April 1, 1923: Actor Harold Lloyd stuns audience in Safety Last!April 18, 1923: Yankee Stadium opens its gatesApril 28, 1923: Wembley Stadium opens its gatesApril 26, 1923: Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth are married at Westminster
The romantic comedy film Safety Last!, starring Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis, premiered at the Strand Theater in New York. This film features one of the most famous scenes of the silent movie era: Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock while dangling from the outside of a skyscraper.[1] A reviewer for The New York Times wrote, "Harold Lloyd's latest effort is filled with laughs and gasps... Although laughter follows quickly on the heels of each thrill, the thrill lasts long enough for a man to feel that dizzy feeling when looking down from a height of twelve stories."[2]
Four directors of the Krupp works were arrested by French authorities and charged with inciting their workers in the altercation of the previous day.[4]
A woman at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City broke the existing record for longest marathon dance, stopping at 9:57 in the evening after having danced continuously for 27 consecutive hours. Alma Stappenback Cummings, 32, of San Antonio, Texas, went through six different partners, each of whom quit from exhaustion. After breaking Victor Hindmarch's record of 25 hours set in March, Ms. Cummings went two hours more before quitting, and won the prize by the sponsors.[5] The record would be surpassed two weeks later.
Paterson F.C. of Paterson, New Jersey won the U.S Football Association title, emblematic of the American national soccer football championship. The victory came, not on the field, but "at the office of Thomas Cahill, secretary of the U. S. F. A., 126 Nassau Street" in New York City the day after Paterson and the defending champions, St. Louis Scullin Steel F.C. had played to a 2 to 2 draw in the National Challenge Cup Final.[7] "Late in the afternoon," The New York Times noted, "the announcement was made that the Scullins, champions for 1922, forfeited their right to the championship and yielded the title to the Paterson football club," [7] following deliberations in person and by telegram between four members of a committee of officials. The day before, Paterson had overcome a 0 to 2 deficit with two goals in the final 25 minutes, the tying score coming in the 84th minute of play, "six minutes from full-time", when John "Rabbit" Hemingsley got the ball past St. Louis goalkeeper Harry "Dutch" Oellerman. After two extra periods, the game had been called because of darkness and a replay ordered for April 8 in Harrison.[8] With four stars of St. Louis being professional baseball players as well (including Oellerman), and three other players injured, Manager A. J. Brady announced that the team would surrender its title.[9]
The day after the arrest by the French Army of four directors of Germany's Krupp arms factory, 50,000 employees threatened to go on strike if the men were not released.[10]
Died: Osman Agca, 39, Turkish politician and former adviser to Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk, was killed along with 12 of his followers during an attempt to arrest him for the March 27 murder of parliamentary deputy Ali Chukri Bey.[11]
Albert, Jack, Harry and Sam Warner, founders of Warner Bros.
The Warner Bros. company, now a multi-billion dollar corporation, was incorporated by four brothers, Harry Warner, Albert Warner, Sam Warner (born in Poland as Hirsz, Aaron and Szmuel Wonsal) and Jack L. Warner (born in Canada after the family emigrated from Poland).[15]
The first Tanager Expedition began with the departure from Honolulu of the minesweeper USS Tanager to survey and catalog the animals, plants and archaeological sites of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands territory as part of a biological expedition in a partnership between the Bishop Museum, the Bureau of Biological Survey of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the United States Navy.[16]
Adolf Hitler told the Chicago Tribune that rumors he was planning a march on Berlin to overthrow the government were "fairy tales" and asserted that his only fight was against bolshevism.[17]
Gene Reynolds (pen name for Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal), American TV writer and producer known for the TV series M*A*S*H; in Cleveland (d. 2020)
Died:John Venn, 88, English logician and philosopher known for creating the Venn diagram
The trial of William Z. Foster, leader of the Communist Party of the United States, ended in a hung jury. The 12 members were deadlocked 6 to 6 after 31 hours of deliberation, and Judge Charles E. White declared a mistrial. "The verdict is for the best", Foster told the media. "It is a victory for the jury, I think, in that they had the courage to stand that way. There must have been a mountain of prejudice against these ideas."[18] Judge White announced that the trial of C. E. Ruthenberg, another of the 32 persons arrested along with Foster in August, would begin on April 16.
