Cause for divorce: He never smiled
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Sept. 22, 1921: Mrs. Clara B. Brenner told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge J.W. Summerfield that she wanted to divorce John F. Brenner on the grounds of cruelty.
“My husband went 18 years without smiling,” she told the court, according to The Times. “He crabbed all the time and even when he drank liquor he appeared to get grouchier than ever.”
Mrs. Brenner’s story ran in The Times under the headline, “Booze Fails as Smile Coaxer.”
“He wouldn’t even smile when I gave him a shot of real Scotch,” she complained of her husband.
Summerfield granted her the divorce.
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