Product Description

In 1931, in the teeth of the Great Depression, the Nevada legislature made a daring move and created two legalized industries: gambling and the six week divorce. By the 1940s, I m going to Reno! was synonymous with divorce and divorce seekers came running by the thousands. If you had the money and the need for privacy, you came to one of the dude ranches where the clientele was upscale.

Former dude wrangler Bill McGee may have written the ultimate kiss-and-tell in THE DIVORCE SEEKERS: A PHOTO MEMOIR OF A NEVADA DUDE WRANGLER. This is a firsthand account by someone who saw the epic era of the six week Reno divorce. McGee had a front row seat during his years in the 1940s working on the Flying M E, an exclusive dude ranch twenty miles south of Reno that catered to wealthy Easterners with names like Astor, du Pont and Roosevelt, and Hollywood celebrities like Gable, Gardner and Hayworth.

Part I, Cowboyin Memoirs. Follows the author from his post-war days at Montana State on the G. I. Bill, to cowboyin in Wyoming s Yellowstone National Park, to the chance conversation in Reno s Round Up Bar which landed him the coveted job as head dude wrangler on the Flying M E.

Part II, The Famous Flying M E Ranch and the Changing Cast of Characters. Stories about the ranch guests, how they passed their six weeks, their favorite watering holes and sightseeing places, and why some of them never returned to the East to live.

Part III, Getting Untied. An overview of Nevada s migratory divorce business, how the legislated businesses of divorce and gambling helped Nevada through the Great Depression, and how Nevada s lenient divorce law led the way for uncontested divorces in other states.

Part IV, Other Leading Nevada Dude-Divorce Ranches, Circa 1930-1960. Profiles the TH Ranch (Nevada s first dude ranch), the other leading Nevada dude-divorce ranches of the era, plus a brief history of the origins of dude ranching in the West.

More than 500 black-and-white photographs (most from private collections and never before published), give the reader an up-close glimpse into life on an exclusive dude ranch.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #633315 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 444 pages

Review
"...casual, heartfelt history of the Nevada divorce ranch era is a fascinating social document spangled with...socialites and movie stars..." -- Library Journal, March 1, 2004

"McGee spins funny and fact-filled tales...The excellent photos, like the words, capture the rustic glamor of that bygone era." -- Nevada Magazine, March/April 2004

"One of the most remarkable cultural times in the American West." --Andria Daley, Nevada Historic Preservation

Bill McGee's knowledge of the era is encyclopedic - after all, he was there! Highly recommended. -- Nevada State Railroad Museum, April 2004

Bill’s recall is phenomenal. The people he brings to life with his warm, detailed prose are icons of another age. -- The Nevada Travel Network Trip Reports, March 2004

Casual, heartfelt history of the Nevada divorce ranch era...a fascinating social document spangled with socialites and movie stars. -- Library Journal, March 1, 2004

Delightful reading about bygone times and glamorous people...also a valuable history of a unique epoch of the West. -- Barnaby Conrad, Author

Former dude ranch wrangler Bill McGee may have written the ultimate Western kiss-and-tell book...a page turner! -- Cowboys & Indians, April 2005

Nevada as a place to split is a legend of our time...a culture where marriages ended, new romances began. -- Charles Champlin, former Arts Editor, Los Angeles Times

The best book yet about Nevada's famous dude-divorce ranch business. -E. Moody, Curator of Manuscripts -- Nevada Historical Society

About the Author
William L. "Bill" McGee was born on a ranch in Montana. At seventeen, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific Theater from 1942 to 1946. Following World War II, he cowboyed in the West and landed the coveted job of head dude wrangler on the Flying M E, an exclusive dude ranch south of Reno, Nevada that catered to wealthy Easterners and Hollywood celebrities seeking a six week divorce.