Hjalmar Branting, the Prime Minister of Sweden, lost a vote of confidence in parliament, 76 to 60, prompting him and his cabinet to resign. Crown Prince Gustaf, acting as regent during the absence of his father on a vacation in France, asked Branting to continue until King Gustaf V could return to appoint a successor.[19]
Died:George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, 56, English aristocrat who had financed the expedition to find the tomb of Tutankamun, died of blood poisoning arising from an infected mosquito bite a few days before March 19 at Aswan, and a razor blade cut.[20] His death, two months after the opening of the tomb, gave rise to the legend of the "curse of the pharaohs".[21] Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the Sherlock Holmes mystery series, suggested to reporters that an evil spirit, or "elemental", might have induced the death of Lord Carnarvon. "The Egyptians had powers we know nothing of", he explained. "They easily may have used these powers, occult and otherwise, to defend their graves. They always opposed digging up the mummies."[22]
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave a lecture at Carnegie Hall in New York City in which he displayed a series of "spirit photographs", including a pair taken at the Cenotaph in London at the time of the two-minute silence to England's war dead. One picture showed a faint luminous patch which Doyle described as "ectoplasm", and another showed what appeared to be ghostly faces floating above the crowd.[23][24]
The second Herrin Massacre trial ended in Marion, Illinois as the jury acquitted six defendants after almost seven hours of deliberation.[25]
Former Supreme Court Justice John Hessin Clarke said that only American entry into the League of Nations could keep Britain and France from going to war against each other in the future. "France and Britain have been enemies oftener than friends during the last 200 years", he explained. "It is plain truth to say that there has not been a time in modern history when two nations controlling the destiny of the world stood so much in need of an impartial counselor, guide, and friend to compose inevitable differences as they arise as Britain and France stand in need of each a one today."[26]
Merna Barry (stage name for Minnie Bagelman), American singer who, with her sister Clara, was popular in singing Yiddish language songs, including ""Trop'ns Fin Regen Oif Mein Kop", their version of ""Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"; in the Bronx, New York City (d. 1976)
Died:
Chwa II Kabalega, 69, the former Omukama of Bunyoro who led resistance against the British Empire in what is now Uganda, died while on his way home after 24 years of exile. King Kabalega had led the Bantu monarchy of Bunyoro until being deposed in 1899 and deported to the Seychelles in the South Indian Ocean. Recently given permission to return home to his former palace at Hoima, he reached the city of Jinja, Uganda, 170 miles (270km) from home, before dying.
Vice Admiral Harry Knapp, 66, retired U.S. Navy officer and former U.S. Military Governor of Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) from 1917 to 1918 during the U.S. administration of the island republic.
Land mines blew up a bridge in Dublin; two bridges over the River Fane were also blown up.[28]
The Soviet Union issued a statement distancing itself from the William Z. Foster affair, saying it took "no responsibility" for the actions of American communists because "the Russian government does not direct the affairs, plans or theories of the international communist contingent."[29]
Born: Mumtaz Begum, Indian character actress in Bollywood films; in Bombay.
