Timeline 1926 - 1927
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1926 Jan 3, Joan
Walsh Anglund author, was born: Bedtime Book, Crocus in the Snow;
illustrator of children’s books.
(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)
1926 Jan 3, George Martin record
producer, arranger, keyboard player, was born: group: The Beatles; AIR
Studios; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [3-15-99].
(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)
1926 Jan 8, Soupy Sales, comedian
(Soupy Sales Show), was born in NC as Milton Hines.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1926 Jan 12, U.S. coal talks broke
down, leaving both sides bitter as the strike dragged on into its fifth
month.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1926 Jan 17, George Burns married
Gracie Allen.
(MC, 1/17/02)
1926 Jan 27, US Senate agreed to
join the World Court.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1926 Jan 29, Violette Neatley
Anderson became the first African-American woman admitted to practice
before the U.S. Supreme Court.
(HN, 1/29/99)
1926 Jan 31, Jean Simmons, actress
(Thorn Birds, Guys and Dolls), was born in London, England.
(MC, 1/31/02)
1926 Jan 31, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
was established by Wahab Chasbullah with support from Hasyim Asy'ari,
the most respected Muslim scholar in East Java. By 2010 NU was one of
the largest independent Islamic organizations in the world.
(Econ, 1/9/10,
p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulema)
1926 Jan, In a letter to then
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, the senior Guggenheim announced
the establishment of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of
Aeronautics.
(HN, 2/24/98)
1926 Jan, Walt and Roy Disney
moved to their new studio at 2719 Hyperion in Los Angeles.
(www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/disnehis/disn1926.htm)
1926 Jan, Abdul Aziz was
declared King of Hejaz (later Saudi Arabia) and the Sultan of Nejd and
its Dependencies.
(www.rogersstudy.co.uk/hejaz/al_nahda/al_nahda.html)
1926 Feb 1, Land at Broadway &
Wall Street sold at a record $7 per sq. inch.
(MC, 2/1/02)
1926 Feb 5, Arthur Ochs
Sulzberger, longtime New York Times publisher, was born.
(HN, 2/5/01)
1926 Feb 6, Mussolini warned
Germany to stop agitation in Tyrol.
(HN, 2/6/99)
1926 Feb 7, Negro History Week,
originated by Carter G. Woodson, was observed for the first time. The
2nd week in February was declared Negro History Week. Woodson
established Negro History week on Feb 19. It later developed into Black
History Month. In 1999 the African American Timeline was created for
BHM at wanonline.com/blackhistory/1999/tl/html.
(USAT, 2/14/97, p.15A)(HN, 2/7/99)(SFC, 2/1/00, p.E1)
1926 Feb 8, Neal Cassaday, writer,
counterculture proponent, was born.
(HN, 2/8/01)
1926 Feb 8, Sean O'Casey's "Plough
& Stars" opened at Abbey Theater Dublin.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1926 Feb 8, German Reichstag
decided to apply for League of Nations membership.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1926 Feb 9, Teaching theory of
evolution was forbidden in Atlanta, Georgia, schools.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1926 Feb 11, Paul Bocuse, French
chef (Legion of Honor), was born.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1926 Feb 11, The Mexican
government nationalized all church property. Plutarco Elias Calles,
founder of the modern Mexican political system, tried to suppress the
Church. This fomented the Cristiada, 3 years of rebellion and outright
war.
(WSJ, 8/13/97, p.A12)(HN, 2/11/97)
1926 Feb 15, Contract air mail
service began in the US.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1926 Feb 17, An avalanche buried
75 in Sap Gulch, Bingham, Utah, and 40 died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1926 Feb 19, Dr. Lane of Princeton
estimated the earth’s age at one billion years.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1926 Feb 22, Pope Pius rejected
Mussolini’s offer of aid to the Vatican.
(HN, 2/22/98)
1926 Feb 23, President Calvin
Coolidge opposed a large air force, believing it would be a menace to
world peace.
(HN, 2/23/98)
1926 Feb 25, Poland demanded a
permanent seat on the League Council.
(HN, 2/25/98)
1926 Feb 26, Dark Street in the
Bronx was renamed Lustre Street.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1926 Feb 28, Svetlana Alliluyeva,
daughter of Josef Stalin, author (My Life), was born.
(HN, 2/28/98)(MC, 2/28/02)
1926 Mar 3, James Merrill,
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (Divine Comedies), was born.
(HN, 3/3/01)
1926 Mar 3, International
Greyhound Racing Association formed in Miami, FL.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1926 Mar 4, De Geer government in
Netherlands took office.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1926 Mar 6, Alan Greenspan,
economist, presidential advisor, was born.
(SSFC, 3/6/05, p.E1)
1926 Mar 7, The first successful
trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place, between New
York City and London. AT&T began trans-Atlantic telephone service
via two-way radio this year.
(AP, 3/7/98)(WSJ, 10/26/00, p.A12)
1926 Mar 11, Ralph David
Abernathy, civil rights leader, was born.
(HN, 3/11/98)
1926 Mar 12, E.W. Scripps
(b.1854), founder of Scripps-Howard newspaper chain and the UP wire
service, died on his yacht off the coast of Liberia.
(www.ketupa.net/scripps.htm)
1926 Mar 16, Rocket science
pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tested the first liquid-fueled
rocket, in Auburn, Mass. It went 184' (56 meters).
(HN, 3/16/98)(AP, 3/15/07)
1926 Mar 24, Dario Fo, Italian
actor and playwright, was born in Leggiuno Sangiano on the banks of
Lake Maggiore. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997.
(SFC, 10/10/97, p.A15)(HN, 3/24/01)
1926 Mar 26, ACD de Graeff was
appointed Governor-General of Dutch East-Indies.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1926 Mar 26, The 1st lip-reading
tournament was held in America.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1926 Mar 26, U.S. oil companies
bought 190,000 tons of kerosene from Russia for $3.2 million.
(HN, 3/25/98)
1926 Mar 30, Feliks E. Dzerzjinski
(48), Lithuanian organizer (KGB), died. Felix Dzerzhinsky was the
founder of the communist secret police, the Cheka.
(MC, 3/30/02)(WSJ, 10/15/02, p.D6)
1926 Mar 31, Sydney Chaplin, son
of Charlie, actor (Adding Machine, Psycho Sisters), was born.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1926 Mar 31, John Fowles (d.2005),
English novelist, was born. His work included “The Collector” (1963)
and “The French Lieutenant's Woman” (1969).
(HN, 3/31/01)(SFC, 11/8/05, p.B5)
1926 Mar, A nationwide poll on
prohibition showed that people favored a modification of the Volstead
Act by a margin of 9 to 1.
(SFC, 3/16/01, WBb p.4)
1926 Apr 2, Riots took place
between Moslems and Hindus in Calcutta.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1926 Apr 3, Virgil Grissom
(d.1967), Lt. Col. USAF, astronaut (Mercury 4, Gemini 3), was born in
Mitchell, Ind. He was the Mercury and Gemini astronaut who was killed
in a fire while preparing for the first Apollo flight.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/grissom.html
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, 1st performance of
Jean Sibelius' 7th Symphony in C.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, Robert Goddard
launched his 2nd flight of a liquid-fueled rocket.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, Italy established
corps of force in order to break powerful unions.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 5, Roger Corman,
producer, director (Little Shop of Horrors), was born in Detroit.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1926 Apr 5, The 1st issue of
Amazing Stories, published by Hugo Gernsback, went on sale. He called
the science fiction stories “scientifiction.”
(ON, 11/05, p.11)
1926 Apr 7, In San Luis Obispo,
Ca., lightning sparked a 5-day oil fire killing 2 people. Over 6
million barrels of oil were burned. Final damages were estimated at $15
million.
(SFC, 4/7/09, p.D8)
1926 Apr 7, Mussolini's Irish wife
broke his Italian nose.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1926 Apr 9, Hugh Hefner, publisher
of Playboy Magazine, was born in Chicago.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A21)(HN, 4/9/98)(MC, 4/9/02)
1926 Apr 11, Gervase de Peyer,
clarinetist, was born.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1926 Apr 16, The new Book of the
Month Club sent out its 1st selection: "Lolly Willows or The
Loving Huntsman" by Sylvia Townsend Warner. It went to nearly 5,000
members who had joined the Club, which had just been established in New
York City.
(http://tinyurl.com/gmvh6)
1926 Apr 21, Elizabeth Alexandra
Mary Windsor II, queen of England, was born.
(HN, 4/21/98)
1926 Apr 22, James Stirling,
Scottish D-day-parachutist, architect, knight, was born.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1926 Apr 23, J.P. Donlevey,
American-born Irish writer (The Ginger Man), was born.
(HN, 4/23/01)
1926 Apr 25, Puccini's opera
Turandot premiered at La Scala in Milan with Arturo Toscanini
conducting.
(HN, 4/25/01)
1926 Apr 25, In Iran (Persia),
Reza Kahn was crowned Shah and chose the name "Pehlevi".
(HN, 4/25/98)
1926 Apr 28, Harper Lee, American
novelist, was born. Her 1960 book, "To Kill a Mockingbird" won a
Pulitzer.
(HN, 4/28/99)(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.M3)
1926 May 1, Satchel Paige made his
pitching debut in Negro Southern League.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1926 May 2, US military
"intervened" in Nicaragua. [see May 3]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1926 May 3, A Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Sinclair Lewis (Arrowsmith).
(MC, 5/3/02)
1926 May 3, U.S. marines landed
in Nicaragua and remained until 1933.
(HN, 5/3/98)
1926 May 3, There was a British
general strike and 3 million workers supported the miners. The strike
lasted 9 days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_United_Kingdom_general_strike)
1926 May 3, Napoleon V Bonaparte
(63), French pretender to the throne, died.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1926 May 5, Sinclair Lewis refused
his Pulitzer Prize for "Arrowsmith."
(MC, 5/5/02)
1926 May 6, Marguerite Piazza,
operatic soprano (Young Broadway), was born in New Orleans, LA.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1926 May 9, Americans Richard Byrd
and Floyd Bennett made the first flight over the North Pole. [see
1888-1957, Byrd] Two teams of aviators competed to be the first to fly
over the North Pole. American Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd and pilot
Floyd Bennett claimed victory when they circled the North Pole. But
even today experts suspect that faulty navigation caused Byrd to miss
the North Pole. Later archivists determined that Byrd was probably 150
miles short of the pole. His tri-motor Fokker monoplane named Josephine
Ford probably came within 2.25 degrees of the pole.
(HFA, ‘96, p.30)(TMC, 1994, p.1926)(SFC, 5/9/96,
p.A-13)(HN, 5/9/98)(HNPD, 5/13/99)
1926 May 9, Joseph Malaby Dent
(b.1849), British bookbinder turned publisher, died. He began
Everyman’s Library in 1906, a collection of low cost classic books.
Random House and Knopf debuted a revived line in 1991.
(WSJ, 1/9/07,
p.D4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Dent)
1926 May 11, Norwegian explorer
Roald Amundsen launched the dirigible Norge on a planned flight, not
merely over the pole, but all the way across the Arctic to Alaska. Byrd
and Bennett in Josephine Ford briefly accompanied Norge in a gesture of
goodwill.
(HNPD, 5/13/99)
1926 May 12, Dmitri
Shostakovitch's 1st Symphony premiered in Leningrad.
(MC, 5/12/02)
1926 May 12, Italian Col. Umberto
Nobile of the Italian army piloted his Norge dirigible over the North
Pole with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
(ON, 10/00, p.5)
1926 May 15, Anthony Shaffer,
English playwright (Sleuth), twin brother of Peter Shaffer, was born.
(HN, 5/15/01)
1926 May 15, Peter Shaffer,
English playwright (Equus, Amadeus), twin brother of Anthony Shaffer,
was born.
(HN, 5/15/01)
1926 May 16, In Ireland Eamon de
Valera founded the Fianna Fail party. It emerged from a split among
those in the Sinn Fein Party, who had rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty
of 1921.
(www.ucd.ie/archives/html/collections/fiannafail.htm)
1926 May 17, Chiang Kai-shek was
made supreme war lord and "generalissimo" in Canton.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1926 May 18, Evangelist Aimee
Semple McPherson vanished while visiting a beach in Venice, Calif.; she
reappeared a month later, claiming to have been kidnapped.
(AP, 5/18/97)
1926 May 19, French air force
bombed Damascus, Syria. The French launched a major military campaign
in Syria to suppress a revolt by the Druze, which began in 1925 under
the leadership of Sultan al-Atrash. A large French force sent against
them was defeated and the revolt spread into the Druze portions of
Lebanon. When the insurgents gained a foothold in Damascus, the French
bombarded the city.
(HNQ, 5/25/99)(MC, 5/19/02)
1926 May 20, Thomas Edison said
Americans prefer silent movies over talkies.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1926 May 21, Robert Creeley, poet,
was born.
(HN, 5/21/01)
1926 May 24, Paavo Nurmi ran world
record 3000 meters in 8:25.4.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1926 May 25, Miles Davis, American
jazz trumpeter, was born in Alton, IL. He is considered the prophet of
the "cool" school. His albums included The Birth of Cool and Miles
Ahead.
(HN, 5/25/99)(SC, 5/25/02)
1926 May 25, Kitty Kallen, rocker,
was born.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1926 May 25, M von der Grün,
writer, was born.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1926 May 25, Symon Petlyura (47),
leader of Ukraine (pogroms), was assassinated.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1926 May 28, The US Customs Court
was created by congress.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1926 May 29, Charles Denner, actor
(And Now My Love), was born in Tarnow, Poland.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1926 May 30, Christine Jorgensen,
pioneer transsexual, was born.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1926 May 31, Portuguese president
Bernardino Machedo resigned after coup.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1927 May, Grace Fryer (1893-1933)
and 4 other former dial painters filed suit in the New Jersey Supreme
Court against U.S. Radium for medical expenses and pain. They were
dubbed the “Radium Girls” and their case was championed by journalist
Walter Lippman. The case was settled out of court in 2008.
(AH, 10/07, p.34)
1926 May, In Japan Mount
Tokachidake erupted and left 144 people dead.
(SFEC, 4/2/00, p.A17)
1926 Jun 1, Ignacy Mocicki was
elected president of Poland.
(DTnet, 6/1/97)
1926 Jun 1, Actress Marilyn Monroe
(d.Aug 5, 1962), (born as Norma Jean Mortenson, later Norma Jean
Baker), was born in Los Angeles. "I don't mind living in a man's world
as long as I can be a woman in it."
(AP, 6/1/97)(AP, 8/5/99)(HN, 6/1/01)
1926 Jun 1, Andy Griffith, actor,
was born within one hour of Marilyn Monroe.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.E4)
1926 Jun 2, Milo O'Shea, actor
(Barbarella, Romeo & Juliet), was born.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1926 Jun 3, Allen Ginsberg
(d.1997), poet, was born in Newark, New Jersey.
(SFC, 4/16/97, p.E3)
1926 Jun 3, Colleen Dewhurst,
actress (Maggie-Blue & Grey), was born in Montreal, Canada.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1926 Jun 5, David Wagoner, poet
and novelist (The Escape Artist), was born.
(HN, 6/5/01)
1926 Jun 7, Dick Williams, choral
director (Andy Williams Show), was born in Wall Lake, Iowa.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1926 Jun 11, Carlisle Floyd,
composer (Slow Dusk), was born in Latta, SC.
(Internet)
1926 Jun 12, Brazil quit the
League of Nations in protest over plans to admit Germany.
(HN, 6/12/98)
1926 Jun 17, Spain threatened to
quit the League of Nations if Germany was allowed to join.
