Historical Events
Event of Interest
Dec 1 Rudolf Hess & Ernest Rohm become ministers in Hitler government
Rudolf Hess
Adolf Hitler
Film Release
Dec 2 Fred Astaire's 1st film, "Dancing Lady", released
Fred Astaire
Event of Interest
Dec 3 As part of a famous MLB fire sale of players, Philadelphia A's owner Connie Mack sells catcher Mickey Cochrane to Detroit for $100,000; Cochrane is immediately named Tigers manager
Connie Mack
- Dec 3 Joe Lilliard QBs Chic Cardinals; last NFL black until 1946
Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Dec 4 Jack Kirkland's play "Tobacco Road" premieres in NYC, became the longest-running play of its time
Prohibition and The Rise of Al Capone
Dec 5 Prohibition ends in the US when 21st Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, 18th Amendment repealed (5:32 PM EST)
Read Article
Event of Interest
Dec 6 Ban on James Joyce's "Ulysses" in US lifted
James Joyce
Nobel Prize
Dec 10 Nobel Prize for Physics is presented to Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory"
Paul Dirac
Erwin Schrödinger
Event of Interest
Dec 12 Eddie Shore hits Toronto Maple Leaf star Ace Bailey from behind, fracturing his skull and ending his career
Eddie Shore
Event of Interest
Dec 14 Josephine Baker performs in Amsterdam
Josephine Baker
- Dec 15 Baseball owners agree to ban Sunday doubleheaders until after June 15
- Dec 16 Abe de Vries & Sipke Castelein win Elfstedentocht
- Dec 17 B H Valentine scores 133 on Test Cricket debut, Eng v India at Bombay
- Dec 17 Lala Amarnath scores century on Test Cricket debut (went on to 118)
- Dec 17 Spain's 2nd government of Lerroux forms
NFL Championship
Dec 17 National Football League Championship - 1st title game, Wrigley Field, Chicago: Chicago Bears beat New York Giants, 23-21; "Bronko Nagurski Rule" - forward pass is legal anywhere behind line of scrimmage
Bronko Nagurski
Mel Hein
Contract of Interest
Dec 21 Fox Films signs Shirley Temple aged 5, to a studio contract
Shirley Temple
- Dec 21 Newfoundland reverts to being a crown colony of Great Britain
NHL Record
Dec 23 Montreal Canadiens center Howie Morenz scores in 3-0 win v Detroit Red Wings; his NHL record 249th career goal
Howie Morenz
- Dec 23 Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe sentenced to death for setting the German Reichstag on fire
- Dec 23 Train crash in Eastern Paris; 230 die
- Dec 24 Paris express train derails & kills 160, injures 300 (France)
- Dec 25 Another Christmas Day five-wicket haul by Clarrie Grimmett
- Dec 25 Belgian Working people's party accept Henry de Mans Plan of Labor
- Dec 25 Stan Smith takes 8-33 for Victoria v Tasmania at Hobart
- Dec 26 US forswears armed intervention in Western Hemisphere
- Dec 26 FM radio patent granted to American engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong
Film Release
Dec 29 "Sons of the Desert" film directed by William A. Seiter starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy is released
Oliver Hardy
Stan Laurel
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoon artist (d. 1996)
- Dec 1 Lou Rawls, American soul singer-songwriter and producer ("You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", "Natural Man"), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2006)
- Dec 1 Violetta Verdy, French ballerina and teacher, born in Pont-l'Abbé, Brittany (d. 2016)
- Dec 2 Michael Larrabee, American athlete (Olympic gold 400m, 4x400m relay 1964), born in Hollywood, California (d. 2003)
- Dec 2 K. Veeramani, Indian anti-caste activist, born in Cuddalore, Madras Presidency, British India
- Dec 3 Paul J. Crutzen, Dutch chemist, Nobel laureate
- Dec 4 Horst Buchholz, German actor (Magnificent 7, Raid on Entebbe), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2003)
- Dec 4 Dick Ricketts Jr., American basketball center (# 1 overall pick 1955 NBA draft St. Louis Hawks) and baseball pitcher (St. Louis Cardinals), born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania (d. 1988)
- Dec 5 Bernard van Beurden, Dutch composer and music educator, born in Amsterdam (d. 2016)
- Dec 5 Edward Daly, Irish Bishop "Bloody Sunday" priest, born in Belleek, County Fermanagh (d. 2016)
- Dec 6 Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (Symphony No. 3 - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), born in Czernica, Poland (d. 2010)
- Dec 6 Jim Pothecary, South African cricket medium pace bowler (3 Tests, 9 wickets; Western Province), born in Cape Town, South Africa (d. 2016)
- Dec 8 Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (Flip Wilson Show), born in Jersey City, New Jersey (d. 1998)
- Dec 9 Milt Campbell, American decathlete (Olympic gold 1956), born in Plainfield, New Jersey (d. 2012)
- Dec 9 Orville Moody, American golfer (US Open 1969), born in Chickasha Oklahoma (d. 2008)
