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1928 Fun Facts, Trivia and History |
Quick Facts from 1928Table of Contents |
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Top Ten Baby Names of 1928Mary, Betty, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret, Robert, John, James, William, Charles |
US Life Expectancy(1928) Males: 55.6 years, Females: 58.3 years |
The StarsJosephine Baker, Clara Bow, Dolores Costello, Louise Brooks, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Dolores Del Rio, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Mary Pickford, Anna May Wong |
Miss Americanone |
Time Magazine’s Man of the YearWalter Chrysler |
Firsts, Inventions, and WondersSliced bread was invented in 1928 by Otto Rohwedder and was referred to as the ‘best thing since bagged bread’. Babies have been eating Gerber baby foods since 1928. Dorothy Gerber started making them for her daughter in 1927. 1928’s most comfortable invention was the Lay-Z-Boy recliner. The 3-M Company began marketing Scotch Tape. Mickey and Minnie debuted in the Silent cartoon short Plane Crazy, first released on May 15, 1928. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were also called initially “penny cups” since they cost just one cent each when Harry Burnett Reese started selling them in 1928. Speedos were invented in 1928 by Alexander MacRae, a Scottish underwear maker in Australia. A similar product was available in 1914 called Fortitude. Amsterdam invented the Blue P Parking Sign for the 1928 Olympics. Alexander Fleming discovered that the ‘penicillium’ mold could be made into penicillin to cure many life-threatening diseases. It wasn’t fully utilized until World War II. Columbia Records founded CBS in 1928, and Columbia itself was bought out by CBS in 1938. Velveeta Cheese went on sale for the first time. Chef Boyardee was founded by restaurant owner Hector Boiardi in 1928. |
The Biggest Pop Artists of 1928 includeGene Austin, The Carter Family, Frank Crumit, Cliff Edwards, Vernon Dalhart, Duke Ellington, Seger Ellis and His Orchestra, Marion Harris, Al Jolson, Isham Jones and His Orchestra, Helen Kane, Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra, Ted Lewis & His Band, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra, Nick Lucas, George Olson, and His Orchestra, Helen Morgan, Jimmy Rodgers, Nat Shilkret & The Victor Orchestra, Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians, Ted Weems, and His Orchestra, Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra |
Pop Culture Facts & HistoryIda Rosenthal founded Maidenform, which defined bra sizes like A, B, C, D, etc. The Lights Of New York was the first movie filmed entirely with sound. The Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 is the second deadliest hurricane in U.S. History. At least 2,500 people drowned. The 1928 Summer Olympics were the first to feature a scheduled length of 16 days. Previously, the Olympic competition was stretched out over several months. The Passion of Joan of Arc was panned by the French government that commissioned it and a fire destroyed the negative, the original cut of the movie was thought to be lost forever. That was until a copy was found in a closet in an Oslo mental institution in 1981. The ‘Banana Massacre’ of 1928: ~1/2000 striking workers were murdered for United Fruit Company (now Chiquita). Amos & Andy debuted on WMAQ in Chicago. Thomas Midgley and Charles Kettering invented Freon. Freon is now blamed for the depletion of the earth’s ozone shield and being a handy portable air conditioning coolant. Shaving doesn’t make hair grow back thicker, darker, or faster, was first proven in a clinical study by Mildred Trotter. Betty Robinson, who won the first Olympic 100m for women in 1928 at just 16, was later involved in a plane crash. A man who discovered her wrongly thought she was dead drove her to an undertaker. She awoke from her coma seven months later, before returning to win a relay gold in 1936. Humorist Will Rogers ran a presidential campaign in 1928, with his only promise being that he would resign the presidency if he won the election. Although Levi Strauss first made his jeans in 1872, the company finally registered the name (Levi’s™) in 1928. He never married, so he never passed his ‘genes’ to children. Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s musical play, The Threepenny Opera, premiered. It featured the earliest version of Mack The Knife. Mickey Mouse officially appeared for the first time in Steamboat Willie, and his birthday coincided with Willie’s release date, November 18th. Many consider it the first “talkie cartoon”. Paul Terry released the talkie cartoon Dinner Time on Oct 14, 1928, a month before Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie, which got all the credit. Walt Disney himself voiced Mickey Mouse from his premiere in 1928 until 1946, when Walt became too busy to do it. The lowest toll ever paid for the Panama Canal was 36 cents. It was paid by Richard Halliburton in 1928 so he could swim across the canal. Joseph Goebbels attributed everything he knew about population control to just two books, Propaganda (1928) and Crystalizing Public Opinion (1923). To this day, the techniques in these books are used extensively by figures in politics, media, and advertising. Amelia Earhart flew her plane east across the Atlantic Ocean successfully in 1932, the first female having done so. She was also the first female to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger, in 1928. The slogan “Make your wet dreams come true” was used by 1928 presidential candidate Al Smith about repealing prohibition. |
Nobel Prize WinnersPhysics – Owen Willans Richardson |
Popular and Best-selling Books From 1928All Kneeling by Anne Parrish |
SportsWorld Series Champions: New York Yankees Only 5 NFL Games have ended with a 2-0 score:
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More 1928 Facts & History Resources:Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com) |
