Marilu Norden

Ever since a certain Gladys Marie Moore swore to a judge she was seeking a divorce from her husband Owen because he was an alcoholic, a brute, and had abandoned her, she established Nevada as the place to unravel “the ties that bind”. She stayed just 16 days at the Campbell Ranch in Genoa, Nevada in February of 1920 and the judge, Frank Langen of the Douglas County District Court in nearby Minden, without knowing Mrs. Moore was really America’s Sweetheart Mary Pickford, one of the greats of the silent movie era, granted her a divorce. “Little Mary” left Reno for Oakland, California by train and one month later wed Douglas Fairbanks, another idol of the silver screen, with whom she’d been engaged in an affair for several years. So, the Campbell Ranch was really the first divorce ranch, one of a long line of dude ranches catering to the convenience and anonymity of people seeking a quicker way to end their marriages than waiting the much longer time required in most other states in the U.S.

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