Art Buchwald On Wife Spanking
In 1968 the nation was titillated by the news that Cary Grant had spanked his wife, but only for “reasonable and adequate cause” according to his divorce lawyer. In response, on April 2, 1968 in the The Miami News (and presumably in every other paper in the country that ran Art Buchwald’s column) readers were treated to the putative views of Art Buchwald’s lawyer on the legality of wife spanking. These precedents were dodgy even then, but it makes for some fun reading:
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Art Buchwald was a great satirist. Back when we had quality journalists. It does show that people did not get that upset about wife spankings back in the day.
Ha! Thank you, Rich!
I always enjoyed Art Buchwald’s sense of humor, and I love how he, or, ostensibly, his Lawyer– treated Grinning Wife Spanking! (You can read that modifier either way: lots of wives grin while being spanked, and the spanker certainly always grins, if only inwardly when the performance requires a stern countenance.)
I believe there was a law in Arkansas that a man could beat his wife once a month, whether she deserved it or not.
I am not so sure the precedents were dodgy. Even before the Rump Parliament of 1648, English maritime law recognized the use of spanker sails on square-rigged ships, which, of course were always referred to using feminine pronouns.
The best actors and actresses draw on personal experiences to bring something to the characters they play. It would not surprise me if Ms. Cannon did likewise, when she played the part of Judge Jennifer ‘Whipper’ Cone on the TV show, Ally McBeal.
[…] Blog has a reproduction of an Art Buchwald column from 1968 in which Buchwald supposedly consults his lawyer about the legalities of wife spanking. The column […]