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Big Band Jazz is BIG!
Entering the 1940s, as swing music dominated the industry, big band jazz thrived. This music lifted morale during the war years and throughout the rest of the 40s. Duke Ellington releases "The Duke 1940" album. -
Period: to
Women Enter the Workforce
In 1940, only 28 percent of women were working; by 1945, it exceeded 34 percent. The 1940s saw the largest proportional rise in female labor during the entire twentieth century, due to their labor being needed during WW2. -
Picasso's 'Dora Maar au Chat'
Picasso paints this cubist portrait of his former lover, Dora Maar. -
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The Holocaust
Hitler's Nazi Germany imposes a genocide against Jewish people, murdering 6 million across Europe. -
Claire McCardell Pioneers Women's Fashion
McCardell invented the wrap around "Popover" dress, which could be used as a dressing gown, a swimsuit cover-up, a housedress, or a party dress. She is known for popularizing comfortable fashion for women, such as flat shoes, activewear, and versatile dresses. She said, "You have to design for the lives American women lead today" (post WW2). -
A Star is Born!
Barbra Streisand, theatre icon, is born in Brooklyn, New York. -
Casablanca is Released.
Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, premieres at the Hollywood Theater in New York City. -
Abstract Expressionism Booms!
Abstract Expressionism takes the forefront of artistic movement after WW2. Abstract expressionism allowed artists to depict their deepest, most complicated emotions, especially following a horrific war. -
'Carousel' Opens on Broadway!
Carousel opened on Broadway April 19, 1945, at the Majestic Theatre, where it ran for 890 performances. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. -
End of World War II
Following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders, concluding the Second World War. -
Malaria is... Solved?
A new sulfa drug, metachloride, proves successful in treating malaria. -
Rita Hayworth is the IT GIRL
Rita Hayworth stars in "Gilda", a noir/romance, and is deemed "The Love Goddess" after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. -
The Invention of Kitty Litter!
Edward Lowe began packaging absorbent clay in 5 lb bags to sell in a local pet store as “kitty litter”. This was the first model which was to later be modified. -
Black Dahlia Murder
On this day, while taking a stroll, a young woman and her child found the body Elizabeth Short naked and sliced clean in half at the waist, with not one droplet of blood on her body. She's known as “Black Dahlia” for wearing sheer black clothes and for the Blue Dahlia movie out at that time. Her murder still remains a chilling mystery, and a part of Los Angeles history. -
Cold War Begins
The Cold War begins after the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, when the uneasy alliance between the United States and Great Britain on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other started to fall apart. -
A Streetcar Named Desire Premiere
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. -
Gandhi is Assassinated
Mahatma Gandhi - lawyer, activist and writer - led the nationalist movement against the British rule of India, was killed following a prayer vigil in New Delhi. His killer was Nathuram Vinayak Godse. -
Atomic Bomb Consequences
Children born in the aftermath of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, have an unusually high number of abnormalities, according to a report by the Atomic Bomb Casualties Commission. -
First Bone Marrow Transplant
The first bone marrow transplant was performed in 1949 by Leon O. Jacobson, paving the way for this life-saving procedure leukemia and other conditions. -
Burnita SERVES
Burnita Shelton Matthews was the first woman to serve as a federal district court judge. -
1984 is Published
George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-four (or 1984) is published. It is a chilling dystopian story and cautionary tale against totalitarianism that remains impactful today. -
Meryl Streep Saves the World
...by being born. She has been described as "the best actress of her generation", and is a film icon. -
References 1
- https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/black-dahlia
- https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm
- https://playbill.com/production/carousel-majestic-theatre-vault-0000013229
- https://www.britannica.com/event/assassination-of-Mahatma-Gandhi#:~:text=He%20was%20killed%20following%20a,subcontinent's%20large%20Muslim%20minority.
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References 2
- https://joannecarrubba.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/abstract-expressionism-and-art-after-world-war-ii/
- https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshallfame/html/mccardell.html
- https://progressiveplanet.com/the-invention-of-kitty-litter/
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/culture-magazines/1940s-medicine-and-health-chronology#:~:text=1945%3A%20May%2023%20Typhus%20patients,first%20synthetic%20penicillin%20is%20produced.