The Dynamo Sports Club, an all-Soviet Russian sports organization that was sponsored by the Soviet secret police, the GPU, was founded in Moscow at the initiative of GPU Director Felix Dzerzhinsky, initially with teams in soccer football (FC Dynamo Moscow), men's and women's basketball, water polo, fencing, shooting and bandy.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lectured again at Carnegie Hall, describing a recent talk he had with the spirit of W. T. Stead, the British investigative journalist and newspaper editor who had died in the 1912 sinking of RMS Titanic. Doyle said that Stead advised him from the spirit world about the preface of a new book Doyle was writing.[30]
Harvard University passed a resolution declaring that "men of the white and colored races shall not be compelled to live and eat together, nor shall any man be excluded by reason of his color."[32]
Harry A. Black, 43, American politician and Secretary of State of Vermont since 1919, was killed in a freak accident in Wells River, Vermont when he fainted while he walked across a railroad yard to catch a train to return home to Montpelier. Black and Vermont Speaker of the House Orlando L. Martin had arrived at Wells River on a Boston & Maine train from Newport and were walking to catch a train of the Montpelier & Wells River Railroad. Bell appeared to faint and was struck in the back by another B & M R.R. locomotive.[33]
Liam Lynch
General Liam Lynch, the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army, was fatally wounded in an ambush by the Irish Free State Army at the Knockmealdown Mountains in County Tipperary, a pivotal moment that would bring an end to the Irish Civil War.[34] Lynch and six IRA officials had learned that a unit of the National Army had discovered the location of his headquarters, and fled to prevent important papers from falling into the hands of the Free State. As the seven IRA members were avoiding the first unit, they ran into another Free State Army of 50 members approaching from the opposite direction. Lynch was struck by a rifle shot and ordered his men, including his aides Frank Aiken and Moss Twomey, to leave him behind and to get the documents to the rest of the IRA leadership. When the Free State party arrived to arrest him, Lynch was dying and asked to see a priest and a doctor. Wounded early in the morning, Lynch died at 8:45 in the evening.[35][36]
The Conservative government of British Prime Minister Bonar Law was defeated on a snap vote in the House of Commons, taken with many members absent following a dull debate on civil service estimates. With 283 present in the 615-member body, a Labour Party motion of confidence in the Law government was made; 138 members voted in favor of Law, and 145 against.[37]Labour members gleefully called on the government to resign, but few took the vote seriously.[38]
The government of Turkey approved a concession to give the U.S. exclusive rights to develop oil fields and railway lines, after negotiations by a syndicate led by retired U.S. Navy Admiral Colby Mitchell Chester.[citation needed] Because of an estimate that the concession would require $300 million U.S. dollars to develop the concession, the U.S. Senate declined to ratify the treaty and Turkey rescinded the offer.
The first ban on marathon dancing was issued in Sunderland, England when the mayor invoked an existing local regulation. The magistrate called the fad "an idiotic idea, verging on lunacy."[39][40]
Died: Thomas F. Smith, 57, New York City public administrator and former U.S. Congressman, was killed after being struck by a taxicab while crossing Fourteenth Street after leaving his office at Tammany Hall.[44]
The government of Japan announced that Crown Prince Hirohito would marry Princess Nagako Kuni in November. The press release came as Hirohito was preparing to begin a two week tour of Taiwan, at the time administered as the island of Formosa within the Japanese Empire.[45]
The Lansing–Ishii Agreement, signed on November 2, 1917 between the United States and Japan to mark their respective spheres of influence in China, was formally canceled by agreement of the two nations, represented by U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and Japan's Ambassador to the U.S., Masanao Hanihara.[52]
Paul Askonas, the first Dracula on film
The first appearance of Count Dracula on film was seen as the Hungarian silent movie Drakula halála ("The Death of Dracula") premiered in Budapest, with actor Paul Askonas as the vampire.[53]
The National League of Women Voters voted against an endorsement of the League of Nations as presently constituted, but urged that the United States "associate itself with other nations" in order to prevent war.[54]
Nihon Shōgakkō fire: 10 Japanese-American children were killed in a racially motivated arson attack on a Japanese Buddhist mission boarding school in Sacramento, California, by an itinerant Mexican-American serial arsonist.[55]
The "Phonofilm", Lee de Forest's revolutionary sound-on-film technique, was introduced to the public with three short movies at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. While many of the spectators expected "that Mr. de Forest's invention showing a film synchronized with voices would also be the object of their attention", what was shown was people dancing to music. Although "the time of the music with the dancing was perfect", a reporter for The New York Times noted, "the music itself was not keenly interesting inasmuch as it sounded just about the same as that from the average phonograph record."[56] The first picture was The Gavotte, which "showed a man and woman dancing to old-time music", and "while one could hear the instruments being played for the dancers, one could not hear the slightest sound of a footfall." The second feature, "The Serenade" showed four musicians playing wind, percussion and string instruments, and the final one was "an Egyptian dancer, the tones from the phonofilm keeping perfect time with the graceful movements of the dancing girl on the screen."[56] The Phonofilm demonstration was followed by the feature attraction for the moviegoers, Bella Donna, starring Pola Negri.[57]
The government of the Republic of Turkey issued the "Law of Abandoned Properties", authorizing the transfer to the government of any properties whose owners were not present, regardless of the reason, by a court-appointed person given power of attorney to sign on the absent owner's behalf.[58]
Insulin first became widely available for diabetes patients in North America.[59]
The Armenian State Committee of Cinema was founded by decree of the Soviet Union's State Committee for Cinematography, Goskino, to finance the filming and distribution of Armenian language films.[citation needed] Its studio, Armenfilm, would produce its first film, the documentary Soviet Armenia, the following year, followed by its first dramatic work, Namus.
