Events Date 1937 December | History by KabAstro

Hooray for What!

Dec 1 Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's anti-war musical "Hooray for What!", starring Ed Wynn and directed by Vincente Minnelli, opens at the Winter Garden Theatre, NYC; runs for 200 performances

Japanese Recognition

Dec 1 Japan recognizes Spain's Franco government

Spanish Dictator and General Francisco Franco

Dec 7 Dutch Minister Romme proclaims married women are forbidden to work

Williams to the Red Sox

Dec 7 Red Sox acquire the contract of 19-year-old Ted Williams

Dec 7 Russian chess player Alexander Alekhine recaptures his final world title from Dutch grand master Max Euwe by a large margin (+10−4=11)
Dec 10 William Grant Still's Symphony No. 2 ("Song of a New Race") premieres at the Academy of Music by the Philadelphia Orchestra led by conductor Leopold Stokowski
Dec 11 25th CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Toronto Argonauts claim their 4th Championship; beat Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 4-3
Dec 11 Italy withdraws from League of Nations
Dec 12 1938 NFL Draft: Corbett Davis from University of Indiana first pick by Cleveland Rams
Dec 12 Japanese aircraft shell & sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China. (Japan apologized & eventually paid US $2.2M in reparations)
Dec 12 National Football League Championship, Wrigley Field, Chicago: Washington Redskins beat Chicago Bears, 28-21
Dec 12 NBC & RCA sends 1st mobile-TV vans onto the streets of NY
Dec 13 Japanese troops conquer and plunder Nanjing (Nanjing Massacre)
Dec 16 Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from American federal prison Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.
Dec 20 Australian cricket spin bowler Bill O'Reilly takes career best 9-41 for NSW in a Sheffield Shield match against South Australia at Adelaide Oval

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

Dec 21 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", the first full-length animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre, Los Angeles

Dec 21 Australian cricket spin bowler Bill O'Reilly takes 5-57 to complete match figures of 14-98 as NSW beats South Australia by 33 runs in a Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide
Dec 21 Chicago Black Hawks left wing Paul Thompson becomes first player in NHL history to score against his brother, Boston Bruins goaltender Cecil Thompson; scores with just 9 seconds left in regulation as Bruins win 2-1
Dec 22 Lincoln Tunnel, under the Hudson River, opens to traffic, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey to Midtown Manhattan, New York City
Dec 23 First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber
Dec 24 Dutch government recognizes Italian king Emanuel III as emperor of Abyssinia

First "Symphony of the Air"

Dec 25 Arturo Toscanini conducts 1st "Symphony of the Air" concert over NBC Radio

Dec 25 Queensland all out for 93 v SA in front of 10,436
Dec 27 German immigration officials with no explanation bar Juan Carlos Zabala (Arg), 1932 Olympic marathon champion, from entering Germany

Mae West Banned

Dec 27 Mae West performs Adam & Eve skit that gets her banned from NBC radio

Dec 28 Fascist Octavian Goga becomes Prime Minister of Romania
Dec 29 Constitution of Ireland (Irish: Bunreacht na hÉireann) is enacted and Irish free state is named Eire