- Dec 10 Grenville Alabaster, New Zealand cricketer (NZ tourist to Aust 1973-74), born in Invercargill, New Zealand
- Dec 10 Mako, Japanese-American actor (The Sand Pebbles), born in Kobe, Hyōgo, Empire of Japan (d. 2006)
- Dec 10 Larry Morris, NFL Linebacker (NFL 1960s All-Decade Team), born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 2012)
- Dec 11 Ernst van Altena, Dutch author and interpreter (Chansons van Earnest), born in Amsterdam (d. 1999)
- Dec 11 Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Filipino politician (23rd President of the Senate of the Philippines), born in Claveria, Misamis Oriental, Philippine Islands
- Dec 12 Manu Dibango, Cameroonian musician (Soul Makossa), born in Douala, French Cameroon (d. 2020)
- Dec 13 Lou Adler, American music executive, director, producer, and co-owner of the famous Roxy Theatre, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2017)
- Dec 14 Leo Wright, American jazz saxophone and flute player (Dizzy Gillespie;; Blues Shout; I Left My Heart In San Francisco), born in Wichita Falls, Texas (d. 1991)
- Dec 15 Jesse Belvin, American rock vocalist (Mr Easy), born in San Antonio, Texas (d. 1960)
- Dec 15 Tim Conway, American comedian (McHale's Navy; The Carol Burnett Show), born in Willoughby, Ohio
- Dec 15 Donald Woods, South African journalist, anti-apartheid activist and author (Biko, Asking for Trouble), born in Elliotdale, South Africa (d. 2001)
- Dec 16 Johnny "Hammond" Smith, American jazz and bop organist (Wild Horses Rock Steady), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1997)
- Dec 17 Stefan Florenski, Polish soccer defender (11 caps; Górnik Zabrze), born in Gleiwitz, Poland (d. 2020)
- Dec 17 Bruce Morrison, cricketer (one Test NZ v England 1963)
- Dec 17 Paul Snoek [Edm Schietekat], Belgian poet
- Dec 18 Arthur Leigh Allen, Suspected Zodiac serial killer (d. 1992)
- Dec 19 Kevan Gosper, Australian athlete
- Dec 20 Gordon Getty, American composer, businessman and heir of J. Paul Getty, born in Los Angeles, California
- Dec 20 Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist (world champion, 1961), born in Grobbendonk, Belgium
- Dec 20 Jean Carnahan, US politician and writer (Missouri, Senator 2001–2002), born in Washington, D.C.
- Dec 21 Huib Eversdijk, Dutch 2nd chamber member (CDA), born in Kapelle, Netherlands (d. 2012)
- Dec 21 Jackie Hendriks, cricketer (West Indian wicket-keeper of 60's), born in Kingston, Jamaica
- Dec 21 Miklos Kocsar, Hungarian composer, born in Debrecen, Hungary
- Dec 26 Ugly Dave Gray, Australian television personality
- Dec 26 Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street (1969-2018), born in Waltham, Massachusetts (d. 2019)
- Dec 27 Dave Marr, golfer, broadcaster, (PGA Championship 1965), born in Houston, Texas (d. 1997)
- Dec 28 Jack Perkins, newscaster (Prime Time Sunday, NBC Magazine), born in Cleveland, Ohio
- Dec 28 John Y. Brown, Jr., American politician
- Dec 29 "Prez" Kenneth [Kidd], American blues singer and bass guitarist ("Devil Dealing"), born in Newton, Massachusetts (d. 1995)
- Dec 30 Perry Ford [Brian Pugh], British pop singer, session musician and songwriter (The Ivy League - "Tossing And Turning"), born in Lincoln, England (d. 1999)
- Dec 31 Edward Bunker, American author & actor, born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2005)
- Dec 31 Chryssa [Vardea-Mavromichali], Greek-American artist, born in Athens, Greece (d. 2013)
- Dec 31 Fred F. Carter Jr., American country session guitarist, singer, producer and composer (Nashville's "A-Team"), born in Winnsboro, Louisiana (d. 2010)
Famous Weddings
- Dec 2 1st transatlantic telephone wedding (Bertil Clason-Sigrid Carlson)
Wedding of Interest
Dec 15 Actor Gary Cooper (32) weds actress Veronica Balfe (20) in Park Avenue, New York City
Gary Cooper
Famous Deaths
- Dec 2 Josef Gruber, Austrian organist and composer, dies at 78
- Dec 3 Richard Henry Warren, American organist and composer, dies at 74
- Dec 4 Stefan George, German poet (Das neue Reich), dies at 65
- Dec 9 Morice Bird, cricketer (scored 280 runs in 10 Tests for England), dies
- Dec 11 Emile Wauters, Belgian painter (Van der Goes Klooster), dies at 87
- Dec 12 Theodore Moses Tobani, German composer, dies at 78
- Dec 17 Hans Vaihinger, German philosopher (Side-Studies), dies at 81
- Dec 17 Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama, dies at 57
- Dec 19 George Jackson Churchward, GWR Chief mechanical engineer. (b. 1857)
- Dec 21 Knud J. V. Rasmussen, Danish Pole explorer (Thule), dies at 54
- Dec 25 Francesc Macià, Catalonian statesman (b. 1859)
- Dec 26 Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian Marxist revolutionary, author and literary critic, dies at 58
- Dec 29 Joh Georghe Duca, premier of Romania, murdered
