December 1923

The following events occurred in December 1923:

December 1, 1923 (Saturday)

• Gleno Dam burst in the province of Bergamo in northern Italy, killing 356.^[1]
• The Irish Free State began releasing captured Irregular fighters and political prisoners.^[2]
• Queen's University beat Regina Rugby Club 54-0 to win the 11th Grey Cup of Canadian football.
• Born: Ferenc Szusza, footballer, in Budapest, Hungary (d. 2006); Stansfield Turner, admiral and Director of Central Intelligence, in Highland Park, Illinois

December 2, 1923 (Sunday)

• Uruguay defeated Argentina 2-0 to win the South American Championship of football.
• Born: Maria Callas, soprano singer, in Manhattan, New York (d. 1977)
• Died: Tomás Bretón, 72, Spanish conductor and composer

December 3, 1923 (Monday)

• The Joseph Conrad novel The Rover was published.^[3]
• Born: Dede Allen, film editor, in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2010); Stjepan Bobek, footballer, in Zagreb, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (d. 2010); Wolfgang Harich, philosopher and journalist, in Königsberg, East Prussia (d. 1995); Moyra Fraser, British actress and ballet dancer, in Sydney, Australia (d. 2009); Wolfgang Neuss, comedic actor and political activist, in Breslau, Germany (d. 1989); Abe Pollin, sports team owner, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2009)

December 4, 1923 (Tuesday)

• The Cecil B. DeMille-directed epic film The Ten Commandments premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.^[4]
• Born: Philip Slier, Jewish typesetter, in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1943)

December 5, 1923 (Wednesday)

• An insurrection began in Mexico against President Álvaro Obregón.^[5] The rebellion was nominally led by Adolfo de la Huerta, but the rebels had little in common with each other besides opposition to Obregón.^[6]
• The cargo steamboat T.W. Lake sank off Lopez Island in northern Washington State with the loss of all 18 crew.^[7]
• Born: Eleanor Dapkus, baseball player, in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2011); Vladimir Tendryakov, author, in Makarovskaya, USSR (d. 1984)
• Died: William Mackenzie, 74, Canadian railway entrepreneur

December 6, 1923 (Thursday)

• The United Kingdom general election ended with the Conservatives losing their majority. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's decision to call a snap election backfired when voters rejected his protectionist tariff policy.^[8]
• Winston Churchill was defeated by Labour candidate Frederick Pethick-Lawrence in the constituency of Leicester West^[9][10]
• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge made his first State of the Union address to Congress. "Our main problems are domestic problems", he stated. "We can not avoid the inevitable results of the economic disorders which have reached all nations. But we shall diminish their harm to us in proportion as we continue to restore our Government finances to a secure and endurable position." Coolidge called for American entry into the World Court and a strengthening of the Coast Guard to help enforce Prohibition.^[11] The message stated that the present state of the Union "may be regarded with encouragement and satisfaction by every American."^[12]

December 7, 1923 (Friday)

• The Bavarian football club SV Memmelsdorf was founded.
• Born: Ted Knight, actor, in Terryville, Connecticut (d. 1986)

December 8, 1923 (Saturday)

• The Reichstag passed another enabling act, giving Chancellor Wilhelm Marx the power to implement emergency economic and welfare measures.^[13]
• The Bertolt Brecht play Baal premiered in Leipzig.^[14]
• Died: John William Brodie-Innes, 75, British member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

December 9, 1923 (Sunday)

• A train accident at 1:30 a.m. in Forsyth, New York killed 9 passengers.^[15]
• Mexican rebels seized Xalapa.^[16]
• Died: Meggie Albanesi, 24, British actress; Bill Donovan, 47, American baseball player (killed in Forsyth train accident)

December 10, 1923 (Monday)

• The 1923 Nobel Prizes were awarded. The recipients were Robert A. Millikan of the United States for Physics, Fritz Pregl of Austria (Chemistry), Frederick Banting and John Macleod of Canada (Medicine) and William Butler Yeats of the Irish Free State (Literature). The Peace Prize was not awarded.^[9]
• Gene Tunney beat Harry Greb by unanimous decision in their third boxing match at Madison Square Garden to retain the American Light Heavyweight Championship.^[17]
• The U.S. Supreme Court decided Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co.
• King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy prorogued parliament until January at the request of Benito Mussolini.^[18]
• Turkey and Albania signed a treaty of friendship.^[19]

December 11, 1923 (Tuesday)

• Stanley Baldwin decided to remain as Prime Minister until the return of parliament in January when he would face a confidence vote.^[20]

December 12, 1923 (Wednesday)

• German Finance Minister Hans Luther announced that the country had exhausted its gold reserves and domestic credit, and would need a foreign loan to continue functioning.^[21]
• Born: Bob Barker, television game show host (The Price Is Right), in Darrington, Washington
• Died: Raymond Radiguet, 20, French novelist and poet

December 13, 1923 (Thursday)

• Lord Alfred Douglas was sentenced to six months in prison for libelling Winston Churchill. Douglas had printed a story in his newspaper claiming that Churchill was paid off by Ernest Cassel to release a false report about the Battle of Jutland so stocks would go down and a group of Jews could turn a profit when they went up again.^[22][23]
• Born: Philip Warren Anderson, physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, in Indianapolis, Indiana; Larry Doby, baseball player, in Camden, South Carolina (d. 2003); Antoni Tàpies, painter, sculptor and art theorist, in Barcelona, Spain (d. 2012)
• Died: Théophile Steinlen, 64, Swiss-born French painter and printmaker

December 14, 1923 (Friday)

• The Latvian football club Rīgas FK was founded.
• Born: Sully Boyar, actor, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York (d. 2001); Gerard Reve, writer, in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 2006)

December 15, 1923 (Saturday)

• Turkey and Hungary signed a treaty of friendship.^[19]
• The Jules Romains play Knock was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
• Born: Freeman Dyson, theoretical physicist and mathematician, in Crowthorne, England

December 16, 1923 (Sunday)

• Mexican rebels captured Cuautla, Morelos.^[24]
• Parliamentary elections were held in Greece. The Liberal Party won a majority of seats.

December 17, 1923 (Monday)

• Agreement was reached in Britain on the formation of the Imperial Air Transport Co., soon to be known as Imperial Airways.^[9]
• The Tod Browning-directed crime film White Tiger was released.
• Born: Jaroslav Pelikan, historian, in Akron, Ohio (d. 2006)
• Died: Joseph Orpen, 95, British colonial administrator

December 18, 1923 (Tuesday)

• The Tangier Protocol was signed in Paris, creating the Tangier International Zone.^[25]
• Andrew Volstead told a law enforcement conference in Minnesota that the American people were giving up their opposition to Prohibition and that the act bearing his name would never be amended or repealed.^[26]

December 19, 1923 (Wednesday)

• King George II of Greece and Queen Consort Elisabeth left the country in compliance with the Greek government's request that they leave temporarily pending settlement by the National Assembly on the future form of government. They went to Elisabeth's home country of Romania.^[27]
• The French Chamber of Deputies granted Marie Curie an annual pension of 40,000 francs.^[9]
• Born: Gordon Jackson, actor, in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1990)

December 20, 1923 (Thursday)

• The League of Nations implemented an economic reconstruction program for Hungary.^[28]
• Krupp fired workers who refused a 10-hour work day.^[13]
• The John Ford-directed film Hoodman Blind was released.

