1922 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

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 come 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.

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, an association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of 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 it instead only drained most of his powers. It wasn’t until the 1922 film Nosferatu that sunlight was first depicted as being 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 it even 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.

Pop Culture News: 
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 actually 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 that occurred in New York City over men wearing straw hats past the unofficial date that was 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 4th, 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 hasn’t been since 1922 despite there being one on the state flag.

On May 30, 1922, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs traded two players (Max Flack and Cliff Heathcote)between games of a doubleheader. 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 took place: the Chicago Cubs defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 26–23, a total of 49 runs.

Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Pharoah Tutankhamen, 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.

Highest scoring baseball game ever: 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.

112 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 to the day later.

In Chicago, the Herrin Massacre occurred in June 1922 in Herrin, Illinois. 19 ‘scabs’ and 2 union miners (Jordie Henderson and Joe Pitkewicius) were killed in mob action between June 21-22, 1922. #scabsgetslabs