(HN, 6/17/98)
1926 Jun 19, The first black
musician, DeFord Bailey, appeared on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry show.
40 years later, Charley Pride, the most successful black country
performer ever, achieved a similar feat.
(DT, 6/19/97)
1926 Jun 19, The opera “King
Roger,” composed by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937),
premiered in Warsaw.
(Econ, 8/23/08,
p.73)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Roger)
1926 Jun 26, A memorial to the
first U.S. troops in France was unveiled at St. Nazaire.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1926 Jun 27, Frank O'Hara
(d.1966), American poet, was born in Baltimore. In 1998 David Lehman
published "The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of
Poets."
(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.W8)(HN, 6/27/01)
1926 Jun 28, Mel Brooks, comedian,
actor, and director, was born. His films included "The Producers" and
"Blazing Saddles."
(HN, 6/28/99)
1926 Jun 29, Fascists in Rome
added an hour to the work day in an economic efficiency measure.
(HN, 6/29/98)
1926 Jun 30, Paul Berg, Nobel
Prize-winning biochemist, was born.
(HN, 6/30/01)
1926 Jul 2, Medgar Evers, American
civil rights leader in Mississippi, was born. He was murdered in front
of his house by Byron DeLa Beckwith.
(HN, 7/2/99)
1926 Jul 2, Lee Allen Pittsburg,
tenor sax (Walkin' With Mr. Lee), was born in Kansas.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1926 Jul 2, The U.S. Army Air
Corps was created by Congress. The Distinguish Flying Cross was
authorized.
(AP, 7/2/97)(HN, 7/2/98)(SC, 7/2/02)
1926 Jul 4, The NSDAP (Nazi) party
formed in Weimar.
(Maggio, 98)
1926 Jul 8, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross,
author, physician, educator, was born.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1926 Jul 9, Mathilde Krim,
geneticist, founder of the AIDS foundation, was born.
(HN, 7/9/01)
1926 Jul 9, Chiang Kai-shek was
appointed to national-revolutionary supreme commander.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1926 Jul 12, Gertrude Bell
(b.1868), British archeologist and intelligence officer, died in
Baghdad. From 1900 to 1913 she journeyed some 20,000 miles from
Istanbul to the Syrian desert and on to Iraq. In 2006 Georgina Howell
authored ”Daughter of the Desert: The Remarkable Life of Gertrude Bell.”
(Econ, 9/9/06, p.79)(http://tinyurl.com/p59fy)
1926 Jul 14, Frank Figgins found a
spear point embedded into the matrix of rock containing 10,000 year-old
bones of ancient bison in eastern New Mexico. The site had been
initially found by cowboy George McJunkin in 1908. The finding
established the existence of what came to be called the Folsom culture.
(NH, 2/97, p.20)
1926 Jul 16, National Geographic
took the 1st natural-color undersea photos.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1926 Jul 21, Norman Jewison,
director (Moonstruck, ...and Justice For All), was born.
(MC, 7/21/02)
1926 Jul 26, Philippines
government asked the US to plebiscite for independence.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1926 Jul 31, In California Highway
140, the "All-Year Highway, to Yosemite opened.
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.39)
1926 Aug 3, Tony Bennett, singer,
was born in Queens, NY.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1926 Aug 5, Houdini stayed in a
coffin under water for 1 hr.
(MC, 8/5/02)
1926 Aug 6, Gertrude "Trudy"
Ederle (1905-2003), American Olympic gold medalist, became the first
woman to swim the English Channel. Before setting out from Cap
Griz-Nez, France, at 7:09 a.m., Ederle coated her body with layers of
lard and petroleum jelly to insulate her from the cold waters. On that
day, the sea was so rough that steamship crossings had been cancelled,
but Ederle swam on in spite of being buffeted by waves and plagued by
seasickness. She reached Dover at 9:40 p.m., after swimming the Channel
in 14 hours and 39 minutes. This time broke the existing world record
of 21 hours and 45 minutes set by British Navy Captain Matthew Webb in
1875. Ederle died Nov 30, 2003. [see Sep 11,1951]
(AP, 8/6/97)(HNQ, 7/31/98)(HNPD, 8/30/98)(SFC,
12/1/03, p.A23)
1926 Aug 6, Warner Bros. premiered
its "Vitaphone" sound-on-disc movie system in New York with a showing
of "Don Juan" featuring music and sound effects.
(AP, 8/6/08)
1926 Aug 7, Stan Freberg,
satirist, ad executive, cartoon voice (Bertie), was born in LA, Calif.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1926 Aug 7, The United States
declared non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War.
(HN, 8/7/98)
1926 Aug 10, Marie-Claire Alain,
French organist, composer, was born.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1926 Aug 11, Claus Von Bulow,
accused of murdering his wife, was born.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1926 Aug 12, John Derek, actor,
director (10, Annapolis Story), was born in LA, Calif.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1926 Aug 13, Fidel Castro,
revolutionary leader, president, was born in Biran, Cuba.
(USAT, 8/29/97, p.8A)(HN, 8/13/98)(WSJ, 8/5/06, p.A9)
1926 Aug 20, There was an uprising
against Reza Shah Pahlavi in Persia.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1926 Aug 23, The death of silent
film actor Rudolph Valentino caused a worldwide frenzy among his fans.
Valentino, who appeared in only 14 major films during his brief
seven-year movie career, was idolized by countless women as the "Great
Lover" of the 1920s. Born in 1895 in Castellaneta, Italy, Rodolfo di
Valentina D’Antonguolla came to America in 1913 and worked as a
gardener, dishwasher and vaudeville dancer until he moved to Hollywood
and obtained his first important film role in 1921. In films like
1921’s The Sheik, Valentino mesmerized female fans with his sex appeal
and exotic good looks. In New York for the 1926 premiere of Son of the
Sheik, the 31-year-old Valentino became ill on August 15 and died of
peritonitis on August 23. Valentino’s death caused worldwide hysteria,
with several women reportedly committing suicide and riots breaking out
in New York as thousands of fans tried to view the body. In 2003 Emily
Leider authored "Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino."
(AP, 8/23/97)(HN, 8/23/98)(HNPD, 8/29/98)(SFC,
6/16/03, p.D1)
1926 Aug 25, Pavlos
Kountouriotis became president of Greece.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWpavlos.htm)
1926 Aug 25, Thomas Moran
(b.1837), English-born American painter, died. His paintings of
Yellowstone helped persuade Congress to designate it a national park.
Moran painted "The Valley of the Cuernavaca." The painting was stolen
around 1975 from the National Museum of American Art in Washington DC.
It was recovered in 1995 at an auction house not far from the museum.
Moran was best known for works on the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone
National Park. Steven Good in Denver compiled a catalogue raisonne on
Moran and verified the above work.
(WSJ, 5/11/95, p. A-14)(SFC,10/15/97, p.D3)
1926 Sep 8, The League of Nations
Assembly voted unanimously to admit Germany.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1926 Sep 9, The National
Broadcasting Co. (NBC) was incorporated by the Radio Corporation of
America, which had originated as Marconi Wireless.
(AP, 9/9/08)(SFC, 8/2/99, p.B3)
1926 Aug 6, American Olympic gold
medalist Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle became the 1st woman to swim the
English Channel. Before setting out from Cap Griz-Nez, France, at 7:09
a.m., Ederle coated her body with layers of lard and petroleum jelly to
insulate her from the cold waters. On that day, the sea was so rough
that steamship crossings had been cancelled, but Ederle swam on in
spite of being buffeted by waves and plagued by seasickness. She
reached Dover at 9:40 p.m., August 6, after swimming the Channel in 14
hours and 39 minutes. This time broke the existing world record of 21
hours and 45 minutes set by British Navy Captain Matthew Webb in 1875.
[see Sep 11,1951]
(AP, 8/6/97)(HNQ, 7/31/98)(HNPD, 8/30/98)
1926 Sep 15, Bobby Short, singer
and pianist, was born.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1926 Sep 16, John Knowles, writer,
was born. His work included "A Separate Peace."
(HN, 9/16/00)
1926 Sep 18, A hurricane hit South
Florida killing about 400 people and leaving some 50,000 homeless.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.116)
1926 Sep 21, San Francisco held a
benefit to raise money for victims of a Sep 17 Florida hurricane that
killed 374-600 people.
(SFC, 9/21/01, WB p.5)
1926 Sep 23, John Coltrane,
influential jazz saxophonist, was born..
(HN, 9/23/00)
1926 Sep 23, Gene Tunney
(1897-1978), an ex-marine, defeated Jack Dempsey for the World
Heavyweight Boxing championship in Philadelphia. Tunney defeated
Dempsey again in a 1927 rematch and retired undefeated in 1928. In 2006
Jack Cavanaugh authored “Tunney: Boxing’s Brainiest Champ and His Upset
of the Great Jack Dempsey.”
(Smith., 5/95, p.12)(SFC, 10/19/99, p.A22)(WSJ,
11/17/06, p.W6)
1926 Sep 25, Henry Ford announced
8 hour, 5 day work week.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(MC, 9/25/01)
1926 Sep 25, The Convention to
Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery, an international treaty created
under the auspices of the League of Nations, was first signed in Geneva
to be effective March 9, 1927.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_Slavery_Convention)
1926 Oct 1, In California 5
gasoline distribution companies announced they would lower the price of
gasoline to 18 cents a gallon to compete with the Richfield Oil Co.,
which cut its price to 19 cents.
(SFC, 9/28/01, WB p.6)
1926 Oct 3, The NY Yankees
defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1st game of this years’
baseball World Series.
(SFC, 9/28/01, WB p.6)
1926 Oct 5, Gottfried Michael
Koenig, composer, was born.
(MC, 10/5/01)
1926 Oct 8, Cesar Milstein,
molecular biologist, was born.
(HN, 10/8/00)
1926 Oct 9, NBC (National
Broadcasting Corporation) formed. [see Sep 9]
(MC, 10/9/01)
1926 Oct 11, Walter Swanson,
Michael Petrovich and John Duane were murdered. Clarence "Buck" Kelly
was hanged at San Quentin Prison for the murders on May 12, 1928.
(SFC, 5/9/03, p.E5)
1926 Oct 13, Ray Brown (d.2002),
jazz bass player, was born in Pittsburgh.
(HN, 10/13/00)(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A21)
1926 Oct 14, Son Thomas, blues
guitarist and singer, was born.
(HN, 10/14/00)
1926 Oct 14, The book
"Winnie-the-Pooh" by Alan Alexander Milne (d.1956) was released.
Milne wrote this and other stories, centering the tales around his
little son, Christopher Robin, and Christopher's stuffed animals, like
the honey-loving Pooh Bear, Eeyore (the donkey), Piglet and Tigger. The
geography was based on real places in 14,000 acres of Ashdown Forest,
in the northwest corner of East Sussex, England.
(Hem., 8/96, p.107)(MC, 10/14/01)
1926 Oct 15, Evan Hunter, [Ed
McBain], American writer (Blackboard Jungle), was born.
(MC, 10/15/01)
1926 Oct 15, Karl Richter,
composer and conductor, was born.
(MC, 10/15/01)
1926 Oct 16, Mohammed Nadir Khan
began a coup in Afghanistan and 1200 were killed.
(MC, 10/16/01)
1926 Oct 16, A troop ship sank in
the Yangtze River killing 1,200.
(MC, 10/16/01)
1926 Oct 18, Chuck Berry, rock ‘n’
roll star, famous for Johnny B. Goode, was born.
(HN, 10/18/98)
1926 Oct 18, Klaus Kinski,
[Nikolas Naksynski], actor (Little Drummer Girl, Nosferatu), was born
in Poland.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1926 Oct 18, George C. Scott,
actor (Patton, Bible, Taps, Hardcore), was born in Wise, Va.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1926 Oct 18, Ntozake Shange
(Paulette Williams), poet, playwright and novelist, was born.
(HN, 10/18/01)
1926 Oct 18, Frankfurter Zeitung
published Lenin's (d.1924) political testament.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1926 Oct 19, John C. Garand
patented a semi-automatic rifle.
(MC, 10/19/01)
1926 Oct 19, Russian Politburo
threw out Leon Trotsky and his followers.
(MC, 10/19/01)
1926 Oct 20, A hurricane in Cuba
killed 600.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1926 Oct 24, Charlie Russell
(b.1864), Western artist, died in Great Falls, Montana. He produced
some 4,000 works of art including a 12-by-25 foot “Lewis and Clark
Meeting Indians at Ross’ Hole,” which was hung in Montana’s Capitol.
(Arch, 7/02, p.6)(www.globalgallery.com)(WSJ,
3/16/06, p.A1)
1926 Oct 25, Galina Vishnevskaya,
soprano (Madame Butterfly), was born in Leningrad.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1926 Oct 29, Jonathan Stewart
Vickers, tenor, was born in Prince Albert, Canada.
(MC, 10/29/01)
1926 Oct 31, Magician Harry
Houdini died in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a
ruptured appendix.
(AP, 10/31/97)
1926 Nov 2, Air Commerce Act was
passed providing federal aid for airlines and airports.
(HN, 11/2/98)
1926 Nov
3, Annie Oakley (b.1860), US sharp shooting star, died at Greenville,
Ohio. Chief Sitting Bull nicknamed her “Little Miss Sure Shot” when she
was a member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
(www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/oakl-ann.htm)
1926 Nov 5, Webster Edgerly
(b.1852), head of the New Jersey-based Ralston Health movement and
co-founder of Ralston Purina, died.
(Arch, 5/04, p.35)
1926 Nov 7, Joan Sutherland,
operatic singer, was born in Sydney, Australia. She retired in 1990 and
in 1998 published her autobiography.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A20)(HN, 11/7/98)(MC, 11/7/01)
1926 Nov 8, George Gershwin's
musical "Oh, Kay," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1956 Nov 10, Gene de Paul's and
John Meyer's musical "Li'l Abner," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/10/01)
1956 Nov 10, Billie Holiday
returned to the New York City stage at Carnegie Hall after a three-year
absence.
(MC, 11/10/01)
1926 Nov 11, Pres. Calvin Coolidge
dedicated the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Mo., in honor of those
who died in WW I.
(SSFC, 11/12/06, p.G6)(http://tinyurl.com/wz55k)
1926 Nov 15, The National
Broadcasting Co. debuted with a radio network of 24 stations.
(AP, 11/15/97)
1926 Nov 17, George Sterling
(d.1926), California poet and critic, committed suicide by swallowed
cyanide in the locker room of the Bohemian Club on Taylor Street in SF.
His wife had committed suicide by poison in 1918.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sterling)(SFC,
11/16/01, WB p.G4)
1926 Nov 19, Trotsky and Zinoviev
were expelled from Politburo in the USSR.
(HN, 11/19/98)
1926 Nov 21, In Lithuania
nationalistic students organized an illegal march to protest the
liberal government’s soft policy on communists and other perceived
provocateurs.
(DrEE, 10/12/96, p.3)
1926 Nov 23, Noel Coward's "This
Was a Man," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/23/01)
1926 Nov 25, Poul [William]
Anderson, American sci-fi author (7 Hugos, Mirkheim), was born.
(MC, 11/25/01)
1926 Nov 27, Restoration of
Williamsburg, Virginia, began.
(MC, 11/27/01)
1926 Nov 29, W. Somerset Maugham's
"Constant Wife" premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/29/01)
1926 Dec 3, British reports
claimed that German soldiers were being trained in the USSR.
