In Chicago, The Memorial Day Massacre took place when ten union demonstrators were killed when police open fire on them.
U.S. Steel had signed a union contract but smaller steel manufacturers refused to do so and a strike was called.
On Memorial Day, some 1,500-2,500 unionists, their families and sympathizers gathered and had an outdoor picnic lunch with music and speakers.
The crowd began to march towards the Republic Steel mill to picket, but were met by a line of roughly 300 Chicago policemen.
The protesters argued their right to continue and the police opened fired. As the crowd fled, police murdered ten people, four dying that day and six others later. Nine people were permanently disabled and 28 had serious head injuries after they were beaten with clubs by the police. No police were ever prosecuted.
In San Francisco the Golden Gate Bridge officially opened in May. The Looney Tunes cartoon character Daffy Duck appeared in April. The duck was voiced by Mel Blanc who also voiced Porky Pig and later Bugs Bunny.
In 1937, 60-year-old Dr. Robert B. Griffith, a doctor for the Hollywood film industry was killed in a car crash. Dr. Griffith was the physician for, among many other Hollywood stars, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin.
He was the target of at least three malpractice lawsuits. In 1924, Minnie Chaplin, wife of film start Syd Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin's half brother), in a lawsuit for $100,000, claimed her nose job performed by Dr. Griffith left her not only disfigured but permanently marred. Griffith countered that it was due to her refusal to follow instructions and not to his carelessness and negligence.
Curiously, Minnie was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in France in September 1936 following surgery for the illness.
I was unable to determine the outcome of that lawsuit, but in 1927, in another $100,000 suit for a nose job gone wrong, Dr. Griffith was sued by silent screen actor William H. Scott, who claimed his nose had been mangled so bad that he was no longer able to get film work. A judge ruled there was no evidence of negligence.
Then in 1929, Dorothy Higgins, a New York stage actress, filed suit for $5,000 against Dr. Griffith alleging an operation he performed on her nose to make it photograph well caused it to increase in size and made her voice sound like she had a cold. Again, the results of the lawsuit are unavailable.
The October 1921 issue of Caduceus, a publication of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, carried a lengthy article on the exploits of Dr. Griffith that was as glowing as anything that ever came out of Hollywood.
Under the title, Chess, Recreation of Film Star's Physician, it was said that, "For Brother Griffith it is who sustains in the actors and actresses of Los Angeles film colony the good health and pep required in screen productions. They bring all their troubles, from a broken heart to a broken limb, to the doctor for repairs."
The article pointed out that were were drawbacks though. For example, Dr. Griffith had to keep up his professional dignity while being photographed with his famous patients. The article observed that, "He treats them all; and well, evidently, for he has been
retained as the Pickford family physician for a number of years."
Described as being a genial, affable gentleman, hearty and frank person and one of the most popular men on the Coast, he was for a long time also the physician for the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
According to the article, whenever a chess expert visited Los Angeles, "Dr. Griffith is trotted to the front" and proceeded to show the newcomer who was the boss.
In his earlier days Dr. Griffith used to play considerable chess,
but that was before his medical work took up all of his time. Back in his college days he was intercollegiate champion.
The article informed readers that after college Griffith was "a billiard shark." Shortly after his graduation the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. hired him to travel for them as a salesman. The Chicago-based company was the largest billiard equipment operation in the world and later expanded their business to include bar equipment.
On May 30, 1937, Herman Steiner was on his way back to Hollywood from California's annual North-South chess match where he had played on board 1 and Dr. Griffith on board 2. Steiner hit another car head-on killing Dr. Griffith and the driver in the other car was critically injured.
In his book Reshevsky on Chess, Reshevsky (or the ghost writer who is believed to have been Fred Reinfeld) thought this game was one the best he played as a child. A short time after this game a single game was played between the two and it ended in a draw.
Samuel Reshevsky–Dr. Robert B Griffith½–½Exhibition game, Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA USA06.07.1921Stockfish 15
Giuoco Piano 1.e4 e5 2.c4 f6 3.f3 c6 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0 d6 This move
is too passive to give black any real counterplay and as a result he gets a
very passive position. 6.xd4 e7 7.c3 d7 8.h3 0-0 As a result of his
5th move black's position is unpleasantly passive. 9.f4 9.e3 e8 10.f4 f8 11.f3 h6 12.e5 This is unsound. 12.f2 a6 White is
better. 12...xe4 13.xe4 xe4 14.xf7+ xf7 15.d5+ wins 12...dxe5 13.fxe5 xe5 14.xe5 xe5 15.d4 White has nothing to show for the P.
