Events in Film & TV
- Mar 24 "Wuthering Heights" film based on the Emily Brontë novel, directed by William Wyler and starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier, premieres in Los Angeles
- May 17 1st televised baseball game is broadcast on NBC, with Princeton defeating Columbia 2-1
- Aug 8 7th Venice Film Festival opens with a United States boycott due to Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italian regime
- Aug 15 "The Wizard of Oz", American musical fantasy film directed by Victor Fleming and King Vidor, premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, starring Judy Garland (Dorothy), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion), Frank Morgan (Wizard), Billie Burke (Glinda), and Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch)
- Oct 17 "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur, is released
- Dec 15 "Gone With The Wind", drama film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, premieres in Atlanta (Best Picture 1940, inflation not adjusted highest-grossing film of all time)
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Film & TV Awards in 1939
- Feb 23 11th Academy Awards: "You Can’t Take It With You", Spencer Tracy & Bette Davis wins
- Aug 8 7th Venice Film Festival opens with a United States boycott due to Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italian regime
Weddings in Film & TV
- Feb 4 American singer Frank Sinatra (23) marries 1st wife Nancy Barbato (21) at Our Lady of Sorrows catholic church in Jersey City, New Jersey; divorce in 1951
- Mar 29 "Gone With The Wind" actor Clark Gable (37) weds actress Carole Lombard (30) at the rectory of Saint John's Methodist Episcopal Church in Kingman, Arizona
- Apr 22 Actor and naval officer of World War II Douglas Fairbanks Jr (29) weds supermarket magnate Huntington Hartford's former wife Mary Lee Hartford
Divorces in Film & TV
- Oct 11 Actor Jackie Coogan (24) divorces actress Betty Grable (22) after 2 years of marriage
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