(HN, 12/3/98)
1926 Dec 5, Sergei Eisenstein's
"Battleship Potemkin," debuted.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1926 Dec 5, Claude [Oscar] Monet
(b.1840), French painter (impressionist), died at Giverny, where he’d
painted since 1883. Monet was one of the original proponents of
Impressionism and--despite failing eyesight--painted fervently until
his death. He was born in Paris, but grew up observing nature on the
Normandy coast near Le Havre. While studying under Charles Gleyre,
Monet met fellow students Fridiric Bazille, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and
Alfred Sisley. They broke with their teacher and his conventions of
painting that included, among other traditions, the painting of outdoor
landscapes in a studio. Although he began to experiment with "series"
in the late 1870s, his trademark method only appeared in earnest in the
1890s. This involved a series of paintings of the same subject under
different lighting and weather conditions. Monet remained committed to
Impressionism long after many of his contemporaries had abandoned the
style. In 2006 over 1000 letters to Monet were auctioned.
(SSFC, 5/20/01, p.T8)(HNQ, 5/25/01)(SFC, 12/9/06,
p.E2)
1926 Dec 7, Victor Kermit Kiam II
CEO (Remington shavers), NFL owner (Patriots), was born.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1926 Dec 7, A gas refrigerator was
patented.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1926 Dec 10, Part 2 of Hitler's
Mein Kampf was published.
(MC, 12/10/01)
1926 Dec 11, Willie "Big Mama"
Thornton, blues singer, was born.
(HN, 12/11/98)
1926 Dec 14, Theo van Rysselberghe
(64), Belgian painter (pointillism), died.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1926 Dec17, The military
right-wing opposition executed a coup d’etat in Lithuania and a
dictatorship was established under Antanas Smetona, who remained
president until the country was annexed by the USSR in 1940.
(Compuserve, Online Encyclopedia)(DrEE, 10/5/96, p.5)
1926 Dec 19, Former Lithuanian
Pres. Aleksandras Stulginskis served for a few hours as acting
president, the 5th president of Lithuania, following a coup that
returned Antanas Smetona (1874-1944) to office.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandras_Stulginskis)
1926 Dec 23, Robert Bly, American
poet, editor, translator (Loving a Woman in 2 Worlds), was born.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1926 Dec 25, Hirohito became
emperor of Japan, succeeding his father, Emperor Yoshihito (Hirohito
was formally enthroned almost two years later). This marked the
beginning of the Showa Period (1926-1989).
(AP, 12/25/97)(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 216)
1926 Dec 29, Germany and Italy
signed an arbitration treaty.
(HN, 12/29/98)
1926 Dec 29, Rainer M. Rilke (51),
Austrian songwriter and writer (Wise Queen), died.
(MC, 12/29/01)
1926 Fidel Castro, leader of Cuba,
was born.
(SFEC, 10/13/96, p.A18)
1926 Karel Reisz (d.2002), film
director, was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia. He fled Nazi occupation
in 1938. His film career began in Britain and moved on to Hollywood
where his work included "The French Lieutenant’s Woman."
(SFC, 11/28/02, p.A30)
1926 California poet Lew Welch was
born.
(SFC, 12/9/03, p.D1)
1926 Guy Pene du Bois painted
"Opera Box."
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1926 Otto Dix painted the portrait
"The Journalist Sylvia von Hardin."
(WSJ, 2/3/00, p.A24)
1926 Alberto Giacometti began his
sculpture "Spoon Woman" -finished in 1927.
(SFEM, 11/24/96, p.62)
1926 Arshile Gorky began painting
"The Artist and His Mother." The painting took ten years and was based
on a photograph taken in Armenia in 1912, not long before his mother
died of starvation.
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1926 Charles Demuth (1883-1935),
American painter and illustrator, made a watercolor still life.
(WUD, 1994, p.385)(SFEM, 6/29/97, p.4)
1926 Sargent Johnson (1888-1967),
African-American artist in SF, made his copper piece "Mask of a Girl."
(SFEC, 4/12/98, DB p.43)
1926 Rene Magritte painted "The
Desert Catapult." The work exhibited the influence of de Chirico with
the shadow of an unseen figure in the picture.
(SFC, 5/4/00, p.B5)
1926 Matisse painted "Odalisque."
He produced more than 50 harem nudes between 1919 and 1929, a period
where he spent winters by the seaside in Nice. (WSJ, 12/11/97, p.A21)
1926 Georgia O’Keeffe painted
"Abstraction."
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1926 The first "Dictionary of
American Biography" was published under the auspices of American
Council of Learned Societies. Only the dead were eligible for inclusion
and revisions were published periodically. A new effort was proposed in
1986 and appeared in 1999 as the new "American National Biography."
(WSJ, 5/5/99, p.A20)
1926 Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
wrote "The Internal Constitution of the Stars."
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.69)
1926 Sir Gerald Ellison authored
"The Perils of Amateur Strategy." It was about the disastrous allied
campaign at Gallipoli during World War I.
(AP, 11/18/06)
1926 H.W. Fowler wrote his
"Dictionary of Modern English Usage."
(WSJ, 12/2/96, p.A16)
1926 Sigmund Freud authored
"Inhibitions, Symptoms, Anxiety."
(WSJ, 5/5/06, p.A16)
1926 Sidney Kelly (d.2001 at 92),
published his 1st Blue Book of Motor Car Values. It was based on a list
begun by his brother Leslie Kelly.
(SFC, 12/8/01, p.A23)
1926 Paul de Kruif authored
"Microbe Hunters."
(ON, 12/00, p.11)
1926 Nozaki Nobuchika, Japanese
scholar, authored “Explanatory Notes on Auspicious Designs,” a work on
the symbolism of Chinese art.
(WSJ, 11/22/06, p.D8)
1926 Arthur Schnitzler of Austria
authored his novel "Traumovelle." English versions were called "Dream
Story" or "Rhapsody." It was the basis for the 1999 Kubrick film "Eyes
Wide Shut."
(SFC, 7/24/99, p.B1)
1926 Konstantin Stanislavsky of
the Moscow Art Theater authored "An Actor Prepares," which codified his
famous "Method" for actors.
(SFC, 12/28/99, p.C4)
1926 Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian
geochemist, published his book: "The Biosphere." He picks up the term
from Swiss geologist Eduard Suess, who coined the term in the 19th
century in a monograph about the Alps.
(NOHY, Weiner, 3/90, p.3,243)
1926 Hemingway published "The Sun
Also Rises."
(TMC, 1994, p.1926)
1926 Virginia Woolf, writer, and
Roger Fry, art critic, assembled the book "Victorian Photographs of
Famous Men and Fair Women," which featured the work of photographer
Julia Margaret Cameron.
(SFEM, 9/19/99, p.84)
1926 The play "Chicago" was
written. It was made into a film in 1942 and a musical in 1975.
(WSJ, 11/15/96, p.A14)
1926 Actress Mae West starred in
the Broadway play “Sex.” The comedy-drama "Sex" caused a scandal and
police closed it down in 1927 after 375 performances.
(WSJ, 11/18/06, p.P10)(SSFC, 4/15/01, DB p.35)(SFC,
6/24/02, p.D2)
1926 Eva Le Gallienne (1899-1996)
founded the Le Gallienne Civic Repertory Theatre in Greenwich Village
and staged "The Master Builder" in the first season.
(SFC, 10/16/96, E5)
1926 Eugene O’Neill wrote his play
"The Great God Brown." It was about a failed artist soured by life and
trapped in marriage.
(WSJ, 9/3/98, p.A16)
1926 George Antheil composed
"Ballet Mecanique." It was originally meant to accompany an abstract
film by Man Rey, Fernand Leger, and Dudley Murphy, but the score was
twice as long as the film.
(SFEC, 6/4/00, p.37)
1926 Martha Graham (d.1991) gave
her 1st solo concert as a dancer and choreographer. She continue to
perform until 1970.
(WSJ, 6/4/02, p.D7)
1926 Bela Bartok composed a Piano
Sonata.
(SFEC, 10/13/96, BR p.4)
1926 Berg’s "Wozzeck" was
premiered at the Berlin State Opera.
(SFC, 10/19/96, A22)
1926 Alban Berg composed his
six-part "Lyric Suite." It was later deciphered as a love letter to his
mistress written in musical code.
(WSJ, 6/16/98, p.A17)
1926 Irving Berlin wrote his tune
“Blue Skies.”
(MT, Fall/99, p.24)
1926 Leos Janacek (1854- 1928)
composed his opera "The Makropulos Case."
(WSJ, 1/3/96, p.A-7)(WSJ, 2/26/00, p.A20)
1926 Roy Turk wrote the hit song
"Are You Lonesome Tonight."
(WSJ, 2/2/00, p.W8)
1926 The SF Fairmont Hotel opened
a 6,000-square-foot penthouse suite as a private residence, taking up
the entire 8th floor. In 2007 it rented for $12,500 a night.
(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.F1)
1926 Walter Gropius built the
Bauhaus is Dessau, Germany. It became a monument to the Int'l. style.
(SFC, 7/14/99, p.7)
1926 The Benbow Inn opened in
Benbow, Ca. It was built by architect Albert Farr, famous for his Wolf
House, the Jack London home in Glen Ellen.
(SFEC, 4/13/97, p.T6)
1926 The Yiddish Folk Theater was
built by L.N. Jaffe in New York’s Lower East Side.
(NH, 11/96, p.22)
1926 The paddle-wheeled Delta
Queen was built in California using a steel hull constructed in
Britain. She first ran between Sacramento and SF. During WW II she was
turned into a floating barracks for soldiers and as a ferry in the SF
Bay. After that she was towed through the Panama Canal and up to her
new home port in Cincinnati, Ohio, from where she made excursions on
the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
(Econ, 7/19/08, p.43)
1926 The Los Angeles Central
Library was constructed.
(Hem., Nov. ‘95, p.77)
1926 The Antioch Bridge, a 21-foot
wide span with a lift section for ships traveling up the San Joaquin
River to Stockton, was constructed. It was the Bay Area’s first toll
bridge.
(SFC, 2/2/98, p.A16)
1926 In Woodside, Ca., Architect
George Washington Smith built a 17,000 square-foot Spanish Colonial
Revival home for copper baron Daniel C. Jackling. In 1984 Steve Jobs,
co-founder of Apple Computer, bought the property. In 2004 Jobs was
granted the right to tear the structure down if nobody agrees to move
it within a year. In 2007 the state Supreme Court refused to let Jobs
demolish the 30-room mansion.
(SFC, 12/15/04, p.B3)(SFC, 4/27/07, p.B3)
1926 On the SF, Ca., peninsula
Skyline Blvd. reached down to La Honda Road.
(Ind, 6/21/03, p.5A)
1926 San Mateo High School was
constructed at Poplar and Delaware. In 2001 it was deemed seismically
unfit and closed in May. Preservationists lost their battle to save it
and demolition began Dec 13, 2002.
(SFC, 5/19/01, p.A13)(SFC, 8/31/02, p.A19)(SFC,
12/14/02, p.A17)
1926 Oakland’s Bellevue social
club began in a 3-story Victorian on the shores of Lake Merritt as the
Women’s Athletic Club. In the 1950s working women and Jewish women were
allowed to join and membership opened to men in 1985. In 2006 it faced
a declining membership and associated financial problems.
(SFC, 9/29/06, p.B9)
1926 The Richmond Municipal
Natatorium, a swimming pool, was built in Richmond, Ca., and became
known as the Plunge. It closed in Aug, 2000, due to earthquake damage.
The facility planned to reopen in 2009 following a $7 million
renovation.
(SFC, 6/17/03, p.D1)(SFC, 3/14/09, p.B1)
1926 The architectural firm of
Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons was founded by William Wurster. Theodore
Bernardi joined in 1934, and Donn Emmons joined in 1938.
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.A20)
1926 The Key System launched the
276-foot Peralta ferry boat. It was the sister ship to the Yerba Buena
and ran between Oakland and SF.
(SFC, 12/26/98, p.A24)
1926 Edgar Wakefield McLellan
purchased 61 acres in South San Francisco along El Camino for his
floral business.
(Ind, 7/6/02, 5A)
1926 Mattie Chandler was elected
mayor of Richmond, Ca.
(SFC, 7/6/01, WBb p.8)
1926 James L. Flood, son of
"Bonanza King" James C. Flood, died and left an estate of $18 million.
Constance Stearn (Constance May Flood), an alleged illegitimate
daughter, petitioned the court for a daughter’s share in the estate.
Her trial started Jul 20, 1931.
(SMMB)
1926 In SF the 12-floor apartment
building at 2500 Steiner St., designed by Conrad Alfred Meussdorffer,
was erected at a cost of some $500,000.
(SFCM, 6/3/07, p.17)
1926 The SF Fairmont Hotel opened
a 6,000-square-foot penthouse suite as a private residence, taking up
the entire 8th floor. In 2007 it rented for $12,500 a night.
(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.F1)
1926 In SF the 6-story Adam Grant
Building underwent extensive remodeling and expansion next door to 130
Bush. It was home to a dry goods manufacturer and wholesaler (Never Rip
Overalls).
(SFEC, 1/5/97, BR p.4)
1926 In SF the 6-story Ben Hur
apartment building was built at the corner of Hyde and Ellis.
(SFC, 3/16/09, p.E10)
1926 In SF the Hunter-Dublin
building was completed at the Montgomery, Pine and Bush intersection.
Fiction detective Sam Spade had his office on the 6th floor.
(SSFM, 10/12/02, p.13)
1926 In SF the Alhambra Theatre on
Polk St. near Union opened.
(SFC, 2/12/98, p.E1)
1926 In SF the Balboa movie
theater was built in the Richmond District by Sam Levin.
(SFCM, 10/5/03, p.6)
1926 In SF the Harding Theater was
built on Alamo Square at Divisedero and Hayes. Developers in 2005
planned to raze it for condos and retail space. In 2008 a developer
planned to restore much of the interior for commercial or entertainment
purposes along with an adjacent 8-unit condo.
(SFC, 1/14/05, p.F1)(SFC, 8/29/08, p.B1)
1926 In SF the Roosevelt Theater
opened on 16th St. as a vaudeville house. The "Roosie" soon became a
movie theater and was later renamed the York.
(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A26)
1926 In San Francisco Mayor Rolph
dedicated the new $2 million Relief Home on the site of the old
facility. The main building at Laguna Honda was constructed. It was
designed by architect John Reid Jr., brother-in-law of SF Mayor James
Rolph. The new hospital was named the Laguna Honda Home in place of the
former Almshouse.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A17)(PI, 5/30/98, p.5A)(SFC,
8/26/08, p.B5)
1926 In SF the Royal Theater on
Polk St. changed from a nickelodeon to a movie house.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.B5)
1926 In SF Henry Doelger built 25
homes on 39th Ave., his first year in business.
(GTP, 1973, p.108)
1926 In SF George Whitney became
general manager of Looff’s operations at the beach and the park became
Whitney’s Playland-at-the-Beach. By 1942 he owned everything from Sutro
Baths to Fulton St.
(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.F6)
1926 The President Hotel opened in
downtown Kansas City, Mo. It was the first hotel in the city that could
make its own ice. It re-opened in 2006 after being closed for 25 years.
(SSFC, 11/12/06, p.G6)
1926 Queen Marie of Romania spoke
at the dedication ceremony of the unfinished Maryhill Museum in
Washington state. Sam Hill, railroad magnate, built a replica of
Stonehenge as a monument to Klickitat County soldiers who lost their
lives in the World War on the premises. His nearby mansion later became
the Maryhill Museum of Art.
(AM, 9/01, p.10)
1926 The town of Hana on Maui
Island, Hawaii, was linked by road to the rest of Maui.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, p.T8)
1926 Ira Gershwin married Leonore
Strunsky.
(SFC, 12/4/96, p.E3)
1926 Monroe Boston Strause, the
Pie King, made the first chiffon pie.
