{"id":2222671,"date":"2026-01-05T10:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T10:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2222671"},"modified":"2026-01-05T10:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T10:46:11","slug":"1926-100-years-ago-life-in-the-u-s-entertainment-famous-firsts-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/1926-100-years-ago-life-in-the-u-s-entertainment-famous-firsts-more\/","title":{"rendered":"1926: 100 years ago – life in the U.S., entertainment, famous firsts, more"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2013 The year 1926 was notable in many ways, from a handful of famous firsts, birthdays, deaths, cost of living and much more.<\/p>\n

This is the 13th year we have dived back 100 years, researching famous firsts, milestones and more. (Links to all of our previous stories by year are at the bottom, along with sources.)<\/p>\n

Coming Tuesday, Jan. 6: 1926 in sports<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at life in 1926:<\/p>\n

Happy 100!<\/b><\/h2>\n

Looking to join the centenarian club this year:<\/p>\n

\u2022 British biologist\/naturalist David Attenborough<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Comedian-writer Mel Brooks<\/b><\/p>\n

Born in 1926 …<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u2022 African-American civil-rights leader Ralph Abernathy<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Musician Chuck Berry<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Bluesman John Coltrane<\/b><\/p>\n

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\"Each
Jazz great Miles DavisAssociated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u2022 Jazz artist Miles Davis<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Economist and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Comedian Jerry Lewis<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cTwilight Zone\u201d writer Richard Matheson<\/b><\/p>\n

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\"Each
Marilyn MonroeAssociated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u2022 Actress Marilyn Monroe<\/b>, who was born Norma Jeane Mortenson<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Comedian Don Rickles<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Native American ballerina Marjorie Tallchief<\/b><\/p>\n

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\"Each
Harry HoudiniAssociated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

… died in 1926<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u2022 Bessie Colman<\/b>, American aviator and first African-American woman and Native American to hold a pilot\u2019s license, in a plane crash. She was 34.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Escape artist Harry Houdini<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Robert Todd Lincoln<\/b>, son of President Abraham Lincoln<\/p>\n

\u2022 Artist Claude Monet<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Louisa Kirwan Capron Thiers<\/b>, believed to have been the last surviving Real Daughter of the American Revolution. She was 111 and died in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Silent-movie idol Rudolph Valentino<\/b><\/p>\n

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\"Each
Al CaponeAssociated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Life in the United States<\/b><\/h2>\n

Calvin Coolidge<\/b> is president. Charles G. Dawes<\/b> is vice president.<\/p>\n

Republicans hold a slight majority in the 69th Congress with 54 seats.<\/p>\n

William Howard Taft<\/b> is chief justice.<\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s population is about 117.4 million. Today it\u2019s around 342 million.<\/p>\n

The country has 48 states. It would be another 33 years before the final two are added.<\/p>\n

Unemployment is 1.8%. Today it is around 4.5% to 4.8%.<\/p>\n

A stamp costs 2 cents. Consider that today it\u2019s 78 cents!<\/p>\n

The U.S. numbered highway system is introduced. The famed U.S. Route 66 is established.<\/p>\n

The Ford Model T is the most popular car. Nearly half of all automobile sales from 1920 to 1926 are of the model. It sold for $260 \u2013 about $4,700 today.<\/p>\n

Norma Smallwood \u2013 5 feet, 4 inches and 18 years old \u2013 becomes the first Native American and first person from Oklahoma to become Miss America<\/b>. It\u2019s a lucrative booty: She received a $5,000 gold cup, vaudeville contract, $1,000 watch, $1,000 wardrobe and a statue of a mermaid – go figure on the last item.<\/p>\n

The North Side Gang tries to assassinate rival Al Capone<\/b> in Cicero, Illinois. More than a thousand submachine-gun rounds were fired into a restaurant in daylight; Capone survived.<\/p>\n

Henry Ford<\/b> popularizes the eight-hour, five-day work week. More than a decade later, it becomes law.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Eve, Wheaties airs what is believed to be the first-ever radio commercial singing jingle.<\/p>\n

Thomas Edison<\/b>, who invented the record player, among other devices, says: \u201cThe radio is a commercial failure, and its popularity with the public is waning. Radio is impractical commercially and esthetically distorted. \u2026 Radio is a highly complicated machine in the hands of people who know nothing about it.\u201d Wonder what he would say about social media today.<\/p>\n

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is administered for the first time.<\/p>\n