Eleven housing officials in Moscow were condemned to death for taking bribes.[60]
The government of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin presented its budget for the year. Revenues were higher than forecast so taxes on income and beer sales were cut.[61][62]
The record for the a dance marathon was broken for the fourth time in a week. On April 14, six couples in Baltimore went for 53 hours before being stopped by police. The next day, Magdalene Williams was the winner of a marathon in Houston after 65 hours and 30 minutes [64] Two days later, Madeline Gottschick danced for 65 hours and 54 minutes in Cleveland, ending at 8:54a.m.[65] Meanwhile, an unusual traveling dance marathon, conducted in a truck that traveled through New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, moving each time that police arrived to enforce state law, ended with Vera Sheppard dancing for an even 69 hours.[66] Records had been reported since March 6 with the first marathon in Sunderland in England.[67]
Voters in a referendum approved the incorporation of the new city of Riverdale, New Jersey.
Died: William John Murphy, 83, American real estate magnate known for creating the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona in 1891, initially as a haven for persons opposed to the sale of alcohol.
Yankee Stadium opened its doors in New York City. Babe Ruth hit the first home run in the ballpark's history as the New York Yankees downed the Boston Red Sox, 4 to 1.[68] A crowd of 74,200 fans packed the stadium, setting a new single-game attendance record for a major league baseball game.[69]
Died: Savina Petrilli, 71, Italian founder of the Sisters of the Poor of Saint Catherine of Siena
King Fouad I of Egypt promulgated the nation's first constitution, providing for a bicameral national parliament made up of a 214-member Chamber of Deputies and a Senate, along with a Prime Minister and cabinet of ministers who were accountable to the parliament and the King.[70]
Five people were killed and at least 40 wounded in fighting in the German city of Mülheim, where a mob had blockaded the Rathaus, Mulheim's city hall.[71] By the time the siege was ended the next day, nine people were dead, 70 injured, and 40 rebels had been arrested.[72]
Frank Aiken became the new Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army to succeed Liam Lynch, who had been killed in an ambush 10 days earlier. Aiken, who had survived the attack by the Irish Free State National Army, urged the 12-member Executive Board to halt further action in the Irish Civil War, concluding that the anti-treaty IRA could not win a prolonged fight with the Free State. Aiken's resolution to make peace with the Irish Free State passed by a 9 to 2 vote.[citation needed]
A bill in the House of Commons to prohibit the manufacture, importation or sale of liquor in the United Kingdom failed overwhelmingly, with only 14 votes in favor and 236 against.[75] The proposal had been introduced by Edwin Scrymgeour, the only member of the Scottish Prohibition Party to win a seat in Parliament. Scrymgeour had defeated Winston Churchill in the 1922 election to capture the seat for Dundee.
