Insight
Adventurer
"THE SILENT PARTNER" - 1920S CALL OF CTHULHU - OOC THREAD
I've changed this to an official OOC / Recruitment thread.
IC Thread
RG Thread
We'll be doing this in the late 1920s, starting in Hollywood. This story starts in the spring of 1929. Your characters (see below) are in some way connected, in perhaps the most ancillary way, to the burgeoning film industry. You (the player) do not need to be conversant on the ins and outs of early filmmaking -- I know I'm no expert. Just get a sense of what's been going on and we'll take it from there.
An important point is that the big stock market crash has not happened yet. This is technically still the "Roaring Twenties", but only for a little while longer. Thus, references to the Great Depression and such would be premature.
Here is a brief timeline of world events and film industry related stuff leading up to the start of the game, which is March 31, 1929:
[sblock=Prohibition]
The following is from Wikipedia Article on Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States, also known as The Noble Experiment, was the period from 1919 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol were banned nationally as mandated in the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The United States Senate proposed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917. Having been approved by 36 states, the 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 and effected on January 17, 1920. Some state legislatures had already enacted statewide prohibition prior to the ratification of the 18th Amendment.
The "Volstead Act", the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, passed through Congress over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on October 28, 1919, and established the legal definition of intoxicating liquor, as well as penalties for producing it. Though the Volstead Act prohibited the sale of alcohol, the federal government did little to enforce it. By 1925, in New York City alone, there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.
While Prohibition was successful in reducing the amount of liquor consumed, it stimulated the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity. Prohibition became increasingly unpopular during the Great Depression, especially in large cities. The bulk of America became disenchanted after the St. Valentine's Day massacre in 1929. Until then, they felt that, even with setbacks, Prohibition was working.
[/sblock]
[sblock=1928 Events]
January
6–7 – The River Thames floods in London; 14 drown.
7 – The moat at the Tower of London, previously drained in 1843 (and planted with grass), is completely refilled by a tidal wave.
12 – U.S. murderer Ruth Snyder is executed at Ossining.
17 – The OGPU arrests Lev Trotsky in Moscow; he assumes a status of passive resistance.
31 – Trotsky is exiled to Alma Ata.
February
11 – The II Olympic Winter Games open in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
12 – Heavy hail kills 11 in England.
20 – A swung parliament is produced in Japan after the general election.
25 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.
March
12 – Malta becomes a British dominion.
12 – In California, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles fails, killing 600.
21 – Charles Lindbergh is presented the Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
26 – The China Academy of Art is founded in Hangzhou, Republic of China (first named the National Academy of Art).
April
10 – "Pineapple Primary": The U.S. Republican Party primary elections in Chicago are preceded by assassinations and bombings.
12 – A bomb attack against Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini in Milan kills 17 bystanders.
12–14 – The first ever east–west transatlantic aeroplane flight takes place from Dublin, Ireland, to Greenly Island, Canada, using German Junkers W33 Bremen.
14 – Two earthquakes in Chirpan and Plovdiv destroy more than 21000 buildings in Bulgaria and kill almost 130 persons.
22 – An earthquake destroys 200,000 buildings in Corinth.
28 – 28 inches of snow fall in southern-central Pennsylvania.
May
3 – Jinan Incident, an armed conflict between the Japanese Imperial Army allied with Northern Chinese warlords against the Kuomintang's southern army, occurs in Jinan, China.
10 – The first regular schedule of television programming begins in Schenectady, New York by the General Electric's television station W2XB (the station is popularly known as WGY Television, after its sister radio station WGY).
15 - The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia commences operations.
15 - The animated short Plane Crazy is released by Disney Studios in Los Angeles, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
23 – A bomb attack against the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires kills 22 and injures 43.
24 – The airship Italia crashes on the North Pole; one of the occupants is Italian general Umberto Nobile.
30 – A rescue expedition leaves for the North Pole.
