What Happened in December 1933

Historical Events

Event of Interest

Dec 1 Rudolf Hess & Ernest Rohm become ministers in Hitler government

Nazi leader Rudolf Hess — Nazi leader
Rudolf Hess

Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler — Dictator of Nazi Germany
Adolf Hitler

Film Release

Dec 2 Fred Astaire's 1st film, "Dancing Lady", released

Actor and Dancer Fred Astaire — Actor and Dancer
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

Baseball Legend Connie Mack — Baseball Legend
Connie Mack

Event of Interest

Dec 4 FDR creates Federal Alcohol Control Administration

32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt — 32nd US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Dec 4 Jack Kirkland's play "Tobacco Road" premieres in NYC, became the longest-running play of its time
Dec 5 Prohibition ends in the US when 21st Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, 18th Amendment repealed (5:32 PM EST)

Event of Interest

Dec 6 Ban on James Joyce's "Ulysses" in US lifted

Novelist & Poet James Joyce — Novelist & Poet
James Joyce

Dec 9 CFL Grey Cup, Athletic Park, Sarnia: Toronto Argonauts edge Sarnia Imperials, 4-3 for their 3rd Championship
Dec 9 Romania prohibits fascist Iron Guard

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"

Theoretical Physicist and Nobel Laureate Paul Dirac — Theoretical Physicist and Nobel Laureate
Paul Dirac

Physicist and Nobel Laureate Erwin Schrödinger — Physicist and Nobel Laureate
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

NHL Star Eddie Shore — NHL Star
Eddie Shore

Dec 14 Josephine Baker performs in Amsterdam
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

Event of Interest

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

Hall of Fame American Football Player Bronko Nagurski — Hall of Fame American Football Player
Bronko Nagurski

Dec 19 Electric Home & Farm Authority Inc, authorized
Dec 20 Bolivia & Paraguay sign cease fire
Dec 21 Dried human blood serum 1st prepared, University of Pennsylvania

Contract of Interest

Dec 21 Fox Films signs Shirley Temple aged 5, to a studio contract

Actress and Diplomat Shirley Temple — Actress and Diplomat
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

NHL Star Howie Morenz — NHL Star
Howie Morenz

Dec 23 Marinus van der Lubbe sentenced to death
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

Event of Interest

Dec 29 New York Yankees refuses to release Babe Ruth to manage the Cincinnati Reds

Baseball Legend Babe Ruth — Baseball Legend
Babe Ruth

Film Release

Dec 29 "Sons of the Desert" film directed by William A. Seiter starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy is released

Comic Actor Oliver Hardy — Comic Actor
Oliver Hardy

Comedian and Actor Stan Laurel — Comedian and Actor
Stan Laurel

Dec 30 -50°F (-46°C) in Bloomfield, Vermont (state record)
Dec 30 Government disallows NSB-membership for civil service
Dec 30 Jack Badcock scores 274 v Victoria, Tasmania's 1st double-ton

Famous Birthdays

Dec 1 Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoon artist (d. 1996)
Dec 1 Lou Rawls, American vocalist (Dean Martin's Golddigers, 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 (d. 2003)
Dec 2 K. Veeramani, Indian anti-caste activist
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 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, cricketer (South African pace bowler on 1960 England tour)
Dec 8 Flip Wilson, [Clerow], comedian (Flip Wilson Show), born in Jersey City, New Jersey
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
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 saxophonist (I left my heart in San Francisco), born in Wichita Falls, Texas (d. 1991)
Dec 15 Jesse Belvin, Texarkana Arkansas, rock vocalist (Mr Easy)
Dec 15 Tim Conway, Willoughby Oh, comic (McHale's Navy, Carol Burnett Show)
Dec 15 Donald Woods, South African journalist, anti-apartheid activist and author (Biko, Asking for Trouble), born in Elliotdale, South Africa (d. 2001)
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 Cicely Tyson, Harlem actress (Roots, Miss Jane Pittman), born in NYC, New York
Dec 19 Kevan Gosper, Australian athlete
Dec 20 Gordon Getty, American 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 23 Akihito, Emperor of Japan (1989- ), born in Tokyo, Japan
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
Dec 27 Dave Marr, golfer/sportscaster, (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 "Kidd" Kenneth, American blues singer/guitarist
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)

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

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 C 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

1932
On This Day
1934