Religion: Contract Marriage

The parties herewith agree to and hereby do marry one unto the other.

The party of the first part agrees to love, honor and cherish the party of the second part, and to keep unto him as her lawful husband forever; and the party of the second part agrees to love, comfort and cherish the party of the first part as his lawful wife forever.

The party of the first part does hereby become the lawful wedded wife of the party of the second part, and the party of the second part becomes the lawful husband of the party of the first part; all to the same effect and extent as if their marriage had been solemnized before a clergyman or proper magistrate.

In the Manhattan chambers of New York Supreme Court Justice Samuel I. Rosenman one day last week a man and woman signed their names to the foregoing contract. The woman was Dr. Myrtle Bryan McGraw, 37, child psychologist of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center’s Babies’ Hospital, campaigner for brighter and better-trained moppets, famed for her observations of twins Jimmy & Johnny, Margie & Florie, in each pair of which one has been carefully trained and the other raised like any other child (TIME, Sept. 18, 1933 et seq.).

The man was Rudolph M. Mallina, 44, research engineer of Bell Telephone Laboratories. Upon signing the contract the two became man and wife.

When efficient Dr. McGraw agreed to marry Mr. Mallina she commanded his attorney, Max Delson, to discover the quickest kind of ceremony. Lawyer Delson tracked down in the Domestic Relations Law a provision for contract marriage, which formerly could be under taken before a notary public but now requires the presence of a judge of a court of record. Mr. Delson could find only two prior instances of contract marriages, one for a Mr. Kelso and a Miss Bryant in 1917, the other for a man named Wickholm and his bride in 1921.

Marriage contracts are usual in Europe, but are practically always accompanied by religious or civil ceremonies. Lawyer Delson recommends his find for deaf-mutes because such contracts require no words, take but 35 sec. to sign. They should also appeal to Quakers, Mennonites and other sectarians who dislike to swear oaths. Nevertheless Bride McGraw and Groom Mallina did by no means avoid Godliness. Their contract stipulated that it was as good as a religious ceremony, and day after they signed it they repaired, for a short philosophic talk, to the home of famed Columbia Professor John Dewey, who believes in a vague humanistic God.