June
4 – Huanggutun Incident: Zhang Zuolin, President of the Republic of China and warlord, is killed by Japanese agents.
8 – By seizing Beijing and renaming it Běipíng, the NRA puts an end to the Fengtian warlords' Běiyáng government there.
11 – A medical doctors' strike begins in Vienna.
12 – William Walton's Façade was performed for the first time.
14 – Students take over the medical wing of Rosario University in Argentina.
17 – Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean (she succeeds the next day). Wilmer Stultz was the pilot.
20 – Puniša Račić shoots 3 opposition representatives in the Yugoslavian Parliament, and injures 3 others.
24 – A Swedish aeroplane rescues part of the Italian North Pole expedition, including Umberto Nobile. The Soviet icebreaker Krasin saves the rest July 12.
28 – The International Railway (New York – Ontario) switches to one-man crews for its trolleys in Canada. The American serial killer Albert Fish kidnaps and kills 10-year-old Grace Budd.
29 – 1928 Democratic National Convention: At the Democratic National Convention in Houston, New York Governor Alfred E. Smith becomes the first Catholic nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.
July
2 -Jenkins Laboratories' W3XK station begins broadcasting on 6.42 MHz using 48 lines.
2 - The Representation of the People Act 1928 becomes law, extending the right to vote to all women in the United Kingdom.
6 – The world's largest hailstone falls in Potter, Nebraska.
12 – Mexican aviator Emilio Carranza dies in a solo plane crash in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, while returning from a goodwill flight to New York City.
17 – José de León Toral assassinates Álvaro Obregón, president of Mexico.
25 – The United States recalls its troops from China.
27 – The Well of Loneliness is published by Radclyffe Hall.
28 – The 1928 Summer Olympics officially open in Amsterdam.
August
2 – Italy and Ethiopia sign the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty.
16 – Murderer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, D.C. after killing about 20 people.
22 – Alfred E. Smith accepts the Democratic presidential nomination, with WGY/W2XB simulcasting the event on radio and television.
25 – Ahmet Zogu proclaims himself King Zog I of Albania; he is crowned September 1.
27 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed in Paris (the first treaty to outlaw aggressive war).
31 – The Threepenny Opera (German: Die Dreigroschenoper) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill opens at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin.
September
1 – Richard Byrd leaves New York for the Arctic.
1 – Zog I, Skanderbeg III, the President of Albania, is crowned as the King of Albania.
11 – Kenmore's WMAK station starts broadcasting in Buffalo, New York.
16 – The 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane kills at least 2,500 people in Florida.
25 – Paul Galvin and his brother Joseph incorporate the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (now known as Motorola).
28 – Alexander Fleming discovers Penicillin.
October
2 – Saint Josemaria Escriva founds Opus Dei.
October 7 – Haile Selassie is crowned king (not yet emperor) of Abyssinia.
8 – Chiang Kai-shek is named as Generalissimo (Chairman of the National Military Council) of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China.
12 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.
19 – William Edward Hickman is executed at San Quentin prison for the 1927 murder of Marion Parker.
22 – The Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity is founded at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus.
26 – International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (ICRM) formally established with the adoption of “Statutes of the International Red Cross”
November
4 – At Park Central Hotel in Manhattan, Arnold Rothstein, New York City's most notorious gambler, is shot to death over a poker game.
6 – Swedes start a tradition of eating Gustavus Adolphus pastries to commemorate the old warrior king.
6 – U.S. presidential election, 1928: Republican Herbert Hoover wins by a wide margin over Democrat Alfred E. Smith.
10 – Enthronement ceremony of Japanese Emperor Hirohito is held, after some two years since he actually took the Imperial throne on December 26, 1926, the following day of the demise of Emperor Taishō.
12 – The SS Vestris developed a severe starboard list, was abandoned and sank approximately 200 miles off Hampton Roads, Virginia, USA. Estimates of the dead vary from between 110-127.
17 – The Boston Garden opens in Boston.
18 – Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, the third Mickey Mouse cartoon released, but the first sound film.
22 – Maurice Ravel's Boléro premieres at the Paris Opéra.
December
3 – In Rio de Janeiro, a seaplane sent to greet Alberto Santos-Dumont crashes near Cap Arcona, killing all on board.
5 – Police disperse a Sicilian gangs' meeting in Cleveland.
21 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam.
Undated
Drought leading to famine in China.
Coca Cola enters Europe through the Amsterdam Olympics.
Eliot Ness begins to lead the prohibition unit in Chicago.
The old Canaanite city of Ugarit is rediscovered.
Turkey switches from the Arabic to the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet.
Frederick Griffith conducts Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
Margaret Mead's influential cultural anthropology text Coming of Age in Samoa is published in the U.S.
The first (and last) Best Title Writing Academy Award is given.
The Episcopal Church in the United States of America ratifies a new revision of the Book of Common Prayer.
W2XBS, RCA's first television station, is established in New York City.
The first patent for the transistor principle is registered in Germany to Julius Edgar Lilienfeld.
Joseph Stalin launches the First Five-Year Plan.
1928–1932 – The average nonfarm wage falls by 50% in the USSR.
Significant Deaths
January 11 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)
June 18 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer (b. 1872)
[/sblock]
[sblock=1928 in Film]
Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.
Events
July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first true talking feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film. Previous releases Don Juan and The Jazz Singer had used a synchronized soundtrack with sound effects and music, with The Jazz Singer having a few incidental lines spoken by Al Jolson.
July 31 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's mascot Leo the Lion roars for the very first time, creating one of the most popular American film logos.
August 17 - The Singing Fool, Warner Brothers' follow-up to The Jazz Singer, is released. While still only a partial-talkie (sequences still featured intertitles), 66 minutes of the film's 105 minute running time featured dialogue or songs, making it the longest talking motion picture yet. (Lights of New York runs a total of 57 minutes.) It was the highest-grossing film of the year, became Warner Brothers' highest-grossing film for the next 13 years, and was the most financially successful film of Al Jolson's career.
November 18 - Disney's Steamboat Willie premieres. This animated short was the first film to include a soundtrack, completely created in post production, including sound effects, music, and dialogue.
December 25 - In Old Arizona, released by Fox Films, is the first sound-on-film feature-length talkie, utilizing the Movietone process. Previously, feature-length talkies used the less-reliable Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. It is also the first Western talkie, and the first sound film primarily shot outdoors.
Other 1928 Movies of Note:
The Cameraman, a Buster Keaton film.
Champagne, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
The Circus, starring, directed and written by Charles Chaplin.
Easy Virtue, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Farmer's Wife, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Four Sons, directed by John Ford
Interference, Paramount's first ever all talking movie.
Ladies of the Mob, starring Clara Bow, Richard Arlen and Helen Lynch.
The Last Command, directed by Joseph von Sternberg, starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent and William Powell.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh, starring Lon Chaney and Loretta Young
The Matinee Idol, directed by Frank Capra, starring Bessie Love and Johnnie Walker.
The Singing Fool, starring Al Jolson and Betty Bronson.
Spione (Spies), directed by Fritz Lang
Steamboat Bill Jr., a Buster Keaton film.
Street Angel, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell.
Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring W.C. Fields, Louise Fazenda and Chester Conklin
The Viking - the first feature-length Technicolor film
The Wedding March, directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim with Fay Wray and Zasu Pitts
West of Zanzibar, starring Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore.
[/sblock]
[sblock=1929 Events (Up to the Start of the Game)]
This Wikipedia page has more information on 1929 than what I am presenting below.
January
6 – The start of the "6 January Dictatorship" begins under Alexander I in what is renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
February
9 – The Litvinov Protocol is signed in Moscow among the USSR, Poland, Estonia, Romania and Latvia.
11 – Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
14 – St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangsters, rivals of Al Capone, are murdered in Chicago.
26 – The Grand Teton National Park is established by Congress.
March
2 – The longest bridge in the world, the San Francisco Bay Toll-Bridge, opens.
3 – A revolt by Generals José Gonzalo Escobar and Jesús María Aguirre fails in Mexico.
4 – Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States, succeeding Calvin Coolidge. His Vice President, Charles Curtis, became the first person with non-European ancestry to reach such a high office.
28 – Japanese forces withdraw from Shandong province to their garrison in Tsingtao bringing an end to the Jinan Incident.
Significant Deaths
January 5 - Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia (b. 1856)
January 13 – Wyatt Earp, American gunfighter (b. 1848)
[/sblock]
[sblock=1929 in Film]
Note that, since we're starting in March, some of the films listed below are in production.
The days of the silent film were numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound was on.
Events
January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.
Other 1929 Films of Note
Berth Marks (1929 film) Laurel and Hardy short produced by Hal Roach
Big Business, a Laurel and Hardy short
Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Broadway, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
The Cocoanuts, starring the Marx Brothers
Coquette, Directed by Sam Taylor, starring Mary Pickford, Johnny Mack Brown, Matt Moore
The Desert Song, a musical operetta with Technicolor sequences
Gold Diggers of Broadway, a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
Hallelujah!, directed by King Vidor
His Glorious Night, directed by Lionel Barrymore, starring John Gilbert - Gilbert's first talkie, known as the film that destroyed his career
The Kiss, starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel
The Love Parade, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
The Mysterious Island, starring Lionel Barrymore
On With the Show, a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
Sunny Side Up, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
The Virginian, starring Gary Cooper and Walter Huston
The following serials were also very popular:
The Ace of Scotland Yard
The Black Book
The Diamond Master
The Fatal Warning
The Fire Detective
The King of the Kongo, starring Jacqueline Logan
The Pirate of Panama
Police Reporter
Queen of the Northwoods
Tarzan the Tiger, starring Frank Merrill and Natalie Kingston
[/sblock]
I've changed this to an official OOC / Recruitment thread.
IC Thread
RG Thread
We'll be doing this in the late 1920s, starting in Hollywood. This story starts in the spring of 1929. Your characters (see below) are in some way connected, in perhaps the most ancillary way, to the burgeoning film industry. You (the player) do not need to be conversant on the ins and outs of early filmmaking -- I know I'm no expert. Just get a sense of what's been going on and we'll take it from there.
An important point is that the big stock market crash has not happened yet. This is technically still the "Roaring Twenties", but only for a little while longer. Thus, references to the Great Depression and such would be premature.
Here is a brief timeline of world events and film industry related stuff leading up to the start of the game, which is March 31, 1929:
[sblock=Prohibition]
The following is from Wikipedia Article on Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States, also known as The Noble Experiment, was the period from 1919 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol were banned nationally as mandated in the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The United States Senate proposed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917. Having been approved by 36 states, the 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 and effected on January 17, 1920. Some state legislatures had already enacted statewide prohibition prior to the ratification of the 18th Amendment.
The "Volstead Act", the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, passed through Congress over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on October 28, 1919, and established the legal definition of intoxicating liquor, as well as penalties for producing it. Though the Volstead Act prohibited the sale of alcohol, the federal government did little to enforce it. By 1925, in New York City alone, there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.
While Prohibition was successful in reducing the amount of liquor consumed, it stimulated the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity. Prohibition became increasingly unpopular during the Great Depression, especially in large cities. The bulk of America became disenchanted after the St. Valentine's Day massacre in 1929. Until then, they felt that, even with setbacks, Prohibition was working.
[/sblock]
[sblock=1928 Events]
January
6–7 – The River Thames floods in London; 14 drown.
7 – The moat at the Tower of London, previously drained in 1843 (and planted with grass), is completely refilled by a tidal wave.
12 – U.S. murderer Ruth Snyder is executed at Ossining.
