Dismantled Mill

From 1934 until last week, a discontented wife or husband could get unhitched within three days in the resort town of Cuernavaca, 47 miles south of Mexico City in the state of Morelos. All the restless spouse had to do was sign a few papers, pay a registration fee ($100), and give public notice. That could be done by placing a three-line ad in a local newspaper or pinning up a curt announcement on the courthouse bulletin board.*

Over the years, more than 40,000 people, two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, took the Cuernavaca cure, bringing the state government an average $30,000 a year in fees, and enriching several local lawyers. If the divorcing spouse got in touch with the right lawyer, it was not even necessary to show up in Cuernavaca. Most divorce seekers, however, gladly made the trip. With its lush gardens, colonial buildings, year-round swimming pools and air-conditioned cocktail lounges, Cuernavaca is an agreeable place to spend a few days. Among the divorce-bound visitors: Heiress Barbara Hutton, Actress Myrna Loy, Denise Darcel, Paulette Goddard, Faye Emerson.

But last week the Morelos state legislature wrote an end to quick divorce in Cuernavaca. It voted into law a new divorce bill requiring, among other things, six months' residence. Sponsor of the bill was never-divorced Governor Rodolfo Lopez de Nava, who took office only four weeks ago. Lopez argued that free & easy divorce laws had made the state "notorious."

Last of the liberty-loving U.S. celebrities to turn up in Cuernavaca was Musi-comedienne Ethel (Call Me Madam) Merman. She blew into town just as the divorce gates were closing. But a local official in Juarez, a quick-divorce city in Chihuahua on the Rio Grande, came to the rescue. He assured her by telephone that she would be welcome in Juarez and would get "prompt and satisfactory service." So Ethel went to Juarez, and found that the service there was still prompt indeed; within 48 hours she had a divorce from Hearst Executive Robert D. Levitt.

*Legend has it that one New Yorker, afraid his wife might try to contest his suit, posted a notice of intent in the courthouse men's room.

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