(SFC,1/22/97, zz-1 p.2)
1926 The American Eugenics Society
was founded and supported the position that US upper classes were
justified in their positions of wealth and power because of their
genetic superiority.
(V.D.-H.K.p.399)
1926 The US Rockefeller Foundation
awarded $250,000 toward the creation of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
for Psychiatry in Germany.
(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.D6)
1926 The Book of the Month Club
was founded.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, Par p.13)
1926 Carter G. Woodson launched
Negro History Week.
(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p. 37)
1926 Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951)
refused to accept the Pulitzer Prize for fiction he was awarded for the
novel "Arrowsmith," saying that awards made writers "safe, polite,
obedient and sterile."
(HNQ, 5/18/98)
1926 Johnny Miles (d.2003 at 97)
of Canada won the Boston Marathon.
(BS, 6/26/03, 7A)
1926 Samuel Ryder of Lancashire
(d.1935), England, came up with the idea of biannual golf matches
between the English and Americans. He made a lot of money selling
penny-a-pack seeds. The Ryder Cup of golf is named after him.
(SFC, 9/26/98, p.E4)
1926 Abe Saperstein created the
Harlem Globetrotters, an all-black player basketball entertainment
team.
(SFC, 1/2/98, p.E3)
1926 Aristide Briand (d.1932),
11-time premier of France, won a Nobel Prize.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1926 Johannes Fibiger won a Nobel
Prize for supposedly finding the cause of cancer.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.A17)
1926 Calvin Coolidge gave a speech
that included the oft quoted phrase: "The business of America is
business." The speech actually starts out: "After all, the chief
business of the American people is business... [and goes on to end
with] Of course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the
chief end of existence... So long as wealth is made the means and not
the end, we need not greatly fear it."
(WSJ, 4/3/96, p.A23)
1926 The US sent marines to
Nicaragua to control a rebellion and stayed for seven years.
(TMC, 1994, p.1926)
1926 The US Railway Labor Act was
passed to protect vital transportation services against labor actions.
(SFEC, 2/16/97, p.A1)
1926 A federal law was passed that
prohibited the commercial sale of bass gamefish.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1926 The Florida land bubble burst
following a severe hurricane. One Miami Beach business lot had
reportedly surged in value from $800 to $150,000.
(WSJ, 2/1/00, p.B1)
1926 In Chicago the Hawthorne Arms
Hotel, headquarters for Al Capone, was machine-gunned by rival mobsters.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A13)
1926 A collection of US roads from
Chicago to Los Angeles were improved and formed what would be
designated as US 66. It was later replaced by 3 interstates, I-55 in
Illinois, I-44 in Missouri and Oklahoma, and I-40 to LA. Route 66 was
decertified in 1985. In 2006 Arthur Krim authored “Route 66:
Iconography of the American Highway.”
(WSJ, 6/17/06, p.P8)
1926 The town of Monsanto was
founded in southeast Illinois by Monsanto Corp. as a tax and
regulation-free dumping location. The name was changed to Sauget in the
1970s, after Leo Sauget, the first town president. The area was later
identified as one of the most polluted communities in the region. In
1992 the rock band Uncle Tupelo produced the song “Sauget Wind,” which
included the verse They’re poisoning the air / For personal wealth…”
(WSJ, 10/3/06, p.A1)
1926 The Aunt Jemima Mills Co. was
purchased by the Quaker Oats Company of Chicago.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt_Jemima)
1926 U.S. Radium stopped
processing radium at its Orange, NJ, facility. In 1983 the EPA put the
2-acre plant site on its Superfund national Priorities List. In2006 the
EPA declared the site clean and that concerns over contaminated
groundwater had been effectively addressed.
(AH, 10/07, p.37)
1926 Coxon Pottery of Wooster,
Ohio, began operations about this time and continued to 1930.
(SFC, 10/4/06, p.G2)
1926 Walter P. Chrysler renamed
Maxwell Chalmers to the Chrysler Corp.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1926 Frederic J. Fisher
(1878-1941) and his brother Charles (1880-1963), founders of the Fisher
Body Co., sold their operations to GM.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1926 Charles Stewart Mott
(1875-1973) established a family foundation that focused on social
enterprises around Flint, Mich. He had earlier sold the family’s wheel
and axle business to General Motors and become its largest shareholder.
(SFC, 6/16/08,
p.B3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stewart_Mott)
1926 GM opened a plant in Osaka,
Japan.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1926 Firestone Tire and Rubber Co.
created the world's largest plantation at Harbel, Liberia, and rubber
became the backbone of the economy. Firestone had signed a 99-year
concession agreement with the Liberian government in the 1920s to grow
and export rubber.
(AP, 7/1/03)(NG, Feb, 04)(AP, 10/30/09)
1926 The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A
S. Roadster by Fleetwood was commissioned by Rudolph Valentino.
(SFC, 7/21/96, p.D4)
1926 McKesson & Robbins was
purchased by Girard & Co., a NY drug company run by Frank Donald
Coster, for $1 million.
(WSJ, 6/30/99, p.B1)
1926 Montgomery Ward opened its
1st store in Plymouth, Indiana.
(WSJ, 12/29/00, p.A3)
1926 The Quaker Oats Co. bought
the R.T. Davis Milling Co. along with the Aunt Jemima recipes and
trademarks.
(SFC,10/22/97, Z1 p.7)
1926 RCA organized the National
Broadcasting Co.
(WSJ, 11/4/99, p.B6)
1926 The Steel Products Co. was
renamed Thompson Products, Inc., in honor of Charles E. Thompson.
(F, 10/7/96, p.68)
1926 Tinsley Laboratories, a
precision optics firm, was founded. In 1997 the company was acquired by
Silicon Valley Group.
(WSJ, 11/28/97, p.A8)
1926 Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories was
founded. [see Wyeth 1860]
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.B2)
1926 AT&T Bell Labs scientists
invented sound motion pictures.
(WSJ, 9/22/95, p.A-7)
1926 Drs. George R. Minot, William
P. Murphy and George H. Whipple cured pernicious anemia with liver
extract. They won the 1934 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for
this work.
(Smith., May. 1995, p.14)
1926 The first spring-driven,
pop-up toaster was introduced by Toastmaster.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, Z1 p.8)(SFC, 4/26/00, Z1 p.5)
1926 Werner Heisenberg, German
scientist, formulated his uncertainty principle. It stated that the
precision of a time measurement is limited by the precision of a
corresponding energy measurement. So the more accurately you try to
measure the position of a particle, the less accurately you can measure
its speed, and vice versa. This soon led Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger
and Paul Dirac to reformulate mechanics into a new theory called
quantum mechanics. The new field of quantum mechanics described matter
on the scale of subatomic particles.
(BHT, Hawking, p.55)(NH, 5/96, p.72)(Econ, 9/2/06,
p.71)
1926 Erwin Schrodinger, Austrian
physicist, generalized the original de Broglie idea and wrote down the
wave-mechanical equation. He proved that the proper vibration
frequencies of the electron waves surrounding the proton in a hydrogen
atom coincide exactly with the energy levels as calculated on the basis
of Bohr’s theory, which, in turn, coincided with the results of
observation.
(SCTS, p.61)
1926 Karl Prindle (d.1998 at 95)
helped develop a moisture-proof version of cellophane while working for
De Pont. He later invented the zip tape strip for opening anything
sealed with cellophane.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.D7)
1926 Erik Rotheim of Norway
invented the aerosol can.
(SFEC, 1/17/99, Z1 p.1)
1926 Catharine Morris Cox,
American psychologist, led a study to estimate the IQs of eminent
people who live between 1450-1850. Her results were published in the
"Genetic Studies of Genius."
(SFEC, 10/31/99, Par p.6)
1926 F. Blom and O. La Farge first
described the great Olmec ceremonial center of La Venta in the state of
Tabasco, Mexico.
(RFH-MDHP, p.241)
1926 Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa
horticulturist, died at age 77.
(SSFM, 4/29/01, p.11)
1926 Mary Cassatt (b.1845),
artist, died in Paris.
(WSJ, 11/5/98, p.A20)
1926 Eugene V. Debs died. Debs ran
for president five separate times on the Socialist ticket from 1900 to
1920 twice earning close to a million votes. Debs an engaging and
effective orator was a lifelong labor organizer and advocate. He became
increasingly critical of traditional American politics in the 1890s. In
1898, two years after campaigning for Democratic-Populist presidential
candidate William Jennings Bryan, Debs established the Socialist Party
of America (although the name was not officially adopted until 1901).
He garnered a little over 86,000 votes in the 1900 election, but surged
to some 400,000 in 1904. In 1912, he earned about 900,000 votes—almost
6% of the popular vote. When he ran for the Socialists again in
1920 (having refused the nomination in 1916), he polled 915,000 votes,
which was only 3.4% of the popular vote by then. He was also in prison,
having been convicted of sedition under the 1917 Espionage Act.
Released by presidential pardon in 1921.
(HNQ, 11/1/00)
1926 Antoni Gaudi, eccentric
architect, died. His work included the Sagrada Familia Church with its
Torre del Nacimento (Tower of Birth) in Barcelona.
(WSJ, 7/21/00, p.W12)
1926 Rudolph Valentino died.
(TMC, 1994, p.1926)
1926 Albania and Italy signed the
First Treaty of Tirana, which guaranteed Zogu's political position and
Albania's boundaries.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1926 In Azerbaijan the region’s
1st Turkology Congress convened in Baku to discuss the alphabet issue.
They chose the Latin alphabet for all Turkic-speaking peoples by a
101-7 vote.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A12)
1926 The Bahamanian government
transferred designation of Columbus’ landfall to Watling Island and
renamed it San Salvador.
(NH, 10/96, p.23)
1926 Sir Montagu Norman, governor
of the Bank of England, got Britain back on the gold standard with help
by a loan organized by Benjamin Strong, head of the US Federal Reserve
of New York.
(Econ, 1/10/09, p.73)
1926 A general strike was crushed
by British authorities under PM Stanley Baldwin.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A26)
1926 In Britain Agatha Christie,
mystery writer, disappeared from her native Devon. Scotland Yard
undertook a massive search and found her registered at the Old Swan
Hotel in Harrogate. She had checked in as Nancy Neel, the name of her
husband’s mistress, and was thought to be suffering from hysterical
amnesia.
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.T5)
1926 Britain’s Imperial Chemical
Industries (ICI) was formed by the merger of four chemical companies
and was a pioneer in the plastics industry.
(Hem., 1/97, p.27)(http://tinyurl.com/3w5euy)
1926 In England Emma Alice Smith
disappeared as she cycled between her home and a nearby railway station
83 years ago. She had worked as a servant in a large house near her
home in the village of Waldron, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south
of London. Her disappearance remained unsolved, and her body missing,
until 2007, when David Wright, the teenager's great-nephew, came
forward to tell police about a confession, a long-held family secret. A
confession by Emma Alice's sister, Lily, (d.1995) said a gentleman, on
his deathbed sometime in 1952 to 1953, had confessed to killing her
sister.
(AP, 2/4/09)
1926 Arthur Meighen changed to the
Conservative Party, and again served Canada as its 9th Prime Minister.
(CFA, ‘96, p.81)
1926 Chiang Kai-shek and his
Nationalists tried to consolidate power in China.
(TMC, 1994, p.1926)
1926 J. Oswald of Freiburg,
Germany, patented a moving eye mechanism for use in clock cases shaped
like dogs, owls and turbaned women.
(SFC, 1/23/08, p.G4)
1926 Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), a
Muslim organization, was founded in Indonesia.
(Econ, 12/11/04, p.41)
1926 The Tnuva Central Cooperative
for the Marketing of Agricultural Produce in Israel was founded as a
dairy cooperative. By 2006 it was Israel’s largest food concern.
(WSJ, 10/4/06, p.A11)
1926 In Italy the primitive sleigh
technique was used to haul Mussolini’s celebrated Monolith, from
Carrara to the seaport for transport to Rome.
(SFEC,10/19/97, p.T5)
1926 In Mexico the evangelical
church "Light of the World" was founded by the father of Samuel Joaquin
Flores.
(SFC, 2/19/98, p.A8,10)
1926 In Peru the Museo
Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herrera was founded in Lima by archeologist
Rafael Larco Hoyle and named after his father.
(SFEM, 4/13/97, p.16)
1926 Ataturk introduced a civil
code in Turkey that ended the Muslim law allowing husbands to divorce
their wives unilaterally.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.10)
1926 A Turkish state code
designated the husband as head of the family. The wife had no legal say
in decisions concerning the home or children. Equal status was attained
in 2001 and made effective Jan 1, 2002.
(SFC, 11/23/01, p.A21)
1926 In Vietnam Ngo Van Chieu, a
government official, founded Cao Dai, a religion that mixed elements of
Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam and other religions. It was
repressed by the communists after 1975. By 2008 restrictions were
eased.
(Econ, 4/26/08, SR p.5)
1926-1930 W.L. Mackenzie King, Liberal Party, again
serves as the 10th Prime Minister of Canada.
(CFA, ‘96, p.81)
1926-1931 Joseph P. Kennedy spent these 5 years in
the film business. In 2009 Cari Beauchamp authored “Joseph Kennedy
Presents: His Hollywood Years.”
(WSJ, 2/6/09, p.A11)
1926-1935 Mark Sullivan wrote "Our Times," a six
volume history of the century’s first quarter. The book was edited down
to one volume by Dan Rather and associates in 1995 and released by
Scribner’s as "Our Times: America at the Birth of the 20th Century."
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1926-1940 Three million divorces were legalized in
the US.
(SFEM, 6/28/98, p.40)
1926-1982 Cynthia Propper Seton, American writer: "In
America, to look a couple of years younger than you actually are is not
only an achievement for which you are to be congratulated, it is
patriotic."
(AP, 6/17/99)
World War timeline 1927:
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/start.html
1927 Jan 7, Commercial
transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and
London.
(AP, 1/7/98)
1927 Jan 9, Fire in Laurier Palace
cinema in Montreal killed 78 children.
(MC, 1/9/02)
1927 Jan 12, U.S. Secretary of
State Kellogg claimed that Mexican rebel Plutarco Calles was aiding the
communist plot in Nicaragua.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1927 Jan 13, A woman took a seat
on the NY Stock Exchange breaking the all-male tradition.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1927 Jan 15, The Dumbarton Bridge
(drawbridge) opened carrying the first auto traffic across the San
Francisco bay.
(HN, 1/15/99)(Ind, 5/23/00,14A)
1927 Jan 17, Eartha Kitt, singer,
actress (Catwoman-Batman), was born.
(MC, 1/17/02)
1927 Jan 19, British government
decided to send troops to China.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1927 Jan 24, British expeditionary
force of 12,000 was sent to China to protect concessions at Shanghai.
(HN, 1/24/99)
1927 Jan 30, Olof Palme, PM of
Sweden (1969-76, 1982-86), was born in Stockholm.
(MC, 1/30/02)
1927 Jan, Abdul Aziz became King
of Hejaz, Nejd and its Dependencies (later Saudi Arabia).
(www.rogersstudy.co.uk/hejaz/al_nahda/al_nahda.html)
1927 Feb 2, Stan Getz, jazz
saxophonist, was born in Philadelphia.
(SFC, 12/28/99, p.C4)
1927 Feb 8, Stanley Baker, actor
(Concrete Jungle, Zorro, Zulu), was born in Ferndale, Wales.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1927 Feb 10, (Mary Violet)
Leontyne Price, opera singer, was born.
(HN, 2/10/01)
1927 Feb 17, A fierce storm hit
the Pacific Coast and the death toll reached 24 with some 3,000 left
homeless.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.G8)
1927 Feb 18, The U.S. and Canada
established diplomatic relations independently of Great Britain.