17 – The OGPU arrests Lev Trotsky in Moscow; he assumes a status of passive resistance.
31 – Trotsky is exiled to Alma Ata.
February
11 – The II Olympic Winter Games open in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
12 – Heavy hail kills 11 in England.
20 – A swung parliament is produced in Japan after the general election.
25 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.
March
12 – Malta becomes a British dominion.
12 – In California, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles fails, killing 600.
21 – Charles Lindbergh is presented the Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
26 – The China Academy of Art is founded in Hangzhou, Republic of China (first named the National Academy of Art).
April
10 – "Pineapple Primary": The U.S. Republican Party primary elections in Chicago are preceded by assassinations and bombings.
12 – A bomb attack against Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini in Milan kills 17 bystanders.
12–14 – The first ever east–west transatlantic aeroplane flight takes place from Dublin, Ireland, to Greenly Island, Canada, using German Junkers W33 Bremen.
14 – Two earthquakes in Chirpan and Plovdiv destroy more than 21000 buildings in Bulgaria and kill almost 130 persons.
22 – An earthquake destroys 200,000 buildings in Corinth.
28 – 28 inches of snow fall in southern-central Pennsylvania.
May
3 – Jinan Incident, an armed conflict between the Japanese Imperial Army allied with Northern Chinese warlords against the Kuomintang's southern army, occurs in Jinan, China.
10 – The first regular schedule of television programming begins in Schenectady, New York by the General Electric's television station W2XB (the station is popularly known as WGY Television, after its sister radio station WGY).
15 - The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia commences operations.
15 - The animated short Plane Crazy is released by Disney Studios in Los Angeles, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
23 – A bomb attack against the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires kills 22 and injures 43.
24 – The airship Italia crashes on the North Pole; one of the occupants is Italian general Umberto Nobile.
30 – A rescue expedition leaves for the North Pole.
June
4 – Huanggutun Incident: Zhang Zuolin, President of the Republic of China and warlord, is killed by Japanese agents.
8 – By seizing Beijing and renaming it Běipíng, the NRA puts an end to the Fengtian warlords' Běiyáng government there.
11 – A medical doctors' strike begins in Vienna.
12 – William Walton's Façade was performed for the first time.
14 – Students take over the medical wing of Rosario University in Argentina.
17 – Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean (she succeeds the next day). Wilmer Stultz was the pilot.
20 – Puniša Račić shoots 3 opposition representatives in the Yugoslavian Parliament, and injures 3 others.
24 – A Swedish aeroplane rescues part of the Italian North Pole expedition, including Umberto Nobile. The Soviet icebreaker Krasin saves the rest July 12.
28 – The International Railway (New York – Ontario) switches to one-man crews for its trolleys in Canada. The American serial killer Albert Fish kidnaps and kills 10-year-old Grace Budd.
29 – 1928 Democratic National Convention: At the Democratic National Convention in Houston, New York Governor Alfred E. Smith becomes the first Catholic nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.
July
2 -Jenkins Laboratories' W3XK station begins broadcasting on 6.42 MHz using 48 lines.
2 - The Representation of the People Act 1928 becomes law, extending the right to vote to all women in the United Kingdom.
6 – The world's largest hailstone falls in Potter, Nebraska.
12 – Mexican aviator Emilio Carranza dies in a solo plane crash in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, while returning from a goodwill flight to New York City.
17 – José de León Toral assassinates Álvaro Obregón, president of Mexico.
25 – The United States recalls its troops from China.
27 – The Well of Loneliness is published by Radclyffe Hall.
28 – The 1928 Summer Olympics officially open in Amsterdam.
August
2 – Italy and Ethiopia sign the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty.
16 – Murderer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, D.C. after killing about 20 people.
22 – Alfred E. Smith accepts the Democratic presidential nomination, with WGY/W2XB simulcasting the event on radio and television.