In 1950, Mr. McGee left cowboyin and made a successful transition into the broadcasting field. During his 35-year career in broadcasting, he held sales and management positions with NBC Radio, Peters Griffin Woodward, Independent Television Corporation and Kaiser Broadcasting. In 1971, he founded Broadcast Marketing Company ( BMC ) which thrust him into the forefront of the industry as a leader and innovator in retail and co-op advertising.

Following his retirement in 1990 from broadcasting, Mr. McGee garnered critical recognition as a military historian with the autobiographical BLUEJACKET ODYSSEY, 1942-1946. This was followed by THE AMPHIBIANS ARE COMING!, VOLUME 1, and THE SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS, VOLUME 2, in the three-part series, Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII. PACIFIC EXPRESS, VOLUME 3, is scheduled for release in 2008.

In 2004, Bill and his co-author wife, Sandra McGee, wrote THE DIVORCE SEEKERS, a collection of stories about Bill s time on the Flying M E in the 1940s. The book mixes Bill s personal stories, about the people he met and the places he knew, with sidebars on Nevada history.

Mr. McGee is the recipient of numerous broadcasting awards. He is a member of Broadcast Legends and Western Writers of America. Sandra McGee is a publicist.

Customer Reviews

A Hundred Romances Lost and Found!
Half a century old and I've only lived one year west of the Mississippi, yet the West still seduces me! Cowboys and log cabins, railroads and dude ranches... To find a book brimming with stories and photographs of no-names and celebrities on a Nevada divorce ranch in the 1940's, that was a nostalgia trip; then to read the deeper lines of a hundred romances lost and found, that was a serious journey into the evolving role of women. If only I had a family room with a roaring fireplace, THE DIVORCE SEEKERS would be one of a half dozen books strewn generously across the coffee table. Instead, this intriguing volume invites people in my waiting area at work to reminisce, to feel, to laugh. Sometimes they look like little birds, circling, chirping and pointing toward this picture or that. You'd think they found the last worm on earth!

Jeff Watson
Washington, D.C. (USA)

From 20th Century Fox -- WELCOME TO RENO: AMERICA'S DIVORCE RESORT
View a clip at www.divorceseekers.com -- Click on CHARLIE CHAN IN RENO.

I'm honored to appear in this and another special feature, RENO MEMORIES, both on the newly-released Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 4 (Charlie Chan in Honolulu / Charlie Chan in Reno / Charlie Chan at Treasure Island / City in Darkness) (4DVD). Both special features are peppered with photographs from my book, THE DIVORCE SEEKERS.

The producers were looking for a firsthand account of life in Reno during the 1940s, the heyday of the Reno six week divorce. I was working as a dude wrangler then on the Flying M E, an exclusive divorce ranch outside of Reno that catered to wealthy divorce seekers. As the movie opens, the Mary Whitman character, in a cab on her way to a swank Reno hotel, could have been any number of divorce seekers who came to the Flying M E. She looks the part, believe me. The dialogue for the Cab Driver is pretty authentic, too.

CHARLIE CHAN IN RENO is a fun Reno divorce movie.

A Step Back in Time
If you love history, Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and cowboys, this book is for you. Being from Minnesota and working at Lake Tahoe in the mid-70's and now being a resident of Reno, I found this book to be a lot more than it's title indicates. Yes, the Reno area was known for being the Divorce Capital of the World, but Bill McGee takes the reader into the back mountains of the Sierras, into the world of New York socialites settling in Virginia City and into what must have been a unique place to live and work - the Flying ME Ranch. The Flying ME was located in what I think is one of the most beautiful spots in Northern Nevada today - Franktown. Even before I knew of the dude ranch, this spot between Carson City and Reno is one of beautiful ranches with white picket fences, Ponderosa Pines and mountain views second to none.

Bill and Sandra take the reader back to a time that was unique and one that will probably never exist again. The photography is wonderful and probably tells a story all by itself.

This is definitely a worthwhile read and a great coffee table book!

D. Geraghty
Reno, Nevada