Robert S. Munger, 78, American entrepreneur and philanthropist who co-invented the "Munger System Ginning Outfit", an improvement on the existing cotton gin, that allowed large scale operations in textile production
Italy celebrated the Founding of Rome as a holiday for the first time as 50,000 Fascists in black shirts marched in military formation through the streets of Rome "winding their way through the streets past the Roman Forum, the Colisseum, the Baths of Caracalla and through the Triumphal Arch of Titus" to reach a large open field. According to tradition, the city of Rome had been founded in 753 BC and the 2,676th anniversary was made by decree to be the official labor day holiday.[78]Benito Mussolini had May Day festivities replaced with this holiday instead, suppressing International Workers' Day.[79]
The British Army began occupation of the city of Rawandiz, located in the British Mandate for Iraq but close to the borders of Iran and Turkey.[citation needed]
Benito Mussolini slashed one billion lire from Italy's budget, reducing the projected deficit for the fiscal year 1923–24 to 3 billion. Most of the reductions of 25 percent were achieved by cutting civil service jobs.[80]
A bomb exploded at Comiskey Park in Chicago, home of baseball's Chicago White Sox, but there were no injuries. The Sox were in St. Louis to play a game against the St. Louis Browns. It was suspected that the hiring of non-union labor to paint the exterior of the ballpark was the reason for the bomb, but no arrests were ever made.[81]
Cannabis, the active ingredient in marijuana was added to the list of prohibited narcotics in Canada, without debate, when Canadian Minister of Health Henri Beland added "Cannabis indica (Indian hemp) or hasheesh" to the language of "An Act to Prohibit the Improper Use of Opium and other Drugs", along with heroin and codeine. Previously, the schedule of illegal narcotics had been limited to opium, morphine, cocaine and eucaine. The move received virtually no attention because little was known in Canada about the drug at the time.[82] The legislation passed the House and was subsequently approved by the Senate of Canada.
A group of merchants and social advocates in Korea organized Hyeongpyeongsa, with a mission to abolish the traditional caste system in the Asian nation and to end discrimination against people labeled as Baekjeong, the "untouchable" minority.[83]
The Port of Gdynia, constructed by Poland after the republic's labor problems with workers in the Free City of Danzig, was inaugurated in a ceremony.[citation needed] Initially, what had been the Prussian seaside resort of Gdingen, had a small harbor excavated to accommodate ships and a long pier.
France blocked an Anglo-Swedish attempt to set up an inquiry into the administration of the Saar Basin after complaints were received from the population there of censorship. French delegate Gabriel Hanotaux said the measures were "temporary".[84]
The New Symphony Orchestra made its debut at Massey Hall in Toronto with 58 musicians conducted by Luigi von Kunits, after the original Toronto Symphony Orchestra had been disbanded in 1918.[85] It revived the Toronto Symphony Orchestra name in 1927.
Turkish Muslim actresses were featured in film for the first time, with the premiere of the silent film Ateşten Gömlek (The Ordeal) at the Palas Sinema in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district.[citation needed]
Thirty-one of the 237 people on the Portuguese steamer Mossamedes died when the ship capsized off the shore of Cabo Frio in South-West Africa (now Namibia. Seven drowned before they could evacuate the ship, and another 24 died when their lifeboat overturned. The 206 survivors were picked up by the French gunboat Cassiopee, the Portuguese gunboat Salvador Correia and by fishing vessels from Porto Alexandre in Angola.[86][87][88]
The Fascist Grand Council approved Benito Mussolini's motion to embody all the Fascists into a national militia, giving the country a reserve army of 500,000 members, without additional expenditures as they were considered volunteers.[89]
The wedding of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who would become King George VI and the Queen Consort in 1936, took place at Westminster Abbey.[92] The union would produce the future Queen Elizabeth II in 1926, and in 1936, upon the unexpected abdication of Edward, Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth would become King George VI and Elizabeth, Queen Consort.
