April 1928

The following events occurred in April 1928:

April 1, 1928 (Sunday)

• The Cinematograph Films Act, mandating that British cinemas show a quota of British films, came into force in the United Kingdom.
• French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré expressed hope that Prohibition would be repealed in the United States, which would help to bolster France's wine industry. "If wine were unhealthy, we would have known it since the days when Homer pictured the grape vine in Achilles' shield", Poincaré explained. "We would have known even since Genesis about the vine of the Lord."^[1]
• Born: George Grizzard, actor, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina (d. 2007); Mykhaylo Koman, footballer and coach, in Ľubotín, Czechoslovakia (d. 2015)

April 2, 1928 (Monday)

• An official announcement in Italy said that the plans to make the Grand Council of Fascism the primary body of the state would be postponed until fall in order to permit time for further study.^[2]
• A peace conference between Poland and Lithuania broke down over the issue of Vilnius, which both sides perceived as their own.^[3]
• Born: Serge Gainsbourg, singer, in Paris, France; Piet Römer, actor, in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 2012)
• Died: Theodore William Richards, 60, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate

April 3, 1928 (Tuesday)

• Al Smith carried Wisconsin, Maine and New York in the Democratic presidential primaries.^[4]
• British Navy Commander H.M. Daniel was found guilty of not showing proper respect for a senior officer in the "Royal Oak Mutiny" court martial. He was dismissed from his ship and severely reprimanded.^[5]

April 4, 1928 (Wednesday)

• The court martial of Captain Kenneth Dewar began in the "Royal Oak Mutiny" affair.^[6]
• Born: Maya Angelou, author and poet, in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2014); Estelle Harris, actress and comedian, in Manhattan, New York

April 5, 1928 (Thursday)

• Captain Kenneth Dewar was found guilty on one of two charges in the "Royal Oak Mutiny" and was dismissed from the ship as well as severely reprimanded.^[7]
• The ocean liner SS Leviathan was hit by a 100-foot high wave that damaged the upper deck and flooded some of the third class accommodations. It still managed to reach New York City on time four days later.^[8]
• Died: Chauncey Depew, 93, American attorney and politician; Roy Kilner, 37, English cricketer (enteric fever); Viktor Oliva, 66, Czech painter

April 6, 1928 (Friday)

• Fascist politician Renato Ricci issued a circular ordering that handshaking be ceased as a social custom in Italy, calling it unhygienic and excessive.^[9]
• The University of Houston student newspaper The Daily Cougar was first published.
• Born: Joi Lansing, model, actress and singer, in Salt Lake City, Utah (d. 1972); James Watson, molecular biologist and Nobel Prize recipient, in Chicago, Illinois

April 7, 1928 (Saturday)

• Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek launched a new offensive aimed at capturing Beijing.^[10]
• During the second period of Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals between the New York Rangers and Montreal Maroons, Rangers goaltender Lorne Chabot was forced out of the game by a puck to the eye. Unable to secure an adequate replacement, Rangers coach Lester Patrick inserted himself into the game as the goaltender despite being 44 years old and only having limited experience at the position. Patrick allowed a goal in the third period but Frank Boucher scored in overtime to give the Rangers an unlikely 2–1 victory.^[11]
• The Harold Lloyd silent comedy film Speedy was released.
• Born: James Garner, actor and comedian, in Norman, Oklahoma (d. 2014); Alan J. Pakula, film director, writer and producer, in the Bronx, New York (d. 1998); James White, author, in Belfast, Northern Ireland (d. 1999)

April 8, 1928 (Sunday)

• 1 person was killed and 30 injured in an early morning subway train collision in Queens, New York.^[12]
• The National Challenge Cup Final between the New York Nationals and Illinois Bricklayers before a crowd of 16,000 at the Polo Grounds in New York City ended in a 1–1 draw. A rematch was arranged for the following week in Chicago.^[13]
• Born: Eric Porter, actor, in Shepherd's Bush, London, England (d. 1995)

April 9, 1928 (Monday)

• The silent film Street Angel premiered at the Globe Theatre in New York City.^[14]
• The United States Supreme Court decided Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. v. United States.
• In Paris, Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) President Will H. Hays acknowledged French criticism of American films, saying, "We do go easy on sex matters. Nobody could expect us to give the French all the sex they would want. We would have to go too far."^[15]
• Born: Tom Lehrer, musician, satirist and mathematician, in New York City

