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1929 Fun Facts, Trivia and History |
Quick Facts from 1929Table of Contents |
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Top Ten Baby Names of 1929Mary, Betty, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret, Robert, James, John, William, Charles |
US Life Expectancy(1929) Males: 55.8 years, Females: 58.7 years |
The StarsJosephine Baker, Clara Bow, Dolores Costello, Louise Brooks, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Dolores Del Rio, Mary Eaton, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Thelma Todd, Anna May Wong |
The OscarsThe 1st Academy Awards rolled out the red carpet on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Blossom Room with actor Douglas Fairbanks hosting the event. Wings, a silent war film, clinched the Best Picture category, making it the only silent film to win the prestigious award. Frank Borzage bagged the Best Director title for Seventh Heaven, a romantic drama that set trends for the genre. Regarding acting, Emil Jannings was the star, winning Best Actor for his roles in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. Janet Gaynor made history as the youngest Best Actress winner and was then, honored for her roles in Seventh Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise. Unlike today’s sprawling ceremonies, the initial event was a 15-minute affair attended by fewer than 300 guests. The term “Oscar” hadn’t even been coined yet, and the awards were officially known as “Academy Awards of Merit.” Interestingly, the awards had more nuanced categories in their early days; for example, there were two types of Best Picture awards—Outstanding Picture and Unique and Artistic Production. While Wings swooped the Outstanding Picture, Sunrise captured the Unique and Artistic category. So, the Academy Awards, initially a small, private affair, have evolved into a global spectacle, continuing to captivate audiences nearly a century later. |
Miss Americanone |
Time Magazine’s Man of the YearOwen D. Young |
Firsts, Inventions, and WondersWhen first created in 1929, 7-Up (7 ounces of “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.”) contained the mood-enhancing drug lithium citrate and did so until it was removed from the formula in 1950. Mickey Mouse was the first-ever cartoon character to speak. In The Karnival Kid, Mickey’s first words were, “Hot dogs!” Times New Roman is a modified version of Times Roman, a font created in 1929 for the British newspaper The Times. It was designed by Monotype to be used by rivals at Linotype on their typesetting machines. Popeye first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre, on January 17, 1929. Pine-Sol cleaner was invented. On November 9, in New York City, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened to the public. Tarzan and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D. comic strips debuted. Vatican City was founded in 1929. Alfred Hitchcock made the first recorded “That’s what she said” (as the girl said to the soldier) joke while filming his movie Blackmail. |
The Biggest Pop Artists of 1929 includeGus Arnheim & His Orchestra, Gene Austin, Eddie Cantor, Cliff Edwards, Ruth Etting, Johnny Hamp & His Orchestra, Bob Haring and His Orchestra, Libby Holman, Al Jolson, Helen Kane, Ted Lewis, and His Band, Nick Lucas, George Olson, and His Orchestra, Leo Reisman and His Orchestra, Nat Shilkret & the Victor Orchestra, Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees, Ethel Waters, Ted Weems and His Orchestra, Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra |
Scandalous NewsOn March 31, at New York City’s Easter Parade, a small group of young women proudly smoked cigarettes as they marched. Since smoking was considered a male-dominated activity then, these cigarettes were marketed as “Torches of Freedom” to help break the taboo and convince women to buy them. Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, who was nicknamed “the father of public relations,” created the #marketingploy Women were not legally considered ‘Persons’ in Canada until 1929. The US Supreme Court voted 8 -1 in favor of a Eugenics program requiring forced sterilization of citizens deemed not intelligent enough to reproduce. |
The QuoteMobster Frank Gusenberg told police, “Nobody shot me,” after being shot eight times at the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. |
US Politics |
Pop Culture HistoryJohn F Kennedy’s father, Joe Kennedy, sold his entire stock portfolio before the 1929 crash because “a shoeshine boy gave him some stock tips. And He figured that when the shoeshine boys have tips, the market is too popular for its good.” From 1928-1933, giant balloons were released into the air at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 1929, they were postmarked with a return address, and you won a prize if you found one and sent it back. THE SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE – Al Capone’s men allegedly killed seven other alleged gangsters in an apparent shooting on February 14th. This would have given Mr. Capone control of Chicago’s mob underworld, if such a thing, in fact, actually existed. The United States Congress established the Grand Teton National Park. Vladimir Zworykin invented the cathode-ray tube called the kinescope, the basis for 20th-century television screens. The Zildjian musical instrument company, which started in 1623 in Turkey and moved to the US in 1929, is widely recognized as the oldest family-owned business in America. An estimated 50% of all American films made before 1950 and over 90% of those made before 1929 are forever lost. The practice of identifying baseball players by number was started by the Yankees in 1929. (originally corresponding to a player’s position in the batting order). Music and the Spoken Word is the longest-running continuous network program in the world. It debuted in 1929 and has made over 4,400 weekly broadcasts. When the Levee Breaks is a country blues song written and first recorded by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929, inspired by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Led Zeppelin covered it on their Led Zeppelin IV album. ‘Zombie’ was introduced to the Western world in The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook in 1929. Rumor is that Louis B. Mayer “fixed” the first Academy Awards presentation. The first public demonstration of color TV was held at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York. The first images were a bouquet of roses and an American flag. Coco the Clown debuted at Bertram Mills Circus in Manchester, England. All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) by Erich Maria Remarque, was published in book form. “Blue Chip” refers to high-value poker chips at the turn of the 20th century. It was first applied to stocks in 1929, shortly before the great stock market crash. The Countdown we use today was first seen in Fritz Lang’s Woman on the Moon. |
Strange, But TrueGeneral Motors and Chevrolet were founded by the same man, William Durant, who later lost all his money in the stock market crash in 1929 and died nearly bankrupt while managing a bowling alley. Roger Babson correctly predicted the Wall Street Crash of 1929 using the unorthodox notion that gravity and Sir Isaac Newton’s law of action and reaction can be used to explain movement in the stock markets. Princeton researchers successfully turned a live cat into a functioning telephone. |
Nobel Prize WinnersPhysics – Louis de Broglie |
Popular and Best-selling Books From 1929A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway |
SportsWorld Series Champions: Philadelphia Athletics |
More 1929 Facts & History Resources:Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com) |
