Quote of the Day (Lorrie Moore, on a Woman Divorcing a Cheating Husband)

“Rage had its medicinal purposes, but she was not wired to sustain it and when it tumbled away, loneliness engulfed her, grief burning at the center in a cold blue heat."— American fiction writer, critic, and essayist Lorrie Moore, "Paper Losses," in Bark (2014)

The image accompanying this post of Lorrie Moore was taken Nov. 11, 2014, by Zane Williams

TV Quote of the Day (‘M*A-S-H,' on Marriage and Divorce)

Major Franklin Marion Burns [played by Larry Linville] [to Margaret Houlihan]: “Marriage is the chief cause of divorce.” —M*A*S*H, Season 3, Episode 16, “Bulletin Board,” original air date Jan. 14, 1975, teleplay by Larry Gelbart and Simon Muntner, directed by Alan Alda

Movie Quote of the Day (‘The Awful Truth,’ With Cary Grant on a New Couple’s Relocation Choice)

[Lucy Warriner’s divorce from husband Jerry is about to come through, freeing her to wed oil-rich but unsophisticated Daniel Leeson.)

Jerry [played by Cary Grant]: “Ah, so you're gonna live in Ok-la-ho-ma, eh Lucy? How I envy you. Ever since I was a small boy, that name has been filled with magic for me. Ok-la-ho-ma!”

Daniel [played by Ralph Bellamy]: “We're gonna live right in Oklahoma City!”

Jerry: “Not Oklahoma City itself? Lucy, you lucky girl! No more running around to nightspots. No more prowling around in New York shops. I shall think of you every time a new show opens and say to myself, 'She's well out of it.'”

Daniel: “New York's all right for a visit but I wouldn't want to live here.”

Lucy [played by Irene Dunne]: [gamely but uncertainly] “I know I'll enjoy Oklahoma City.”

Jerry: “Well, of course. And if it should get dull, you can always go over to Tul-sa for the weekend. I think a big change like that does one good, don't you?”—The Awful Truth (1937), screenplay by Viña Delmar and an uncredited Sidney Buchman, based on a play by Arthur Richman, directed by Leo McCarey

TV Quote of the Day (‘Taxi,’ on the Breakup of a Marriage)

Tony Banta [played by Tony Danza]: “Do you remember what you said to your wife to break up with her?”

Alex Reiger [played by Judd Hirsch]: “Yeah, I remember what I said. I said, ‘Why is that man wearing my pajamas?’"—Taxi, Season 1, Episode 10, “Men Are Such Beasts,” original air date Nov. 21, 1978, teleplay by Ed. Weinberger and Stan Daniels, directed by James Burrows

Joke of the Day (Wil Shriner, on a Much-Married Friend)

"I have a friend who's been married so many times he sends his alimony checks out bulk rate."—Actor-comedian-game-show host Wil Shriner, quoted in Duncan Strauss, “O.C. Comedy Review: Will the Real Wil Please Stand Up?”, Los Angeles Times, October 26, 1989

Quote of the Day (Comic Giulia Rozzi, on the ‘Best Divorce Ever’)

“I had the best divorce ever. I know this because I wrote ‘I’m getting a divorce!’ on Facebook and my husband was the first to click LIKE.”-- Stand-up comic Giulia Rozzi, quoted in “Joke of the Week,” TimeOut New York, May 22-28, 2014

TV Quote of the Day (‘Girls,’ Speaking Prematurely About Wendi Murdoch)

''Maybe I wanna be Wendi Murdoch, maybe that's my new thing.'' — Elijah (Andrew Rannells), on his future as a trophy wife, on Girls, Season 2, Episode 1, “It's About Time,” teleplay by Lena Dunham and Jennifer Konner, directed by Lena Dunham, air date January 14, 2013

Funny how some lines take on entirely new meaning within the passage of only, say, half a year after they’re released to the world. Two years ago, I noted this phenomenon in a post about the film Crazy Stupid Love and its homage to the then-epitome of love between older woman and younger man, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.

Back when the year began, Wendi Murdoch must have seemed the very kind of trophy wife an aging media mogul would love to have. Who needed security when assaulted in public when you had such a tigress for a spouse?

Last summer, the storyline suddenly shifted with news that Rupert Murdoch had filed for divorce from his latest (#3) wife. Just before Thanksgiving came word from The Hollywood Reporter of their “amicable” divorce settlement—helped along, in no small part, one is sure, by one pre-nup and two post-nuptial agreements.

All of this begs the question: If this situation were being covered by a rival corporate entity, how would its New York-based screaming tabloid and its right-wing cable news outfit cover the breakup?

(This April 2010 photograph of Wendi Murdoch at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival was taken by David Shankbone.)