May 1929

Wednesday, May 1, 1929

• A 7.2 magnitude earthquake killed at least 3,250 people in Iran and Turkmenistan.
• Thirty-two people were killed and 700 arrested in Berlin during clashes between 8,000 communists and police. The fighting broke out when communists held May Day demonstrations in defiance of a police order to refrain from doing so.
• Born: Ralf Dahrendorf, German sociologist, philosopher and politician; in Hamburg

  Thursday, May 2, 1929

• Tornadoes swept through the Appalachian Mountains killing 42 people and injuring 323 others. Thirteen of the people killed were students and a teacher in a schoolhouse in Rye Cove, Virginia.
• Born:
• *Édouard Balladur, Prime Minister of France 1993 to 1995, in İzmir, Turkey
• *Link Wray, American rock musician; in Dunn, North Carolina
• Died: Charalambos Tseroulis, 49, Greek general

  Friday, May 3, 1929

• Berlin Police stormed barricades erected by communists as rioting continued in the city for a third day.
• The musical comedy film The Cocoanuts, starring the Marx Brothers in their first feature-length movie, was released.

  Saturday, May 4, 1929

• Ernst Streeruwitz became Chancellor of Austria.
• The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the District of Columbia Supreme Court to enforce the jail sentence upon Harry F. Sinclair for contempt of the senate's investigation of the Teapot Dome scandal.
• The comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy made the jump to talking films with the release of Unaccustomed As We Are. Stan Laurel's famous whimper of panic was heard for the first time, as was Oliver Hardy's catchphrase, "Why don't you do something to help me!"
• Wigan beat Dewsbury 13–2 in the 1928–29 Northern Rugby Football League Challenge Cup Final. It was the first time the Final was held at Wembley Stadium.
• Born:
• *Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-born British stage and film star, winner of the Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award; in Ixelles, Brussels
• *Ronald Golias, Brazilian comedian and actor, in São Carlos

  Sunday, May 5, 1929

• Fifty policemen in Berlin were arrested for mutiny, as fighting with communists finally ended after four days.
• Born: Ilene Woods, voice actress and singer, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

  Monday, May 6, 1929

• Harry F. Sinclair turned himself in to authorities to begin his 90-day prison term for the Teapot Dome Scandal.
• Born: Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and Nobel laureate in 2003 in Medicine for his co-development of magnetic resonance imaging; in Sidney, Ohio

  Tuesday, May 7, 1929

• Al Capone hosted a party to ostensibly honor gang members John Scalise, Albert Anselmi and Joseph Giunta. In February, Scalise and Anselmi had been arrested on suspicion of having carried out the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, but released for lack of evidence. During the festivities Capone accused them of being traitors, then personally beat them with a club and shot them dead. Their bodies were dumped on a roadside near Hammond, Indiana, where they were found the next day.
• Born: Dick Williams, baseball player, manager and coach, in St. Louis, Missouri

  Wednesday, May 8, 1929

• Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants pitched an 11-0 no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates at the Polo Grounds.
• Born:
• *Jane Roberts, U.S. author, in Saratoga Springs, New York
• *Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress and singer, in Otaru, Hokkaido

  Thursday, May 9, 1929

• The Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 opened in Seville, Spain.
• A total eclipse of the Sun took place with visibility in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

  Friday, May 10, 1929

• Dr. Freeland won the Preakness Stakes horse race.
• American golfer Walter Hagen won the 64th Open Championship, successfully defending his 1928 title.
• Born: Betty Foss, American professional baseball player for the AAGPBL, 1950 Rookie of the Year and 1952 Player of the Year in the league while at first base for the Fort Wayne Daisies; in Metropolis, Illinois

  Saturday, May 11, 1929

• Students rioted at Des Moines University when the Baptist institution fired its president and most of the faculty over accusations of modernism with regard to the question of evolution.
• The silent romantic drama film Eternal Love, starring John Barrymore and Camilla Horn, was released.
• Born: Margaret Kerry, actress, dancer, and motivational speaker; in Los Angeles, CA
• Died: Jozef Murgaš, 65, Slovak priest and inventor of numerous advances in wireless telegraphy

  Sunday, May 12, 1929

• In a referendum in Switzerland, nearly two-thirds of voters rejected prohibition by voting against a proposal to institute local option with regard to the sale of alcoholic beverages.
• Born:
• *Sam Nujoma, the first President of Namibia, founder of the South West Africa People's Organization and the People's Liberation Army of Namibia ; in Etunda Village, Ongandjera
• *Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player, in Verdun, Quebec

  Monday, May 13, 1929

• Gangsters from eight U.S. states, including Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, Johnny Torrio and Bugsy Siegel, met in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to form a national crime syndicate. Over the next three days they settled disputes, agreed upon territorial boundaries and strolled along the boardwalk in full view of the media.
• Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia. The Socialist Workers' Party remained the largest party in parliament.
• Died: George Stallings, 61, American baseball player and manager; Arthur Scherbius, 50, inventor of the Enigma machine.

