THE DIVORCE SEEKERS: The Intimate True Story of a Nevada Divorce Ranch Wrangler - Softcover

McGee, William L.; McGee, Sandra V.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0998463582 ISBN 13: 9780998463582

Publisher: BMC Publications, 2023

Synopsis

RENO 1947—The WILD WEST OF DIVORCE

Tired of your cheating spouse? Ready to move on? In 1947, there was just one easy way out of a marriage—six weeks in Reno!

Dubbed the "Divorce Capital of the World," Reno welcomed thousands of divorce seekers from all walks of life. For the wealthy, the place to stay was the Flying M E, an exclusive divorce ranch on the outskirts of town.

Enter Bill McGee, a ruggedly handsome cowboy from Montana, hired as the ranch’s dude wrangler. Bill entertained Eastern heiresses with names like Astor and du Pont, and rubbed elbows with movie legends Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. “At age 22, surrounded by all those women, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” he’d later recall.

Now, for the first time, Bill McGee’s lively, firsthand stories bring the glitz and glamour of Reno’s divorce ranch days back to life played out against the backdrop of the American West. Featuring 180 rare vintage images.

“Like an old Hollywood movie coming to life.”
– Judd Pillot, Writer/Producer

“A treasure for the photos alone.”
– Deb Caletti, The Secrets She Keeps

“The only memoir written by a former Nevada divorce ranch wrangler.”
– Lynn Downey, American Dude Ranch

About this title

About the Authors

William L. "Bill" McGee is no armchair historian. He writes about the history of which he was a part... whether it's growing up in Montana during the hardscrabble years of the Depression, or joining the Navy in 1942 at age seventeen simply to get into the fight, or cowboying on an exclusive divorce ranch in Nevada in the postwar '40s, or working in broadcasting in the early days of 1950s and '60s television.Bill McGee was born in 1925 and grew up cowboying in the cow town of Malta, Montana on the Hi-Line. In 1950, he left cowboying and made a successful transition into the broadcasting industry where he enjoyed a 32-year career and made a name for himself in broadcast marketing and sales. His writing career spanned six decades and his style has been described as straightforward, journalistic, and as "precise and economical as a Mickey Spillane novel." (Marine Corps League Magazine)

Sandra V. McGee launched her writing career as a publicist for the performing arts. In 2000, she ventured into the world of Nevada divorce ranches and never returned. Her passions are ballet, film noir, B movies, and Reno when it was "Divorce Capital of the World."

Edition details

• Publisher: BMC Publications
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0998463582
• ISBN 13: 9780998463582
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 184