1922 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

1922 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

Quick Facts from 1922

  • World Changing Event: The Ottoman Empire was abolished, and its last sultan, Mehmed VI, abdicated.
  • The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was created.
  • Mussolini and the Fascist Party came to power in Italy.
  • Mohandas Gandhi was arrested, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
  •  America’s first aircraft carrier, The USS Langley, was commissioned.
  • Influential Musical Artists include Fats Waller, Fanny Brice, Al Jolson, Marion Harris, and Ethel Waters.
  • The 2-month-long Railway Shopmen’s Strike of 1922 began, affecting 400,000 workers.
  • The Movies to Watch include Nosferatu, Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, Foolish Wives, and Nanook of the North.
  • The Most Famous Person in America was probably Babe Ruth
  • The Rose Bowl Stadium officially opened in Pasadena, California.
  • Coca-Cola’s first polar bear print advertisement appeared in France in 1922.
  • Price of 24 Dr. Swift’s Root Beer, 8 oz in 1922: $2.25
  • The Funny Guy was Harold Lloyd
  • The (Modern) Conversation: Betty White is older than sliced bread. Betty White was born in 1922, and sliced bread was introduced in 1928.

Top Ten Baby Names of 1922

Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret, Ruth, Betty, Virginia, Mildred, Elizabeth
John, Robert, William, James, Charles, George, Joseph, Edward, Richard, Frank

US Life Expectancy

(1922) Males: 58.4 years, Females: 61.0 years

The Stars

Theda Bara, Marion Davies, Pola Negri, Mary Pickford

Miss America

Mary Katherine Campbell (Columbus, Ohio)

Firsts, Inventions, and Wonders

Gummy Bears were created in Germany.

Walgreens introduced the malted milkshake in 1922.

Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion, patented a wrench (U.S. patent #1,413,121) on April 18, 1922.

Lincoln Memorial was dedicated.

The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was established.

The first-ever 3D movie was The Power Of Love, a silent film released in 1922. It was also the first film to have an alternative ending, and the viewer could choose between the happy and sad endings (both shot in 2D) by closing one eye or the other. No copies exist

The Caterpillar Club is an association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out a disabled aircraft. “Life depends on a silken thread” is the club’s motto.

The term The Jazz Age was coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922, the same year that the Great Gatsby is based.

Christian K. Nelson patented the Eskimo Pie ice cream treat.

In the 1897 novel by Bram Stoker, sunlight isn’t fatal to Dracula but only drains most of his powers. It wasn’t until the 1922 film Nosferatu that sunlight was first depicted as deadly to vampires.

The first recorded use of periwinkle as an (English) color name.

The first woman to serve in the US Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton in 1922. She was 87 and served for only one day. She championed prison reform, women’s rights, and education. She was the last member of Congress to have owned slaves.

Readers Digest and Ring Magazine began publication.

When Vegemite was invented in 1922, it almost failed as a product. By 1940, it was so central to the Aussie diet that it became mandatory in their WWII military rations.

The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 influenced the Art Deco design style and repopularized the use of eyeliner in the West.

The Bureau of Public Roads commissioned Gen. John J. Pershing to make a map for construction purposes and to highlight which roads in the U.S. were the most important in the event of war. The “Pershing Map” was the first official topographic road map of the United States.

The Biggest Pop Artists of 1922 include

Elsie Baker, Nora Bayes, The Benson Orchestra of Chicago, Fanny Brice, Henry Burr, Eddie Cantor, Zez Confrey & His Orchestra, Edwin Dale, Vernon Dalhart, Al Jolson, Ernest Hare, Mariona Harris, Charles Harrison, Billy Jones, Isham Jones & His Orchestra, Ted Lewis and His Band, Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra, Ray Miller and His Orchestra, Lucy Isabelle Marsh, Billy Murray, The Peerless Quartet, Joseph C. Smith’s Orchestra, Aileen Stanley, John Steel, Van & Schenck, Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, Bert Williams

Pop Culture Facts & History

On February 2, 1922, it was 2:22:22 on 2/2/22.

Film director Hal Roach released the first of many ‘short’ features called Our Gang. Considered racist by many today, it was groundbreaking to include black and white children playing together in 1922. In 1955, the series of shorts was renamed Little Rascals for television.

The Straw Hat Riot of 1922 was an eight-day riot in New York City over men wearing straw hats past the unofficial date deemed socially acceptable, September 15th.

Hottest day and place ever recorded on Earth: September 13, 1922 – 136 degrees in El Aziza, Libia. (or was it?)

