Interesting 1922 Facts

What comes to mind when we ask what were the most famous events of 1922, 100 years ago? This reporter thinks it’s fascinating to look back and see history unfold with the rise of Mussolini and the establishment of the USSR.  I will try to highlight other events from the year 1922.

First and foremost, the 19^th Amendment for the women’s right to vote was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Some people born in 1922, who ended up famous during their lifetime, were Ava Gardner, Judy Garland, Carl Reiner, Marty Allen, Doris Day, and of course, our dear Betty White who passed away two weeks away from her 100^th birthday.

Stan Lee, comic-book writer, editor, publisher, media producer, TV host, actor and president of Marvel Comics was also born in 1922 and often referred to on The Big Bang Theory, one of TV’s long-running shows.

Ralph Samuelson created a new sport, water skiing, which quickly became a summer pastime. He first used a pair of boards as skis and a clothesline as a towrope.  King George V opened a new concrete tennis stadium Center Court at Wimbledon. The first Wimbledon Championship tournament was held on Center Court and Wimbledon is still the only Grand Slam Tennis event played on grass.

Radio was the first mass broadcasting medium that drew the nation together after the Great War. By 1922, there were 500 radio stations in America and by the end of the 1920’s, there were over 100 million radios in use. The Roaring Twenties radio programs spread modern ideas and brought news, music, entertainment and advertisements to millions of listeners. Radio station KGU began broadcasting from Hawaii.

WWI had ended in 1918 so by 1922 people really wanted to forget the horrors of the war and have some fun.  Young people questioned religion, morals and traditions, leading them to try new lifestyles. (Does this sound familiar?)

Dr. Harvey Fletcher of Brigham Young University invented the first audiometer for evaluating hearing loss. In January of 1922, the first successful insulin treatment of diabetes using a pure preparation intravenously injected was done by Frederick Banting of Toronto, Canada.

In 1922, American Ben P. Ellerback created the first practical retractable hardtop (convertible) prototype.

In the Bronx, construction began on Yankee stadium. In Washington, D.C. the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated with a ceremony officiated by former U.S. President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William Howard Taft.  Special guests at the ceremony were Robert Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s son), President Warren G. Harding and Vice-President Calvin Coolidge. The memorial, designed by Henry Bacon, resembled a Grecian-style temple, complete with columns and a 19-foot-tall statue of Lincoln that was sculpted by Daniel C. French. It’s amazing to think that this memorial is 100 years old.

This reporter’s favorite magazine, Reader’s Digest, published its first issue in 1922.  The purpose of Reader’s Digest was to publish shortened versions of articles on various topics of interest and 100 years later, is still going strong!

According to my resources, a 20-ton meteorite landed near Blackstone, Va., which I’m sure really made the local and national news! 

Happy New Year to all our subscribers!