGee and Sandra McGee gathered with friends to dedicate the McGee’s Adopt-a-Mile on the Tahoe Rim Trail. The McGees dedicated their sponsored mile  to the memory of Emmy Wood, the legendary Nevada divorce ranch proprietor on the famous Flying M E where Bill worked as a dude wrangler from 1947 to 1950. The mile is the Connector Trail from Mt. Rose Summit Trailhead to Relay Peak Road.

View of Lake Tahoe from the McGee’s Adopt-a-Mile.

Bill first saw Lake Tahoe in the early 1940s while cowboying in the West. Following his discharge from the Navy after World War II, he returned to Northern Nevada and worked as a dude wrangler and deer hunting guide at the Bob Scates stables outside of Tahoe City. Then, in 1947, Bill was hired as the head dude wrangler on the Flying M E, an exclusive divorce ranch south of Reno that catered to wealthy divorce seekers who came to Nevada for a six week divorce.  Bill led the ranch guests on pack trips and overnight camping trips to the Lake. In 1950, Bill left cowboying and made a successful transition into the broadcasting field. However, he always returned to Lake Tahoe – as a hiker, a skier, and a writer. In the 1980s, while living in Incline Village, Nevada, Bill was one of the early volunteers on the Tahoe Rim Trail.

The Tahoe Rim Trail Association’s Adopt-a-Mile programs make it possible for families, individuals, organizations and businesses to honor a friend or loved one while ensuring the continuing legacy of the Tahoe Rim Trail.

Book-Signing at Carson City Library, Sept 2009

 

Carson City, Nevada, September 19, 2009 – Bill McGee and Sandra McGee were among a host of Nevada authors invited to sign books at the Carson City Library’s 11th Annual Oktoberfest.

(Above) That evening the McGee’s celebrated their 29th anniversary at one of their favorite restaurants, Adele’s in Carson City. Bartender Mark Nadreau always takes good of his bar patrons.

(Below) Two cowboys share a quiet moment at Adele’s bar.

Interview with Bill McGee, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (Video)

Oklahoma City, OK, June 19, 2009 — Former Nevada divorce ranch wrangler and author Bill McGee talks about his book, THE DIVORCE SEEKERS: A Photo Memoir of a Nevada Dude Wrangler and his time from 1947 to 1950 working on the Flying M E, an exclusive divorce ranch 20 miles south of Reno that catered to wealthy Easterners, socialites, and Hollywood celebrities.

Interviewed at the Western Writers of America Mega-Book Signing
June 19, 2009
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
Oklahoma City, OK

Interview with Sandra McGee, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (Video)

Sandra McGee, co-author of The Divorce Seekers: A Photo Memoir of a Nevada Dude Wrangler, shares her perspective on the Reno divorce era.

Western Writers of America Mega-Booksigning

June 19, 2009

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Oklahoma City, OK

“THE DIVORCE SEEKERS: A Photo Memoir of a Nevada Dude Wrangler”

THE DIVORCE SEEKERS: A Photo Memoir of a Nevada Dude Wrangler
by William L. McGee and Sandra McGee, Foreword by William W. Bliss

Former dude ranch wrangler Bill McGee may have written the ultimate Western kiss-and-tell…a firsthand account of the epic era of the Reno six-week divorce. —Cowboys & Indians Magazine

Available from Amazon or williammcgeebooks

Description

In the 1930s to 1960s, if you wanted a quick, simple exit from marriage, Reno was the place to go. Divorce seekers by the thousands, including Eastern socialites, movie stars and housewives, came running to Reno to seek the “Reno cure”. Reno was known worldwide as the “divorce capital of the world” and “I’m going to Reno!” became synonymous with getting a “quickie” divorce.

Author Bill McGee experienced this epic era of the American West firsthand as a dude wrangler on the Flying M E, Nevada’s most exclusive divorce ranch located 20 miles south of Reno. 

McGee’s personal stories — laced with names like Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, and a Roosevelt, du Pont and Astor – are mixed with sidebars and mini-histories about the era, the sights, the Nevada divorce business, and more.

I may be the only former Nevada dude ranch wrangler — ‘still above ground’ — who lived through this era. —William L. McGee, Author

• Part I, “Cowboyin’ Memoirs” – the author’s years in the 1930s and ‘40s cowboying in the West.
•  Part II, “The Famous Flying M E Ranch and the Changing Cast of Characters”
•  Part III, “Gettin’ Untied” –the Nevada divorce business.
•  Part IV, “Other Leading Nevada Dude-Divorce Ranches, Circa 1930-1960”

 Details

• Published 2004
• 8.5” x 11”, Hardcover
• 444 pp, 502 b&w photos, plus maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
• ISBN 13: 978-0-9701678-1-1  
• $39.95      Available from Amazon or williammcgeebooks