It has been estimated that around 300,000 marriages took place in Yuma County between 1928 and 1956—Yuma’s “wedding chapel era.” During those years Arizona held a no waiting advantage over neighboring California, which required prospective couples to take a blood test and to wait 3 days after applying for a wedding license. Eloping movie stars generated big headlines when they drove or flew to Yuma, but Hollywood celebrities comprised a tiny fraction of the total marriages. Hollywood marriages—then and now—have had a reputation for being short-lived and superficial. I have selected some examples of lasting Hollywood marriages that go against that stereotype, and I have also highlighted a few marriages of musicians, athletes, West Coast soldiers and sailors, and even some local couples. While my choices are somewhat random, I believe that these “quickie” marriages—famous and otherwise—are worth exploring.
June Collyer and Stuart Erwin—July 22, 1931
Real Hollywood couple playing a TV couple
Actors Stuart Erwin and June Collyer eloped to Yuma by automobile on July 21, 1931. June’s two brothers accompanied the couple as they drove through a dust storm and experienced a flat tire on their journey. Not surprisingly for Yuma in July, the temperature reached 108°. Throughout his long career, Stuart Erwin specialized in playing “bumbling” characters. June Collyer appeared in over 20 films between 1927 and 1937. She took a lengthy break from acting to be a full-time mom—and then in 1950 she became a TV mom by starring with her husband in the early sitcom, “Trouble With Father” (also known as “The Stu Erwin Show.”) Stuart Erwin and June Collyer were married 36 years until Stuart’s death in December 1967. June Collyer died three months later.
Henry Hathaway and Blanche Gonzalez—March 12, 1932
Several legendary film directors were married in Yuma: Victor Fleming, Anatole Litvak, William Wellman, Billy Wilder, William Wyler. While most of these directorial marriages were short-lived, Henry Hathaway remained married to Blanche Gonzalez for 53 years until his death in 1985. Blanche died 10 years later. Hathaway, whose given name was Henri Leopold de Fiennes, was 33 when he eloped to Yuma with Blanche “Skip” Gonzalez, a 22-year-old dancer from Nogales, Arizona. In his long film career Henry Hathaway directed over sixty films in several genres, including classic film noir (“Kiss of Death”) and westerns (“True Grit”).
Cecil Gerson and Howard Waite—May 21, 1932
On Saturday May 21, 1932, Cecil Gerson and Howard Waite, both age 25, eloped by train from Los Angeles to Yuma. More than 60 years later, the Waites were featured in the book, Living Happily Ever After: Couples Talk About Lasting Love. The marriage lasted 65 years until Cecil’s 1997 death at 91. The following year Howard died at age 97.
Living Happily Ever After includes Howard’s memories of the Yuma marriage, which was officiated by Earl Freeman, the town’s very busy Justice of the Peace:
Bessie Bustamente and Juan Gutierrez—March 22, 1933
Yuma’s “Mr. and Mrs. G”
Bessie Bustamente and Juan Gutierrez were married on March 22, 1933, a marriage that lasted 56 years until Juan’s death in 1989. Bessie died at age 96 in 2012. In 1933 Bessie Bustamente was a Yuma teenager, not a Hollywood star, but like actresses Loretta Young and Gloria Swanson, Bessie’s marriage to Juan was conducted by Yuma’s renowned “marrying judge,” Earl Freeman. And the Gutierrez family achieved local fame with the success of their venerable Mexican restaurants, starting in 1946 and continuing to the present day.
Buster Crabbe and Virginia Held—April 13, 1933
Clarence “Buster” Crabbe and Adah Virginia Held were married in Yuma on April 13, 1933 by Justice of the Peace Earl Freeman. The groom listed his occupation as “salesman” on the wedding license application, but for the next several years Buster Crabbe would be a popular film star, beginning with 1933’s “Tarzan the Fearless.” Crabbe had gained fame in the 1932 Olympics by winning a gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle swimming event. One source states that Buster met his future wife on the beach of Waikiki while he was working as a lifeguard.