Stavrev,N (2245)-Spasov,V (2540) Bulgaria 1994 9...b6 Best was 9...Nxd4
followed by 10...Bc6 9...e8 10.f3 h6 11.e5 dxe5 12.g5 hxg5 13.fxg5 e6 14.xe6 c5+ 15.h1 xe6 16.gxf6 xf6 lead to a loss for black in
Kalashnikov,K (2399)-Grachev,J (2352) Novosibirsk 2001) 10.e3 e8 Again
he should have exchanges on d4 11.e5 this impetuous advance allows black to
equalize. Best was the simple 11.Nf3 dxe5 12.xc6 xc6 13.fxe5 d6 An
excellent move that results in complications that Reshevsky does not handle
well. 14.exf6 Or 14.exd6. Either move is satisfactory for equality. 14.xf6 This is also playable. After gxf6 15.exd6 xe3 16.d5 xd5 17.xd5 c8 18.g4+ h8 19.d7 b8 20.xf7 e7 21.e8 the position is unclear. 14...xe3 15.g4 15.d5 is a loser... xc3 16.xf7+ xf7 17.h5+ g8 18.bxc3 gxf6 and black is winning as evidenced by scoring 5
wins in Shootouts. 15.fxg7 is correct. Then after c5 16.h2 h4 17.g4 the position is equal. 15...g6 16.h4 16.xf7+ fails after xf7 17.c4+ e6 18.ae1 d7 16...c5 17.h1 d7 17...d2 isn't as good as it
looks. 18.d5! xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.h6 xh3+ 21.xh3 18.h2 White
is losing after this. A must was 18.Bd5 d6+ 18...d2 was much better. 19.d5 xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.ad1 e5+ and black's extra piece is a winning
advantage. 19.h1 Better was 19.Rf4 and 20.Raf1 d7 20.h2 d6+ 21.h1 d7 In a winning position this is a mistake because it allows white to draw
by threefold repetition with 22.Kh2 21...e5 22.d5 e4 23.h6 f8 24.e7+ xe7 25.fxe7 xh6 wins 22.d5 Unwisely disdaining the
draw. ae8 Even better than taking the N! 23.ad1 Avoiding a trap. 23.xe3 xe3 24.h2 24.h6 xh3+ 25.xh3 xh3# 24...e4 25.h6 f8 23...8e4 Wrong R! After this black remains with the superior game,
but it was not the best move. That said, after the better 23...R3e4 the
complications are enormous, so perhaps practically speaking this is the best
move after all! 23...3e4 Right R! 24.f4 xf4 25.xf7+ 25.xf4 xh3+ mate next move. 25...xf7 26.xf4 h5 black is better. 23...3e4 24.h6 f8 25.e7+ 8xe7 26.xd7 xd7 27.xf7+ xf7 28.d2 Here, too, black
is better. 24.h6 xh3+ 25.xh3 xh3+ 26.gxh3 xc4 Black
has simplified, to an ending in which he has a P for the exchange and soon he
will win another P. It's going to take Reshevsky a great deal of ingenuity to
avoid the loss. 27.c3 e4 28.d2 e5-+ 29.fd1 f5 30.b4 d6 31.g1
Threatening 32.Ne7+ xd5 32.xd5 xf6 33.a3 g7 34.c4 f3 35.1d3 xd3 36.xd3 In the ending black will have two united passed Ps and
white's only chance is to get open files for his R, which he does. From this
point, barring a serious error, the position is a draw. f6 37.g2 e6 38.e3+ e5 39.a4 g5 40.d3 e7 41.d5 f6 42.f3 h5 43.a5 f4 44.axb6 axb6 45.b5 e5 46.e4 e6 46...g4 47.hxg4 hxg4 48.f5 g3 49.d2 is a draw. 47.d8 f5+ 48.e3 g4 49.hxg4 This makes white's task much harder. 49.e8+ d6 50.h4 f4+ 51.e4 f6 52.xf4 xh4 53.h8 f2 54.xh5 is a draw 49...hxg4 The correct recapture. 49...fxg4 50.e4 g3 51.f3 h4 52.g2
and black can make no progress. 50.e8+ f6 51.g8 d6 52.h8
As a result of his 49th mvoe white's defense was again very difficult, but
this should have lost. 52.f2 is a stouter defense. f4 53.f8+ e5 54.e8+ d4 55.g8 xc4 56.f8 g3+ 57.f3 d6 58.xf5 b4 59.g2 is a draw 52...c5+ 52...g5 was even better. 53.g8+ h4 54.f2 f4 55.h8+ g5 56.g8+ f5 57.g7 f3 58.f7+ e5 wins 53.f4 d6+ 54.e3 g5 55.h7
An interesting position. Whoever annotated this game for Reshevsky's book (him
or Reinfeld) completely misjudged the position. The note to this move claims
that white waits until his opponent decides to advance one of the Ps which is
less dangerous than it seems. Sooner or later, one of them will occupy a black
square and will not be able to advance. Stockfish puts black's advantage at an
overwhelming 12 Ps while Komodo 15 puts is at only two PS which is also
significant. f4+ 56.e4 f3 57.h1 c5 58.h7 f2 See the previous note.
After this black's K cannot enter play and so the game can now be considered a
draw. However, Stockfish quickly found the winning way. 58...g1 This is
the correct move, but considering the complexity of it all, it is not
difficult to understand why the annotators did not find the winning line. 59.g7+ h4 60.f5 h3 61.xg4 h2 62.d4 f2 63.d1 g2 64.d2 g1 65.e6 f1 66.d7 xc4 67.c8 xb5 68.b8 c4 69.c8 d6 70.b2 f4 71.b7 e4+ 72.b8 b5 73.a2 c5+ 74.a7 e7+ 75.a6 e6+ 76.xb5 xa2 77.xc5 d2 78.c4 d6 79.c3 d5 80.b4 d2+ 81.a3 b5 82.a2 c1 83.a1 b2# 59.h1 d6 60.f1 g3 61.e3 f5 62.h1 g5 63.f1 f5
The game was drawn 9 moves later, but the moves are not known. ½–½
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