What Happened in December 1929

Historical Events

Dec 1 Game of Bingo invented by American toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe
Dec 2 First skull of Peking man found in the caves of Zhoukoudian, 50 km outside of Peking, China. Later dated roughly 750,000 years old. [1]

Bruins Streak begins

Dec 3 Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1, the first win of an NHL record 14-game winning streak, and a 22-game home winning streak

Dec 5 1st US nudist organization, the American League for Physical Culture in New York City
Dec 6 Turkey introduces female suffrage
Dec 7 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Hillcrest CC: Defending champion Leo Diegel defeats Johnny Farrell, 6 & 4 in the final

Nobel to Eijkman and Hopkins

Dec 10 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine jointly awarded to Christiaan Eijkman and Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins for the discovery of vitamins

Physician and Nobel Laureate Christiaan Eijkman

Dec 14 Alexander Zaimis elected president of Greece
Dec 15 National Football League Championship: Green Bay Packers (12-0-1) win first past the post title

First Flight over Kilimanjaro

Dec 15 Swiss pilot Walter Mittelholzer is the first to fly over Mt. Kilimanjaro

Aviation Pioneer and Photographer Walter Mittelholzer

Dec 16 Chic Blackhawks 1st game at Chicago Stadium, beat Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-1
Dec 20 Heinie Wagner replaces Bill Carrigan as Red Sox manager
Dec 20 Mount Davidson dedicated as a San Francisco city park
Dec 21 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas Tx)

Coco the Clown

Dec 21 Coco the Clown first appears for Bertram Mills Circus in Manchester, England

Dec 25 Clarrie Grimmett takes 6-146 for SA, Queensland all out 380 Crowd 5,390

Sukarno Arrested

Dec 29 Dutch colonial authorities arrest Sukarno and other key PNI leaders in Java

Wake Up And Dream

Dec 30 Cole Porter's musical "Wake Up And Dream" opens at the Selwyn Theatre, NYC; runs for 136 performances

Dec 30 Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority incorporates

Divini Illius Magistri

Dec 31 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini illius magistri

Events in 1929

Famous Birthdays

Dec 1 Alan Mouncer, British film director and producer (d. 1997)
Dec 1 David Doyle, American actor (Charlie's Angels, Rugrats), born in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 1997)
Dec 1 Dick Shawn [Richard Schulefand], American character actor and comedian (Producers, Maid to Order, Angel), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1987)
Dec 1 Emily McLaughlin, American actress (Jessie Brewer- General Hospital), born in White Plains, New York (d. 1991)
Dec 1 Leon Biriotti, Uruguayan composer and oboist, born in Montevideo, Uruguay (d. 2020)
Dec 2 Harvey Phillips, American tubist (NYC Ballet Orchestra), born in Aurora, Missouri (d. 2010)
Dec 2 Jaap Boersma, Dutch politician (Minister for Social Affairs (ARP)), born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (d. 2012)
Dec 2 Lowell North, American yachtsman (Olympic Gold 1968) and sailmaker (North Sails), born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 2019)
Dec 3 Clarence Ford, American jazz and R&B clarinet and saxophone player, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1994)
Dec 3 Paul Harris Turok, American composer, educator and music critic (Ragtime Caprice), born in New York (d. 2012)
Dec 3 Werner Rackwitz, German opera director and musicologist (Handel-Renaissance), born in Breslau, Weimar Republic (d. 2014)
Dec 6 Alain Tanner, Swiss film director (Charles, Dead or Alive), born in Geneva, Switzerland (d. 2022)
Dec 6 Frank Springer, American comics artist (The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist), born in Jamaica, Queens, New York (d. 2009)
Dec 6 Mark Kopytman, Russian-Israeli composer (Voices of Memory), musicologist, and pedagogue (Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. 1974-94), born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) (d. 2011)
Dec 6 Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Austrian conductor (Early Music Movement), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2016)
Dec 6 Robert "King" Moody, American actor and comedian (Get Smart - "Shtarker"), born in New York City (d. 2001)

Dec 8 Ali Bongo [William Oliver Wallace], British comedy musician and magician (President of The Magic Circle - Shriek of Araby), born in England (d. 2009)
Dec 8 Goffredo Parise, Italian writer (Il padrone), born in Vicenza, Italy (d. 1986)

Bob Hawke (1929-2019)

Dec 9 Australian politician and 23rd Prime Minister of Australia (Labor: 1983-91), born in Bordertown, South Australia

Dec 9 John Cassavetes, Greek-American actor, film director, and screenwriter (Dirty Dozen, Rosemary's Baby), born in New York City (d. 1989)
Dec 9 Michel Fano, French composer (films of Alain Robbe-Grillet), born in Paris, France
Dec 11 Subhash "Fergie" Gupte, Indian cricket leg-spin bowler (36 Tests, 149 wickets, BB 9/102; Bombay, Bengal), born in Bombay, India (d. 2002)
Dec 12 John Osborne, English playwright (Entertainer, Look Back in Anger, Luther), born in London (d. 1994)
Dec 12 Toshiko Akiyoshi, Japanese jazz pianist and composer, born in Liaoyang, Manchuria, Republic of China

Christopher Plummer (1929-2021)

Dec 13 Canadian Emmy, Tony, and Oscar winning actor (Sound of Music; Cyrano; Beginners), born in Toronto, Ontario [1]