It wasn’t high art, but Buster Crabbe’s handsome athleticism made him an ideal action hero for B-movies and serials like these. Crabbe appeared in over 100 films, and he later hosted sports and children’s programs on television. After leaving acting, he worked as a stockbroker and as a spokesman for a swimming pool company. Buster Crabbe died at age 75 on April 23, 1983—just ten days after the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary. Virginia Held Crabbe lived several more years, remaining active in Scottsdale, Arizona’s cultural and charitable organizations. She died in 2004 at the age of 91.
Charles Boyer and Pat Paterson—February 14, 1934
Joys and sorrows
French actor Charles Boyer and English actress Patricia Paterson were both Hollywood newcomers when they met and married in less than a month. Charles was 34 and Patricia was 22. The couple impulsively drove to Yuma to be married by Justice of the Peace Earl Freeman on Valentine’s Day 1934.
Charles Boyer returned to Yuma in March 1936 for the filming of “The Garden of Allah”—an early Technicolor production—in the Imperial Sand Dunes near Yuma. Boyer’s co-star was Marlene Dietrich.
The Boyers lost their only son, Michael, at age 21 when he died by suicide on September 23, 1965. Patricia Paterson Boyer died of cancer on August 24, 1978 at the age of 68. Charles Boyer died two days later of an apparent suicide. The couple was married for 44 years.
Grace Wentworth and Keifer Shipp—May 12, 1935
Somerton couple married for 82 years!
On June 19, 1935 matinee idol Errol Flynn and French actress Lili Damita were married in Yuma. They divorced seven years later, ending what was—by Hollywood standards—a fairly long marriage. By contrast, a month earlier a local couple had begun a marriage that would last nearly 83 years!
Keifer Shipp and Grace Wentworth graduated four years apart at Yuma High School. According to Keifer’s obituary, “They met at a church social and he walked her home and that was the beginning.” The couple was married at the bride’s Yuma home by Methodist pastor David Kingman. They lived most of their lives in Somerton, Arizona where Keifer Shipp was a longtime bank manager. In 1959 Grace Shipp founded the first Somerton library which was located in the fire station, and she managed the library until 1976. Grace Shipp died on March 1, 2018 at the age of 102. Keifer Shipp died on April 5, 2018 at the age of 106.
Claudette Colbert and Joel Pressman—December 24, 1935
It happened one afternoon
Only a few weeks after her Yuma elopement, Claudette Colbert was back in Yuma, filming “Under Two Flags” in the Imperial Sand Dunes. The Yuma Theatre ad on the right is from May 16, 1936.
The Colbert–Pressman marriage, the second for both parties, lasted 33 years until the death of Joel Pressman on February 26, 1968 at age 67. Claudette Colbert died at age 92 on July 30, 1996.
Lionel Hampton and Gladys Riddle—November 11, 1936
In harmony
Lionel Hampton frequently stated, “God gave me the talent, but Gladys gave me the inspiration.” The couple met when Lionel Hampton was earning a reputation on the West Coast as an extraordinary drummer and vibraphonist. After witnessing a Lionel Hampton concert in 1936, the legendary Benny Goodman promptly invited Lionel to join his band. In 1945 Gladys Riddle Hampton recalled Goodman’s offer and the urgency it created for the couple to rush to Yuma and get married:
“We were married quietly in Yuma, Arizona, and hurried back to Los Angeles to catch the waiting plane to fly to Atlantic City with the great Benny Goodman, and our life together.” Chicago Defender—February 24, 1945
On September 13, 1956—20 years after his Yuma elopement—Lionel Hampton presented a concert at the Yuma Sports Arena.
Gladys Hampton was a Fisk University graduate who gave up a career as a Hollywood fashion designer in order to serve as her husband’s savvy, successful business manager. When Gladys died on April 29, 1971, the couple had been married for 35 years. Lionel Hampton died 31 years later at the age of 94. He was rightly eulogized as a national hero for his talent, charisma and philanthropy, but these accolades would not have been achieved without the efforts of his wife Gladys.
