1920 Fun Facts, Trivia and History |
Quick Facts from 1920: |
|
Top Ten Baby Names of 1920: Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret, Ruth, Mildred, Virginia, Elizabeth, Frances, Anna John, William, Robert, James, Charles, George, Joseph, Edward, Frank, Richard |
US Life Expectancy: (1920) Males: 53.6 years, Females: 54.6 years Federal spending: $6.36 billion Consumer Price Index: $20 Unemployment: 5.2% Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.02 |
The Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Theda Bara, Pola Negri, Mary Pickford, Olive Thomas |
Firsts, Inventions, and Wonders: The Holland Tunnel was started, allowing motor vehicle traffic to travel between New Jersey and New York City. Raggedy Andy was introduced. His sister, Raggedy Ann was created in 1915 (US Patent #D47789). On August 20, 1920, The first US commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), Detroit began daily broadcasting. On September 29 The first domestic radio sets come to stores in the United States; a Westinghouse radio costs $10. The American Professional Football Association was formed in 1920 with Jim Thorpe as its president and fourteen teams. It later changed its name to the National Football League in 1922. Jesse Langsdorf patented the all-weather and wrinkle-free necktie. Carrie Chapman Catt founded the League of Women Voters during the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) convention in Chicago, Illinois. Both “googol” and “googolplex” were coined by the 9-year-old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner in 1920. He defined a googol as 10^100 and a googolplex as “one, followed by writing zeroes until you get tired”. Kasner decided to standardize it and set a googolplex equal to 10^googol instead. The Ford Motor Company produced so much factory wood waste that they manufactured it into charcoal and sold it under the name Ford Charcoal. The company was later renamed to Kingsford Charcoal. Snap-on Tools, with interchangeable sockets, began being sold in Chicago. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force was established. On May 2, the first game of Negro National League baseball was played, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Nikolai Tesla patented a one-way-valve with no moving parts in 1920 (#1,329,559). On January 16, 1920, the League of Nations held its first Executive Council meeting, consisting of the major member-powers. |
Pop Culture News: Hollywood’s first ‘super couple’ was Douglas Fairbanks and Mary ‘America’s Sweetheart’ Pickford, married 1920 and divorced in 1936. Both were huge stars in the silent film industry, but they were also significant players behind the scene. In 1919, along with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, founded United Artists, one of the first movie distribution companies. They appeared in one film together – 1929’s Taming of the Shrew. The couple was also the first to officially handprint by Grauman’s Chinese Theater (1927), the first in Hollywood’s ‘Walk of Fame’. George Polley (The’ Human Fly’) was arrested on the 30th Floor while trying to climb up the outside of the Woolworth Building in New York Shipping children through parcel post service was initially legal in the United States. The US Post Office banned the practice in 1920. The New York Times ridiculed American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard, stating rockets could never fly. They rescinded the comment after the launch of Apollo 11 in 1969. The first US postage stamps printed without the words “United States” or US. Johnson & Johnson employee Earle Dickson used tape and cotton gauze to make a bandage for his wife. He told his bosses about it, they made him a VP, and they named it the ‘Band-Aid.’ It worked out well for all concerned. Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV. There are more trees in America today than 1920, mainly due to the reversion of farmland back to natural land cover. By early 1920, every state west of the Mississippi River allowed women to vote. On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted in favor of, therefore ratifying, the 19th amendment by a vote of 50-49. During the campaign of 1920, President Warren G. Harding was accused of making up a word: normalcy. When asked if he instead meant “normality,” Harding responded “I have looked for ‘normality’ in my dictionary and I do not find it there. ‘Normalcy’, however, I did find, and it is a good word.” #normalcy was used in the 1850s, however. Tuition at Stanford University was free up until 1920. American socialist candidate, Eugene V. Debs, ran his campaign from the inside of a jail cell with the slogan “Vote for President Convict #9653” and he garnered almost a million write-in votes in 1920 Drano became available to start unclogging household drains and