Three Wives Too Many story
A woman learns that her husband has three other wives. Directed by: Joseph M. Newman. Story by: Kenneth Fearing (short story), Arthur A. Ross (teleplay).
18 total · 1 choice · 9 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| bigamy | choice | As the title alludes to, this was a story about a man who saw fit to get hitched (without getting unhitched) three times more than the legal limit. The story dealt with the consequences of his decision once one of his four wives discovered the truth. |
| feeling neglected in a relationship | major | Each of Gerald's three different wives longed to spend more time together with him because he spent so much time in other cities on supposed "business trips". |
| greed for riches | major | Raymond married four different women for the stated reason of both love and money. It was carefully noted that the women in question were worth between $18,000-$40,000 each at the time, and that Raymond needed this money to support his gambling. |
| husband and wife | major | The bigamist Raymond Brown and his four wives (Bernice, Lucille, Marion, and an unnamed spouse). |
| law enforcement | major | Raymond dealt with two different police detectives that investigated the respective murders of two of his wives. |
| poison murder | major | Marion killed Raymond's other wives, by means of cyanide in the hooch, because she wanted him to herself. |
| romantic jealousy | major | Even when she found out that she herself was not Raymond's first wife, and that she was therefore a husband-stealer and a hypocrite, Marion did not let up. She murdered Raymond's other wives because she could not stand to share him, nor to loose him. |
| romantic love | major | Marion and Raymond variously spoke about love and its importance. The other wives also explained that they loved Raymond more or less unreservedly. |
| the desire for vengeance | major | In one viewing of the story, Marion did in her bigamist husband's other wives in part to get back at him for his treachery. |
| what if I found out that a loved one was not the person I thought they were | major | Each of Bernice, Lucille, and Marion were confronted with the revelation that their seemingly loving, caring, and faithful husband Gerald was, in fact, a remorseless, gold digging bigamist. |