Anita Page and Herschel House—January 9, 1937
Goodbye to Hollywood
Alice Faye and Tony Martin—September 4, 1937
Second chances
Alice Faye and Tony Martin were popular film and recording stars when they eloped by plane to Yuma on Labor Day weekend 1937. In the December 1937 issue of Screenland, Alice Faye described the very warm reception she and Tony Martin received in Yuma:
“I was all dolled up in a new fall suit . . . all right in Hollywood, but not in Yuma. Hot! And we had to wait our turn, for we were the 51st couple to have the knot tied there on that sizzling day!”
The Faye-Martin marriage lasted only four years, but the second marriages for both parties were long, happy ones. Alice Faye was married to band leader and comedian, Phil Harris, for 54 years until his death in 1995. The couple co-starred for several years on a popular radio program.
Tony Martin’s 1948 marriage to dancer-actress Cyd Charisse lasted 60 years until her death in 2008. Tony and Cyd frequently performed together in Las Vegas.
Paul Henning and Ruth Bart—January 14, 1939
Farm livin’ is the life for me!
When Paul Henning and Ruth Barth were married on January 14, 1939 on the Yuma Courthouse lawn by Justice of the Peace Ed Winn, Paul had just embarked on a Hollywood career that would later include the creation of the 1960s television sitcoms pictured below. Paul and Ruth had both grown up in Missouri, Paul as a farm boy, and Ruth with family connections to a hotel not unlike the Shady Rest of “Petticoat Junction.” Their Missouri childhoods inspired the immensely popular “rural” programs which aired on CBS television. And daughter Linda Kaye Henning achieved stardom playing Betty Jo Bradley on the “Petticoat Junction” series. Paul and Ruth Henning’s marriage lasted 63 years until Ruth’s death in 2002.
Jean Rogers and Danny Winkler—June 8, 1939
A lasting (re)marriage
Jean Rogers, whose real name was Eleanor Lovegren, was a popular actress best known for her roles in several movie serials. She was 23 years old when she eloped by air to Yuma with Hollywood agent Danny Winkler, who, at 46, was twice Jean’s age. The couple was married on June 8, 1939 by Justice of the Peace Ed Winn.
Jean Rogers was signed by MGM studios in 1941, the same year she divorced husband Danny Winkler. The couple later reconciled and made plans to remarry. According to Jerry Blake, a movie serials blogger, ” . . . when she announced her intention of wedding agent Dan Winkler in 1943, MGM forbade her to marry, fearing it might hamper her career.” Jean Rogers left MGM, and on July 3, 1943 Rogers and Winkler re-eloped—this time to Ventura, California. Her film career may have suffered as a result, but the couple’s marriage lasted until Danny Winkler’s death at age 76 on February 5, 1970. Jean Rogers was 74 when she died on February 24, 1991.
Hank Leiber and Betty Procter—December 30, 1940
On December 30, 1940 Hank Leiber, a three-time all-star outfielder, married Betty Proctor, the daughter of the Arizona state highway commissioner. The couple made a brief stop in Yuma to get married before driving on to Pasadena to attend the Rose Bowl football game. Hank Leiber’s baseball career would end prematurely after the 1942 season due to the effects of two serious “beanings” to the head by pitched balls, the first by future Hall of Famer, Bob Feller. Hank and Betty settled in Tucson where they had both attended the University of Arizona. Hank had a successful second career in real estate. The couple’s marriage lasted 38 years until Betty’s death in 1978 at the age of 59.
A year before his marriage in Yuma, Hank Leiber had been in town for an exhibition baseball game between the Cubs and White Sox which was held at Yuma High School’s Doan Field. Leiber scored both Cubs runs in the March 31, 1939 contest. Annual exhibition games of Major League teams were played at Doan Field from 1934 to 1942.