toilets. When the spitball was banned from baseball in 1920, 17 pitchers were grandfathered in and the last legal spitball was thrown in 1933. February 14th – The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago. Also that year, the Republican convention in Chicago endorsed women’s suffrage. The word ‘robot’ was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Capek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), He credited his brother, Josef Capek, with the word later. The first early models of the TV were invented. A pro wrestling match between Joe Stecher and Earl Caddock was filmed for later viewing by cinema audiences. The film of Stecher’s win over Caddock is the oldest existing movie of professional wrestling. |
A Secret Court, headed by University President Abbott Lawrence Lowell and the acting Dean, was convened at Harvard University to rid the school of homosexuals, resulting in nine expulsions Eddie Eagan is the only athlete to have won gold for different events at both the Summer and Winter Olympics, winning his first while boxing in 1920, and his second while on the 4-man bobsled in 1932. America’s oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade, 6abc Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade (AKA 6abc IKEA Thanksgiving Day Parade, 6abc Boscov’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Channel 6 Mellon PSFS Thanksgiving Day Parade, Channel 6 MasterCard Thanksgiving Day Parade) and originally the Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade was first held. |
The Number One Hits of 1920 January 17, 1920 – January 30, 1920 January 31 – April 30, 1920 May 1, 1920 – May 7, 1920 May 8, 1920 -July 2, 1920 July 3, 1920 – August 6, 1920 August 7, 1920 – September 17, 1920 September 18, 1920 – September 24, 1920 September 25, 1920 – October 15, 1920 October 16, 1920 – October 29, 1920 October 30, 1920 – December 10, 1920 December 11, 1920 – January 28, 1921 |
Medical News: During prohibition, an exemption was made for whiskey prescribed by a doctor and sold through a pharmacy. The Walgreens pharmacy chain grew from 20 retail stores to almost 400 during this period, from 1920 to 1933. |
The Tragedies: On December 16, 1920, an 8.5 earthquake rocked the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000 people. November 21, 1920, Bloody Sunday: The Irish Republican Army, on the instructions of Michael Collins, kill fourteen British undercover agents in Dublin, most in their homes The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1920 included at least 37 tornadoes across the Midwest and Deep South states on March 28, 1920. The tornadoes left more than 380 people dead and at least 1,215 injured. |
Tragedy/Mystery: On September 16, 1920, a horse-drawn wagon filled with explosives was blown up on Wall Street in NYC, killing 38 people and injuring hundreds. The perpetrators were never caught. |
RIP: Jimmy, a canary, had a funeral procession was led by a 15 piece band, a white hearse to carry the body, and two coaches for 2 miles that was viewed 10,000 people along the funeral route. |
Prank: Thomas Edison pranked The American Magazine (and its readers) by claiming that he had invented a phone that could contact the spirit world. |
Nobel Prize Winners: Physics – Charles Édouard Guillaume Chemistry – Walther Nernst Medicine – Schack August Steenberg Krogh Literature – Knut Hamsun Peace – Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois |
1st appearances & 1920’s Most Popular Christmas Gifts: Raggedy Andy, wooden Pogo Sticks, Lionel Trains became the rage |
Popular and Notable Books From 1920: A Man for the Ages by Irving Bacheller The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim Kindred of the Dust by Peter B. Kyne The Man of the Forest by Zane Grey Mary-Marie by Eleanor H. Porter Harriet and the Piper by Kathleen Norris The Lamp in the Desert by Ethel M. Dell The Portygee by Joseph C. Lincoln The Re-Creation of Brian Kent by Harold Bell Wright The River’s End by James Oliver Curwood |
1920 United States Census: Total US Population: 106,021,537 1. New York, New York – 5,620,048 2. Chicago, Illinois – 2,701,705 3. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1,823,779 4. Detroit, Michigan – 993,069 5. Cleveland, Ohio – 796,841 6. St. Louis, Missouri – 772,897 7. Boston, Massachusetts – 748,060 8. Baltimore, Maryland – 733,826 9. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – 588,343 10. Los Angeles, California – 576,673 |
Sports: World Series Champions: Cleveland Indians Stanley Cup Champs: Ottawa Senators (NHL) U.S. Open Golf: Edward (Ted) Ray U.S. Tennis (Men/Ladies): William (Bill) T. Tilden/Molla B. Mallory Wimbledon (Men/Women): Bill Tilden/Suzanne Lenglen NCAA Football Champions: California Kentucky Derby Winner: Paul Jones Boston Marathon Winner: Peter Trivoulides 2:29:31 |