  Tuesday, May 14, 1929

• The U.S. Senate passed President Hoover's farm relief bill, 54 to 33.
• Born: Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player, in Montreal

  Wednesday, May 15, 1929

• A fire at the Cleveland Clinic killed 123 people, after nitrocellulose x-ray film ignited in the basement of the hospital. Most of the victims died from the inhalation of nitric acid fumes generated by the burning of the film stock.
• Germany submitted its reparations counterproposal to the Young Commission.

  Thursday, May 16, 1929

• The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in the ballroom of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, with a private dinner for 270 guests, followed by the distribution of the 12 awards, whose recipients had been announced in advance in the Academy newsletter. German film star Emil Jannings was given the very first award, as Academy director Douglas Fairbanks handed him the statuette for Best Actor. Wings won the first-ever Award for Outstanding Picture.
• Near Cartagena, Spain, the Graf Zeppelin airship abandoned its second attempt to fly from Germany to the United States and turned back after losing power in two of its engines.
• Born:
• *Natwar Singh, Indian politician, in Jaghina, Bharatpur, British India
• *Adrienne Rich, poet, essayist and feminist, in Baltimore
• Died: Mary Boyce Temple, 72, American philanthropist and socialite

  Friday, May 17, 1929

• Al Capone and a bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia for carrying concealed weapons. They both pleaded guilty and each were sentenced to a year in prison.
• Died: Lilli Lehmann, 80, German operatic soprano

  Saturday, May 18, 1929

• Clyde Van Dusen, a thoroughbred horse ridden by Linus McAtee, won the Kentucky Derby.
• Al Capone was incarcerated in Holmesburg Prison.
• Small Talk, the first Our Gang short comedy film to be made with sound, was released.
• Born: Jack Sanford, American baseball pitcher, 1957 National League Rookie of the Year and strikeout leader; in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts

  Sunday, May 19, 1929

• Two people were killed in a stampede at Yankee Stadium, when a sudden rainstorm caused people in the right field bleachers to run for the exits. The disaster happened during the game between the Yankees and the visiting Boston Red Sox.
• Born: Curt Simmons, American baseball pitcher, in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania

  Monday, May 20, 1929

• The 1929 Barcelona International Exposition opened in Spain.
• U.S. President Herbert Hoover appointed the Wickersham Commission to study crime and policing.
• Born: Ahmed Hamdi, Egyptian engineer

  Tuesday, May 21, 1929

• The ballet The Prodigal Son, choreographed by George Balanchine with music by Sergei Prokofiev, premiered at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris.
• Fascist Italy banned beauty pageants as "grave inconveniences to the moral order".
• Died:
• *Archibald Primrose, Earl of Rosebaery, 82, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1894 to 1895
• *Elise, Countess of Edla, 92, German-born American actress and singer and the second wife of the former King Ferdinand II of Portugal, whom she married in 1869 after his 1853 abdication.

  Wednesday, May 22, 1929

• Croatian politician Vladko Maček was arrested by Yugoslavian authorities.

  Thursday, May 23, 1929

• Feng Yuxiang, who had been War Minister of China until attempting a revolt against President Chiang Kai-shek, was expelled permanently from the Kuomintang.
• Mickey Mouse was heard speaking on screen for the first time with the release of the cartoon short The Karnival Kid.
• Born: Vic Stasiuk, Canadian ice hockey player who was part of the trio of Ukrainian-Canadians to make up "The Uke Line" for the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League; in Lethbridge, Alberta

  Friday, May 24, 1929

• The United Free Church of Scotland agreed to be merged into the larger Church of Scotland.

  Saturday, May 25, 1929

• The Italian Senate approved the Lateran Accords by a vote of 315 to 6.
• Born: Beverly Sills, American operatic soprano, in Brooklyn