Sports History
Apr 1 Detroit Red Wings right wing Gordie Howe scores 2 goals and an assist, and sets a Stanley Cup playoff record for fastest goal from the start of a game (:09) in a 4-3 2OT win over Toronto in Game 5 of the Semi-Finals
- Apr 2 Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced [see Jan 26]
- Apr 3 Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical "Me and Juliet" closes at Majestic Theater, NYC, after 358 performances
- Apr 3 Don Perry climbs a 20' rope in under 2.8 seconds (AAU record)
- Apr 6 Montreal Canadiens score 3 goals in 56 sec in playoff game against Det
- Apr 6 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
- Apr 7 German government refuses to recognize DDR
Conference of Interest
Apr 7 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in news conference is first to voice fear of a "domino-effect" of communism in Indo-China
- Apr 7 WALB TV channel 10 in Albany, GA (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 8 "By the Beautiful Sea" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 270 performances
- Apr 9 WECT TV channel 6 in Wilmington, NC (NBC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 9 7th Cannes Film Festival: "Gate of Hell" directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
- Apr 10 KRGV TV channel 5 in Weslaco, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 10 108th Grand National: Bryan Marshall wins aboard Royal Tan at 8/1; second consecutive GN victory for both Marshall and trainer Vincent O'Brien
- Apr 10 Wales beats Scotland, 15-3 at the St. Helen's Ground, Swansea to share Five Nations Rugby Championship with France and England; France's first title
US Masters Golf
Apr 12 18th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Sam Snead wins his 3rd and final Masters by 1 stroke in an 18-hole playoff with Ben Hogan
Music History
Apr 12 Bill Haley and the Comets record "Rock Around Clock"
Sports History
Apr 13 Milwaukee Braves' Hank Aaron's 1st game
Historic Event
Apr 13 Robert Oppenheimer accused of being a communist
- Apr 14 Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov asks for politics asylum in Canberra
- Apr 15 KARK TV channel 4 in Little Rock, AR (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 15 Orioles 1st game in Baltimore beat White Sox 3-1
- Apr 15 WHO TV channel 13 in Des Moines, IA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 15 Yankees dedicate a plaque to Edward Barrow
- Apr 16 KVAL TV channel 13 in Eugene, OR (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 16 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 in OT for a 4-3 series victory
Historic Event
Apr 18 Egyptian Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power and appoints himself Prime Minister
- Apr 19 58th Boston Marathon won by Veikko Karvonen of Finland in 2:20:39
Boston Marathon
Apr 19 7-time winner of Boston Marathon, 65-year-old Clarence DeMar, runs his last race at Boston finishing 78th
- Apr 20 "Golden Apple" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 125 performances
- Apr 21 USAF flies French battalion to Vietnam
- Apr 22 Achiel van Acker forms Belgian government
- Apr 22 NBA adopts 24-second shot clock & 6 team-foul rule
- Apr 22 US Senate Army-McCarthy televised hearings begin
- Apr 22 USSR joins UNESCO
- Apr 23 Hammerin' Hank Aaron hits 1st of his 755 homers
- Apr 24 1st American, civilian pilot, P.R. Holden, wounded in Indochina
- Apr 24 Australia & USSR break diplomatic relations
- Apr 24 WSEE TV channel 35 in Erie, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting
First Solar Battery
Apr 25 Bell labs announces the 1st solar battery made from silicon. It has about 6% efficiency.
Polio
Apr 26 Mass trials of Jonas Salk's anti-polio vaccine begin; the first shot is delivered in Fairfax County, Virginia; more than 443,000 children receive shots over three months
Film Release
Apr 26 "Seven Samurai", Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, is released
- Apr 26 USSR Supreme Soviet transfer the Crimean oblast from Russian SFSR to Ukrainian SSR
Music Concert
Apr 30 Darius Milhaud's 4th Concert for piano and orchestra premieres in Haifa, Israel