(HN, 2/18/98)
1927 Feb 20, Sidney Poitier,
American actor, was born. He became the first African American to win
an Oscar for his role in "Lilies in the Field."
(HN, 2/20/99)
1927 Feb 20, Roy Cohn, lawyer,
"grand inquisitor" (for Sen Joseph McCarthy), was born.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1927 Feb 20, Golfers in SC were
arrested for violating Sabbath.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1927 Feb 21, Erma Bombeck, author
and humorist, was born. She became an American syndicated columnist
whose column "At Wit's End" humorously dealt with life as a wife and
mother. Her work included "The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic
Tank."
(HN, 2/21/01)
1927 Feb 21, Hubert de Givenchy,
fashion designer, was born in Beauvais, France.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1927 Feb 21, Franz Lehar's opera
"Zarewitsch," premiered.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1927 Feb 22, Baruch Spinosa's
house of mourning opened as a museum in Amsterdam.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1927 Feb 23, President Coolidge
signed the Radio Act, a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission,
forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Commerce
Secretary Herbert Hoover established the Federal Radio Commission to
prevent interference among radio signals by allocating broadcast
spectrum.
(WSJ, 11/3/97, p.A20)(AP, 2/23/98)(Econ, 8/14/04,
p.61)
1927 Feb 27, For the 2nd Sunday in
a row golfers in SC were arrested for violating Sabbath.
(MC, 2/27/02)
1927 Mar 1, Harry Belafonte,
calypso singer (Buck and the Preacher), was born in Harlem, NYC.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1927 Mar 1, Robert Heron Bork,
judge, nominated for supreme court, was born.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1927 Mar 1, Edward R. Bohner began
serving as prohibition administrator for Northern California under
National Prohibition Commissioner J.M. Doran. Bohner resigned June 18,
1929.
(SFC, 6/18/04, p.F2)
1927 Mar 1, Bank of Italy became a
National Bank. California’s laws prohibiting branch banking changed and
A.P. Giannini consolidated his banking properties into the Bank of
America of California.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B4)(SC, 3/1/02)
1927 Mar 2, Babe Ruth (24) signed
a 3-year contract with the New York Yankees for a guarantee of $70,000
a year, thus becoming baseball’s highest paid player.
(HC, Internet, 2/3/98)(SFC, 10/13/99, p.E7)
1927 Mar 3, Nicolas Freeling,
crime writer, was born.
(HN, 3/3/01)
1927 Mar 5, Some 1,000 US marines
landed in China to "protect American property."
(MC, 3/5/02)
1927 Mar 6, Leroy Gordon Cooper
Jr. (d.2004), USAF astronaut (Mer 9, Gem 5), was born in Shawnee, Okla.
(SFC, 10/5/04, p.B7)
1927 Mar 6, Norman Treigle,
bass-baritone (Mefistofele), was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1927 Mar 7, A Texas law that
banned Negroes from voting was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court.
(HN, 3/7/98)
1927 Mar 7, Earthquake measuring 8
on Richter scale struck Tango, Japan.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1927 Mar 10, Albania mobilized
under the threat of Serbia, Croatia & Slovenes.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1927 Mar 10, Prussia (Bavaria)
lifted its Nazi ban, Hitler was allowed to speak in public.
(HN, 3/10/98)(MC, 3/10/02)
1927 Mar 11, The 1st armored
commercial car hold-up in US took place in Pittsburgh.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1927 Mar 12, Yehudi Menuhin (11)
made his Carnegie Hall debut playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with
the New York Symphony led by Fritz Busch.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A9)
1927 Mar 16, Daniel Patrick
Moynihan (d.2003), later NY Senator (1976-2000) and scholar, was born
in Tulsa, Okla.
(SFC, 3/27/03, p.A1)
1927 Mar 19, Bloody battles
between Communists & Nazis took place in Berlin.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1927 Mar 21, Kuomintang Army
conquered Shanghai as British marines fled.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1927 Mar 22, Federico Garcia
Lorca's "El Maleficio," premiered in Madrid.
(MC, 3/22/02)
1927 Mar 23, Captain Hawthorne
Gray set a new balloon record soaring to 28,510 feet.
(HN, 3/23/98)
1927 Mar 24, Chinese Communists
seized Nanking and broke with Chiang Kai-shek over the Nationalist
goals.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1927 Mar 26, Alfred Hugenberg
purchased German film company UFA.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1927 Mar 26, Gaumont-British Film
Corporation formed.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1927 Mar 27, Mstislav Leopold
Rostropovich, cellist, conductor, was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, USSR.
(MC, 3/27/02)(Internet)
1927 Mar 28, Karl Prohaska (57),
composer, died.
(MC, 3/28/02)
1927 Mar 31, Cesar Chavez
(d.1993), California union leader of agricultural workers (United Farm
Workers), was born in Yuma, Az.
(SFEC,10/19/97, p.C3)(SFC, 3/29/00, p.A3)(MC,
3/31/02)
1927 Mar 31, William Daniels,
actor (Dr Mark Craig-St Elsewhere, 1776), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1927 Mar, J.W. Dunne (1875-1949),
Irish engineer and author, published his essay “An Experiment with
Time” on the subjects of precognition and the human experience of time.
His theory suggested that in reality all time is eternally present,
that is, that past, present and future are all happening together in
some way. Human consciousness, however, experiences this simultaneity
in linear form. It was very widely read, and his ideas were later
promoted by several other authors, in particular by J. B. Priestley.
Other books by J. W. Dunne are The Serial Universe, The New
Immortality, and Nothing Dies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Experiment_with_Time)
1927
Apr 1, The first automatic record changer was introduced by His
Master's Voice.
(OTD)
1927 Apr 5, Johnny Weissmuller set
records in 100 and 200 m. free style.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1927 Apr 6, Gerry Mulligan, jazz
saxophonist, was born.
(HN, 4/6/01)
1927 Apr 7, Secretary of Commerce
Herbert Hoover was on hand for the first inter-city (DC to Manhattan)
transmission by telephone of video imagery. Hoover’s image and voice
were transmitted across telephone lines.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927_in_television)(AH, 4/07, p.14)
1927 Apr 9, In SF the new Princess
Apartments at Turk and Hyde offered a Kelvinator electric refrigerator
in every apartment. They were run from a central unit in the basement.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.G2)
1927 Apr 12, The British Cabinet
came out in favor of women voting rights.
(HN, 4/12/98)
1927 Apr 12, Generalissimo Chiang
Kai-shek began a counter revolution in Shanghai.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1927 Apr 15, Babe Ruth hit his 1st
of 60 HRs of season off A's Howard Ehmke.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1927 Apr 15, Francesco Gaeta (47),
Italian poet (Di Giacomo), died.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1927 Apr 16, Joseph Alois
Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI (2005), was born in Marktl am Inn,
Bavaria, Germany.
(WSJ, 11/25/06, p.A10)
1927 Apr 19, Rudolf Friml's
"Vagabond King" opened in London.
(MC, 4/19/02)
1927 Apr 19, In China, Hankow
communists declared war on Chaing Kai-shek.
(HN, 4/19/97)
1927 Apr 20, Alex Muller, Nobel
Prize-winning physicist, was born.
(HN, 4/20/01)
1927 Apr 21, Robert Brustein,
dean, Yale School of Drama, was born in NYC.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1927 Apr 26, US Navy officers
Cmdr. Noel Davis and Lt. Stanton Wooster were killed when their
aircraft crashed near New York while trying to take off with a huge
load of fuel for a final test flight prior to an attempt to cross the
Atlantic.
(ON, 2/08, p.1)
1927 Apr 27, Coretta Scott King,
civil rights activist, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., was born.
(HN, 4/27/98)
1927 Apr 27, Actress Mae West was
released from jail after 10 days. She and the entire cast and producers
of her Broadway play “Sex” had been thrown in jail. The 1926 Mae West
comedy-drama "Sex" caused a scandal and police closed it down after 375
performances.
(WSJ, 11/18/06, p.P10)(SSFC, 4/15/01, DB p.35)(SFC,
6/24/02, p.D2)
1927 Apr 29, Construction of the
Spirit of St Louis was completed. B.F. Mahoney was the ‘mystery man’
behind the Ryan Aeronautical Company that built Lindbergh’s Spirit of
St. Louis. Engineer Donald Hall designed the $10,580 plane to carry 400
gallons of fuel.
(HN, 4/29/98)(ON, 2/08, p.1)
1927 Apr 30, Princess Juliana got
a seat in Dutch Council of State.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1927 May 1, Adolf Hitler held the
first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1927 May 4, The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded. [see May 11]
(AP, 5/4/97)
1927 May 4, The first balloon
flight over 40,000 feet was made.
(HN, 5/4/98)
1927 May 5, Dmitri Shostakovitch'
1st Symphony, premiered in Berlin.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1927 May 6, The was a major flood
along the Mississippi that killed 247 people and displaced thousands.
The levee system broke in 145 places and caused 27,000 square miles of
flooding in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and
Tennessee. Officials dynamited a levee to spare New Orleans from
flooding. In 1997 the book "Rising Tide" by John M. Barry described the
catastrophe. It was also the subject of the Randy Newman song
"Louisiana 1927."
(WSJ, 2/6/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/28/03, p.C7)(SSFC,
9/4/05, p.A7)(WSJ, 11/2/05, p.A2)
1927 May 8, French pilots Charles
Nungesser and Francois Coli took off from Paris in their airplane named
L’Oiseau Blanc (the White Bird), in an attempt to cross the Atlantic.
Pilots and plane vanished during the flight.
(ON, 2/08, p.2)
1927 May 11, Louis B. Mayer formed
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [see May 4]
(MC, 5/11/02)(PCh, 1992, p.783)
1927 May 11, Henry Martyn Robert
(90), (Robert's Rules of Order), died.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1927 May 13, Clive Barnes, drama
critic (NY Times, NY Post), was born.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1927 May 13, Herbert Ross,
director, choreographer (Footloose), was born.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1927 May 13, "Black Friday" on
Berlin Stock Exchange.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1927 May 16, US Supreme Court
ruled that bootleggers must pay income tax.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1927 May 18, Impresario Sid
Grauman opened his Chinese Theater in Hollywood, CA.
(SFC, 11/5/98, p.E6)(SC, 5/18/02)
1927 May 18, The Ritz Hotel opened
in Boston.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1927 May 18, A schoolhouse in
Bath, Mich., was blown up with explosives planted by local farmer
Andrew Kehoe, who then set off a dynamite-laden automobile; the attacks
killed 38 children and six adults, including Kehoe, who had earlier
killed his wife.
(AP, 5/18/07)
1927 May 18, "Slide Lake" in Gros
Ventre, WY, collapsed.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1927 May 10, US aviator Charles
Augustus Lindbergh (1902-1974) picked up his plane, “The Spirit of St.
Louis,” in San Diego and flew it to St. Louis. The next day he
continued to New York using railroad maps that he picked up in a
drugstore for 50 cents each. The plane was powered by an air-cooled
Whirlwind engine built by Ryan Aeronautical Company. Charles Fayette
Taylor (1895-1996) worked on the engine design team. Taylor later
authored "The Internal Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice."
(WUD, 1994, p.832)(SFC, 6/23/96, Z1 p.2)(SFC,
6/30/96, p.B6)(ON, 2/08, p.2)
1927 May 20, Charles Lindbergh
(25) took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, NY, at 7:40 AM
aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on his historic solo flight to France.
The Minnesota native had decided to compete for a $25,000 prize,
offered in 1919 by Raymond Orteig, NY hotel owner, to the first pilot
to complete the feat. The Spirit of St. Louis, was capable of flying
4,000 miles on 425 gallons of fuel. His greatest problems on the
33-hour, 30-minute flight were staying awake and keeping ice from
forming on the airplane’s wings.
(AP, 5/20/97)(HN, 5/20/98)(HNPD, 5/21/00)(USAW,
5/19/02, p.26)(ON, 2/08, p.1)
1927 May 20, Saudi Arabia became
independent of Great Britain with the Treaty of Jedda.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1927 May 21, Charles Lindbergh
(Lucky Lindy) landed in Le Bourget Field in Paris after a 33.5-hour
nonstop, first solo flight from Roosevelt Field on New York’s Long
Island. In 1953 Lindbergh authored his memoir “The Spirit of St. Louis.”
(F, 10/7/96, p.68)(AP, 5/21/97)(SFC, 10/20/99,
p.C10)(ON, 2/08, p.1)
1927 May 21, Dedication ceremonies
were held for the Carquinez Bridge over the Sacramento River between
Crocket and Vallejo, Ca. It had opened for traffic on May 21. The
cantilever bridge was built by American Toll Bridge Co. A 2nd was added
in 1958. The bridge was scheduled for demolition in 2004.
(www.cocohistory.com/photos-bridges.html#GTPhoto3)(SFC, 6/24/02,
p.B3)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A25)
1927 May 22, Peter Mathiessen,
writer, was born.
(HN, 5/22/01)
1927 cMay 22, Harlem dancer Shorty
Snowden, during a dance marathon, named his dance step the Lindy Hop
following the headlines "Lindy Hops the Atlantic."
(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.W15)
1927 May 25, Robert Ludlum, spy
novelist (Bourne Identity), was born in NYC.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1927 May 25, Henry Ford stopped
production of the Model T car and began the Model A.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1927 May 26, Jacques Bergerac,
actor (Gigi, Les Girls, Thunder in Sun), was born in France.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1927 May 26, Ford Motor Company
manufactured its 15 millionth Model T automobile.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1927 May 27, The cargo steamer
Indiana Harbor ran aground on the northern California Humboldt coast.
Radio operator Joseph E. Croney remained at his post for 72 hours while
the ship was pounded.
(SFC, 8/29/03, p.E3)
1927 May 27, An earthquake in
China’s Qinghai (Xining) Province left some 200,000 dead.
(www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/eq/faq/world.htm)
1927 May 29, Dick Hillenius, Dutch
biologist, writer, was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1927 Jun 1, The Delta King
steamboat made its maiden voyage from SF to Sacramento, Ca. Its twin,
the Delta Queen, followed the next day. The 81-mile trip took nearly
all night. Stan Garvey later authored "The King and Queen of the
River." The last Sacramento River voyages were made in 1940. In 1969
Tom Horton (1940-2006), a columnist for the Sacramento Union, led a
band of civic pirates to bring the languishing boat back from Stockton
to Sacramento, where it was transformed to a waterfront hotel, theater
and restaurant.
(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.A18)
1927 Jun 2, Phillip Burton,
historian (Vanishing Eagles), was born.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1927 Jun 5, Johnny Weissmuller set
his 100-yard & 200-yard free-style swim record.
(MC, 6/5/02)
1927 Jun 8, Jerry Stiller,
comedian (Frank Constanza-Seinfeld), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(MC, 6/8/02)
1927 Jun 11, Charles Lindbergh
became the first man to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The
medal was commissioned for any person who "while serving in the armed
services, distinguished himself by heroism or extraordinary achievement
while participating in aerial flight."
(HNQ, 4/12/00)
1927 Jun 13, Charles Lindbergh
received the first American Distinguished Flying Cross President from
Pres. Calvin Coolidge and was treated to a ticker tape parade in New
York City to celebrate his successful crossing of the Atlantic
completed May 21, 1927.
(AP, 6/13/97)(HN, 6/13/98)
1927 Jun 14, President Porfirio
Diaz of Nicaragua signed a treaty with the U.S. allowing American
intervention in his country.
(HN, 6/14/98)
1927 Jun 21, Carl Stokes, the
first black mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, was born.
