Historical Events
Johnson and the Federal League
Dec 4 Walter Johnson accepts an advance from the Chicago Whales of the Federal League; Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith threatens to take Johnson to court
- Dec 5 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Toronto Argonauts win first Championship; beat U of Toronto Blues, 14-2
- Dec 5 The Italian Parliament proclaims the neutrality of the country.
- Dec 6 German troops over run Lodz
- Dec 8 Battle of the Falkland Island: British Royal Navy destroys a German battle squadron
- Dec 8 Boers rebelling against the British in South Africa suffer several defeats, with one of their leaders, General Beyers, accidentally drowning
Watch Your Step
Dec 8 Irving Berlin's musical "Watch your Step" premieres in NYC
- Dec 10 French government returns to Paris
- Dec 11 Stockton Street Tunnel (San Francisco) completed
- Dec 12 The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%
- Dec 14 Lisandro de la Torre and others found the Democratic Progressist Party (Partido Demócrata Progresista, PDP) at the Hotel Savoy, Buenos Aires.
Harrison Narcotics Tax Act
Dec 14 US President Woodrow Wilson signs Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, to regulate and tax production, importation, and distribution of opiates and coca products
- Dec 15 Battle of Lodz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow
- Dec 15 British fleet forfeits chance to destroy German fleet in North Sea
- Dec 15 Serbian troops retake Belgrade in Austria-Hungary
French Artois Offensive
Dec 16 French offensive in Artois, Northern France led by Philippe Pétain
- Dec 16 German warships fire more than 500 shells on northern English towns of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool - 1st time English civilians targeted during the war - kill 137 people [1]
- Dec 16 World War I: German battleships under Franz Von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.
- Dec 17 Austrian troops beat Russians in Limanova Poland
- Dec 17 Great Britain declares Egypt a protectorate
- Dec 17 Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities
"Tillie's Punctured Romance"
Dec 21 1st feature-length silent film comedy "Tillie's Punctured Romance" released starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin
- Dec 21 2,800 African miners strike at the Van Rhyn Deep mines in a bid to redress some of their grievances
- Dec 23 World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt
- Dec 24 German plane drops bombs on Dover, England
- Dec 25 Legendary "Christmas Truce" takes place on the battlefields of WWI between British and German troops. Instead of fighting, soldiers exchange gifts and play football
- Dec 26 US Government protests British interference with American merchant ships at sea, on the same day Germans announce they will treat food as contraband, subject to seizure; weakens America's protest
- Dec 28 Turks are repulsed by the Russians after fighting in Armenia for weeks
Famous Birthdays
Adolph Green (1914-2002)
Dec 2 American screenwriter (On The Town; Singin' in the Rain), lyricist ("Bells Are Ringing"; "Just In Time"), and playwright (It's Always Fair Weather) - all usually with collaborator Betty Comden, born in The Bronx, New York
- Dec 2 Eddie Sauter, American big band and theatrical arranger, bandleader (Sauter-Finegan Orchestra), and jazz composer (Stan Getz -"Focus"), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1981)
- Dec 3 Edward "Corky" Cornelius, American jazz trumpeter (Benny Goodman; Gene Krupa), born in Cicero, Indiana (d. 1943)
- Dec 3 Irving Fine, American composer (Toccata), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1962)
- Dec 4 Claude Renoir, French cinematographer (Spy Who Loved Me), born in Paris, France (d. 1993)
- Dec 4 Rudolf Hausner, Austrian artist (d. 1995)
- Dec 5 Hans Hellmut Kirst, German author (The Lieutenant Must Be Mad), born in Osterode, Germany (d. 1989)
- Dec 5 Lina Bo Bardi, Italian born Brazilian modernist architect (SESC Pompéia Factory), born in Rome, Italy (d. 1992)
- Dec 6 Cyril Washbrook, English cricket batsman (37 Tests, 6 x 100, HS 195; Lancashire CCC), born in Barrow, England (d. 1999)
- Dec 6 Mamo Clark, American actress (One Million BC; Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island), and author, born in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii (d. 1986)
- Dec 7 Winston Place, English cricket batsman (3 Tests, 1 x 100; Lancashire CCC, MCC), born in Rawtenstall, England (d. 2002)
- Dec 8 Corbett Davis, American football fullback (#1 overall pick NFL Draft 1938 Cleveland Rams), born in Lowell, Indiana (d. 1968)
Ernie Toshack (1914-2003)
Dec 8 Australian cricket fast bowler (12 Tests, 47 wickets), born in Cobar, NSW
- Dec 9 Frances Reid, American actress (Days of Our Lives, The Andromeda Strain), born in Wichita Falls, Texas (d. 2010)
- Dec 9 Max Manus, Norwegian resistance fighter and author who specialized in sabotage during World War II, born in Bergen, Norway (d. 1996)
- Dec 10 Dorothy Lamour [Mary Kaumeyer], American actress and singer (Road to Bali, My Favorite Brunette), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1996)
