January 1929

January 1, 1929 (Tuesday)

In the 15th Rose Bowl, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defeated the California Golden Bears 8–7. The game featured one of the biggest blunders in college football history when Roy Riegels of the Golden Bears picked up a fumble and ran the wrong way, leading to a Yellow Jackets two-point safety that ultimately provided the margin of victory.

German President Paul von Hindenburg and Chancellor Hermann Müller told a New Year's Day reception of diplomatic representatives that the German people wanted the occupation of the Rhineland to end. Hindenburg said that the German people were "very bitter because a great part of their country still lacks the liberty which we claim by divine and human right", while Müller said that strained international relations remaining over the war could only end once the "foreign yoke" of occupation had been removed.

Born: Joseph Lombardo, mafioso, in Italy; Haruo Nakajima, actor, in Yamagata, Japan

January 2, 1929 (Wednesday)

Yugoslavian Prime Minister Anton Korošec informed King Alexander of his resignation, explaining that he could not accept the demands of the Peasant-Democratic coalition which was campaigning for Croatian autonomy.

Died: Denny Lyons, 62, American baseball player

January 3, 1929 (Thursday)

Bolivia and Paraguay averted war over the disputed Chaco region by signing an arbitration treaty.

Born: Sergio Leone, filmmaker, in Rome (d. 1989); Ernst Mahle, Brazilian composer and conductor, in Stuttgart, Germany; Gordon Moore, computing entrepreneur and benefactor, in San Francisco

January 4, 1929 (Friday)

A merger between the Victor Talking Machine Company and RCA was officially approved. One reason why RCA head David Sarnoff wanted Victor was for its production plant in Camden, New Jersey, which could manufacture equipment for the booming medium of sound film. The move helped establish Sarnoff's RKO Pictures as a major new film company.

The Daily Mail announced that American industrialist and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon had purchased the Niccolini-Cowper Madonna by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael for about $1 million, a new record at the time for the most ever paid for a single painting.

January 5, 1929 (Saturday)

The monarchy of Yugoslavia issued a statement declaring that the current governmental crisis could not be resolved with a parliamentary regime.

Pan-American delegates signed the General Act of Inter-American Arbitration in Washington, D.C.. The agreement was a sort of Kellogg-Briand Pact for the Western Hemisphere.

Born: Wilbert Harrison, musician, in Charlotte, North Carolina (d. 1994)

Died: Marc McDermott, 47, Australian-American actor; Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, 72, Russian general

January 6, 1929 (Sunday)

King Alexander of Yugoslavia suspended the 1921 constitution and introduced a dictatorship.

Heinrich Himmler became Reichsführer-SS.

Died: Tex Rickard, 59, American boxing promoter

January 7, 1929 (Monday)

Petar Živković became Prime Minister of Yugoslavia as King Alexander named a new cabinet of his own choosing.

The U.S. aircraft Question Mark ("?") completed 150 hours, 40 minutes and 15 seconds of sustained flight, a new endurance record more than doubling the old mark. The plane relied on aerial refueling to stay in the air for six days over Southern California.

Amānullāh Khān of Afghanistan banned European styles of dress and restored veils for women.

Tarzan of the Apes, a newspaper comic strip adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character of Tarzan, was first published.

The newspaper comic strip Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D. premiered.

Born: Terry Moore, actress, in Glendale, California

Died: Henry Arthur Jones, 77, English dramatist

January 8, 1929 (Tuesday)

King Alexander of Yugoslavia issued a series of royal decrees, putting all the nation's legal courts under direct control of the government and cutting off revenues to Yugoslavian political ministers.

Born: Saeed Jaffrey, British actor, in Malerkotla, British India

Died: Wallace Eddinger, 47, American stage actor; Pasqualino Lolordo, Chicago mobster (murdered)

January 9, 1929 (Wednesday)

The right to public assembly was removed in Yugoslavia.

Born: Brian Friel, dramatist, in Killyclogher, Northern Ireland

January 10, 1929 (Thursday)

In Belgium, Hergé's character Tintin first appeared in the children's newspaper supplement Le Petit Vingtième, as the serialized adventure Tintin in the Land of the Soviets ran its first installment.

The Elmer Rice play Street Scene opened at the Playhouse Theatre in New York City.

January 11, 1929 (Friday)

The Soviet Union reduced its working day to seven hours.

Babe Ruth's estranged wife Helen died in a house fire in Watertown, Massachusetts. She had been living for several years with a dentist and was thought by neighbours to have been his wife.

Born: Don Mossi, baseball player, in St. Helena, California

January 12, 1929 (Saturday)

The romantic adventure film The Rescue, starring Ronald Colman and Lili Damita, was released.

Born: Alasdair MacIntyre, philosopher, in Glasgow, Scotland

January 13, 1929 (Sunday)

Yugoslavia banned foreign newspapers that criticized the new dictatorship.

Died: Wyatt Earp, 80, American gambler, deputy sherriff and deputy town marshal

January 14, 1929 (Monday)

Amānullāh Khān of Afghanistan, facing revolt, abdicated and left the throne to his brother Inayatullah Khan.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Wisconsin v. Illinois.

January 15, 1929 (Tuesday)

The U.S. Senate ratified the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

Born: Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader, in Atlanta (d. 1968)

Died: William Boyd Dawkins, 91, British geologist and archaeologist

January 16, 1929 (Wednesday)

Nikolai Bukharin resigned as head of the Communist International after disagreements with Joseph Stalin.

General of the Salvation Army Bramwell Booth was adjucated as unfit to continue by a 55 to 8 vote of the organization's High Command.

January 17, 1929 (Thursday)

Civil war broke out in Afghanistan when rebels led by Habibullāh Kalakāni captured Kabul and proclaimed Kalakāni the new ruler.

50 were killed when a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck Anzoátegui, Venezuela.

The comic strip character Popeye first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre.

Born: Jacques Plante, ice hockey player, in Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel, Quebec, Canada (d. 1986); Eilaine Roth, baseball player, in Michigan City, Indiana (d. 2011); Elaine Roth, baseball player, in Michigan City, Indiana (d. 2007); Tan Boon Teik former Attorney-General of Singapore, in Penang, Straits Settlements (d. 2012)

January 18, 1929 (Friday)

British airplanes rescued Inayatullah Khan, ousted as King of Afghanistan after only three days, from Kabul and brought him to Kandahar where he rejoined his brother in exile.

January 19, 1929 (Saturday)

The Hawes-Cooper Act was passed in the United States, making prison-made goods subject to the laws of the state importing them. The bill was an attempt to curtail the use of prison labor that could make goods more cheaply than free market labor.

January 20, 1929 (Sunday)

Political parties with the word "Croat" in their name, including the Croatian Popular Party, were ordered dissolved in Yugoslavia.

Born: Arte Johnson, actor, in Benton Harbor, Michigan

January 21, 1929 (Monday)

Oklahoma Governor Henry S. Johnston was suspended from office by the state senate after five articles of impeachment were brought against him. Lieutenant Governor William J. Holloway became acting governor.

Italian police destroyed 2,000 fake American passports in the government's fight against emigrant bootlegging.

January 22, 1929 (Tuesday)

2,000 monarchists assembled in Berlin's Krieger-Vereinshaus to celebrate the upcoming 70th birthday of deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II and hail Crown Prince Wilhelm as the "heir to the imperial crown". The former crown prince did not appear, but his son Wilhelm of Prussia sat in the front row and frequently rose to bow.

The D. W. Griffith-directed, partly talking film Lady of the Pavements was released.

Born: Ron Richards, record producer, manager and promoter, in London, England (d. 2009)

Died: Adolph Brodsky, 77, Russian violinist

January 23, 1929 (Wednesday)

14 members of the Poona Horse cavalry regiment were accidentally killed during an aerial bombing practice mistake in Peshawar.

The drama film The Bellamy Trial was released.

Born: John Polanyi, Hungarian-Canadian chemist and Nobel laureate, in Berlin

Died: Henry Killilea, 65, co-founder of baseball's American League

January 24, 1929 (Thursday)

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie was published.

Died: Wilfred Baddeley, 57, English tennis player

January 25, 1929 (Friday)

Fascist Italy announced an extensive new shipbuilding program to bring the country's naval strength back to parity with other powers, particularly France.

Born: Benny Golson, jazz saxophonist, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Died: Oscar Underwood, 66, American politician

January 26, 1929 (Saturday)

A coal mine explosion in Shenyang, northeast China killed 100 Chinese and 3 Japanese.

The talking drama film The Wolf of Wall Street opened at the Rialto Theatre in New York City. It was George Bancroft's first talking film role.

The film Redskin, starring Richard Dix and filmed partly in Technicolor, premiered at the Criterion Theatre in New York City.

Born: Gordon Solie, professional wrestling announcer, in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 2000)

Died: Catherine Mary MacSorley, 80, Irish writer

January 27, 1929 (Sunday)

During a reconnaissance flight over King Edward VII Land in Antarctica, the Richard E. Byrd expedition discovered the Rockefeller Mountains and Washington Ridge, as well as Mounts Franklin, Mount Fitzsimmons, Frazier and Jackling.

Born: Mohamed Al-Fayed, business magnate, in Alexandria, Egypt

January 28, 1929 (Monday)

Outgoing U.S. President Calvin Coolidge gave his farewell budget address before members of the business organizations of the government. Coolidge warned that the nation's prosperity would only continue if rigid economical practice was maintained.

Born: Claes Oldenburg, American sculptor, in Stockholm, Sweden

January 29, 1929 (Tuesday)

The Erich Maria Remarque novel All Quiet on the Western Front was published.

The Seeing Eye guide dog school was established in Nashville, Tennessee.

Born: George Ross Anderson, Jr., U.S. federal judge, in Anderson, South Carolina

January 30, 1929 (Wednesday)

The German silent melodrama film Pandora's Box, starring American actress Louise Brooks, opened in Berlin.

Inter-Island Airways, the forerunner of Hawaiian Airlines, was incorporated.

Died: Franklin J. Drake, 82, American admiral; La Goulue, 62, French dancer

January 31, 1929 (Thursday)

Leon Trotsky was officially expelled from the Soviet Union and sent into exile.

Born: Rudolf Mössbauer, physicist, in Munich, Germany (d. 2011); Jean Simmons, actress, in Lower Holloway, London, England (d. 2010)

Died: Frederick Lambton, 4th Earl of Durham, 73, British peer and politician