Revisiting Miss Gold-Digger

Fifty-five years ago Miss Gold-Digger of 1953 appeared in the first issue of Playboy. That article, written by Burt Zollo under the nom de plume Bob Norman, has proved to be quite influential. Zollo wrote that there was once a time when alimony was paid only by gullible “millionaire playboys” who fell for “floosies.” But by 1953 average joes too were expected to pay, pay and pay—at least according to Zollo. Alimony had been democratized, but only men suffered.

While scholars now see Playboy as the harbinger of contemporary consumerist masculinity— with Hugh Hefner as midwife of the metrosexual— a stern view of the magazine survives: According to critic Barbara Ehrenreich, Playboy launched the battle of the sexes. Zollo’s definition of alimony (“an allowance— usually substantial—given to the ex-wife by her exhusband to maintain her in a style to which she would like to become accustomed”) helped create this assessment. Zollo feared “the young lady may, if she is so inclined, stick her ex-spouse for a healthy chunk of his earnings…for the rest of his unnatural life.” Zollo claimed “American womanhood” saw alimony as a “natural heritage.” Ehrenreich concluded in 1983 that if Playboy loved women, it “hated wives.”

This isn’t quite right. Playboy didn’t despise wives but American marriage itself, in particular the manner of its dissolution. The economic bargain of postwar marriage—that is, the breadwinning responsibility of the husband and the household labor of the wife—was poorly sealed by romantic love and heightened expectations for sexual satisfaction. In 1953 marriage was an institution in transition. The nation’s beliefs and legal system hadn’t yet caught up. Hostility to alimony reflected the triumph of a 20th century romantic ideal and its confounding coexistence with the economics of marriage.

Zollo offered a bleak picture for postwar men, but he also presented a more sanguine portrait of the possibilities for postwar women than the facts allowed. “Generations ago,” wrote Zollo, “a nice young woman without a husband had a difficult time making her own way.” Not so in 1953: “Even the simplest wench can make a handsome living today.” Zollo blamed the “sisters” who preferred “to stay home afternoons and let the ex-hubby pay the bills” rather than get a job. He also blamed the sympathetic judges who were left to their own discretion by unclear statutes. Most egregious to Zollo, fault might not matter, and sexually transgressive ex-wives could live the high life at their husband’s expense. Without divorce reform, American men could never get a square deal in court. Thus Zollo suggested tips for avoiding alimony, including skipping town, offering remarriage bonuses or promising nasty public divorces unless an alimony waiver were signed. These nostrums were seemingly justified by the judicial abuse of men.

Art by Lara Tomlin