National Broadcasting Corp. \u2013 NBC \u2013 radio network is launched.<\/p>\n

The two-man comedy series \u201cSam \u2018n\u2019 Henry\u201d debuts on Chicago\u2019s WGN radio. Two years later it would change its name to what it is remembered by: \u201cAmos \u2018n\u2019 Andy.\u201d<\/b> It was one of the most popular radio programs in American history. Its creators, Freeman Gosden and Charles Carrell, were white, but the characters they portrayed were Black men from the Deep South who had moved to Chicago.<\/p>\n

Father Coughlin<\/b> begins his radio broadcasts from Detroit, becoming one of the first to use the medium for his messages which, over time, changed its tone from an emphasis on social justice to more divisive opinions. <\/p>\n

Silent-movie star Rin Tin Tin makes $6,000 a month. Not bad for a dog.<\/p>\n

Land on Wall Street and Broadway sells for a record $7 per square inch.<\/p>\n

In 1926, 75 percent of new-vehicle purchases are financed. The concept of financing soon expands to appliances.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia hosts the Sesquicentennial International Exposition, a world\u2019s fair, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence\u2019s signing.<\/p>\n

Ethylene glycol is first used as automotive antifreeze.<\/p>\n

The Air Corps Act of 1926 changes the name of the Air Service to Air Corps. In August, the Army established the Air Corps Training Center in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Bertha Knight Landes<\/b> becomes mayor of Seattle. She is the first female mayor of a major U.S. city.<\/p>\n

Chrysler Corp. has its first full year of business, expanding its line of automobiles. <\/p>\n

Ham in a can! Hormel Co. begins selling canned ham.<\/p>\n

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\"Each
Cleveland’s own Terminal Tower.Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Life in Cleveland and Ohio<\/b><\/h2>\n

Construction begins on the Terminal Tower.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 1, a Cleveland dealership is selling used cars, models 1921 to 1924, starting at $100.<\/p>\n

The village of Broadview Heights is incorporated.<\/p>\n

The famed comedy duo of George Burns <\/b>and Gracie Allen<\/b> marry Jan. 7, in Northeast Ohio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alvin Victor Donahey <\/b>is governor. He served three terms. He and his wife Mary Edith had 12 kids.<\/p>\n

Republicans Frank B. Willis<\/b> and Simeon D. Fess<\/b> are Ohio\u2019s U.S. Senators.<\/p>\n

World affairs<\/b><\/h2>\n

Population is around 2 billion. Today it\u2019s about 8.1 billion.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s miners walk out. Workers from other industries show solidarity, and it becomes the first general strike in Britain. The number of strikers would reach 1.5 million.<\/p>\n

French pilot Rene Fonck<\/b> goes after the Orteig Prize, which was pledged for a non-stop flight across the Atlantic. Fonck\u2019s plane burst into flames upon takeoff; he lived. Eight months later, Charles Lindbergh<\/b> won the prize for his famed flight aboard the \u201cSpirit of St. Louis.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Each
Emperor Hirohito poses in the imperial robes that he wore when he succeeded his father to Japan’s throne in 1926.Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

After his father\u2019s death, Hirohito<\/b> becomes emperor of Japan.<\/p>\n

The Rhine River overflows, causing 50,000 residents of Cologne, Germany, to be evacuated by the military.<\/p>\n

Deutsche Luft Hansa – a forerunner of Lufthansa airliner \u2013 is founded in Berlin.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Each
Godiva traces its roots to 1926.Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Godiva (Belgium) and Mercedes-Benz (Germany) are founded.<\/p>\n

Eureka!<\/b><\/h2>\n

Robert H. Goddard<\/b> launches the first liquid-fuel rocket.<\/p>\n

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\"Each
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, left, stands with his pilot in the attempt to fly over the North Pole, at the doorway to his hut on Arctic ice. The photo is from 1926.Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Roald Amundsen<\/b> and crew fly over the North Pole in the airship Norge. It is the first verified crossing of the Arctic. Days later, they landed in Alaska, and the Norge was dismantled to be shipped to Italy for repairs. That never happened; it never flew again. (Also in 1926: Richard E. Byrd<\/b> claimed to fly over the pole first, but it was debunked; an oil leak forced him to turn around sooner.)<\/p>\n

Scottish inventor John Logie Baird <\/b>gives the first public demonstration of a television system in London.<\/p>\n

Herbert Sellner invents the Tilt-a-whirl. <\/b>The <\/i>ride with nine cars, which held two passengers each, first appeared at the Minnesota State Fair. Rides cost 15 cents.<\/p>\n

The overhead garage door was invented a few years earlier, but C.G. Johnson – who founded the Overhead Door Corp. – introduces the electric garage door opener<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Engineer Francis Davis introduces a practical version of power steering<\/b>. The concept, though, would take decades before it was used widely.<\/p>\n