Wembley Stadium hosted its first event, the FA Cup Final. Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United, 2 to 0, in front of a 126,047 paying customers, though estimates place the actual number at around 200,000 as approximately 75,000 fans scaled the venue's inadequate barriers and gained free admission. Reportedly, more than 1,000 people were injured in as the crowd spilled over onto the playing area.[97] The game was almost canceled, but officials feared that doing so would cause a riot and so a police contingent led by PCGeorge Scorey slowly coaxed the crowd off the pitch before the match could start.[98]
Knute Nelson, 80, U.S. Senator from Minnesota since 1895, and previously a U.S. Congressman and the state's Governor, died as he was taking a train shortly back to his home in Alexandria, Minnesota, shortly after departing from Baltimore.[100][101]
The Irish Republican Army's new Chief of Staff, Frank Aiken, announced a ceasefire and called on all IRA volunteers to relinquish their weapons on May 24. The ceasefire was endorsed by Irish Republican leader Éamon de Valera, bringing a halt to the Irish Civil War at 12:00 noon.[103]
By a 7–2 decision in Cunard Steamship Co., Ltd. v. Mellon, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that American ships could sell and serve liquor on the "high seas" more than three miles beyond U.S. territory, but upheld a ban on foreign vessels from bringing liquor into American ports.[104]
"Paterson Eleven Gets Soccer Title— St. Louis Team, Unable to Remain Here for Replay, Forfeits National Trophy", The New York Times, April 3, 1923, p. 19
"Paterson Rallies to Tie Scullins— Jersey Team Evens Score, 2-2, Just Before Full Time in National Soccer Final", The New York Times, April 2, 1923, p. 20
"Kemal's Troops Kill Osman, His Lieutenant— 12 of Osman's Followers Shot Down With Him for Murder of Chukri Bey", The New York Times, April 4, 1923, p. 2
Cass Warner Sperling and Cork Millner, with Jack Warner Jr., Hollywood be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story (University Press of Kentucky, 1998) p. 77
"Carnarvon Is Dead of an Insect's Bite at Pharaoh's Tomb; Blood Poisoning and Ensuing Pneumonia Conquer Tut-ankh-Amen Discoverer in Egypt", The New York Times, April 5, 1923, p. 1
"Stuyvesant Fish Drops Dead in Bank; Stricken With Heart Attack on Threshold of National Park Directors' Room", The New York Times, April 11, 1923, p. 10
"'Tom' Smith Killed by Taxi in Front of Tammany Hall; Secretary of Democratic Organization Struck by Cab While Crossing Street", The New York Times, April 12, 1923, p. 1
Slide, Anthony (1998). The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry. Oxon and New York: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p.53. ISBN978-1-135-92554-3.
"Legislative Provisions of the Ottoman/Turkish Governments Regarding Minorities and Their Properties", by Anastasia Lekka, Mediterranean Quarterly (Winter 2007) pp. 135–154
"Well, Here's Another! Texas Beauty Is Champion Marathon Dancer— Puts in 65 Hours and 30 Minutes on Houston Floor", Cincinnati Enquirer, April 16, 1923, p. 1
"Egyptians Declare for Rule of People— New Constitution Is a Victory for Democracy, Against Absolutists in the Palace", The New York Times, April 21, 1923, p. 2
"Third Marathon Win for De Mar; Melrose Wonder Runs Michelson Into Ground After 20 Miles, Breaks Tape in 2h 23m 47 2/5 s", Boston Daily Globe, April 20, 1923, p. 1
"Dr. S. S. Wheeler, Inventor, Dead; President of Crocker-Wheeler Co. Dies Suddenly at His Park Av. Home at 63", The New York Times, April 21, 1923, p. 11
"50,000 Fascisti in Roman Triumph; Patriotic Outburst Marks City's 2,676th Anniversary and Italy's Labor Day", The New York Times, April 22, 1923, p. 9
Falasca-Zamponi, Simonetta (1997). Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp.91–92. ISBN0-520-22677-1.
Lee Jeong-eun, "The Urban Marginalized People in the Modern City: The Social History of Minorities and Human Rights" (Institute for East Asian Studies, 2013) pp. 140–142
"227 of 258 Missing from Liner Are Safe— One Hundred and Ten Survivors of the Mossamedes Are Brought In by Gunboat; 117 on Other Vessels; One Boat Which Put Off After the Wreck on African Coast Is Not Heard From", The New York Times, April 29, 1923, p. 17
"1,000 Hurt in London in Crush of 200,000 at Football Game; Broken Limbs, Ribs and Collar- bones Are Result of Mob Swamping Playing Field— Game Twice Interrupted", The New York Times, April 29, 1923, p. 1
"Irish Disorders End as De Valera Urged; Rebel Chief's Order Appears to Have Been Put Into Effect by His, Followers, The New York Times, May 2, 1923, p. 6
