1932 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

• US Politics: 5,000 World War I veterans set up camp throughout Washington DC to force Congress to immediately pay their bonus. They were forcibly removed by tanks and cavalry, but ended with about half of what was promised.
• Charles Lindbergh, Jr, the infant son of National Hero Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey.
• Pop Standards include: Night and Day, I've Got the World on a String and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.
• The Big Movies included Shanghai Express, The Sign of the Cross and The Kid From Spain
• Price of a postage stamp in 1932: 3 cents
• US Life Expectancy: Males: 61.0 years, Females: 63.5 years
• The World Population was ~ 2,164,000,000
• Nielsen company founder Arthur C. Nielsen invented "market share" in 1932, becoming the first to offer market research for media companies
• And... The text This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental at the end of film credits came about because the Russian prince who killed Rasputin sued MGM for not accurately depicting Rasputin’s murder in their 1932 film Rasputin and the Empress.

15,000-17,000 World War I veterans set up camp throughout Washington DC to force Congress to immediately pay their bonus. They were forcibly removed by tanks and cavalry.

Welsh actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping from the Hollywood Sign. She jumped from the letter "H."

On May 15 1932, Japanese insurgents plotted to kill Charlie Chaplin in addition to their own Prime Minister to provoke war with with the US and incite "restoration" in the name of the Emperor.

During the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 a man on horseback cut the ribbon with his sword, upstaging the senior politician who was supposed to cut it.

Admiral Harry Ervin Yarnell (October 18, 1875 - July 7, 1959), proved in 1932 war games, that Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to a naval aerial attack. His findings were dismissed by his superiors until the Imperial Japanese Navy's Pearl Harbor attack was just as Yarnell predicted, 9 years later.

In 1932 Oskar Speck was an unemployed contractor in Germany who left via kayak to seek work, but en route changed his plan & decided to see the world. By 1939 he kayaked all the way to Australia. Unbeknown to him, WW2 started & upon arrival, he was detained as an enemy foreigner until WW2 ended.

In order to prove to the Department of Wildlife that the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker was still an extant (living) species, Mason Spencer, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, shot and killed one and brought the specimen to their offices in 1932.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was a cohort study conducted by the US government between 1932 and 1972, in which researchers knowingly tested (mostly black) patients with syphillis, under the guise of free healthcare.

Mary Elizabeth Frye, an American housewife and florist, wrote a poem (Do not stand at my grave and weep) on a paper bag.

A woman reputedly threatened to sue MGM after viewing the 1932 movie Freaks, claiming it caused her to miscarry. The movie features actually deformed circus "freaks", and has been banned in Ireland, Sweden and the UK. The Ramone's chant, "Gabba Gabba Hey", is derived from the "one of us" scene in Freaks.

Lilly Lindeström, was found murdered in her small apartment in the Atlas area of Stockholm. The detectives realized her body had been drained of some, if not all, of her blood. Police suspected the implement was used by the perpetrator (The Atlas Vampire) to drink Lilly's blood. The case remains unsolved

The Australian Military fought against the Emu birds in 1932 in an attempt to cull the population. The military lost and further requests of help by the farmers were turned down. It was said that "The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics".

The first book in English on stupidity was A Short Introduction to the History of Stupidity by Walter B. Pitkin.

A journalist named Walter Duranty wrote a series of reports denying that mass starvation in Ukraine (the Holodomor) was taking place. For that, he won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize in correspondence. To this day, the New York Times still refuses to relinquish the award.

11-year old Albert Pierrepoint wrote "When I grow up I would like to be the Official Executioner." Following in his father's footsteps, he went on to hang 435 people between 1932 and 1956 in England.

While digging for gold in the San Pedro Mountains located in Wyoming, two prospectors found a mummy of a small person. Rumors came about the mummy whether if it was a hoax, a baby, or an ancient "little person". The mummy was lost and is still missing to this day.

Eleanor Roosevelt may have had had a 30 year intimate relationship with writer Lenora Hickok from 1932-1962.

Tripoly Game

1932's White Zombie is considered to be the first feature length zombie film.

Carl Magee invented the first parking meter, but it was first used in Oklahoma City in 1935.

YM Magazine (1932-2004)

Family Circle began publication