Historical Events
"Hansel and Gretel"
Dec 23 Opera "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck and his sister Adelheid Wette premieres in Weimar, conducted by Richard Strauss
Ford's First Gasoline Engine
Dec 24 Henry Ford completes his first useful petrol / gasoline fuelled engine
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Ernst Toller, German playwright, President of Bavarian Soviet Republic (1919), born in Samotschin (d. 1939)
- Dec 1 Herman Griffith, West Indian cricket fast bowler (13 Tests; 44 wickets; best 6-103), born in Arima, Trinidad and Tobago (d. 1980)
- Dec 2 Leo Ornstein, Russian-American composer (Bio in Sonata Form), born in Kremenchuk, Russia (d. 2002) (birth date uncertain)
- Dec 2 Louis Freeman, Scottish bandleader, born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1994)
- Dec 3 Julius Bissier, German painter, born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (d. 1965)
- Dec 6 Lou Little [Luigi Piccolo], American college football hall of fame coach (elected 1960), born in Leominster, Massachusetts (d. 1979)
- Dec 10 Walter Rein, German composer, born in Stotternheim (d. 1955)
- Dec 12 Edward G. Robinson [Goldenberg], Romanian actor (Double Indemnity, The Stranger, The Ten Commandments), born in Bucharest, Romania (d. 1973)
- Dec 16 Vladimir Golschmann, French-American conductor (St. Louis Symphony, 1931-57), born in Paris, France (d. 1972)
- Dec 17 Erwin Piscator, German stage director (Der Stellvertreter), born in Greifenstein-Ulm, German Empire (d. 1966)
- Dec 23 Ann O'Neal [Patsy Ann Epperson], American actress (Professional Father), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1971)
- Dec 24 Carl Brisson, Danish actor (Ship Cafe, Ring, Song of Soho, Murder at the Vanities), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1958)
- Dec 24 Ruth Chatterton, American actress (Madame X, Sarah & Son), born in New York City (d. 1961)
- Dec 25 Bert Bertram, Australian actor (How to Steal a Million, Shamus), born in Peterborough, Australia (d. 1991)
- Dec 25 Fred Hillebrand, American actor (Martin Kane, Moon Over Manhattan), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1963)
- Dec 26 Evgeny Karlovich Tikotsky, Polish/Belorussian composer, born in St. Petersburg (d. 1970)
Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
Dec 26 Chinese revolutionary and Chairman of the Communist Party of China (1949-76), born in Shaoshan, Hunan
- Dec 26 Yury Nikolayevich Tyulin, Russian composer and music theorist, born in Reval, Russian Empire (d. 1976)
- Dec 31 Jimmy Blanckenberg, South African cricket medium pace bowler (18 Tests, 60 wickets; Western Province), born in Cape Town, South Africa (d. 1955)
- Dec 31 Max Lamberty, Flemish sociologist and author (Flemish Resurrection), born in Saint-Gilles, Brussels (d. 1975)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 1 Eduard Franck, German composer, dies at 76
- Dec 4 Allan Wilson, British/Rhodesian Major, dies in battle against the Ndebeles during First Matabele War
- Dec 4 Heinrich Göbel, German-American mechanic and inventor (incandescent lamps), dies at 75
- Dec 4 John Tyndall, Irish physicist who demonstrated why the sky is blue and proved that the Earth's atmosphere has a greenhouse effect, dies at 73
- Dec 9 George Elvey, British organist and composer, dies at 77
- Dec 14 Karolina Pawlowa, Russian poet and novelist, dies at 86
- Dec 17 Levinus T Keuchenius, Dutch min of Colonies (1888-90), dies at 71
- Dec 22 Benedikt Randhartinger, Austrian composer, dies at 91
- Dec 22 Johann Czerski, German chaplain, dies at 80
- Dec 26 Victor Schœlcher, French abolitionist writer, dies at 89
- Dec 30 Samuel White Baker, English explorer (Ceylon & Egypt), dies at 72
- Dec 31 Jacob Gijsbert de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch vicar and theologian, dies at 74
