Now I will be honest, if I collected every single newspaper article that I have come across that featured some variant of the spanked wives club in the late 1930’s then I would have enough to post for a month straight. At some point in 1937 someone wrote to one, if not many newspapers, concerning the new club in the Midwest known as the Wives Of Spanking Husbands, though it was alternatively known as Wives Of Modernistic Men. I’ve seen variants with origins in South Dakota, Iowa and Idaho.
The story was picked up by numerous newspapers around the country, the one below was The Altoona Tribune in Pennsylvania in I guess what could be termed for the day, a viral story. Now, I believe that the story was concocted by a gender bending guy getting his fantasy jollies fulfilled with this imaginary scenario.
Why do I think this? Well, because less than a year later in 1938 a new club had started in Iowa, and this one was called “The Daughters Of Spanking Parents”. The story in 1938 had more details though, the grown up still spanked daughter was recruiting members for her club, which, coincidentally, was also presided over by the President of the Women Of Spanking Husbands Club. In fact by this time there were apparently 59 such clubs in the U.S.A, Canada and England. There was even an address where one could write to the President, Reta Rae, if they were a daughter or a wife who was still spanked. Can you just imagine Mr. Rae running down to the mailbox every day to see what letters had been sent to him?
If I get the time I will round up different variants of this story. I only saved a couple because the story is fundamentally the same, but I guess it would be good to compare them. I will add this to my WINDSOR’S SPANKING FINDS album.
Well I suppose the stories are all fake. But it sounds like a good idea anyway. Incidentally I recall ( well I would wouldn’t I) this story being reported on BBC radio. This was before you were born but a lot later than the thirties. It was on the PM programme before it just became a run of the mill politics/new programme. It was more of a magazine programme hosted by Steve Race. As a child the story conformed to my world view. As with most things in childhood this just dissolved into disillusion.
While I believe the synopsis to be a fake one, I would be interested to know if the guy behind all of this did in fact receive any letters to the address that he provided. What I do remember is that the story ran for months, and by that I mean that it was the same story but it took time back in those days before it transferred from paper to paper. Perhaps over the weekend I will do a newspaper sweep and see if I can find more articles on the topic. Well, I know that I can find more easily, it’s just a matter of whether any of them have different interpretations attached.
One thing is for sure though, I AM certain that many men across the country read the article in 1937 and decided to give it a shot 🙂 It would be interesting to see what the divorce rate was in 1937.
I listened to a lot of radio as a young man, but I don’t recall Steve Race. I looked him up on Wiki and as I was born in 1963 and the PM programme started in 1970, but as I would have been ages 7-9 during his run on the show then I was probably too young to remember any of it. Mind you, we normally had Radio 3 on for the cricket 🙂
Well I have no doubt this is somebody’s fantasy I also have no doubt that there were couples where spanking occurred. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just the wives that got it. Speaking of fantasies has there ever been a couple that we know of that in fact used the Spencer spanking plan?
Richard the programme I am referring to was on the radio from 5 pm to 5.30 pm. It was the precursor to the modern PM programme which is what you find in the records. The magazine piece I recall was probably broadcast in the early sixties. Though I am certain of the content as a child I was not registering the exact year or times. It might have been a different time slot and programme. The details I am certain about is that the presenter was Steve Race and the topic was the existence of these clubs in the USA. The opening remark was ‘Ladies does your husband spank you’? The presenter then went on to say that if so there is a club for you —-. Believe me this is certainly something I would have listened to intently.
Sam,
I am not doubting the veracity of your story one iota. The reason that I looked into Steve Race was simply because I was born in 1963 and even to this day I was not aware of him. That alone is quite astonishing considering he was a radio 4 staple up until I left the UK in 1987 🙂 I delved a little further into his career and the general interest magazine that he hosted prior to PM was called “Home In The Afternoon”, was that the show that you remember? You never know, there is always a chance that a copy of these programmes exist somewhere.
BTW, your comment about not remembering exact times or year reminded me of a comment that was made on this website one time. I was relaying a story of my trips to the Janus store in 1979 as a very young man (like, not 18 years old yet young, lol) and how that had an effect on me. Some guy ripped the story as being untrue because I couldn’t remember how much a can of coke was in 1979 🙂 True story!! Minor details one may forget, but the hub of our initial spanking experiences are something that we never forget. Even if it is the simple word itself being spoken, we will remember who said the word.
Eric,
There are couples who have written online about their use of the Spencer Spanking plan, in fact I am even aware of one situation where the family structure was almost Victorian in its approach, where the wife was commonly known to be spanked. It may not have had the name the Spencer spanking plan attached to it, but the principal was certainly in place. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there are couples in modern day society that these principals still apply, and I dare say that a number of them aren’t even spankos who practice this. Stories in the news this week kind of confirm to me that there are still people who live in the mindset of the 1950’s and prior, because they know no different. I’m pretty sure that there is still or a woodshed or two in use 😉
Yes you are undoubtedly correct. I am probably getting some of the details only approximately correct, but none the less in the right area. As far as I can recall I was still at school when I heard this particular titbit. So that would make it prior to 1965. Of course it is no great feat of memory for me to be able to recall the incident itself as my imagination had often ruminated on the information .