istoryworld
Events relating to north america
James Thurber publishes his short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Marian Anderson's concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington effectively launches the US civil rights movement
Victor Fleming directs 17-year-old Judy Garland in the film of the famous musical The Wizard of Oz
US chemist Linus Pauling publishes his collected discoveries on The nature of the chemical bond
John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family, sharecroppers who are forced to move west to escape the horrors of the Dust Bowl
Ninotchka, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, is another great success for the Swedish film star Greta Garbo
Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears give a series of recitals in the USA at the start of a lifelong partnership
US designer Igor Sikorsky tests the first practical helicopter, using a rotor on a long tail boom to counter torque
Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh star in Gone with the Wind, based on Margaret Mitchell's novel
Igor Stravinsky moves to the USA from Paris, his home for nearly 30 years, and settles in Hollywood
John Ford directs John Wayne in the film Stagecoach
US crime-writer Raymond Chandler publishes his first novel, The Big Sleep, introducing the hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe
The US jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker acquires the nickname 'Yardbird', or simply 'Bird'
German-born US physicist Albert Einstein writes to President Roosevelt, warning of the potential of an atomic bomb
George Marshall becomes US Army chief of staff, a post he retains to the end of World War II
American Ballet Theatre, directed by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, begins its first season in New York
Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen design an 'organic chair' for mass production in moulded plywood and aluminium
German novelist Thomas Mann takes US citizenship and in 1941 moves to California
US author Richard Wright publishes Native Son, his semi-autobiographical novel about racial equality
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby star together in Road to Singapore, the first of a long series of 'Road' films
Gene Kelly makes his name on Broadway in the Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey
Ernest Hemingway publishes the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, set in the Spanish Civil War
John Ford directs Henry Fonda in the film of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
Charlie Chaplin ridicules Hitler in The Great Dictator, the first film in which he speaks coherent dialogue
US author Carson McCullers publishes her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