December 21, 1923 (Friday)

• The Nepal–Britain Treaty was signed.
• Charles G. Dawes was named head of the commission to investigate Germany's capacity to pay war reparations.^[29]
• The French airship Dixmude exploded and crashed into the Mediterranean during a thunderstorm. All 50 on board were killed in the worst air disaster in history to that point.^[30] The dirigible's fate was not immediately known at the time.^[31]

December 22, 1923 (Saturday)

• Stylianos Gonatas resigned as Prime Minister of Greece but said he would stay on until a new leader was elected by the National Assembly.^[32]
• Romania recalled its ambassador to Greece.^[32]
• Hjalmar Schacht was appointed head of the Reichsbank.^[33]
• Mexican government troops and rebels battled for the city of Puebla.^[34]
• Died: Georg Luger, 74, German firearms designer

December 23, 1923 (Sunday)

• In the burial chamber of Tutankhamun's tomb, the heavy outer canopy over the sarcophagus was successfully removed.^[35]
• Born: James Stockdale, admiral and vice presidential candidate, in Abingdon, Illinois (d. 2005)
• Died: Ivan Pohitonov, 73, Ukrainian painter

December 24, 1923 (Monday)

• In a Christmas message, German Chancellor Wilhelm Marx stated that the government was willing to "fulfill reparations to the limit of our capacity", but made an international appeal to "give us peace, take away the unfair sanctions and oppositions, and give us a chance to work and live and then Germany will save her finances and pay reparations accordingly."^[36]
• Unofficial reports claimed that the Dixmude was sighted from Tunis.^[37]
• Born: George Patton IV, army general, in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2004)

December 25, 1923 (Tuesday)

• The Oscar Hammerstein II–Vincent Youmans musical comedy production Mary Jane McKane opened at the brand-new Imperial Theatre on Broadway.
• Born: Sonya Olschanezky, World War II resistance fighter, in Chemnitz, Germany (d. 1944); Satyananda Saraswati, founder of the Bihar School of Yoga, in Almora, British India (d. 2009)

December 26, 1923 (Wednesday)

• Ships, planes and camel riders searched the Mediterranean and North African coastline looking for any trace of the Dixmude, though expectations of finding survivors were low.^[38] A body was retrieved from a seine off the coast of Sicily.^[39]
• France's budget for 1924 showed a surplus of 568 million francs.^[40]
• Died: Dietrich Eckart, 55, German journalist and early member of the Nazi Party (heart attack)

December 27, 1923 (Thursday)

• The Toranomon Incident occurred in Japan when communist agitator Daisuke Namba attempted to assassinate Prince Regent Hirohito with a pistol. A bullet shattered a window of the carriage Hirohito was riding in, but he was unhurt.
• The American freight steamship Conejos sank in the Black Sea with the loss of all 37 sailors.^[41]
• Mexican government forces routed rebels in northern Jalisco.^[42]
• Born: Lucas Mangope, President of the Bantusan of Bophuthatswana, in Motswedi, South Africa
• Died: Gustave Eiffel, 91, French engineer and architect (Eiffel Tower)

December 28, 1923 (Friday)

• The George Bernard Shaw play Saint Joan premiered at the Garrick Theatre in Manhattan.
• The body found on Wednesday was publicly identified as a lieutenant commander of the Dixmude.^[43]
• Died: Frank Hayes, 52, American film actor (pneumonia)

December 29, 1923 (Saturday)

• Britain and France clashed over the French collection of taxes on a mine in the Ruhr owned by British subjects.^[44]
• The Frank Lloyd-directed fantasy drama film Black Oxen, starring Corinne Griffith, Conway Tearle and Clara Bow, was released.
• Born: Dina Merrill, actress, socialite, businesswoman and philanthropist, in New York City

December 30, 1923 (Sunday)

• The rising Seine submerged all the quays and docks in Paris.^[45]
• Born: Prakash Vir Shastri, politician, in Rehra, Uttar Pradesh, British India (d. 1977)

December 31, 1923 (Monday)

• The Seine began overflowing its banks in Paris.^[46]
• Petrograd was flooded when the Neva River overflowed.^[46]
• Experts announced after an examination of charred wreckage that had washed up along Sicily that the Dixmude was probably destroyed by a mid-air explosion.^[47]
• A Providence, Rhode Island court granted Minta Durfee a divorce from Fatty Arbuckle.^[48]
• The Florenz Ziegfeld-produced stage musical Kid Boots starring Eddie Cantor and Mary Eaton opened at the Earl Carroll Theatre on Broadway.^[49]

References