(HN, 6/21/98)
1927 Jun 23, Bob Fosse,
choreographer and director, was born. He won Tonies for "Pippin" and
"Damn Yankees," and an Oscar for "Cabaret."
(HN, 6/23/99)
1927 Jun 26, Direct commercial
radio service between the Philippines and the US was inaugurated with a
message from Manila to SF.
(SFC, 6/21/02, p.G2)
1927 Jun 27, Robert Casey, actor
(Henry-Aldrich Family Show), was born in Rochester, NY.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1927 Jun 27, Bob Keeshan, American
television actor, was born. He is best known as "Captain Kangaroo," the
longest running children's show, and Clarabelle on the "Howdy Doody
Show."
(HN, 6/27/99)
1927 Jun 27, The U.S. Marines
adopted the English bulldog as their mascot.
(HN, 6/27/98)
1927 Jun 30, James Goldman,
author, playwright (Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid), was born.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1927 Jun, Clarence Birdseye, after
years of experimentation, received a patent for packing fish, meat or
vegetables into waxed cardboard containers, then flash-freezing them
under pressure--reducing freezing time from 18 hours to 90 minutes. He
was working in the Arctic as a U.S. government naturalist when he
observed that ice, wind and extreme cold froze just-caught fish so
quickly that, when cooked and eaten, the taste and texture was scarcely
different from fresh fish. Birdseye realized the secret was to freeze
foods quickly so that ice crystals could not form and damage the food's
cell structure., Birdseye
(HNPD, 12/9/98)
1927 Jun, Oil was discovered near
Kirkuk, Iraq, the 1st commercial find in any Arab country. BP was a
shareholder in the Iraqi Petroleum Company when it started drilling
Iraq's first oil well at Baba Gurgur just north of the oil-rich
province of Kirkuk.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.E1)(AP, 10/17/09)
1927 Jul 2, Brock Peters, actor,
singer (Carmen Jones, To Kill a Mockingbird), was born.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1927 Jul 4, Neil Simon, American
playwright, who wrote "The Odd Couple," was born.
(HN, 7/4/98)
1927 Jul 6, Bill Haley, rock ‘n’
roll pioneer, singer of "Rock Around the Clock," was born.
(HN, 7/6/98)
1927 Jul 6, Janet Leigh (d.2004,
film star, was born as Jeanette Helen Morrison in Merced, Ca. MGM named
her Janet Leigh.
(SFC, 10/5/04, p.A2)
1927 Jul 7, Doc Severinson,
[Carl], bandleader, trumpeter (Tonight), was born in Arlington, Or.
(MC, 7/7/02)
1927 Jul 7, Christopher Stone
became the first British ‘disc jockey’ when he played records for the
BBC.
(HN, 7/7/98)
1927 Jul 10, David Dinkins, first
African-American mayor of New York City, was born.
(HN, 7/10/98)
1927 Jul 11, Theodore H. Maiman,
physicist, was born.
(HN, 7/11/01)
1927 Jul 14, John William
Chancellor, news anchor (NBC, VOA), was born in Chicago, Ill.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1927 Jul 14, The Ahwahnee Hotel in
Yosemite Valley opened. It was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood of
Los Angeles.
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.39)
1927 Jul 16, Augusto Sandino began
a 5-year war against the US occupation of Nicaragua.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1927 Jul 18, Ty Cobb hit safely
for the 4,000th time in his career.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1927 Jul 18, Vasily Polenov
(b.1844), Russian painter, died.
(http://tinyurl.com/737kp)
1927 Jul 19, Jan Myrdal, Swedish
writer, journalist (Albania Defiant), was born.
(MC, 7/19/02)
1927 Jul 25, Midge Decter, writer
and editor, was born.
(HN, 7/25/02)
1927 Jul 28, John Ashbery,
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (Self-Portrait in a Convict's Mirror), was
born.
(HN, 7/28/01)
1927 Jul 28, Baruch Blumberg,
physician, medical researcher, was born.
(HN, 7/28/01)
1927 Jul 29, Bellevue Hospital in
NY installed the 1st iron lung.
(MC, 7/29/02)
1927 Aug 1, In Bristol, Tennessee,
the Carter Family (A.P., wife Sara, and cousin Maybelle) came down from
the mountains of Virginia and began recording their country style
"hillbilly" music for Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine
Co. Jimmy Rogers (1898-1933) came from Mississippi to record. In
2002 Mark Zwonitzer and Charles Hirshberg authored "Will You Miss me
When I’m Gone: The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music."
(Hem., 4/97, p.68)(WSJ, 8/1/02, p.A1)(SSFC, 8/4/02,
p.M3)
1927 Aug 2, Four years after
becoming president, Calvin Coolidge issued a written statement to
reporters: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."
(AP, 8/2/08)
1927 Aug 3, Gordon Scott, actor
(Tarzan & the Trappers), was born in Portland, Oregon.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1927 Aug 3, Members of the West
Virginia Univ. Botanical Expedition on a trip to Peters Mountain in
Virginia, found wildflowers that were related to the Kankakee mallow,
and named it the Peters Mountain mallow. [see 1872]
(Nat. Hist., 3/96, p.57-58)
1927 Aug 6, Andy Warhol, American
pop artist, was born.
(HN, 8/6/98)
1927 Aug 6, A Massachusetts high
court heard the final plea from Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italians
convicted of murder.
(HN, 8/6/98)
1927 Aug 7, Edwin Edwards,
governor of Louisiana, was born.
(HN, 8/7/98)
1927 Aug 7, US Major General
Leonard Wood (b.1860) died in Boston, Mass. His military service
included commands in Cuba (1900-1902) and the Philippines 1905 and
1921-1927. In 1910, he was named Chief of Staff of the Army, the
only medical officer to ever hold the position. In 2005 Jack McCallum
authored the biography “Leonard Wood.”
(www.wood.army.mil/MGLeonardwood.htm)
1927 Aug 7, Maia Wojciechowska
(d.2002) was born in Warsaw. She moved to the US in 1942 and became an
acclaimed author of children’s books. Her work included the memoir
"Till the Break of Day: Memories, 1939-1942."
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.B5)
1927 Aug 7, The Peace Bridge
between the United States and Canada was dedicated during ceremonies
attended by the Prince of Wales, Canadian PM William Lyon Mackenzie
King and US Vice President Charles Dawes.
(AP, 8/7/07)
1927 Aug 9, Robert Shaw, actor and
writer, was born in England.
(HN, 8/9/00)(MC, 8/9/02)
1927 Aug 10, Pres. Calvin Coolidge
took part in the formal dedication of Mount Rushmore.
(www.ohranger.com/mount-rushmore/making-mount-rushmore)
1927 Aug 11, Raymond Leppard,
conductor (St Louis Symphony Orch), was born in London, England.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1927 Aug 12, Ralph Waite, actor
(John-Waltons, Roots), was born in White Plains, NY.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1927 Aug 17, Robert Moore, actor
(Marshall-Diana), was born in Detroit, Mich.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1927 Aug 18, Rosalynn Smith
Carter, 1st lady (1977-1981), was born in Plains, Georgia.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1927 Aug 21, The 4th Pan-African
Congress met in NYC.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1927 Aug 23, Italian-born
anarchist immigrants Nicola Sacco (right) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti,
convicted of murder in 1921, were executed in Boston in spite of
worldwide protests. On April 15, 1920, a paymaster and his guard at a
shoe factory in Braintree, Massachusetts, were killed in a robbery. In
the national climate of suspicion of anarchists, communists and
foreigners in general, Sacco and Vanzetti, two admitted radicals, were
arrested for the crime and convicted on flimsy circumstantial evidence
in a trial presided over by the openly prejudiced Judge Webster Thayer.
For six years, the two gained support as they attempted to obtain a new
trial, but their request was denied even after a convicted killer
confessed to the 1920 murders. In April 1927, Judge Thayer sentenced
Sacco and Vanzetti to die in the electric chair. In 1977 Sacco and
Vanzetti were vindicated when Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis
established a memorial in the victims’ honor. In 2007 Bruce Watson
authored “Sacco & Vanzetti.”
(TMC, 1994, p.1927)(AP, 8/23/97)(HNPD, 8/23/98)(HN,
8/23/98)(WSJ, 8/18/07, p.P8)
1927 Aug 25, Althea Gibson
(d.2003), Wimbledon's 1st black tennis champion (1957), was born in
Silver, SC.
(HN, 8/25/98)(WSJ, 9/29/03, p.A1)
1927 Aug 29, Marion Williams,
gospel singer, was born.
(HN, 8/29/00)
1927 Aug 30, Geoffrey Beene, dress
designer (8 Coty Awards), was born in Louisiana.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1927 Sep 3, Hugh Sidey, news
correspondent and author of John F. Kennedy, President, was born.
(HN, 9/3/98)
1927 Sep 7, American television
pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth (21) succeeded in transmitting an image
through purely electronic means by using a device called an image
dissector. When Philo T. Farnsworth was 13, he envisioned a contraption
that would receive an image transmitted from a remote location—the
television. Farnsworth submitted a patent in January 1927, when he was
19, and began building and testing his invention that summer. He used
an "image dissector" (the first television camera tube) to convert the
image into a current, and an "image oscillite" (picture tube) to
receive it. On this day his tests bore fruit. When the simple image of
a straight line was placed between the image dissector and a carbon arc
lamp, it showed up clearly on the receiver in another room. His first
tele-electronic image was transmitted on a glass slide in his SF lab at
202 Green St. The New York World’s Fair showcased the television in
April 1939, and soon afterward, the first televisions went on sale to
the public.
(AP, 9/7/97)(HNPD, 9/7/98)(SFEC, 8/18/96, BR p.3)
1927 Sep 8, A woman arrived in SF
from China and claimed to be Gen. Chiang Kai-shek’s wife, who declared
that he had divorced his legal wife in 1921 and freed 2 concubines this
year.
(SFC, 9/20/02, p.E6)
1927 Sep 9, Elvin Jones (d.2004),
jazz drummer, was born in Pontiac, Mich.
(SFEC, 5/21/00, DB p.44)(SFC, 5/20/04, p.B8)
1927 Sep 10, Yma Sumac,
[Chavarri], 5 octave soprano (Omar Khayyam), was born in Ichocan, Peru.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1927 Sep 12, Sigmund Romberg's
musical "My Maryland," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1927 Sep 14, Isadora Duncan (born
in San Francisco in 1878), modern dance pioneer, died in Nice, France,
when her scarf became entangled in a wheel of her sports car. A 1968
film with Vanessa Redgrave portrayed her life.
(AP, 9/14/97)(WSJ, 2/20/98, p.A16)(SFC, 9/13/02,
p.E2)
1927 Sep 17, George Blanda, NFL
kicker and quarterback (Bears, Oilers, Raiders), was born in
Pennsylvania.
(MC, 9/17/01)
1927 Sep 18, The Columbia
Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) made its debut with a basic
network of 16 radio stations.
(AP, 9/18/97)
1927 Sep 20, NY Yankee Babe Ruth
hit his record 60th HR of season off Tom Zachry. [see Sep 30]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1927 Sep 22, Tommy Lasorda,
manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team from 1975 to 1996, was
born.
(HN, 9/22/98)
1927 Sep 22, Gene Tunney
successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey
in 10 rounds in the famous "long-count" fight in Chicago. Referee Dave
Barry stopped the count. Boxer Gene Tunney was down; but the champ,
Jack Dempsey, had not yet returned to his corner. By the time the ref
was able to resume counting, Tunney was able to get to his feet. He got
an extra 2 to 5 seconds....just what he needed. Tunney won the fight,
becoming world heavyweight boxing championship.
(AP, 9/22/97)
1927 Sep 22, Giannotto
Bastianelli, composer, died at 44.
(MC, 9/22/01)
1927 Sep 27, Red Rodney,
trumpeter, was born.
(HN, 9/27/00)
1927 Sep 30, W.S. Mervin, Pulitzer
Prize-winning poet, was born.
(HN, 9/30/00)
1927 Sep 30, Babe Ruth hit his
60th homerun of the season off Tom Zachary in Yankee Stadium, New York
City, and broke his own major-league record.
(AP, 9/30/97)(HN, 9/30/98)
1927 Oct 1, Tom Bosley, actor
(Howard-Happy Days, Murder She Wrote), was born in Chicago.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1927 Oct 2, Svante Arrhenius
(b.1859), Swedish scientist and Nobel Prize winner in chemistry (1903),
died in Uppsala. At the turn of the century, Svante Arrhenius had
calculated that emissions from human industry might someday bring a
global warming.
(http://tinyurl.com/lxu4w)(www.aip.org/history/climate/co2.htm)
1927 Oct 6, The era of
talking pictures arrived with the opening of "The Jazz Singer,"
starring Al Jolson singing and dancing in black-face. The movie
featured both silent and sound-synchronized scenes. When The Jazz
Singer, a musical about a Jewish cantor’s son who longs to sing on
Broadway, premiered in New York, silent movies became history and the
sound era began. The Jazz Singer is popularly believed to be the first
talking picture, but technically, 1926’s Don Juan, with its use of a
music track recorded on phonograph records synchronized to the film,
predated the landmark musical. Originally, Warner Brothers Studio
planned to record only the songs on disks while telling the story in
silent sequences. Star Al Jolson, however, ad-libbed dialogue in two
scenes and opened the talking-picture age with the prophetic words,
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!" By 1930,
silent movies were a thing of the past.
(AP, 10/6/97)(HNPD, 10/6/98)(HN, 10/6/98)
1927 Oct 6, Paul Badura-Skoda,
pianist (Mozart specialist), was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1927 Oct 14, Roger Moore, actor
(Alaskans, Maverick, Saint, 007), was born in London, England.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1927 Oct 16, Günter Grass,
novelist, playwright, painter and sculptor, was born in Danzig,
Germany. He is best known for his first novel "The Tin Drum."
(HN, 10/1/00)(MC, 10/16/01)
1927 Oct 18, George Campbell Scott
(d.1999), later Hollywood actor, was born in Wise, Va. He grew up in
Detroit and graduated from Redford High School.
(SFC, 9/24/99, p.D2)
1927 Oct 19, Marjorie Tallchief,
US-Osage ballerina (Harkness Ballet), was born. In 1997 Maria Tallchief
wrote her memoir: "Maria Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina."
(WSJ, 4/17/97, p.A20)(MC, 10/19/01)
1927 Oct 20, Mikhail Mikhaylovich
Ivanov (78), composer, died.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1927 Oct 24, Renato de Grandis,
composer, was born.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1927 Oct 26, Gustav Schickedanz
(1895-1977) founded Quelle, a German mail-order business.
(WSJ, 7/17/06, p.C8)(http://tinyurl.com/p7ypb)
1927 Oct 27, Ruby Dee, actress and
civil rights activist who starred in the Broadway hit "South Pacific"
and the movie "A Raisin in the Sun," was born.
(HN, 10/27/98)
1927 Oct 27, Fox Movie-tone news,
the first sound news film, was released.
(HN, 10/27/98)
1927 Oct 28, Cleo Laine, actress
and singer (Flesh to a Tiger), was born in Middlesex, England.
(MC, 10/28/01)
1927 Oct 28, Pan Am Airways
launched the first scheduled international flight. Pan Am was founded
this year as a mail carrier to Havana by Juan Terry Trippe. In 2000
Barnaby Conrad III authored "Pan Am : An Aviation Legend."
(HN, 10/28/98)(SFEM, 2/13/00, p.30)
1927 Oct 28, Josip Broz (Tito)
began a 7 months jail sentence in Croatia.