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\"Each
Martha GrahamAssociated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Entertainment<\/b><\/h2>\n

Dance pioneer Martha Graham<\/b> gives her first New York performance. A vanguard in choreography, her name remains one of the most iconic in dance.<\/p>\n

In December, English writer Agatha Christie<\/b> disappears for 11 days. She would never explain the disappearance. Theories ranged from stress to a purported stunt.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Each
Winnie-the-PoochAssociated Press<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Two classics of literature are published: A.A. Milne<\/b>\u2019s seminal children\u2019s book \u201cWinnie-the-Pooh\u201d and Ernest Hemingway<\/b>\u2019s \u201cThe Sun Also Rises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Whiteman<\/b>\u2019s \u201cValencia\u201d spends 17 weeks atop the U.S. Billboard charts. Also out this year: Gene Austin\u2019s \u201cBye Bye, Blackbird,\u201d which was No. 1 for 12 weeks.<\/p>\n

Disasters<\/b><\/h2>\n

A hurricane slams Miami Beach in the early hours of Sept. 18. Florida author Marjory Stoneman Douglas would write: \u201cMiami Beach was isolated in a sea of raving white water.\u201d The hurricane was considered the nation\u2019s greatest natural disaster since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Taking in consideration fatalities in other cities, 243 people were killed, 854 hospitalized, 2,000 homes destroyed and 3,000 damaged. Approximately 25,000 to 47,000 people became homeless.<\/p>\n

Twenty bandits hijack and loot the Guadalajara-Mexico City train. Dozens are stabbed to death in the bloody attack.<\/p>\n

An explosion on the Chinese troop-transport ship Kuang Yuang kills 1,200.<\/p>\n

The Pabst Mine disaster occurs in Ironwood in Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula. A mine shaft collapsed, killing three workers. Days later, 43 trapped miners were rescued.<\/p>\n

An open light ignites gas, causing an explosion in a Wilburton, Oklahoma, mine, killing 91 miners.<\/p>\n

Honors<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Aristide Briand<\/b> and Gustav Stresemann<\/b> for their work on the Locarno Treaty, which aimed to create peace in post-World War I Europe.<\/p>\n

Sinclair Lewis<\/b>\u2019 \u201cArrowsmith\u201d wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It\u2019s about an idealistic doctor whose integrity battles the forces of commercialism.<\/p>\n

George Kelly<\/b>\u2019s drama \u201cCraig\u2019s Wife,\u201d about a woman who values possessions over her husband, wins the Pulitzer Prize for drama.<\/p>\n

Italian Grazia Deledda<\/b>, who was first published at age 13 before the turn of the century, wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.<\/p>\n

Historian-author Carter G. Woodson<\/b> wins the Spingarn Medal, an annual NAACP award honoring outstanding achievement by an African-American.<\/p>\n

Colleges opened<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u2022 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (originally founded as Lunken Field in Cincinnati)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Long Island University – Brooklyn, New York<\/p>\n

\u2022 Mercyhurst University \u2013 Erie, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Sources<\/b><\/h2>\n

66carmuseum.com, britannica.com, bloomberg.com, bls.gov, case.edu, census.gov, charleslindbergh.com, cleveland.com, coolidgefoundation.org, crankshaft.com, dafhistory.af.mil, erau.edu, ewa.org, findagrave.com, frammuseum.no, historic-newspapers.com, historic-uk.com, history.com, hormelfoods.com, infoplease.com, jimramsburg.com, lakewoodgaragedoor.biz, loc.gov, losttables.com, manifold.umn.edu, masterauto.tech, minnpost.com, motorsportmemorial.org, nbcuniversal.com, nga.org, nobelprize.org, ohiosos.gov, okhistory.org, onthisday.com, pawsh-magazine.com, pbs.org, philadelphiaencyclopedia.org, skateguardblog.com, Smithsonian Channel via Facebook, thegreenpapers.com, theinventors.org, The Plain Dealer, The World Almanac, trove.nla.gov.au, usminedisasters.miningquiz.com, www2.sos.wa.gov<\/i><\/p>\n

Previous 100-year lookbacks<\/b><\/h2>\n

1925<\/a> and 1925 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1924<\/a> and 1924 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1923<\/a> and 1923 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1922<\/a> and 1922 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1921<\/a> and 1921 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1920<\/a> and 1920 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1919<\/a> and 1919 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1918<\/a> and 1918 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1917<\/a> and 1917 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1916<\/a> and 1916 sports<\/a><\/p>\n

1915<\/a><\/p>\n

1914<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.cleveland.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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