Although lead paint was recognized as toxic as early as 1897 and banned by the League of Nations in 1922, the US did not ban lead paint until 1971.

Nanook of the North, the first commercially successful feature-length documentary film, was released on June 11.

There was an all-Native American NFL team from 1922-1923 called the Oorang Indians, based out of Ohio.

All telephone service in the US and Canada was silenced for one minute on August 4, 1922, to mark the funeral of Alexander Graham Bell.

While incarcerated in Leavenworth, Jack Johnson, the first black world champion heavyweight boxer, modified a wrench for tightening loosened fastening devices and received a patent for his improvements on April 18, 1922 (Patent #1,413,121)

There are no grizzly bears in California, and there haven’t been since 1922, despite one being on the state flag.

On May 30, 1922, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs traded two players (Max Flack and Cliff Heathcote)between doubleheader games. Both players played for each team that day.

The US Postmaster General declared all houses had to have mailboxes or forgo mail delivery.

On August 25, 1922, the highest-scoring game in Major League history occurred: the Chicago Cubs defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 26–23, a total of 49 runs.

Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Pharoah Tutankhamun, better known as King Tut.

Briggs & Stratton Flyer was the least expensive car ever manufactured, selling for about $125 in 1922.

Charles Osborne had hiccups for 68 years, from 1922 to 1990, and was entered in the Guinness World Records as the man with the longest attack of hiccups, an estimated 430 million hiccups.

Wimbledon Center Court was completed.

The highest-scoring baseball game was 49 runs when the Chicago Cubs beat the Phillies 26 to 23 on August 25th.

The Bureau of Public Roads commissioned US General John J. Pershing to make a map to highlight which roads in the U.S. were the most important in the event of war. The “Pershing Map” was the first official topographic road map of the United States.

The Hess Triangle Plate was put on an NYC sidewalk area.

One hundred twelve people died during the Hoover Dam project. The first was J. G. Tierney, a surveyor who drowned on December 20, 1922. His son, Patrick W. Tierney, was the last man to die working on the dam, 13 years later.

In Chicago, the Herrin Massacre occurred in June 1922 in Herrin, Illinois. 19 ‘scabs’ and two union miners (Jordie Henderson and Joe Pitkewicius) were killed in mob action between June 21-22, 1922. #scabsgetslabs

The Cure

Scientists went to a Toronto General Hospital’s children’s diabetes ward with comatose children, dying from diabetic ketoacidosis. They went from bed to bed, injecting the kids with a new extract, insulin. The children woke up within minutes.

The Reward

When Niels Bohr won the Nobel Prize, Carlsberg Brewery gave him a house. The house was located next to the brewery, and it had a direct pipeline to the brewery so that Bohr had free beer on tap whenever he wanted. They injected the last unconscious child, and the first children injected began to awaken.

Nobel Prize Winners

Physics – Niels Henrik David Bohr
Chemistry – Francis William Aston
Physiology or Medicine – Archibald Vivian Hill, Otto Fritz Meyerhof
Literature – Jacinto Benavente
Peace – Fridtjof Nansen

Broadway Show

Abie’s Irish Rose (Play) Opened on May 23, 1922, and closed on October 1, 1927

Popular and Best-selling Books From 1922

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Gentle Julia by Booth Tarkington
The Head of the House of Coombe by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Helen of the Old House by Harold Bell Wright
If Winter Comes by A. S. M. Hutchinson
Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon
The Sheik by Edith M. Hull
Simon Called Peter by Robert Keable
This Freedom by A. S. M. Hutchinson
To the Last Man by Zane Grey

Sports

World Series Champions: New York Giants
Stanley Cup Champs: Toronto St. Pats
U.S. Open Golf: Gene Sarazan
U.S. Tennis (Men/Ladies): William (Bill) T. Tilden/Molla B. Mallory
Wimbledon (Men/Women): Gerald Patterson/Suzanne Lenglen
NCAA Football Champions: California & Cornell & Princeton
Kentucky Derby Winner: Morvich
Boston Marathon Winner: Clarence DeMar Time: 2:18:10

More 1922 Facts & History Resources:

Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com)
Popular and Notable Books (popculture.us)
Broadway Shows that Opened in 1922
1922 Calendar, courtesy of Time and Date.com
Fact Monster
1920s, Infoplease.com World History
1922 in Movies (according to IMDB)
Retrowaste Vintage Culture
1920s Slang
Wikipedia 1922