25 – Ahmet Zogu proclaims himself King Zog I of Albania; he is crowned September 1.
27 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed in Paris (the first treaty to outlaw aggressive war).
31 – The Threepenny Opera (German: Die Dreigroschenoper) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill opens at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin.
September
1 – Richard Byrd leaves New York for the Arctic.
1 – Zog I, Skanderbeg III, the President of Albania, is crowned as the King of Albania.
11 – Kenmore's WMAK station starts broadcasting in Buffalo, New York.
16 – The 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane kills at least 2,500 people in Florida.
25 – Paul Galvin and his brother Joseph incorporate the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (now known as Motorola).
28 – Alexander Fleming discovers Penicillin.
October
2 – Saint Josemaria Escriva founds Opus Dei.
October 7 – Haile Selassie is crowned king (not yet emperor) of Abyssinia.
8 – Chiang Kai-shek is named as Generalissimo (Chairman of the National Military Council) of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China.
12 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.
19 – William Edward Hickman is executed at San Quentin prison for the 1927 murder of Marion Parker.
22 – The Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity is founded at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus.
26 – International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (ICRM) formally established with the adoption of “Statutes of the International Red Cross”
November
4 – At Park Central Hotel in Manhattan, Arnold Rothstein, New York City's most notorious gambler, is shot to death over a poker game.
6 – Swedes start a tradition of eating Gustavus Adolphus pastries to commemorate the old warrior king.
6 – U.S. presidential election, 1928: Republican Herbert Hoover wins by a wide margin over Democrat Alfred E. Smith.
10 – Enthronement ceremony of Japanese Emperor Hirohito is held, after some two years since he actually took the Imperial throne on December 26, 1926, the following day of the demise of Emperor Taishō.
12 – The SS Vestris developed a severe starboard list, was abandoned and sank approximately 200 miles off Hampton Roads, Virginia, USA. Estimates of the dead vary from between 110-127.
17 – The Boston Garden opens in Boston.
18 – Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, the third Mickey Mouse cartoon released, but the first sound film.
22 – Maurice Ravel's Boléro premieres at the Paris Opéra.
December
3 – In Rio de Janeiro, a seaplane sent to greet Alberto Santos-Dumont crashes near Cap Arcona, killing all on board.
5 – Police disperse a Sicilian gangs' meeting in Cleveland.
21 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam.
Undated
Drought leading to famine in China.
Coca Cola enters Europe through the Amsterdam Olympics.
Eliot Ness begins to lead the prohibition unit in Chicago.
The old Canaanite city of Ugarit is rediscovered.
Turkey switches from the Arabic to the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet.
Frederick Griffith conducts Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
Margaret Mead's influential cultural anthropology text Coming of Age in Samoa is published in the U.S.
The first (and last) Best Title Writing Academy Award is given.
The Episcopal Church in the United States of America ratifies a new revision of the Book of Common Prayer.
W2XBS, RCA's first television station, is established in New York City.
The first patent for the transistor principle is registered in Germany to Julius Edgar Lilienfeld.
Joseph Stalin launches the First Five-Year Plan.
1928–1932 – The average nonfarm wage falls by 50% in the USSR.
Significant Deaths
January 11 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)
June 18 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer (b. 1872)
[/sblock]
[sblock=1928 in Film]
Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.
Events
July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first true talking feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film. Previous releases Don Juan and The Jazz Singer had used a synchronized soundtrack with sound effects and music, with The Jazz Singer having a few incidental lines spoken by Al Jolson.
July 31 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's mascot Leo the Lion roars for the very first time, creating one of the most popular American film logos.
August 17 - The Singing Fool, Warner Brothers' follow-up to The Jazz Singer, is released. While still only a partial-talkie (sequences still featured intertitles), 66 minutes of the film's 105 minute running time featured dialogue or songs, making it the longest talking motion picture yet. (Lights of New York runs a total of 57 minutes.) It was the highest-grossing film of the year, became Warner Brothers' highest-grossing film for the next 13 years, and was the most financially successful film of Al Jolson's career.
