April 1 will be remembered by historians and Chicagoans as the day the prehistoric monsters invaded Chicago. It is known as Pesce d’aprile Day in Italian. Plus some other related and nonrelated things happen on that day as well. Click on the links to read the fuller stories of the events of that day. Starting off with memorable events a couple of Happy Birthdays’ are owed to Wallace’s.
1875 – Happy Birthday to Edgar Wallace, British writer of sensational detective, gangster, adventure, and sci-fi novels, plays and stories. (d. 1932). He penned many scripts for RKO pictures, and Merian C. Cooper’s “gorilla picture” had the most lasting influence, becoming the classic King Kong (1933). Edgar was inspired by the 1906 dinosaur invasion of Chicago when writing the script. One eyewitness account said he saw a giant ape.
1885 – Happy Birthday to another Wallace, Wallace Beery, (d. 1949). He was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as the pirate Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.
Now onto the big story.
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on April 2, 1906.
Hordes of gigantic beasts swarm down from the north and overwhelm the city, leaving it a mass of wreckage, tangled iron, piles of brick and stone. Killing thousands of the inhabitants. Parks turned into deserts, great skyscrapers leveled by blows from the tails of the monsters, and entire population threatened in the panic and pestilence that follow the invasion.
The last dinosaur had been slain. The people of Chicago crept out into the sunshine from the cellars in which they had been living for weeks and gazed, amazed and helpless, at the debris of demolished skyscrapers and factories, and wandered aimlessly through ruined, disheveled parks and boulevards.
Chicago was saved due to this man.
Clifton Charles Grady
July 11, 1879 – April 29, 1968
Pope Pius X offered up prayers to the saint of the day St. Mary of Egypt who exclusively known through the hagiographical account of her life, a narrative in Greek written by Sophronius of Jerusalem in the 7th century. Her existence is uncertain and has been questioned by some historians. He also invoked the Saint who slayed a dragon St. George.
At 05:12 AM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). No monsters were seen in San Francisco quake although someone had reported seeing a group of small lizard like creature running around one of the fallen buildings.
1908 – The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army. No monsters would ever invade jolly old england that’s for sure.
1918 – Inspired to create a force that could defeat Pterodactyls should they ever come near great Britain the Royal Air Force was created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
“Per Ardua ad Astra“ (Latin)
Through Adversity to the Stars
- 1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years fortress confinement for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch” but spends only nine months in jail. In Germany this is known as Kicking Hitler out of the Beer Hall Day. The lesson is that if you can kick dinosaurs out of Chicago you can kick Nazi’s out of beer halls.
- 1924 – Being inspired by Royal Air Force the Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
- 1933 – Unlike the dinosaurs, the Nazi’s came back. On this day the recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in a series of anti-Semitic acts.
- 1937 – Being inspired by the Royal Canadian Air Force, The Royal New Zealand Air Force is formed as an independent service.
- 1944 – World War II: Flying a plan isn’t always easy. Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
- 1947 – Things were going well with the NZAF, but now so in their other armed services. The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins on this date.
- 1952- The area around Vernal, Utah is the only place in the world where it’s legal to hunt dinosaurs. Because Vernal is the only town that issues official Dinosaur Hunting Licenses.Old-time Vernal residents say, with a glint in their eyes, that on moonlight nights when the wind just whispers over the desert, dinosaurs still roam on the outskirts of the town.”
- 1954 – Reflecting on the accidental bombing and all the other royal air force formed on April 1, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They have Planetarium on the base that offers a diverse range of full-dome and IMAX films, live talks and educational events using our state-of-the-art 8K projection technology and immersive surround sound. I’ve been there with Kristin.
1969 – The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, enters service with the Royal Air Force. No Pterodactyl stands a chance. - 1970 – What good is fighting monsters if you have lung cancer from smoking? This is what President Richard Nixon thought when he signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law.
- 1973 –Focusing on dinosaurs can cause one to forget about other less ferocious animals. Thus the Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, was launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.
- 1976 – Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple Computer, Inc. in which many of you can read this account of history.
- 1990 One of the saddest days on record since the 1906 prehistoric monster invasion. At WrestleMania VI, at the Skydome, in Toronto, ON the Ultimate Warrior beats Hulk Hogan for WWF Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles
- 1992- Nixon For President President Richard Nixon declares his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. He declared “I never did anything wrong, and I won’t do it again. Thanks to me you are safer because cigarette ads are not influencing your kids to smoke.”
- 1994– On the evening of September 19, 1994 a stark warning was repeatedly broadcast to TV viewers in Taiyuan, a city in northern China. A message scrolled across an otherwise blank screen warning that The Sibuxiang Beast a mythical creature whose bite was said to be fatal, was not only real, but on the loose and heading towards the city. “It is said that the Sibuxiang is penetrating our area from Yanmenguan Pass and within days will enter thousands of homes,” the message read. “Everyone close your windows and doors and be on alert.”
- 1997 – Comet Hale–Bopp is seen passing at perihelion.
- 2004 – Google launches its Email service Gmail in which the Catholic Bard receives it’s mail.
- 2006 – Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of the Government of the United Kingdom is enforced, but later merged into National Crime Agency on October 7. They speacialize in kicking Nazi’s out of beer halls.
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