Wally Berger and Martha Richardson—April 19, 1942
His biggest fan
These emotional public notices were placed by Martha Berger in memory of her late husband of 46 years, Wally Berger, who died November 30, 1988. When the couple was married in Yuma by Justice of the Peace R.H. Lutes, Martha was 28 and Wally was 36. Wally Berger had recently retired from Major League baseball and was serving as a coxswain in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Wally and Martha Berger each died at the age of 83.
Joyce Little and William Henderson—February 19, 1947
Army elopement
Indiana natives Joyce and Bill Henderson were married in Yuma while Bill was serving in the Army near San Diego. Their “quickie” marriage was conducted by Justice of the Peace R.H. Lutes on February 19, 1947, a marriage that lasted nearly 72 years until Bill’s death in 2019. But getting to Yuma was not a quick process for Joyce. She rode a bus from Kokomo, Indiana to San Diego for three days and nights, followed by another bus ride from San Diego to Yuma. The couple discussed their Yuma wedding in a profile published in the Kokomo Tribune on July 23, 2017:
” . . . there were a few hiccups. As they rode through the mountains on their way to tie the knot in Arizona, the bus broke down. After a several-hour delay, they were on the road again. But by the time they arrived it was almost nighttime. Most stores were closed, so they couldn’t get any flowers for their ceremony. They rushed to the Justice of the Peace’s home, a wedding chapel in Yuma, and the two 19-year-olds were wed on Feb. 19, 1947. They went to a restaurant in town and bought a steak for their wedding dinner, the first steak that Joyce had ever eaten in her life.”
Ferne Johnson and Thomas Ades—February 24, 1951
Korean War elopement
Ferne Johnson and Thomas Ades were a Des Moines, Iowa couple who were married at the short-lived Orange Blossom Wedding Chapel in Yuma on February 24, 1951. At the time of their marriage, Tom was in the Navy, stationed in San Diego prior to serving aboard the USS Sicily aircraft carrier during the Korean War.
The Johnson Family History website includes Ferne’s memories of traveling by train from Des Moines to San Diego where Tom’s ship was docked. Ferne noted that her brother and his wife, who were in San Diego . . . “were eager for us to get married, but California law had a three day wait so they drove us to Yuma, Arizona. We were both only 18 years old, and back in the Fifties the legal age was 21 for men, so Tom had to telegram his parents for consent. They were not home, so his brother, Nelson gave permission!!”
After leaving the Navy, Tom worked as a carpenter, while Ferne was employed as a bookkeeper. The couple had three sons. Ferne and Tom were married for 63 years until Ferne’s death in 2014 at age 81. Tom died in 2023 at the age of 91.
Joanne Konop and Gerhart Goodrich—March 17, 1956
Marine Corps elopement
On December 18, 2019 Joanne and Gary Goodrich were interviewed in Yuma, Arizona as part of the StoryCorps oral history project. The Goodriches were a retired South Dakota couple who wintered in Yuma—the town to which they had eloped in 1956 when Gary was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton. In their StoryCorps interview, Joanne recalled their elopement:
It took us all night long from about 10:30 when we picked up his friend at Camp Pendleton. And we finally got to Yuma, but it was about 7 a.m., so we sat at a picnic bench by the Colorado river and waited until the courthouse, which is still standing, opened up. And then he was going to lie about his age. He said, I’m going to tell him I’m 20. I said, no, we can’t start our marriage like that. So his mother had to send permission. [The age of consent for men in Arizona was 21. Gary was 19, and Joanne was 18.]
Gerhart “Gary” Goodrich died on September 18, 2021 at the age of 85. He and wife Joanne had been married for 65 years.
End of an era
“Quickie” Yuma marriages—and Yuma’s marriage industry generally—came to an end on December 7, 1956. That is when Arizona’s new marriage law, created by the passage of Proposition 200, went into effect. Couples now had to wait 48 hours after submitting a wedding license application before they could marry. A mandatory blood test was another new requirement. Even Yuma County voters supported the proposition in the November 1956 election. In the photo below, the sign is being taken down at the Gretna Green Wedding Chapel located across from the old City Hall.
Yuma History Guy 