April 10, 1928 (Tuesday)

• Pineapple Primary: In elections in Illinois, every candidate associated with Chicago Mayor William H. Thompson was defeated in a vote against gangsterism.^[16] Additionally, Frank O. Lowden and Al Smith won the Illinois presidential primaries of the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively.^[17]
• Henry Ford said in London that "America has improved considerably under Prohibition both industrially and commercially, and the rest of the world will follow." He also said that he did not think there was any chance of another large-scale war because "people are becoming too intelligent to have war" and "the last one was too much of an educator."^[18]

April 11, 1928 (Wednesday)

• The Labour-Farmer Party of Japan was ordered to dissolve due to alleged ties to communists.^[19]
• Born: Ethel Kennedy, wife of Robert F. Kennedy, in Chicago, Illinois

April 12, 1928 (Thursday)

• A bomb concealed in a lamppost exploded in Milan, Italy just before 10 a.m, killing 15 people. It was probably an attempt on the life of King Victor Emmanuel III as it went off ten minutes ahead of a royal procession to open the city's fair.^[20][21]
• An international crew of three men – Germans Hermann Köhl and Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld and Irishman James Fitzmaurice – took off from Baldonnel Aerodrome southwest of Dublin, Ireland in Junkers W 33 aircraft the Bremen at 5:38 a.m., attempting to make the first east-to-west transatlantic flight. Their destination was Mitchel Field on Long Island, New York.^[22]
• The U.S. Senate passed another version of the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill, though President Calvin Coolidge was widely expected to veto this bill as he had all the previous iterations.^[23]
• Born: Jean-François Paillard, conductor, in Vitry-le-François, France (d. 2013)

April 13, 1928 (Friday)

• The crew of the Bremen completed their transatlantic flight by touching down on Greenly Island, Canada around noon after getting low on fuel and somewhat lost due to limited visibility. The plane was damaged in the landing but the flyers were able to make their way to a lighthouse where news of their arrival could be relayed.^[24]
• A violent explosion killed 37 people in a dance hall in West Plains, Missouri. The reason for the explosion was never determined.^[25][26]
• U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg submitted a plan to the Locarno Powers for the renunciation of war as an instrument of foreign policy.^[27]

April 14, 1928 (Saturday)

• The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup, defeating the Montreal Maroons 2-1 to win the series which went a full five games. The entire series had to be played in Montreal because Madison Square Garden was unavailable due to the circus being in town.^[28]
• Swinton Lions defeated Warrington Wolves 5-3 to win the Challenge Cup of rugby.^[29]
• Born: Ezra Fleischer, dissident, later Israeli writer, in Timișoara, Romania (d. 2006)

April 15, 1928 (Sunday)

• A relief plane landed at Greenly Island to assist the crew of the Bremen, who were determined to repair their plane and fly it to their original destination of New York City.^[30]
• The New York Nationals defeated the Illinois Bricklayers 3-0 in the National Challenge Cup Final before a crowd of 15,000 at Soldier Field in Chicago.^[31]

April 16, 1928 (Monday)

• Four masked men robbed a train near Chicago.^[32]
• A libel trial opened in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, initiated by General Sir Arthur Currie against a writer and the publisher of the Port Hope Evening Guide. Currie claimed that an article published in the newspaper defamed him by alleging that he wasted Canadian lives by ordering an assault in Mons on November 11, 1918, for no reason other than to have it be recorded that Canadians had fired the last shot of the war.^[33][34]
• NBC received the first television station constitution permit.^[35]

April 17, 1928 (Tuesday)

• Col. Jack Currie was not permitted to testify for the defense in the Sir Arthur Currie libel trial. He was prepared to offer damaging character evidence about the general but the judge in the case said that the defense was simply throwing "mud".^[36]
• Born: Cynthia Ozick, author, in New York City

April 18, 1928 (Wednesday)

• A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook Plovdiv Province, Bulgaria, killing 127 and doing heavy structural damage in one of the most serious earthquakes in the country's history.^[37][38]

April 19, 1928 (Thursday)

