July 1931

July 1, 1931 (Wednesday)

• Wiley Post and Harold Gatty completed their round-the-world flight in a record 8 days 16 hours.
• The east-west Trans-African Railroad was completed, connecting the Atlantic coastal city of Lobito in Portuguese Angola to Tenke in the Katanga Province of the Belgian Congo, which in turn provided access to the north-south Cape to Cairo Railway.
• Born:
• *Leslie Caron, French-born American film and TV actress known for the title role in the 1958 comedy Gigi; in Boulogne-sur-Seine
• *Seyni Kountché, President of Niger from 1974 to 1987 after overthrowing President Hamani Diori in a coup in 1974; in Damana Fandou
• *Marilyn Hickey, American televangelist, in Dalhart, Texas

  July 2, 1931 (Thursday)

• A fistfight broke out in the British House of Commons. It began when Labour MP John McGovern criticized the arrest of two Scottish preachers for holding meetings on the Glasgow Green without permits. McGovern refused to sit down when he was not satisfied with the Secretary of Scotland's reply, and remained standing even after being suspended. A half dozen attendants arrived and tried to pull McGovern out of the chamber by force, but they were attacked by three Labour MPs, James Maxton, John Beckett and John Kinley, and opposing MPs joined in. Proceedings were suspended for 19 minutes and the fight lasted until McGovern was finally dragged out of the chamber.
• New York City gave Wiley Post and Harold Gatty a ticker tape parade.
• Born: Robert Ito, Canadian-born TV actor known for Quincy, M.E.; in Vancouver
• Died:
• *Harry C. Beasley, 41, United States Navy seaman and Medal of Honor recipient, was shot and killed in the line of duty as a Newark, Ohio, police officer.
• *Peter Kürten, 48, German serial killer, was executed by guillotine after being convicted on nine counts of murder in the city of Düsseldorf.

  July 3, 1931 (Friday)

• Max Schmeling knocked out Young Stribling in the fifteenth round at Cleveland Municipal Stadium to retain the world heavyweight boxing title.
• The Kroll Opera House closed its doors after a final performance of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
• Cilly Aussem defeated Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling in an all-German Ladies' Singles final at Wimbledon.
• Sidney Wood was declared the men's champion at Wimbledon by walkover when Frank Shields pulled out of the final due to a leg injury. Shields had wanted to play, but the U.S. Tennis Association ordered him to forfeit so he would be ready for the Davis Cup.

  July 4, 1931 (Saturday)

• A monument to Woodrow Wilson sculpted by Gutzon Borglum was unveiled in Poznań, Poland in the presence of Edith Wilson and President Ignacy Mościcki. It was destroyed by the Nazis in 1939 but a different Wilson monument stands today in Poznań in a park named for Wilson.
• The British cruisers and docked in the port of Kiel as part of Kiel Week, the first time British warships visited Germany since July 1914.
• Born: Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish film actor, in Glengormley, County Antrim
• Died:
• *The Duke of Aosta, 62, field marshal and Commander of the Italian Third Army during World War I
• *Buddie Petit, 41, American jazz cornetist

  July 5, 1931 (Sunday)

• A marble memorial to Gustav Stresemann was unveiled in Mainz. Foreign Minister Julius Curtius spoke at the ceremony, which was briefly interrupted by a Nazi who jumped up to the microphone and shouted "Germany awake!" before being arrested.
• Anti-Chinese rioting occurred in Pyongyang. Approximately 127 Chinese people were killed, 393 wounded, and a considerable number of properties were destroyed by Korean residents.
• Born: Ismail Mahomed, Chief Justice of South Africa, in Pretoria

  July 6, 1931 (Monday)

• Billy Burke won the U.S. Open golf tournament.
• Rudy Vallée was secretly married in West Orange, New Jersey to actress Fay Webb.
• Born:
• *Della Reese, American film and TV actress, jazz and gospel music singer, in Detroit
• *Robert Dunham, American-born actor in Japanese films; in Portland, Maine

  July 7, 1931 (Tuesday)

• Seven Nazis were arrested in Kiel for violent public disorder.
• Born: David Eddings, fantasy author, in Spokane, Washington

  July 8, 1931 (Wednesday)

• The German Communist Party newspaper The Red Flag was banned until July 21 for insulting the Berlin police.

  July 9, 1931 (Thursday)

• U.S. Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson met with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome to discuss peace and disarmament.
• Mussolini decreed that no Italian could simultaneously be a member of the National Fascist Party and Azione Cattolica.
• At Lake Garda, Kaye Don set a new water speed record of 110.22 mph in the Miss England II.
• The Landtag of the German state of Prussia approved the removal of the book All Quiet on the Western Front from school libraries.

