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I would imagine this could happen more “secretly” in olden times. For one thing, the couple could remain chaste without today’s morality standards. So, the wife finds out on her wedding night that he isn’t interested. Then what? Does she file for divorce? Well, women of that time who divorced were seen in bad terms. Plus, many women didn’t openly discuss such situations even with family. Strange stuff!

So, the wife finds out on her wedding night that he isn’t interested. Then what? Does she file for divorce?

She files for civil annulment. The old rule was that grounds for annulment were that they had never "consummated" the marriage. A civil annulment is different from a Church annulment.

I read that Angela Lansbury's 1st marriage ended because whe unwittingly married an actor who wanted her to be his "beard". I haven't found a source on the Web, but I was suprised to read about it about 5 years ago. This is the only eference I could find on a quick search.

Angela's first husband was Richard Cromwell (Roy Radabaugh), married on September 27, 1945 in Independence (California). It wasn't a "happy marriage": Angela realized her approach to marriage had been immature; then in August 1946, after 11 months, she obtained the divorce from Roy in Los Angeles.

That is a bunch of BS. In the first place, look at the length of the marriage! It takes (or did in those days) a year to get a divorce in CA. That's why Las Vegas was invented -- quickie divorces. The way I heard it is that the marriage was promoted by the studios and by her mother as a path to stability (money and parts). She found out on the wedding night that her husband was not the man he pretended to be. Poof! Marriage over.