Rhinelander v. Rhinelander, Leonard “Kip” Rhinelander’s annulment suit against his wife Alice (the only grounds for divorce in New York at the time was adultery), on the ground that she deceived him about having negro blood, begins. His lawyer says “The consent of the plaintiff to the marriage was obtained by fraud.” He says the jury will have to decide if Alice Rhinelander is “colored and of colored blood.” And a lot of shit about how she roped in poor weak-willed Kip.
By the way, an earlier post mentioned that Alice was put in the Social Register by virtue of her marriage, the only black person therein. The person who then successfully pushed for her to be removed was Emily Post herself.
There are a couple of books on the trial. Heidi Ardizzone and Earl Lewis, Love on Trial: An American Scandal in Black and White, which looks to be more popular history, and Elizabeth M. Smith-Pryor, Property Rites: The Rhinelander Trial, Passing, and the Protection of Whiteness, is more academic and uses the trial as a lens on race in the US in the 1920s.
H. Grindell Matthews, who you’ll remember as inventor of the Death Ray™, has now invented the less-dramatic Luminaphone™, which sends lights through perforated plates to produce sounds. Not very interesting sounds, but sounds nonetheless.
Grock the Clown says he is leaving Britain forever because they insist on collecting income tax from him, the fuckers. At one point Grock was the highest-paid performer in Europe. See if this explains why.
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