• Clarence DeMar won the Boston Marathon for the sixth time.^[39]
• An American syndicate that had published North American rights to John Logie Baird's television device announced plans to broadcast nightly programs in which viewers could see the heads and shoulders of announcers as they spoke.^[40]
• The last section ("wise – wyze") of the original Oxford English Dictionary was completed and published in England.^[41]
• Born: Alexis Korner, blues musician and radio broadcaster, in Westminster, London (d. 1984); Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak, in Batu Gajah, British Malaya (d. 2014)
• Died: Charles Birger, 46 or 47, American bootlegger (hanged after being convicted of ordering a murder); Dorus Rijkers, 81, Dutch sailor and folk hero

April 20, 1928 (Friday)

• The French cruiser Colbert was launched.^[42]
• A plane flown by Bernt Balchen and Floyd Bennett took off from Detroit carrying parts and fuel for the stranded Bremen.^[43] Bennett became ill with pneumonia and was taken to a hospital in Quebec City after landing.^[44]
• Born: Robert Byrne, American chess player (d. 2013)

April 21, 1928 (Saturday)

• Blackburn Rovers defeated Huddersfield Town 3-1 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
• Born: Jack Evans, Welsh-born Canadian ice hockey player and coach, in Garnant

April 22, 1928 (Sunday)

• The Greek city of Corinth was hit by a 5.25 magnitude earthquake, killing 20 people and destroying 3,000 houses in the region.^[45]
• Legislative elections were held in France; candidates affiliated with Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré did well in the first round going into runoffs the following week.^[46]
• The King Vidor-directed silent comedy-drama film The Patsy, starring Marion Davies, was released.
• Died: Warner B. Bayley, 82, American naval officer; Frank Currier, 70, American film actor and director

April 23, 1928 (Monday)

• Rebels loyal to Sandino captured American-owned mines in eastern Nicaragua and took five workers hostage.^[10]
• Born: Shirley Temple, actress and diplomat, in Santa Monica, California (d. 2014)

April 24, 1928 (Tuesday)

• Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill presented the annual budget to the House of Commons.^[47]
• Charles Lindbergh flew from New York City to Quebec City through a fog with antitoxin for fellow aviator Floyd Bennett.^[48]
• The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that women were not eligible to be appointed to the Senate.^[47]

April 25, 1928 (Wednesday)

• Floyd Bennett died in hospital at 10:45 in the morning.^[49]
• The crew of the Bremen decided to abandon their attempt to fly from Greenly Island to New York City and leave the plane there for the time being.^[49]
• Race car driver Frank Lockhart was killed at Daytona Beach trying to set a new land speed record.^[50]
• Born: Cy Twombly, painter, in Lexington, Virginia (d. 2011)
• Died: Floyd Bennett, 37, American aviator; Frank Lockhart, 25, American automobile racing driver; Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, 49, Baltic-German general of the White Army in the Russian Civil War

April 26, 1928 (Thursday)

• The musical stage comedy Present Arms!, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart and starring Joyce Barbour and Busby Berkeley, opened at Lew Fields' Mansfield Theatre on Broadway.^[51]

April 27, 1928 (Friday)

• Floyd Bennett was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Thousands stood in the rain to pay their respects.^[52]
• Sir Arthur Currie took the stand in his libel trial and was cross-examined for more than six hours.^[53]
• The Paul Leni-directed silent film The Man Who Laughs premiered at the Central Theatre in New York City.^[14]
• The Piccadilly Theatre opened in the City of Westminster, London.
• Died: Martin B. Madden, 73, American politician

April 28, 1928 (Saturday)

• The crew of the Bremen laid wreaths on the grave of Floyd Bennett at Arlington National Cemetery.^[54]
• The Bremen crew then took a train to New York City. A crowd of 10,000 greeted them at Pennsylvania Station.^[55]
• The Big 9 Conference was founded in Minnesota.
• Born: Richard Baer, writer and screenwriter, in New York City (d. 2008); Yves Klein, artist, in Nice, France (d. 1962); Eugene Merle Shoemaker, geologist, in Los Angeles (d. 1997)
• Died: Gertrude Claire, 75, American actress; Alessandro Guidoni, 47, Italian air force general (parachute test accident)

April 29, 1928 (Sunday)

• Runoffs were held in the French legislative elections; Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré was given a strong majority.^[56]
• Benito Mussolini presided over a labour demonstration of 10,000 Milanese at the Colosseum in Rome. "After six years of the Fascist regime I can say that no government has done so much for the labouring masses as fascism", Mussolini told the gathering.^[57]

April 30, 1928 (Monday)

• Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis one last time, to Washington, D.C. so it could be retired and placed on permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.^[58]

References