November 18 - Disney's Steamboat Willie premieres. This animated short was the first film to include a soundtrack, completely created in post production, including sound effects, music, and dialogue.
December 25 - In Old Arizona, released by Fox Films, is the first sound-on-film feature-length talkie, utilizing the Movietone process. Previously, feature-length talkies used the less-reliable Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. It is also the first Western talkie, and the first sound film primarily shot outdoors.
Other 1928 Movies of Note:
The Cameraman, a Buster Keaton film.
Champagne, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
The Circus, starring, directed and written by Charles Chaplin.
Easy Virtue, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Farmer's Wife, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Four Sons, directed by John Ford
Interference, Paramount's first ever all talking movie.
Ladies of the Mob, starring Clara Bow, Richard Arlen and Helen Lynch.
The Last Command, directed by Joseph von Sternberg, starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent and William Powell.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh, starring Lon Chaney and Loretta Young
The Matinee Idol, directed by Frank Capra, starring Bessie Love and Johnnie Walker.
The Singing Fool, starring Al Jolson and Betty Bronson.
Spione (Spies), directed by Fritz Lang
Steamboat Bill Jr., a Buster Keaton film.
Street Angel, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell.
Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring W.C. Fields, Louise Fazenda and Chester Conklin
The Viking - the first feature-length Technicolor film
The Wedding March, directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim with Fay Wray and Zasu Pitts
West of Zanzibar, starring Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore.
[/sblock]
[sblock=1929 Events (Up to the Start of the Game)]
This Wikipedia page has more information on 1929 than what I am presenting below.
January
6 – The start of the "6 January Dictatorship" begins under Alexander I in what is renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
February
9 – The Litvinov Protocol is signed in Moscow among the USSR, Poland, Estonia, Romania and Latvia.
11 – Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
14 – St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangsters, rivals of Al Capone, are murdered in Chicago.
26 – The Grand Teton National Park is established by Congress.
March
2 – The longest bridge in the world, the San Francisco Bay Toll-Bridge, opens.
3 – A revolt by Generals José Gonzalo Escobar and Jesús María Aguirre fails in Mexico.
4 – Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States, succeeding Calvin Coolidge. His Vice President, Charles Curtis, became the first person with non-European ancestry to reach such a high office.
28 – Japanese forces withdraw from Shandong province to their garrison in Tsingtao bringing an end to the Jinan Incident.
Significant Deaths
January 5 - Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia (b. 1856)
January 13 – Wyatt Earp, American gunfighter (b. 1848)
[/sblock]
[sblock=1929 in Film]
Note that, since we're starting in March, some of the films listed below are in production.
The days of the silent film were numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound was on.
Events
January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.
Other 1929 Films of Note
Berth Marks (1929 film) Laurel and Hardy short produced by Hal Roach
Big Business, a Laurel and Hardy short
Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Broadway, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
The Cocoanuts, starring the Marx Brothers
Coquette, Directed by Sam Taylor, starring Mary Pickford, Johnny Mack Brown, Matt Moore
The Desert Song, a musical operetta with Technicolor sequences
Gold Diggers of Broadway, a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
Hallelujah!, directed by King Vidor
His Glorious Night, directed by Lionel Barrymore, starring John Gilbert - Gilbert's first talkie, known as the film that destroyed his career
The Kiss, starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel
The Love Parade, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
The Mysterious Island, starring Lionel Barrymore
On With the Show, a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
Sunny Side Up, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
The Virginian, starring Gary Cooper and Walter Huston
The following serials were also very popular:
The Ace of Scotland Yard
The Black Book
The Diamond Master
The Fatal Warning
The Fire Detective
The King of the Kongo, starring Jacqueline Logan
The Pirate of Panama
Police Reporter
Queen of the Northwoods
Tarzan the Tiger, starring Frank Merrill and Natalie Kingston
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