Dec 14 Richard S Welch, American CIA station chief in Athens, Greece, born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1975)
Dec 14 Ron Nelson, American composer, and pedagogue (Brown University, 1973-93), born in Joliet, Illinois (d. 2023)
Dec 15 Barry Harris, American bebop jazz pianist (Cannonball Adderly; Lee Morgan; "The Bird of Red and Gold"), and educator, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2021) [1]
Dec 15 Keith Andrew, English cricket wicketkeeper (2 Tests; Northamptonshire CCC), born in Oldham, England (d. 2010)
Dec 16 Ian Board, British barkeeper (the Colony Room), born in Devon (d. 1994)
Dec 16 Nicholas Courtney, British actor (Doctor Who, Incendiary), born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 2011)

William Safire (1929-2009)

Dec 17 American political columnist (NY Times) and speech writer (Nixon), born in New York City

Dec 18 Gino Cimoli, American baseball player, born in San Francisco, California (d. 2011)
Dec 19 Bob Brookmeyer, American jazz and studio pianist, valve trombone player, arranger, and composer (Stan Getz; Jerry Mulligan), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2011)
Dec 19 Herman T M Lauxtermann, Dutch 2nd chamber member (VVD)
Dec 19 Howard Sackler, American screenwriter (d. 1982)
Dec 20 Carlo Fassi, Italian figure skating coach (Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, John Curry, Robin Cousins, Jill Trenary) and skater (World C'ship bronze men's singles 1953), born in Milan, Italy (d. 1997)
Dec 20 Milan Panić, Serbian-American politician and humanitarian, born in Belgrade, Serbia
Dec 21 Jack Philip Cannon, British composer and teacher, born in Paris, France (d. 2017)
Dec 22 Dee Rowe, American college basketball coach (UConn Huskies men's team 1969-76; 103–78 [.569]), born in Worcester, Massachusetts (d. 2021)
Dec 22 Leonard "Red" Balaban, American jazz tuba and sousaphone player, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2013) [1]
Dec 22 Wazir Mohammad, Pakistan cricket batsman (20 Tests, 2 x 100; eldest of Pakistan's 4 Mohammad brothers), born in Junagadh, India
Dec 23 Charles R. Bentley, American pioneer of polar science, born in Rochester, New York (d. 2017)

Chet Baker (1929-1988)

Dec 23 American jazz trumpeter and vocalist ("My Funny Valentine"), born in Yale, Oklahoma

Dec 23 Dick Weber, American ten-pin bowling pro (16x 300 games), born in Indianapolis, Indiana (d. 2005)
Dec 24 Noel DaCosta, Nigerian-Jamaican composer, born in Lagos, Nigeria (d. 2002)
Dec 25 Bill Horton, American doo-wop singer (The Silhouettes - "Get A Job"), born in Hickory, North Carolina (d. 1995)
Dec 25 China Machado, Chinese-born model, 1st non-Caucasian super model, born in Shanghai (d. 2016)
Dec 25 Chris Kenner, R&B singer (I Like it Like That), born in Kenner, Louisiana (d. 1976)
Dec 25 Stuart Hall, British radio and television presenter
Dec 26 Régine [Zylberberg], French singer and nightclub owner, born in Anderlecht, Belgium (d. 2022)
Dec 28 Maarten Schmidt, Dutch-American astronomer who first identified a quasar, born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 2022)
Dec 28 Owen Bieber, United Auto Workers president

Terry Sawchuk (1929-1970)

Dec 28 Canadian Hockey HOF goaltender who was a 4-time Vezina Trophy winner; Stanley Cup 1952, 54, 55 Detroit Red Wings, 67 Toronto Maple Leafs, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Dec 29 Matt "Guitar" Murphy, American blues guitarist (Blues Brothers band), born in Sunflower, Mississippi (d. 2018)
Dec 30 Bob Bouma, Dutch TV host (For a Postcard in the Front Row)
Dec 30 Rosalind Hurley, British physician, barrister, ethicist and writer (d. 2004)
Dec 31 George Schlatter, American television producer and director (Laugh-in), born in Birmingham, Alabama
Dec 31 Mies Bouman, Dutch television presenter (Open the Village), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 2018)
Dec 31 Peter May, English cricket batsman (66 Tests, 4,537 @ 46.77, 13 x 100, 22 x 50; HS 285no; Surrey CCC), born in Reading, England (d. 1994)
Dec 31 Sidney Greenbaum, British scholar, born in London (d. 1996)

Born in 1929

Famous Weddings

Aga Khan III

Dec 7 Nizari Imam Aga Khan III (52) weds Andrée Joséphine Carron in Aix-les-Bains, France

Famous Divorces

Howard Hughes

Dec 9 Businessman Howard Hughes divorces 1st wife Ella Rice after 4 years of marriage

Famous Deaths

Dec 9 Willis Cuttell, English cricket spin bowler (2 Tests, 6 wickets; Lancashire CCC), dies at 66
Dec 12 Charles Goodnight, American cattle baron (b. 1836)
Dec 13 Knut Algot Håkanson, Swedish composer, dies at 42
Dec 19 Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson, American blues singer and guitarist, dies at 36
Dec 20 Emile Loubet, French premier (1892)/president (1899-1906), dies at 90
Dec 29 Wilhelm Maybach, German industrialist and engine designer (the 1st Mercedes), dies at 83

On This Day