Case of the Friendly Bride

The testimony said you were likely to meet almost anybody at the Beards' house in Berkeley, Calif. There was that Marine who dropped in one night and stayed three days. There was the impassioned glass blower. And there were sailors, bus drivers, railroad workers.

There was also, of course, Damon Beard, who taught astronomy at the University of California. But nobody paid much attention to him, least of all his wife, 20-year-old Virginia, who married the professor in 1938. She kissed the Marine, she kissed the sailors, she invited the glass blower to pop into the bathroom as she toweled herself after a shower. But Instructor Beard--well, Mrs. Beard even sent him off to his chilly telescopes in shirts still damp from the wash. Once when the instructor came home he found a note on the door: "Do not ring bell; Virginia resting." He stepped in, found Virginia and a stranger, fully dressed, cuddling on his bed.

The house was always a little confused. Playing about on the floor with little Rosalyn, aged 2 1/2, and baby Roland, aged 17 months, were nine mice, a rabbit with pink eyes, and an occasional visitor. There was always a litter of wine bottles and beer cans in the kitchen--Mrs. Beard was a thoughtful hostess. On the bed was a well-thumbed copy of "What Every Bride Should Know," a bit of reading Mrs. Beard supplemented with febrile letters from various chums. One of them, from an ecstatic railroad man, paid tribute to Mrs. Beard's zipper, which, said the railroad man, "I'll never forget."

Last week the strange doings at the Beards were aired in the dizziest divorce case California has seen in many a day. Mrs. Beard's defense for kissing military men was that they needed a good send-off as they went to the wars. Unappreciative of this patriotism, Instructor Beard said that not only was reconciliation out of the question, but that he wanted to expand his divorce trial into "an active campaign against vice." Only 25 now, the instructor has plenty of time to wage his campaign. But pretty Mrs. Beard didn't seem to mind. She had her memories. On the stand she had been asked if it was true she had slept one night in a bed with her husband and another man. "Yes," she admitted, adding, reflectively, "I didn't sleep much."

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