(MC, 10/28/01)
1927 Oct 29, In Fresno, Ca., Babe
Ruth and Lou Gehrig led an exhibition baseball game as part of an
18-state tour to promote major league baseball.
(SFC, 1/17/03, p.D3)
1927 Oct 29, Russian archaeologist
Peter Kozloff uncovered the tomb of Genghis Khan in the Gobi Desert.
Subotai was one of Genghis Khan's ablest lieutenants--and went on to
distinguish himself after the khan's death.
(HN, 10/29/98)
1927 Nov 2, In San Francisco
prohibition agents raided a brewery at 1407 San Bruno Ave. with nearly
2,000 gallons of beer brewing in 4 500-gallon vats.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.E7)
1927 Nov 3, Rodgers' & Hart's
musical "Connecticut Yankee," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1927 Nov 12, New York’s underwater
Holland Tunnel officially opened. It connected NY to New Jersey. [see
Nov 13]
(HN, 11/12/98)(MC, 11/12/01)
1927 Nov 12, Notre Dame's Fighting
Irish changed their blue jerseys for green.
(MC, 11/12/01)
1927 Nov 12, Canada was admitted
to the League of Nations.
(HN, 11/12/98)
1927 Nov 12, Josef Stalin became
the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled
from the Communist Party.
(AP, 11/12/97)
1927 Nov 13, The Holland Tunnel
opened to the public, linking New York City and New Jersey beneath the
Hudson River. [see Nov 12]
(TMC, 1994, p.1927)(AP, 11/13/97)
1927 Nov 16, Austin Norman Palmer
(b.1860), American developer of the Palmer method of script, died.
(www.zanerian.com/Palmer.html)(WSJ, 1/24/09, p.W8)
1927 Nov 17, A tornado hit
Washington DC.
(MC, 11/17/01)
1927 Nov 20, Karl Wilhelm Eugen
Stenhammer (56), composer, died.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1927 Nov 21, Picketing strikers at
the Columbine Mine in northern Colorado were fired on by state police;
six miners were killed.
(AP, 11/21/07)
1927 Nov 22, George Gershwin's
"Funny Face," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1927 Nov 22, 1st snowmobile patent
was granted to Carl Eliason in Sayner, Wisc.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1927 Nov 24, Alfredo Kraus, tenor
(La Scala), was born in Las Palmas, Canary Islands.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1927 Nov 24, In California troops
battled 1,200 inmates after Folsom prisoners revolted. On Thanksgiving
Day there was a prison break at Folsom. One prisoner was shot in the
ensuing uprising and five others were later hung.
(SFEC, 1/26/97, p.B4)(HN, 11/24/98)
1927 Nov 29, Genevieve Paddleford
arrived as the 1st woman inmate at the new women’s quarters at San
Quentin Prison. She was serving 1 to 10 years for stealing $600 worth
of clothing.
(SFC, 11/29/02, p.E9)
1927 Nov 29, Vince Scully,
sportscaster (NBC Baseball Game of the Week), was born.
(MC, 11/29/01)
1927 Nov, On Thanksgiving Day
there was a prison break at California’s Folsom Prison. One prisoner
was shot in the ensuing uprising and five others were later hung.
(SFEC, 1/26/97, p.B4)
1927 Nov, The US received 58
Japanese dolls sent by the Japanese government in exchange for 12,739
blue-eyed dolls sent by American children to the children of Japan.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A17)
1927 Dec 2, Ford Motor Co.
unveiled its "Model A" automobile, the successor to its "Model T." The
Ford Rouge plant employed 70,000 men. A vehicle was assembled in 3 1/2
days and the price for a Model T dropped to $290 per vehicle, down 65%
from its original price. The Model A was introduced with a
revolutionary teaser campaign and the 1st one sold for $385.
Production for the Model T was shut down for almost 6 months to retool
for the Model A and compete with GM.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(AP, 12/2/97)(WSJ, 11/5/99,
p.A1)(MC, 12/2/01)
1927 Dec 4, Duke Ellington opened
at the Cotton Club in Harlem.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1927 Dec 11, Nearly 400 world
leaders signed a letter to President Calvin Coolidge asking the U.S. to
join the World Court.
(HN, 12/11/98)
1927 Dec 12, Robert Norton Noyce,
co-inventor of the integrated circuit, was born.
(HN, 12/12/00)
1927 Dec 12, Communists forces
seized Canton, China.
(HN, 12/12/98)
1927 Dec 14, China and Soviet
Union broke relations.
(AP, 12/14/02)
1927 Dec 14, Iraq gained
independence from Britain, but British troops remained.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1927 Dec 17, U.S. Secretary of
State Kellogg suggested a worldwide pact renouncing war.
(HN, 12/17/98)
1927 Dec 18, Ramsey Clark,
American attorney General (1967-69), was born.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1927 Dec 25, Mexican congress
opened land to foreign investors, reversing the 1917 ban enacted to
preserve the domestic economy.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1927 Dec 27, Stalin's faction won
All-Union Congress in USSR. Trotsky was expelled.
(MC, 12/27/01)
1927 Dec 27, The musical play
"Show Boat," with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar
Hammerstein the Second, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. It
was based on a novel by Edna Ferber that spanned life on the
Mississippi River from 1884-1927. The songs included "Ol’ Man River."
(WSJ, 2/27/97, p.A15)(SFC, 5/15/97, p.E4)(AP,
12/27/97)(SFC, 1/10/98, p.E1)
1927 Dec 28, George Kaufman and
Moss Hart's "Royal Family," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 12/28/01)
1927 Dec, In Nashville, Ten.,
after harmonica wizard DeFord Bailey played his "Pan American Blues,"
WSM Announcer Judge Hay got the idea to change the name of the show
from the "Barn Dance" to the "Grand Ole Opry."
(www.pbs.org/deford/timeline/index.html)
1927 Dec, The Yosemite annual
Christmas pageant at the Ahwahnee Hotel was begun by a Stanford Univ.
administrator and Ansel Adams. The pageant was set in England at
Bracebridge Hall at the time of King George III and based on characters
created by Washington Irving.
(SFC,10/18/97, p.A19)
1927 Dec, Harry Frommermann place
an ad for an audition in Berlin that led to the formation of the
"Comedian Harmonists." They rocketed to fame as concert performers.
Their act was banned in 1935 by the government because 3 of the
performers were Jews (Fromermann, Collin and Cycowski). In 1997 a film
based the group’s history was directed by Joseph Vilsmaiar.
(WSJ, 2/5/98, p.A20)(SFC, 8/17/02, p.D3)
1927 Dec, Leonid Kulik (d.1942),
Russian expert on meteorites, delivered his report to the Russian
Academy of Sciences on his 2nd trip to the Tunguska site in Siberia
regarding the 1908 meteorite explosion. He estimated that the meteorite
had weighed several thousand metric tons and convinced the academy to
sponsor another expedition in 1928.
(ON, 6/08, p.8)
1927 Poet John Ashbury was born in
Rochester, N.Y. In 1998 David Lehman published "The Last Avant-Garde:
The Making of the New York School of Poets."
(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.W8)
1927 Work on Mount Rushmore began
and was completed in 1941. When South Dakota officials invited Gutzon
Borglum (1867-1941) to design a sculpture on the face of the Black
Hills, he declared, "American history shall march along that skyline."
Borglum’s son Lincoln (d.1986) led the completion of the project
created by some 400 workers.
(HNQ, 4/17/00)(SSFC, 9/9/07, p.C4)
1927 George Bellows painted the
boxing scene "Dempsey and Firpo."
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1927 Stuart Davis painted "Egg
Beater No. 1."
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1927 Charles Demuth painted "My
Egypt."
(WSJ, 2/6/00, p.A16)
1927 Elsie Driggs created her
painting "Pittsburgh."
(WSJ, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1927 George Grosz drew his picture
"Circe," a depiction of a deformed nude woman kissing a man whose face
looks like a pig's.
(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A20)
1927 Tamara de Lempicka painted
"Jeune fille en vert."
(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.C2)
1927 Rene Magritte painted "The
Blood of the World" and "Swift Hope."
(SFC, 5/4/00, p.B1,5)
1927 Georgia O’Keeffe painted "Red
Poppy."
(SFEC, 8/10/97, p.T5)
1927 Yves Tanguy, surrealist
painter, had his 1st solo exhibit in Paris.
(WSJ, 8/30/01, p.A11)
1927 DuBose Heyward and his wife
Dorothy based a play called "Porgy" on his novel "Porgy."
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.12)
1927 Herbert Asbury wrote "The
Gangs of New York." The book established the Five Points district as
the mythic slum.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.46)(SFC, 7/29/98, p.A19)
1927 Willa Cather authored “Death
Comes for the Archbishop.” Bishop Jean Marie Latour, her novel’s hero,
was the fictional name for the French Bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy,
dispatched as a priest by Rome in 1850 to bring order and discipline to
the New Mexican territory.
(WSJ, 9/13/06, p.D10)
1927 Max Ehrmann (1872-1945),
Indiana lawyer, wrote his poem “Desiderata” – “Be gentle with yourself…”
(WSJ, 11/15/05,
p.D7)(www.businessballs.com/desideratapoem.htm)
1927 Ernest Hemingway published
his novel "Fiesta."
(SFC, 8/5/98, p.E3)
1927 Hermann Hesse published
"Steppenwolf," a novel about a writer who despises middle class and
Western values, but suffers from his feelings of emotional isolation.
(iUniv. 7/2/00)
1927 D.H. Lawrence wrote his story
"The Man Who Died," in which Jesus becomes a lover of a priestess of
Isis.
(WSJ, 10/14/98, p.A20)
1927 Herman Lehmann authored “Nine
Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life
of a Texan Among the Indians.” He had been captured as a boy and spent
6 years among the Apaches.
(AH, 6/07, p.64)
1927 Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951)
authored his novel “Elmer Gantry.” A 1960 film version starred Burt
Lancaster.
(WSJ, 12/28/07, p.W13)
1927 V.L. Parrington wrote "Main
Currents in American Thought." It is considered one of the most
important history books of the 30s.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1927 Margaret Sanger wrote "What
Every Boy and Girl Should Know."
(WSJ, 3/12/97, p.A16)
1927 Upton Sinclair published his
novel "Oil," based on the development of oil in southern California.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, BR p.7)
1927 Clinton and Jeff Smith
authored “The Boy Captives: being the true story of the experiences and
hardships of Clinton L. Smith and Jeff D. Smith.”
(AH, 6/07, p.64)(www.worldcat.org/isbn/082401734X)
1927 Thornton Wilder wrote "The
Bridge of San Luis Rey." It was set in Peru in the early 1700s when a
rope bridge broke that sent 5 people to their death.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)
1927 William Hodge & Co.
published “The Trial of Herbert Rowse Armstrong” as part of its Notable
British Trial series. Armstrong was hanged in 1922, the only solicitor
ever executed in Britain, for murdering his wife with weedkiller.
(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.P8)
1927 The "History of Colorado" was
published by Linderman and Co.
(HIR, 9/11/97, p.5A)
1927 Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari created
his opera "Sly."
(WSJ, 4/17/02, p.D7)
1927 Tamara Geva, ballet dancer,
actress and former wife of George Balanchine, introduced his
choreography to NY by dancing 2 solos with the "Chauve-Souris" touring
revue.
(SFC,12/13/97, p.A23)
1927 Dock Boggs, singer and banjo
player, released his "Country Blues" swamp music album. It included the
song "Old Rub Alcohol Blues."
(SFEM, 3/22/98, p.8)
1927 Bing Crosby came to
prominence with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra as a member of the
scat-singing Rhythm Boys trio.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, DB p.32)
1927 The Duke Ellington Band
recorded "Creole Love Song" and "Black and Tan Fantasie" on its first
Viktor record.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, p.C5)
1927 "Stardust" by Hoagy
Carmichael (1899-1981) was first waxed on the Gennett label in
Richmond, Ind. Mitchell Parish helped with the lyrics.
(SFEC, 7/25/99, BR p.5)(SFC, 5/2/02, p.D5)
1927 The Pacific Borax Co. opened
the Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley as a luxury resort in Death
Valley.
(SFEC, 1/3/99, p.T5)
1927 In Louisville, Ky., the main
building of the Speed Museum was constructed. The Speed Museum was
founded by Hattie Bishop Speed as a memorial to her husband John
Breckinridge Speed.
(WSJ, 12/18/97, p.A20)
1927 The Cranford Rose Garden was
established in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with a $15,000 donation from
engineer Walter V. Cranford. His firm built many of Brooklyn’s subway
tunnels.
(WSJ, 6/21/06, p.D10)
1927 Le Corbusier proposed a
functional design for the new League of Nations center in Geneva. The
jury of traditional architects was shocked and disqualified the design
on the grounds that it was not rendered in India Ink, as specified.
(V.D.-H.K.p.364)
1927 Marion Sims Wyeth designed
the Mar-a-Lago house for the E.F. Huttons in Palm Beach Fla. He helped
establish the Palm Beach Mediterranean style. Mrs. Hutton was better
known as the cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post.
(WSJ, 10/25/96, p.B10)
1927 The fundamentalist Christian
Bob Jones University in Cleveland, Tenn., was founded by Bob Jones.
(SFC,11/13/97, p.A28)
1927 Las Vegas instituted the
90-day divorce to attract more visitors. The residential requirement
was later reduced by half.
(WSJ, 3/23/00, p.W12)
1927 The Ringling Brothers Circus
and Barnum and Bailey began to set up winter quarters in Sarasota, Fla.
(WSJ, 4/1/99, p.A20)
1927 Mary Livingstone (born as
Sadye Marks) married Jack Benny. She appeared as Mary Livingstone on
The Jack Benny Program (also called The Jack Benny Show ) through its
various sponsors on radio and then to television--until 1965. Jack
Benny, who cultivated a fake personality of a miserly wiseacre, was
always willing to be the brunt of jokes and Mary supplied many of them.
In fact, Benny credited his wife with the biggest laugh of the
long-running comedy--bigger than the famous "Your money or your life"
routine--not with a joke, but with three simple words: "Oh, shut up."
They were married until his death in 1974. She wrote a memoir about him
in 1978.
(HNQ, 3/28/01)
1927 A.H. Compton won the Nobel
Prize in physics.
(SFC, 6/30/99, p.C2)
1927 Julius Wagner von Jauregg won
a Nobel Prize for allegedly proving that fevers cured mental illness.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.A17)
1927 Ernest Hemingway married
Pauline Pfeiffer, his 2nd wife of 4. They lived together in Paris and
Key West until 1940, and often visited Piggott, Ark.
(SFC, 7/28/00, p.C12)
1927 William Wrigley, gum magnate,
staged a swimming race between Catalina Island and the California
coast, which measured over 20 miles. George Young (17) of Canada won.
(WSJ, 4/18/08, p.W4)
1927 Babe Ruth hit his 60th home
run.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, Par p.8)
1927 The Supreme Court decision of
Buck vs. Bell supported a 1924 Virginia compulsory sterilization bill
and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes commented "three generations of
imbeciles are enough." Carrie Buck was sterilized by physicians at the
Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-minded in Lynchburg. In 2006
Harry Bruinius authored “Better For All the World: The Secret History
of Forced Sterilization and America’s Quest for Racial Purity.”
(NH, 7/02, p.12)(WSJ, 2/28/06, p.D8)
1927 The first living person to be
honored on a U.S. postal stamp was pioneering pilot Charles Lindbergh.
A 10-cent stamp was issued, showing Lindbergh's airplane, the Spirit of
St. Louis, in which he had made his historic flight from New York to
Paris.
(HNQ, 11/14/98)
1927 In Alabama and many other
states sheriffs and other county office holders were paid fixed fees
for services performed and were allowed to keep whatever was left over.
