Two Wives at Once - Oops

     Recently I read a book, The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran with the interesting question, "who is the real Mrs. Henry Oades?"  Last night I just happened to watch an old 1940s movie, My Favorite Wife staring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.  The movie had a somewhat similar theme as the book.

     In both, the man is married to a woman who disappears and, after a number of years, is declared dead.  The man, although very much in love with his first wife when she was living, decides to remarry.  You can guess what happens.  The first wife miraculously survives and turns up shortly after the second marriage.   Our hero is now married to two women.  Is he a bigamist?  Which one is he really married to now?

Book journal page

     The Wives of Henry Oades was a more serious look at the situation than the comedy, My Favorite Wife.  Henry Oades has married a much younger woman and is consumed with her.  When his first wife, Margaret, suddenly reappears, he is no longer attracted to her.  Margaret has suffered much in the previous years since she and their children were kidnapped by New Zealand's Maori natives.  The new Mrs. Henry Oades won't give Henry up and neither will the first Mrs. Henry Oades.  Annulment of the first marriage would make the children illegitiment and divorce in 1900 was scandalous.  Besides, she still loves Henry.  Soon the second Mrs. Henry Oades becomes pregnant, and she's very much in love with Henry.

     California's legal system comes calling at the Oades' family farm where they are all living in the same house.  The situation is resolved in a way that suits everyone.

      The Wives of Henry Oades was written based on a
situation that actually came to light in a legal abstract.  It recently appears that the abstract may have been a hoax by the New York Times newspaper to point out a falacy in Californa's laws in the early 1900s.

     The movie, My Favorite Wife, isn't nearly as complicated as the book because Cary Grant has been married only a few hours before he realizes his first wife is still living.  He knows he is still in love with her.  The movie revolves around him timidly trying to tell the new wife what's what and then getting back in Irene Dunne's good graces.  Everything turns out right just like a good 1940 movie should.

     Read The Wives of Henry Oades if you'd like an interesting look at an unusual situation.

     And, remember the ladies.

                      Carol