A-Tisket, A-Tasket
May 2 American singer Ella Fitzgerald records "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" with Chick Webb and His Orchestra
Event of Interest
May 2 Pulitzer prize awarded to Thornton Wilder for his play "Our Town"
- May 3 Concentration camp at Flossenburg goes into use
- May 3 Lefty Grove defeats Tigers 4-3 for 1st of record 20 consecutive wins at his home field Fenway Park; he doesn't lose there until May 12 1941
- May 4 Douglas Hyde, a protestant, becomes 1st president of Eire
- May 5 MLB Philadelphia Phillies Harold Kelleher pitcher faces 16 batters in 6th, as Cubs score 12 runs, both marks are NL records off one hurler in a single inning
- May 6 Dutch court sentences writer Maurits Dekker to 50 days imprisonment for "offending a friendly head of state" - Adolf Hitler
64th Kentucky Derby
May 7 64th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Lawrin scores first of record 5 Derby wins
Joan of Arc at the Stake
May 12 Arthur Honegger and Paul Claudel's oratorio "Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher" (Joan of Arc at the Stake) premieres in Basel, Switzerland
- May 12 Sandoz Labs begins manufacturing LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
May 14 "The Adventures of Robin Hood", directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland premieres
- May 14 63rd Preakness: Maurice Peters aboard Dauber wins in 1:59.8
- May 14 England soccer team beats Nazi-Germany, 6-3
O'Neil's Negro League Debut
May 15 Buck O'Neil makes his debut playing for the Negro league baseball team Kansas City Monarchs at Ruppert Stadium, Kansas City
- May 15 Paul-Henri Spak forms red coalition of Belgium
- May 16 1st animal breeding society forms (NJ)
- May 16 38 die in a fire at Terminal Hotel Atlanta, Georgia
Bradman Scores 278
May 16 Australian cricketer Donald Bradman scores 278 vs MCC in 349 mins with 35 fours and 1 six
- May 17 Radio quiz show "Information Please!" debuts on NBC Blue Network
- May 17 US Congress approves Vinson Naval Act, which funds a two-ocean navy
- May 21 Batsman Don Bradman scores 143 for Australia v Surrey, in 198 mins, with 11 fours
Hooray for What!
May 21 Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's anti-war musical "Hooray for What!", starring Ed Wynn and directed by Vincente Minnelli, closes at the Winter Garden Theatre, NYC, after 200 performances
- May 22 Dodgers announce contracts to install lights at Ebbets Field
- May 25 Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante takes place, with 313 deaths
- May 26 US House of Representatives Committee on un-American Activities forms
- May 27 Cricket batting genius Don Bradman scores 145 not out for Australia v Hampshire at Southampton, completing 1,000 runs before the end of May for the second time, the only touring batsman to England ever to perform the feat
- May 28 Foundation for Tel Aviv harbor laid
Mathis der Maler
May 28 Paul Hindemith's opera "Mathis der Maler" premieres in Zurich
- May 30 Indianapolis 500: Polesitter Floyd Roberts claims winner's cheque $32,075; car owner Lou Moore is also the chief mechanic
- May 30 New York Yankees sweep arch rival Boston Red Sox, 10-0 & 5-4 in front of 83,533 at Yankee Stadium
The Incredible Flutist
May 30 Walter Piston's dance work, The Incredible Flutist, written for the Boston Pops Orchestra, which premieres it, Arthur Fiedler conducting
- May 31 Bill Edrich scores his 1,000th run of cricket season, all at Lord's
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies