Historical Events
- Dec 4 Explorer Henery Morton Stanley's expedition reaches Bagamoyo in Indian Ocean
The Gondoliers
Dec 7 W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's comic opera "The Gondoliers" premieres at the Savoy Theatre, London
Chicago Auditorium Dedicated
Dec 9 US President Benjamin Harrison dedicates the Chicago Auditorium, designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, then largest building in the US
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 2 William Gaxton [Arthur Gaxiola], American stage and screen actor (A Connecticut Yankee; Destry; Convoy), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1963)
- Dec 4 Isabel Randolph, American actress (Fuller Brush Girl, Our Miss Brooks), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1973)
- Dec 6 George Street, English cricket wicket-keeper (1 Test, 1 dismissal; Surrey CCC, MCC), born in Charlwood, England (d. 1924)
- Dec 7 Heathcote Dicken Statham, English organist, composer, and conductor, born in London, England (d. 1973)
- Dec 8 Hervey Allen, American writer and poet (Anthony Adverse), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1949)
- Dec 9 Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish long-distance runner (Olympic gold 1912), born in Kuopio, Finland (d. 1966)
- Dec 10 Ray Collins, American stage, radio, and screen character actor (Homecoming; Citizen Kane; Rose Marie; Perry Mason), born in Sacramento, California (d. 1965)
- Dec 11 Paul Kornfeld, Czech playwright, born in Prague (d. 1942)
Walter Knott (1889-1981)
Dec 11 American farmer who created the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in California and introduced the boysenberry to America, born in San Bernardino, California
- Dec 12 Václav Štěpán, Czech pianist and composer, born in Pečky, Austria-Hungary (d. 1944)
- Dec 20 Božidar Širola, Croatian composer, born in Žakanje, Croatia (d. 1956)
- Dec 21 Sewall Wright, American geneticist, born in Melrose, Massachusetts (d. 1988)
- Dec 22 Mikha`il Na'imah, Lebanese playwright, born in Baskinta, Lebanon (d. 1988)
- Dec 22 Minor Watson, American actor (Woman of the Year, Viva Cisco Kid), born in Marianna, Arkansas (d. 1965)
- Dec 24 Vladimir Sokoloff, Russian actor (Road to Morocco), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1962)
- Dec 27 Bunk Johnson, American jazz trumpeter, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1949) [1]
- Dec 28 F. W. Murnau German film director (Nosferatu, The Last Laugh), born in Bielefeld, Germany (d. 1931)
- Dec 30 Georg von der Vring, German painter and writer (Soldier Suhren), born in Brake, Lower Saxony, Germany (d. 1968)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 3 Baltasar Saldoni, Spanish composer and musicologist, dies at 82
Jefferson Davis (1808-1889)
Dec 6 President of the Confederate States of America (1861-65), dies at 81
- Dec 12 Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1804)
- Dec 21 Friedrich August Quenstedt, German geologist and paleontologist, dies at 80
- Dec 21 J. B. Lightfoot, English theologist and bishop of Durham, dies at 61
- Dec 24 Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (b. 1819)
- Dec 31 Ion Creanga, Moldavian-born Romanian fairy tale author (Amintiti the Copilarie) author, dies at 52
