1934 Fun Facts, Trivia and History |
Quick Facts from 1934: |
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Top Ten Baby Names of 1934: Mary, Betty, Barbara, Shirley, Dorothy, Robert, James, John, William, Richard |
US Life Expectancy: (1934) Males: 59.3 years, Females: 63.3 years |
The Stars: Josephine Baker, Joan Blondell, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Jean Harlow, Katharine Hepburn, Hedy Lamarr, Myrna Loy, Ginger Rogers, Barbara Stanwyck, Thelma Todd, Mae West, Fay Wray. A trained crow named Jimmy the Raven appeared in over 1,000 feature films between 1934 and 1954. |
Miss America: none |
Time Magazine’s Man of the Year: Franklin D. Roosevelt |
Firsts, Inventions, and Wonders: Steve Urkel’s catchphrase, “Did I do that?”, was taken from the 1934 Three Stooges short Punch Drunks. |
The Flash Gordon comic strip was first published. In July of 1934, Babe Ruth paid a fan $20 for the return of the baseball he hit for his 700th career home run. The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp) was established. Parker Brothers released the board game, Sorry. Pennsylvania opened its first liquor stores. MPAA Certificate Number 1 was issued to The World Moves On, in 1934. DC Comics was founded in 1934. Archie Comics and Timely (Marvel) Comics were both founded in 1939. Jagermeister was introduced in Germany in 1934. |
The biggest Pop Artists of 1934 include: Don Bestor & His Orchestra, Emil Coleman & His Orchestra, Bing Crosby, Eddy Duchin and His Orchestra, Duke Ellington, Ted Fio Rito & His Orchestra, Jan Garber and His Orchestra, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, Johnny Green & His Orchestra, Jimmie Grier & His Orchestra, Richard Himber & His Orchestra, Hal Kemp and His Orchestra, Little Jack Little & His Orchestra, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, Enric Madriguera and His Orchestra, Freddy Martin and His Orchestra, Ethel Merman, The Mills Brothers, Grace Moore, Ray Noble and His Orchestra, Ben Pollack & His Orchestra, Leo Reisman and His Orchestra, Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees, Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra |
The Strange: A trained crow named Jimmy the Raven appeared in over 1,000 feature films between 1934 and 1954. London gynecologist Robert Kenneth Wilson took his famous photograph of the Loch Ness Monster. Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) announced that he was working on a ‘Directed Energy Weapon’ that would be able to destroy an army 200 miles away. The super-weapon was never built, and no one knows how it was supposed to work; after his death, the FBI seized all his possessions and declared his papers Top Secret. From 1925 to 1934 the Eiffel Tower served as a giant, lighted billboard for Citroen. Created in 1908, the FBI had neither the authority to carry firearms or make an official arrest until 1934. With the 1934 lease agreement, the United States continues to pay $4,085 per month rent to Cuba for the Guantanamo naval station. Castro has only cashed one check, by accident, in the past 52 years. Gangster John Dillinger escaped from jail with a wooden pistol. After whittling it in his cell, in March 1934 he used the fake weapon to intimidate 33 people before getting a real machine gun. “Ha, ha, ha! And I did all this with a wooden gun!” he bragged while leaving. On January 29, 1934, the Los Angeles Times published a front-page article about a geophysical mining engineer’s search for a lost civilization of Lizard People and their buried treasure beneath the streets of Los Angeles. |
Crime News: Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed by police in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Also killed by law enforcement: John Dillinger, Charles Arthur ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd, and George ‘Baby Face’ Nelson. #crimedoesntpay |
Pop Culture News: Future US President Gerald Ford (R) threatened to not play for the Michigan football team because the school would not let his teammate Willis Ward, who was black, play against Georgia Tech, which refused to share the field with a black player. Ward talked Ford out of it and Michigan won. Donald Duck first appeared in the Silly Symphonies cartoon The Wise Little Hen on June 9, 1934, although there was a mention of him in a 1931 Disney book. He was the first of many clothed cartoon characters who didn’t wear pants. The Apollo Theater held its first ‘Amateur Night’. It Happened One Night (1934) won all of the Big Five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing (Original or Adapted). The $500, $1000, $10,000 & $100,000 Bills were printed by the US Mint until 1934, and are still legal tender. Alfred Hitchcock remade his own 1934 movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much as The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1956. The largest pearl ever found the ‘Pearl of Lao Tzu’ was found, weighing 31,893.5 carats (just over 14 lbs) The (2nd) highest wind gust ever recorded was a 231 mph gust at the summit of Mt. Washington, NH in 1934. In 1934, when Disney began working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, some of the early dwarf names included Jumpy, Deafy, Puffy, Burpy, Stuffy, Lazy, and Wheezy. A sad realization came to six-year-old Shirley Temple when a Los Angeles department store Santa Clause asked her for her autograph… |
Nobel Prize Winners: Physics – Not awarded Chemistry – Harold Clayton Urey Physiology or Medicine – George Hoyt Whipple, George Richards Minot, William Parry Murphy Literature – Luigi Pirandello Peace – Arthur Henderson |
Popular and Best-selling Books From 1934: Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller Mary Peters by Mary Ellen Chase Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie Oil for the Lamps of China by Alice Tisdale Hobart Private Worlds by Phyllis Bottome Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen So Red the Rose by Stark Young Within This Present by Margaret Ayer Barnes Work of Art by Sinclair Lewis |
Sports: World Series Champions: St. Louis Cardinals NFL Champs: New York Giants Stanley Cup Champs: Chicago Black Hawks U.S. Open Golf: Olin Dutra U.S. Tennis (Men/Ladies): Fred Perry/ Helen H. Jacobs Wimbledon (Men/Women): Fred Perry/Dorothy Round NCAA Football Champions: Minnesota Kentucky Derby Winner: Cavalcade FIFA World Cup: Italy Boston Marathon Winner: Dave Komonen Time: 2:32:53 |