- Dec 10 Jeff Nicklin, Canadian CFL football player (Winnipeg Blue Bombers), Army officer and paratrooper, born in Fort William, Ontario (d. 1945) [1]
- Dec 12 Buzzie Bavasi, American MLB executive (Brooklyn & LA Dodgers), born in New York City (d. 2008)
- Dec 12 Denis Begbie, South African cricketer (South African batsman in five Tests 1948-50), born in Middelburg, Transvaal, South Africa (d. 2009)
- Dec 13 Alan Bullock, British historian and author (Hitler: A Study in Tyranny), born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England (d. 2004)
- Dec 13 George "Tiger" Haynes, American jazz guitarist (The Three Flames), and stage and screen actor (The Wiz; In the Heat of the Night), born in Frederiksted, St. Croix (d. 1994)
- Dec 13 Larry Parks [Samuel Lawrence Parks], American actor (The Jolson Story, Love Is Better Than Ever), born in Olathe, Kansas (d. 1975)
- Dec 14 Attila Petschauer, Hungarian fencer (Olympic gold 1928, 32), born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (d. 1943)
- Dec 14 Karl Carstens, German politician (President of the Federal Republic of Germany 1979-84), born in Bremen, German Empire (d. 1992)
- Dec 14 Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist (Bach & Rock), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2003)
- Dec 17 Syed Mushtaq Ali, Indian cricketer (prolific batsman of 30's & 40's), born in Indore, British India (d. 2005)
- Dec 18 Connie "Pee Wee" Crayton, American R&B and blues guitarist and singer ("Do Unto Others"), born in Rockdale, Texas (d. 1985)
- Dec 18 Jerry Zipkin, American socialite (friend of Nancy Reagan), born in New York City (d. 1995)
- Dec 21 Ivan Generalić, Croatian painter, born in Hlebine, Croatia (d. 1992)
- Dec 21 William Nebergall, American inorganic chemist (invented fluoride toothpaste), born in Cuba, Illinois (d. 1978) [1]
- Dec 22 Emil Sitka, American actor (Three Stooges shorts), born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (d. 1998)
- Dec 23 Dezider Kardos, Slovak composer, born in Nadlice, Slovakia (d. 1991)
- Dec 24 Dorothy Hyson, American actress (Ghoul, Spare a Copper, Sing as We Go), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1996)
- Dec 24 Ralph Marterie, Italian-American trumpeter and big band bandleader ("Skokiaan"; "Shish-Kebab"; "Dry Marterie"), born in Acerra, Italy (d. 1978)
- Dec 25 James Fletcher Jr, New Zealand industrialist (Fletcher Construction), born in Dunedin, New Zealand (d. 2007)
- Dec 26 Annemarie Wendl, German actress (Lindenstraße, Der Seitensprung), born in Trostberg, Germany (d. 2006)
- Dec 26 Richard Widmark, American actor (Madigan, Murder on the Orient Express, Judgement at Nuremberg), born in Sunrise Township, Minnesota (d. 2008)
- Dec 27 Giuseppe Berto, Italian writer (Heaven Sees Red), born in Mogliano Veneto, Italy (d. 1978)
- Dec 27 Ivan Sutton, British concert promoter (City Music Society), born in Purley, London, England (d. 1996)
- Dec 28 Bernard Youens [Popley], British actor (Coronation Street, Somewhere in Politics), born in Hove, East Sussex, England (d. 1984)
- Dec 28 Lee Bowman, American actor (Ellery Queen, Miami Undercover, The Impatient Years), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1979)
- Dec 29 Albert Tucker, Australian artist, born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1999)
- Dec 29 Billy Tipton [Dorothy Tipton], American jazz pianist, saxophone player. and bandleader, born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (d. 1989) [1] [2]
- Dec 29 Tom Weir, Scottish climber, author and broadcaster (The Scots Magazine, Weir's Way), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 2006)
- Dec 30 (Catherine) Jo Van Fleet, American Tony and Academy Award-winning actress (The Trip To Bountiful; East of Eden; Cool Hand Luke), born in Oakland, California (d. 1996) [some sources give birth as 12/29/15]
- Dec 30 Bert Parks [Jacobson], American TV host (Miss America), born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 1992)
- Dec 31 Pat Brady [Robert Ellsworth O'Brady], American actor (The Roy Rogers Show, Man from Music Mountain), born in Toledo, Ohio (d. 1972)
Famous Weddings
- Dec 24 Agatha Miller (later best selling detective author) marries aviator Archibald Christie
Famous Deaths
- Dec 1 Alfred Thayer Mahan, American naval officer (Influence of Sea Power), dies at 74
- Dec 6 Eduard Jacobs, Dutch cabaret artist, dies at 47
- Dec 8 Maximilian von Spee, German naval officer (b. 1861)
- Dec 12 Watkins Lewis Africa American lynched in Shrevport, Louisiana
- Dec 14 Giovanni Sgambati, Italian pianist and composer, dies at 73
- Dec 16 Ivan Zajc, Croatian composer and conductor, dies at 82
- Dec 19 Johann Friedrich von Schulte, German Catholic lawyer, dies at 87
- Dec 21 Arthur Jones, England cricket all-rounder and captain (12 Tests, 3 wickets, 15 catches; Nottinghamshire CCC), dies from tuberculosis at 42
John Muir (1838-1914)
Dec 24 Scottish naturalist and discoverer (glacier in High Seirras), dies of pneumonia at 76
- Dec 27 Charles Martin Hall, American chemist and inventor, dies at 51
