1932 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

Quick Facts from 1932:

• The Crime of the Century: Charles Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey.
• Influential Songs include: Brother Can You Spare a Dime by Bing Crosby Night and Day and by Cole Porter.
• The Movies to Watch include Grand Hotel, Emma, Freaks, Scarface, The Mummy, Blonde Venus, White Zombie, Island of Lost Souls and Tarzan the Ape Man
• The Most Infamous Person in America was probably Al Capone
• Notable books include: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Price of 1 12 oz Perrier Water in 1932: 25 cents
• The Funny Duo were: Laurel and Hardy
  The Funny Guy was: W.C. Fields
• The Revenue Act of 1932 was enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States at 1 cent per gallon.

Firsts, Inventions, and Wonders:
The 1932 Indian movie Indrasabha contained 72 songs, a record for most songs in a movie that still stands today. 2016’s Sing features 64 songs.

The word “gunk” is actually a genericized trademark name for a “degreasing solvent” dating from 1932.

The text “This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental” that is at the end of films came about because the Russian prince who killed Rasputin sued MGM for not accurately depicting Rasputin’s murder in their 1932 film Rasputin and the Empress.

The University of Southern California (USC) was the first to print “property of” on their t-shirts in 1932.

When the BBC World Service started broadcasting in 1932, it announced five times that “The programs will neither be very interesting nor very good.”

The Staple Remover was invented.

The first science fiction program on radio, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, debuted.

Goofy’s original name was “Dippy Dawg” when he debuted in 1932 in Mickey’s Review.

Nielsen company founder, Arthur C. Nielsen, invented “market share” in 1932, becoming the first to offer market research that now covers most TV ratings and radio charts.

1932’s White Zombie (Directed by Victor Halperin and starring Bela Lugosi) is considered to be the first feature-length zombie film.

Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.

Walt Disney’s Flowers and Trees, the first animated cartoon to be presented in full Technicolor, premiered in Los Angeles.

Eddie Eagan is the only athlete to have won gold, in 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.

The Betty Boop short Minnie the Moocher features the earliest known film of Cab Calloway performing. You can watch him Moonwalk during the opening credits.

The Strange:
US Navy Apprentice Seaman Charles M. “Bud” Cowart was trying to land the military airship USS Akron in New Jersey failed to let go of the rope and had to hold on for two hours as it rose to 2000 feet over the sea until he was hoisted up. Two other men fell to their deaths.

Despite losing 2 to 9 to Japan and 1 to 24 to India, the United States still won bronze in the field hockey competition of the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles because there were only three teams participating.

Prior to 1932, Macy’s Parade balloons were intentionally released into the air after the event until one wrapped itself around an airplane wing causing a tailspin and a near-fatal crash.

On January 15, 1932, Pasadena Junior College students left their classes and began a snowball fight that escalated into a riot that took over thirty policemen and teargas to disperse.

The Australian Military fought against the Emu birds in 1932 in an attempt to cull the population in The Great Emu War. It was said that “The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics”. Not even Royal Artillery helped. TLDR; The Emus beat the Australian Military.

Welsh actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping from the Hollywood Sign. She jumped from the letter “H.”

Lilly Lindeström was found murdered in her small apartment in Stockholm, Sweden. Her body had been drained of some, if not all, of her blood. Police suspected the implement was used by the perpetrator to drink Lilly’s blood. The case remains unsolved

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker was believed to be extinct since the early 1900s. In 1932, however, in an attempt to refute these claims, Mason Spencer, a Louisiana state legislator shot and killed one of the last of the birds and brought the remains to their local wildlife office. The bird has been spotted as recently as 2004.

Pop Culture History: 
The text “This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental” at the end of film credits came about because the Russian prince who killed Rasputin sued MGM for not accurately depicting Rasputin’s murder in their 1932 film, Rasputin and the Empress. (also, Princess Irina Yusupova sued MGM for implying that she had been seduced by Rasputin).

The cost of tuition for 1 year at Yale was $1,056 for a year.

Carl Magee invented the first parking meter, but it was first used in Oklahoma City in 1935.

Ed McGivern was able to fire five shots at five yards into a silver dollar in 45/100ths of a second, shoot six hand-thrown clays, shoot a dime on the fly and holds The Guinness World Record for “The greatest rapid-fire feat”.

Shemp was an original member of The Three Stooges- before Curly. Curly took Shemp’s place in 1932 and Shemp returned to the role in 1946 when Curly left.

James Chadwick discovered the neutron.
Carl David Anderson discovered the positron.

The demand for cash was so low during the Great Depression, the US Mint stopped the production of nickels between 1932-33.

Babe Ruth made his famous “called shot” in the fifth inning of game 3 of the 1932 World Series.

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.

In 1932, the cost of tuition for 1 year at Yale was $1,056 for a year.

Only 2 games in NFL history have ended with a score of 2-0, the first was the Packers over the Bears in 1932, the second was the Bears over the Packers in 1938

Ethan Allen Interiors opened in Beecher Falls, Vermont.

Radio City Music Hall opened on December 27, 1932. The first show featured Ray Bolger (vaudeville song-and-dance man, Wizard of Oz‘s Scarecrow) and dancing great Martha Graham.