  July 10, 1931 (Friday)

• A Norwegian royal proclamation was issued claiming the uninhabited part of eastern Greenland as Erik the Red's Land.
• Outdoor political rallies were banned in Bavaria due to frequent violence.
• Born:
• *Alice Munro, Canadian short-story author and 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate; in Wingham, Ontario, Canada
• *Nick Adams, American TV actor known for starring in the ABC western The Rebel; in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania
• Died: F. W. Fitzpatrick, 68, Canadian-born American architect known for his advocacy of fireproofing buildings, died after being struck by a car

  July 11, 1931 (Saturday)

• British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and former PMs David Lloyd George and Stanley Baldwin made a plea for disarmament in an international radio address from Royal Albert Hall in London.
• The 58,000-seat Ernst-Happel-Stadion opened in Vienna, Austria.
• The drama film Smart Money, starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, was released.
• Born: Tab Hunter, American film actor and singer, in New York City

  July 12, 1931 (Sunday)

• In a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Mel Ott of the New York Giants hit his 100th career home run at the age of 22 years and 132 days. This still stands as the major league record for the youngest player to hit 100 homers.
• The German government shut down the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter for three weeks.
• Died: Nathan Söderblom, 65, Swedish clergyman

  July 13, 1931 (Monday)

• The Danatbank in Germany failed, causing a run on all other leading banks in the country.
• The German government issued an emergency decree through Article 48 ordering all banks in the country closed down for 48 hours. The German stock market was also shut down and ended up not reopening until September.

  July 14, 1931 (Tuesday)

• The Hungarian government ordered all banks closed until Friday to protect Hungary from the German financial crisis.
• The first Republican Cortes Generales opened in Spain.

  July 15, 1931 (Wednesday)

• Communists and police clashed all over Germany in unemployment demonstrations.
• Born: Clive Cussler, novelist and archaeologist, in Aurora, Illinois
• Died: Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, 65, Russian economist

  July 16, 1931 (Thursday)

• Banks throughout Germany reopened. The only withdrawals that were allowed were for shopkeepers to meet payrolls, and foreign currency exchanges were prohibited.
• Haile Selassie introduced a constitution for Ethiopia.
• In Rome, a bomb was discovered at St. Peter's Basilica by a janitor. It was moved to a nearby meadow where it exploded at 2 o'clock Friday morning.
• Born: Mighty Igor, American professional wrestler, in Dearborn, Michigan
• Died:
• *Mary Foote Henderson, 88, American author and social activist
• *Charles Studd, 70, English Test cricketer, later a Christian missionary, died in the Belgian Congo

  July 17, 1931 (Friday)

• An accident occurred on the set of the film Scarface when some dynamite caps exploded prematurely, injuring four actors and bystander Gaylord Lloyd, who was struck in the right eye.
• Died: Dr. Nicolae Paulescu, 61, Romanian physiologist who patented the early diabetes treatment pancreine, an extract from the processing of insulin from cattle pancreas

  July 18, 1931 (Saturday)

• The German government issued several new decrees aimed at making foreign currency more difficult to acquire. A special visa was introduced that every German intending to cross the border was required to obtain for a fee of 100 Reichsmarks.
• Died: Hermann Hendrich, 76, German painter

  July 19, 1931 (Sunday)

• Eleven people were killed in Bangalore, and 200 wounded, when police in British India fired into a crowd of demonstrators at the Binny Mills.

  July 20, 1931 (Monday)

• A conference of seven powers met in London to discuss the economic situation in Germany.
• The Royal Mail Case trial began at the Old Bailey. The director of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Lord Kylsant, was accused of publishing a fraudulent balance sheet.
• Died: Herbert Baddeley, 59, British tennis player and four-time winner of the men's doubles at Wimbledon

  July 21, 1931 (Tuesday)

• The Heywood Broun-produced musical Shoot the Works opened at George M. Cohan's Theatre on Broadway. Broun himself sang, danced and acted in the show.
• Born: Gene Fullmer, American professional boxer, world middleweight champion in 1957, 1959 to 1962; in West Jordan, Utah

  July 22, 1931 (Wednesday)

• Acting Governor of Bombay Sir Ernest Hotson survived an assassination attempt at Fergusson College in Pune. The first of two shots fired at point blank deflected off a metal stud on his clothes
• Mickey Walker and Jack Sharkey boxed to a 15-round draw at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn.