1931

Top #1 songs in the USA

• Mills Brothers - Nobody's Sweetheart

Events

• 02 Jan South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
• 03 Jan Albert Einstein begins doing research at the California Institute of Technology, along with astronomer Edwin Hubble.
• 04 Jan Art Acord, American western actor (Set Free, Spurs and Saddles), dies at age 40.
• 05 Jan 1st woman to purchase a baseball team Lucille Thomas purchases Topeka franchise in the Western League
• 06 Jan Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
• 07 Jan Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.
• 08 Jan Philadelphia Quakers set then NHL record of 15 straight loses
• 21 Jan Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
• 22 Jan VARA begins experimental TV broadcast in Diamantbeurs, Amsterdam.
• 26 Jan Hungary-Austria sign peace treaty
• 28 Jan Bradman scores 220 NSW vs. Victoria, 308 mins, 13 fours
• 30 Jan The release of the movie City Lights starring Charlie Chaplin.
• 03 Feb Arkansas legislature passes motion to pray for soul of H L Mencken after he calls the state the "apex of moronia".
• 04 Feb National League adopts a deader baseball
• 05 Feb Maxine Dunlap becomes 1st US women to earn a glider pilot license
• 07 Feb US opera, Peter Ibbetson, by Deems Taylor premieres at Met Opera, New York City
• 08 Feb Gas explosion, fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000.
• 10 Feb Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Harts premieres in New York City
• 12 Feb ''Radio Vaticana'' first broadcasts.
• 13 Feb Phil Tobin introduces Assembly Bill 98 in Nevada legislature to allow licensed gambling on a variety of games.
• 14 Feb Bradman scores 152 Aust vs. WI, 154 minutes, 13 fours 2 fives
• 15 Feb 1st Dracula movie released
• 16 Feb Extreme right wing Pehr Evind Svinhufvud is elected President of Finland.
• 20 Feb Congress allows California to build Oakland-Bay Bridge
• 21 Feb Alka Seltzer introduced
• 28 Feb Oswald Mosley founds his New Party
• 01 Mar The USS Arizona is placed back in full commission after a refit.
• 03 Mar Star Spangled Banner officially becomes US national anthem
• 04 Mar West Indies beat Australia in cricket for the first time, by 30 runs at Sydney Cricket Ground.
• 05 Mar The British Viceroy of India, Governor-General Edward Frederick Lindley Wood and Mohandas Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) sign an agreement envisaging the release of political prisoners and allowing salt to be freely used by the poorest members of the population.
• 10 Mar British Labour party removes fascist Sir Oswald Mosley.
• 14 Mar 1st theater built for rear movie projection (NYC)
• 15 Mar SS Viking explodes off Newfoundland, killing 27 of the 147 on board.
• 16 Mar Genootschap Onze Taal (Our Language) organizes (Netherlands).
• 17 Mar Nevada legalizes gambling.
• 18 Mar Juan Bautista Aznar becomes premier of Spain.
• 19 Mar Nevada legalizes casino gaming and most other forms of gambling. Nevada Governor Fred Balzar signs into law Assembly Bill 98, allowing faro, monte, roulette, keno, fan-tan, twenty-one, blackjack, seven-and-a-half, big injun, klondike, craps, stud poker, draw poker, or any card, dice, machine, at licensed establishments. Licensing fees for social games is set at US$25 per table per month, $50 for each mercantile game, $10 for each slot machine. Legal gambling age set at 21.
• 20 Mar Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin.
• 21 Mar KRO-broadcast studio initiated in Hilversum Holland
• 25 Mar Hal Kemp and his orchestra record Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis
• 26 Mar New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capitol of British-Indies.
• 27 Mar John McGraw says night baseball will not catch on.
• 31 Mar TWA Flight 599 crashes near Bazaar, Kansas killing 8 including Knute Rockne, head football coach at the University of Notre Dame
• 01 Apr Earthquake devastate Managua Nicaragua, kills 2,000
• 02 Apr Teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• 06 Apr 1st broadcast of Little Orphan Annie on NBC-radio
• 07 Apr Seals Stadium opens in San Francisco
• 08 Apr White Horse Inn opens in London
• 12 Apr Spanish voters reject the monarchy.
• 14 Apr Spain becomes Republic with overthrow of King Alfonso XIII
• 15 Apr 1st walk across American backwards begins
• 20 Apr British House of Commons agrees to allow sports play on Sunday.
• 22 Apr Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the USA recognize the Spanish Republic.
• 26 Apr Lou Gehrig hits a homerun but is called out for passing a runner, the mistake costs him American League home run crown; he and Babe Ruth tie for season.
• 27 Apr 100 degrees F (38 degrees C), Pahala, Hawaii (record high).
• 28 Apr Program for woman athletes approved for 1932 Olympics track and field events.
• 29 Apr Cleveland Indians' Wes Ferrell no-hits Saint Louis Browns, 9-0.
• 01 May Empire State Building opens in New York City
• 04 May Mustafa Kemal Pasja becomes Turkish President
• 05 May İsmet İnönü forms new government in Turkey. (7th government)
• 08 May Operette Land of Smiles, premieres in London
• 09 May 57th Preakness: George Ellis aboard Mate wins in 1:59.
• 10 May Golf ball size hail falls in Burlington, New Jersey, USA.
• 13 May Paul Doumer is elected president of France.
• 15 May Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quadragesimo anno
• 16 May 57th Kentucky Derby: Charley Kurtsinger on Twenty Grand wins in 2:01.8.
• 19 May Ironclad cruiser Germany launched in Kiel
• 21 May Belgian Government of Henri Jaspar falls.
• 22 May Canned rattlesnake meat first goes on sale in Florida.
• 23 May Whipsnade Zoo opens in Whipsnade Beds England
• 24 May First air-conditioned train installed - B&O Railroad.
• 27 May Piccard and Knipfer make first flight into stratosphere, by balloon; first use of pressurized cabin in a balloon.
• 30 May Phillies Chuck Klein homers off Ben Cantwell (Braves) in both ends DH
• 01 Jun Rozenburg soccer team forms in Rozenburg
• 05 Jun Jules Renkin becomes Premier of Belgium
• 06 Jun There Ought To Be A Moonlight Saving Time by Guy Lombardo hits #1
• 08 Jun Duke and Duchess of Kent wed
• 09 Jun 1st rocket-powered aircraft design patented (R Goddard)
• 10 Jun Norway occupies East-Greenland
• 12 Jun Al Capone is indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition and perjury
• 13 Jun 63rd Belmont: Charley Kurtsinger aboard Twenty Grand wins in 2:29.6
• 14 Jun French St Philbert overturns off St. Nazaire France, drowns 450
• 15 Jun Eddie Collins and Harry Heilmann, retire from baseball
• 16 Jun Austrian government of Ender falls
• 19 Jun In an attempt to stop the banking crisis in Central Europe from causing a worldwide financial meltdown, President Herbert Hoover issues the Hoover Moratorium.
• 20 Jun Karl Buresch becomes chancellor of Austrian
• 22 Jun RVU, Radio-Volks-University, forms
• 23 Jun July ndash John Haven Emerson of Cambridge, Massachusetts perfects the Emerson iron lung just in time for the growing polio epidemic.
• 24 Jun USSR and Afghanistan sign neutrality treaty
• 27 Jun 3rd Ryder Cup: US, 9-3 at Scioto Country Club - Ohio
• 29 Jun Pope Pius XI encyclical on Nun abbiamo bisogno Mussolini
• 01 Jul Cleveland Municipal Stadium is completed
• 03 Jul 51st Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Sid Wood Jr beats F X Shields (walkover)
• 04 Jul 1st fireworks are held at Cleveland Stadium
• 06 Jul 35th US Golf Open: Billy Burke shoots a 292 at Inverness Club Ohio
• 09 Jul Irish racing driver Kaye Don breaks the world water speed record at Lake Garda, Italy.''BBC History'', July 2011, p12
• 10 Jul In Malinta, Ohio, USA an overhead cometary fragment explosion occurs, producing a crater, a smell of sulfur, windows broken in a farmhouse, and four telephone poles snapped.
• 11 Jul New York Giants beat Philadelphia Phillies 23-8.
• 12 Jul 45,715 fans in 35,000 seat Sportsman Park St. Louis, help cause many ground ruled doubles, 11 in 1st game and 21 in 2nd game for 32
• 16 Jul Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
• 18 Jul 1st air-conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched
• 23 Jul Ashmore and Cartier Island in Indian Ocean are transferred to Australia.
• 24 Jul Paavo Nurmi runs world record 2 mile (8:59.6)
• 26 Jul The millennialist Bible Student movement adopts the name Jehovah's Witnesses at a meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
• 27 Jul Grasshoppers in Iowa, Nebr and SD destroyed thousands of acres of crops
• 28 Jul Congress makes Star-Spangled Banner our 2nd national anthem
• 31 Jul USS Constitution is recommissioned as an active vessel in the US Navy.
• 02 Aug Spanish Catalonia agrees (99+%) for autonomous status
• 05 Aug Detroit Tiger Tommy Bridges perfect game is broken up with 2 outs in 9th
• 08 Aug Workers go on strike at the Hoover dam.
• 12 Aug Yangtzee River floods after heavy rain crumbles dikes in China
• 13 Aug Cin Red Tony Cuccinello goes 6 for 6
• 15 Aug Roy Wilkins joined NAACP as Assistant Secretary
• 18 Aug Lou Gehrig hitless in Detroit, his 1,000th consecutively played game
• 19 Aug Lefty Grove wins AL record tying 16th consecutive game
• 20 Aug 45th US Womens Tennis: Helen Moody beats Eileen Whitingstall (64 61)
• 21 Aug Babe Ruth hits his 600th home run (New York Yankees beat Saint Louis Browns 11-7).
• 23 Aug 45th US Womens Tennis: Helen Moody beats Eileen B Whitingstall (64 61)
• 24 Aug Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
• 28 Aug France and Soviet Union sign a treaty of non-aggression.
• 01 Sep Gehrig hits his 3rd grand slam in 4 days and his 6th HR in consecutive games
• 08 Sep In Hagerstown, Maryland, USA a meteorite crashes through a roof.
• 10 Sep Lord Cecil of British Government says War was never so improbable
• 11 Sep Salvatore Maranzano, American organized crime figure (Born 1868)
• 12 Sep 51st US Mens Tennis: H E Vines beats George M Lott Jr (79 63 97 75)
• 13 Sep Captain G H Stainworth flies world speed record (655 km/h)
• 15 Sep British naval fleet mutinies at Invergordon over pay cuts
• 16 Sep Blimp is moored to Empire State Building (NYC)
• 17 Sep 1st LP record demonstrated (RCA Victor, NYC), venture failed
• 18 Sep Japan takes Manchuria, renames it Manchukuo
• 19 Sep 14th PGA Championship: Tom Creavy at Wannamoisett Country Club - Rumford, Rhode Island
• 20 Sep With a gun literally pointed to his head the Chinese commander of Kirin province announces the annexation of that territory to Japan.
• 21 Sep Britain abandons gold standard / pound devalues 20%
• 22 Sep United Kingdom abandons gold standard.
• 26 Sep Earl Claus von Stauffenberg marries Freiin Nina von Lerchenfeld
• 27 Sep Lou Gehrig completes his 6th straight season, playing in every game (.3486) Jim Bottomley (.3481)
• 28 Sep Peking (200,000 demonstrators demand declaration of war on Japan)
• 30 Sep Start of ''Die Voortrekkers'' youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
• 01 Oct Spanish Cortes accept general female suffrage
• 02 Oct Pope Pius XI encyclical "On the economic crisis".
• 04 Oct Juan Esteban Montero becomes President of Chile
• 05 Oct First nonstop transpacific flight, Japan to Washington (Herndon and Pangborn).
• 06 Oct Js Van Severen forms Verdinaso (Union of Flemish National Solidarists)
• 07 Oct First infra-red photograph, Rochester, New York.
• 11 Oct 100,000 extreme-right Germans form Harzburger Front
• 14 Oct 1st broadcast of Dutch Radio Peoples University
• 16 Oct Trunk murderess Winnie Ruth Judd chops first victim.
• 17 Oct Al Capone convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to 11 years in prison
• 20 Oct Frankie Frisch of the Cards named MVP
• 21 Oct The Sakurakai, a secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army, launches an abortive coup d'etat attempt.
• 24 Oct Gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion
• 30 Oct W2XB TV channel 1 in NYC, New York (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 01 Nov Dupont introduces synthetic rubber
• 07 Nov The Chinese Soviet Republic is proclaimed on the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.
• 08 Nov The Panama Canal is closed for a couple of weeks due to damage caused by a number of earthquakes.
• 11 Nov Cornerstones laid for Opera House and Veterans Building.
• 12 Nov Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto - Chicago Blackhawks beat Leafs, 2-1
• 13 Nov Hattie Caraway (D-AK) appointed 1st US woman senator
• 14 Nov Ottawa Mint Act is proclaimed in England
• 17 Nov Bradman scores 135 NSW vs. South Africa, 128 mins, 15 fours
• 20 Nov Commercial teletype service begins (AT&T)
• 23 Nov Nationally Crisis Committee forms in Hague
• 25 Nov Heavy Hydrogen, later named Deuterium, is discovered by chemist Harold Clayton Urey.
• 30 Nov Crystal Palace in Hyde Park London destroyed by fire
• 01 Dec Ottawa branch of Royal Mint begins operation as Royal Canadian Mint
• 03 Dec Alka Seltzer goes on sale
• 04 Dec Frankenstein opens at Mayfair
• 05 Dec CFL Grey Cup: Mtl AAA beats Regina, 22-0 at Montreal
• 08 Dec Coaxial cable patented.
• 09 Dec Baseball cuts squad from 25 to 23 players and NL continues to prohibit uniform numbers
• 10 Dec Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
• 11 Dec Brit Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Newfndlnd
• 12 Dec Japanese Government of Imukai forms.
• 16 Dec German SPD begins Eiserne Front against fascism.
• 19 Dec Joseph A Lyons (Conservative) becomes premier of Australia.
• 23 Dec Tyrone Power Sr, American actor (Big Trial, Test of Donald Norton), dies at age 62.
• 25 Dec Albert Lonergan scores 137 South Africa versus Queensland at Adelaide before 5,697.
• 26 Dec Pulitzer Prize-winning musical play Of Thee I Sing opens on Broadway
• 28 Dec Lin-Sen succeeds Chiang Kai-shek as President of Nanjing-China.
• 29 Dec Victoria scores 7 for 435 in second innings to beat New South Wales.
• 31 Dec The Huang He floods kill between 850,000 and 4,000,000 people (the deadliest historic natural disaster).