In 2008 all but 12 of Alabama’s 67 counties remained on the fee system
with a $1.75-a-day allowance for feeding prisoners. Some sheriffs still
profited with no accounting to auditors.
(SFC, 5/20/08, p.A4)
1927 The new California state park
bill gained the unanimous approval of the Legislature and was signed
into law by Governor C.C. Young (1927-1931).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Parks)
1927 The State Bar of California
was founded as an independent and nonpartisan organization by the state
Legislature.
(SFC, 6/6/96, p.A23)(SFC, 6/26/96, p.A14)
1927 The California Legislature
authorized the state attorney general to act on behalf of Indians to
sue the federal government for losses. It took 16 years to reach a
settlement.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.5)
1927 California’s laws prohibiting
branch banking changed and A.P. Giannini consolidated his banking
properties into the Bank of America of California.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B4)
1927 In California Harry Hill shot
and killed state Sen. Charles W. Lyon of Los Angeles inside the state
capitol building, for engaging in a relationship with Marybelle
Wallace. Hill, a Sacramento lobbyist, then shot and killed himself.
Wallace was Hill’s mistress and an employee of Sen. Lyon.
(SSFC, 10/27/02, p.A16)
1927 The Pasadena City Hall was
constructed to reflect the grace and style of the church of Santa Maria
della Salute in Venice, Italy.
(Hem., Dec. ‘95, p.100)
1927 Ben and Tawny MacMillan’s
General Store in Elk, California, was built.
(SFC, 9/1/96, T3)
1927 The SF Bay Area mid-peninsula
property along the broad valley of the West Union Creek near Hwy. 280
south of San Francisco was purchased by an official of the Spring
Valley Water Company. The estate residence was designed by architect
Gardner Daily. A decade later the property was purchased by the Herman
and Mary Elena Phleger. The estate was officially dedicated as part of
the Golden Gate national Park in April, 1995.
(Park, Spring/95)
1927 Carlton Morse created the
radio show "One Man's Family." It was set in Sea Cliff in San Francisco
and continued to 1959.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, BR p.3)
1927 In San Francisco the Avenue
Theater opened on San Bruno Avenue in the southeastern Portola District.
(SSFC, 5/24/09, p.A2)
1927 Campion Hall at USF was built.
(SFCM, 3/29/02, p.48)
1927 In San Francisco the 2-story,
Olde English style house at 400 Castenada Ave. in Forest Hills was
built. It was designed by Harold Stoner.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.C2)
1927 The Hearst Fountain and Music
Concourse were constructed in Goldengate Park.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A7)
1927 In SF a 25-story high-rise
was completed at 111 Sutter, the city’s 4th tallest building. It was
designed for the Hunter-Dulin & Co. brokerage firm by Schultze
& Weaver of NYC.
(SFC, 12/29/05, p.B5)
1927 In SF the Russ Building, a
435-foot, 31-story skyscraper, was completed on Montgomery Street at
Bush and Pine. It was the tallest building in SF at this time.
(SFC, 7/17/97, p.A16)(SFEC, 5/16/99, Z1 p.4)(SSFM,
10/12/02, p.13)
1927 In San Francisco a single
story building at 344 Kearny was built for the Harrigan Weidenmuller
Co., Realtors. In 2009 the Baroque storefront hosted a nail salon.
(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.C2)
1927 The Russian Orthodox Holy
Virgin parish was founded. In 1965 they established a Cathedral at 26th
and Geary.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.G6)
1927 In SF Julia and Michael
Archangel Disernia opened a pharmacy on the corner of Mission and
Precita. In 1998 their son closed the establishment.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.C7)
1927 In San Francisco the Avenue
Theater opened on San Bruno Avenue in the southeastern Portola District.
(SSFC, 5/24/09, p.A2)
1927 The Biltmore Hotel was built
in Montecito, Ca.
(Via, 3-4/99, p.43)
1927 The Biltmore Four Seasons
Hotel in Santa Barbara, Ca., was built.
(SFEC, 5/4/97, p.T7)
1927 The Pickwick Hotel, a Gothic
Revival structure, opened in San Diego, Ca. It was later renovated and
re-opened as the Sofia Hotel.
(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.G4)
1927 The ferryboat Fresno began
transporting cars across the SF Bay.
(SFC, 4/28/05, p.B1)
1927 SF began receiving water from
the new Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.
(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A15)
1927 Alexander Roberts became the
3rd president of the SF State Normal School.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, Z1 p.4)
1927 In Chicago Al Capone's
support allowed Big Bill Thompson to return to the mayor's office.
Pledging to clean up Chicago and remove the crooks, Thompson instead
turned his attention to the reformers, whom he considered the real
criminals.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hale_Thompson)
1927 In New Jersey Ruth Snyder was
tried and executed [1928] for the murder of her husband. She was the
first woman to die in the electric chair. Her story was the basis for a
1928 play, "Machinal," by Sophie Treadwell.
(SFEC, 2/9/97, DB p.33)
1927 In the US financier J.P.
Morgan created the American Depository Receipt, (ADR), for purchasing
stock in foreign countries.
(WSJ, 6/27/96, p.R8)
1927 Walt Disney (1901-1966)
created the cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He was a
precursor to Mickey Mouse.
(WSJ, 2/10/06, p.B1)
1927 GM created the first
automotive design staff under Harley J. Earl.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1927 Dorothy Gerber invented
commercial baby food when she tired of straining baby food at home and
asked her cannery owner husband to try it at the plant. The Gerber baby
logo came in 1928. Daniel F. Gerber strained peas for his sick daughter
and sold them by mail from Fremont, Mich.
(WSJ, 12/4/96, p.A1)(SFEC, 3/30/97, Z1. p.2)
1927 Central Leather Co. underwent
a restructure and changed its name back to US Leather.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p.R45)
1927 Oklahoma produced 278
million barrels of crude oil. By 2005 production dropped to 60.7
million.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.33)
1927 The Porcelier Manufacturing
Co. worked in East Liverpool, Ohio and South Greenberg, Pa. until 1954.
It made vitrified china teapots, bowls, cups, sugars, creamers and
small electrical appliances. The items are now collectibles.
(SFC, 9/4/96, Z1 p.5)
1927 Proctor and Gamble acquired
Lava Soap with its "secret ingredient" pumice. In 1996 it was sold to
Block Drug Co.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.D1)
1927 Sears launched its Craftsman
and Kenmore brands.
(WSJ, 11/18/04, p.B1)
1927 Time magazine, founded by
Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, began its Man or Woman of the Year
feature and the first figure this year was Charles Lindbergh.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, Par p.2)(SFEM, 6/21/98, p.9)(WSJ,
1/11/00, p.B1)
1927 United Parcel Service,
founded by Jim Casey, began limited coast-to-coast service.
(Econ, 7/22/06,
p.20)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Parcel_Service)
1927 Charles Spearman, a British
researcher, postulated 2 separate factors for success in IQ tests:
general intelligence and various specific abilities for different tests.
(SFC, 7/21/00, p.B3)
1927 Werner Heisenberg formulated
the Uncertainty Principle: It is impossible to measure simultaneously
both the precise momentum and position of a subatomic particle.
(NG, May 1985, J. Boslough, p. 642)
1927 Lemaitre proposed his theory
of an expanding universe begun in the explosion of a primeval atom, at
Mt. Wilson observatory in California.
(V.D.-H.K.p.334)
1927 J.D. Figgins presented his
paper announcing proof (gathered in 1926) that man was present in the
New World at a time when animals of now extinct species were living:
The First Clear Evidence of Ancient Man in North America.
RFH-MDHP, 1969, p.132)
1927 John Hammes (1895-1953), a
Wisconsin architect, invented the sink-connected garbage disposal. In
1938 he started the InSinkErator company, which later became a part of
Emerson Electric Corp.
(WSJ, 2/26/08,
p.B1)(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_1995/ai_n19122482)
1927 E.E. Perkins, a Nebraska
merchant of home remedies, invented Kool-Aid. [see 1914,1953]
(WSJ, 7/17/96, p.A1)(SFC, 4/9/96, z1 p.5)
1927 Pez candy originated in
Austria as a breath mint for cigarette smokers. The name came from
"pfefferminz," the word for peppermint in German. The line was
imported to the United States in 1952, when the company decided it
could do better with fruit candy dispensed by plastic toys.
(SFEC, 4/5/98,
p.C11)(http://money.cnn.com/2002/06/13/pf/q_pez/)
1927 In Australia a new law
prohibited hunters from killing koalas for their pelts.
(SFC, 7/29/00, p.E3)
1927 Henry Ford obtained a
Connecticut-sized land in the Brazilian jungle and began creating his
Fordlandia factory town for the creation of a rubber plantation and
processing facility to supply his factories with tires and gaskets. A
strike in 1930 wrecked Fordlandia. It was rebuilt and struggled on for
a decade until succumbing to leaf blight and insects. In 2009 Greg
Grandin authored “Fordlandia: The rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s
Forgotten Jungle city.”
(SSFC, 7/5/09, p.F7)
1927 Britain passed laws
supporting British film making and forced cinemas to show a minimum
quota of British films.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.62)
1927 Elsie Wagg thought of getting
private gardeners to open up their gardens to visitors for a small
contribution to a nursing charity. By 2003 Britain's National Garden
Scheme had over 3,500 gardens open to visitors at least 1 day a year.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.119)
1927 In China Mao Tse-tung led a
peasant uprising in Hunan Province.
(TMC, 1994, p.1927)
1927 Julien Benda (1867-1956),
French writer, authored “La Trahison des Clercs,” (Treason of the
Clerks). The title of the English translation was The Betrayal of the
Intellectuals. The book described the politicization of Western
intellectuals, above all their willingness to abandon the disinterested
search for truth.
(WSJ, 6/10/08,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julien_Benda)
1927 The La Samaritaine department
store in Paris was constructed. It replaced an earlier building built
in 1905.
(SFEM, 3/12/00, p.)
1927 French law set the boundaries
of the country’s Champagne region.
(WSJ, 8/12/05, p.B1)
1927 The French launched a major
military campaign in Syria to suppress a revolt by the Druze, which
began in 1925 under the leadership of Sultan al-Atrash. A large French
force sent against them was defeated and the revolt spread into the
Druze portions of Lebanon. When the insurgents gained a foothold in
Damascus, the French bombarded the city.
(HNQ, 5/25/99)
1927 Eugene Atget (b.1857), French
photographer, died.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.B3)
1927 Prince John Kropotkin, son of
Russian Prince Alexei Kropotkin, was beaten to death on a Paris street.
Soviet agents were suspected.
(SFC, 7/5/04, p.B4)
1927 Carl Schmitt, a German
jurist, authored his paper "The Concept of the Political." He proposed
the doctrine of "decisionism" and defined the state’s assertion of its
sovereignty. "The specific political distinction to which political
claims can be reduced is that between friend and enemy."
(WSJ, 10/19/01, p.W19)
1927 In Germany Hannes Meyer
succeeded Walter Gropius as director of the Bauhaus and continued to
1930.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.104)
1927 In Germany the Frankfurt
Kitchen was the 1st mass-produced fitted kitchen and was installed in
thousands of Frankfurt flats.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.84)
1927 Erno Laszlo (1891-1973)
opened the Laszlo Institute for Scientific Cosmetology in Budapest. In
1939 he opened the Laszlo Institute on Fifth Ave in NYC.
(Econ, 11/29/03, p.18)
1927 In India the Musalman
Urdu-language newspaper began operating in Chennai. In 2008 the
handwritten newspaper was still operating with some 23,000 subscribers.
(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.A20)
1927 In India the Deonar dumping
gound opened in Bombay (later Mumbai).
(Econ, 2/28/09, SR p.8)
1927 In Japan Goto Shu’ichi wrote
"Japanese Archaeology."
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.35)
1927 The Japan Sumo Association
(JSA) was founded.
(Econ, 2/16/08, p.50)
1927 Chio Uno (1898-1996)
scandalized Japanese society by cutting her hair short. In 1935 she
wrote "Confessions of Love" based on the many love affairs of painter
Seiji Togo. She also wrote "Ohan" and in 1936 founded Style, Japan’s
first fashion magazine. She was awarded a title by the emperor and
named a "person of cultural merit" in 1990.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A21)
1927 Japan's Imperial Aeronautics
Association launched a competition for a non-stop flight across the
Pacific Ocean. The Ashi Shimbun newspaper offered a $25,000 prize.
(ON, 1/03, p.10)
1927 Japan’s Nippon Trust Bank and
Mitsubishi Trust Bank were founded. They joined together in 2001 and in
2005 became part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
(WSJ, 9/23/08, p.C1)
1927 In Puerto Rico’s last
execution farm worker Pascual Ramos was hanged for beheading his boss
with a machete. Puerto Rico’s death penalty was outlawed in 1929.
(AP, 1/25/05)
1927 In Romania the Legion of the
Archangel Michael was formed and later became the Iron Guard. It was
committed to the "Christian and racial" renovation. The Fascist
organization fed on anti-Semitism and mystical nationalism and was a
major social and political force in Romania between 1930 and 1941. It
was finally destroyed when in 1941 when it staged a revolt against the
government of General Ion Antonescu.
(HNQ, 11/27/01)
1927 Josef Stalin purged much of
the Tatar intelligentsia in the Crimea.
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A8)
1927 Sergius, a Greek Orthodox
bishop, signed an agreement accepting the Soviet Union as a “civil
motherland.”
(Econ, 10/18/08, p.69)
1927 The monastery of Saint
Serafim Sarofsky in the village of Deveyevo, Russia, was liquidated.
The 266 year old complex was used to store lumber and vegetables until
1991 when it was returned to the church.
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.A-11)
1927 Prince John Kropotkin, son of
Russian Prince Alexei Kropotkin, was beaten to death on a Paris street.
Soviet agents were suspected.
(SFC, 7/5/04, p.B4)
1927 In Senegal Sheikh Ahmadou
Bamba (Cheikh Amadou Bamba), Muslim brotherhood religious leader and
founder of the holy center of Touba, died. He inspired the Sufi Muslim
movement called the Mourides, the 2nd of two big movements. The other
older Muslim group was known as the Tidjanes.
(AP, 4/22/03)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.91)(AP, 12/29/07)
1927 In South Africa Alexkor Ltd.,
a state-run diamond mining company, was set up in the town of Alexander
Bay as a work program for poor whites. The local Nama were forced out
after mineral rights were awarded to Alexkor Ltd. In 2007 the
government agreed to restore the 330-square-mile northern coastal strip
to the tribe and pay $28 million compensation as well as millions more
in development funding.
(AP, 10/9/07)
1927-1928 King Abd al-Aziz crushed an uprising be
fanatical Islamist tribes of central Arabia.
(WSJ, 6/30/04, p.A7)
1927-1934 The Chicago Tribune published an edition in
Paris. In 1987 Waverley Root authored “The Paris Edition.”
(WSJ, 9/29/07, p.W8)
1927-1937 General Electric manufactured the Monitor
Tops style refrigerators with a design intended to last 25 years.
(WSJ, 9/20/02, p.A5)
1927-1949 The films of this period were covered in
the 1998 book: "You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet: The American Talking Film,
History and Memory," by Andrew Sarris.
(SFC, 4/8/98, p.E3)
1927-1957 The Mille Miglia automobile race was run
in Italy.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A13)
1927-1959 Carlton Morse created the radio show "One
Man's Family." It was set in Sea Cliff in San Francisco.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, BR p.3)
1927-1989 R.D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist: "We live
in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to
see the present only when it is disappearing."
(AP, 1/31/99)
Go to 1928