The Wall Street Journal just published a fascinating and entertaining article on the long history of the difficult divorce.
In the early 20th century, a number of young women hired themselves out as “correspondents” in divorce cases—essentially bait for philandering husbands. In 1934, the New York Mirror published an article titled, “I Was the ‘Unknown Blonde’ in 100 New York Divorces!”—featuring one Dorothy Jarvis, who earned as much as $100 a job. Ms. Jarvis had several tactics, beyond taking her date to a hotel room and awaiting ambush. There was the “push and raid” (where she would push herself into a man’s room, dressed only in a fur coat, then whip off her outer garment), as well as the “shadow and shanghai” and the “dance and dope.”
