That was the year that the New York Times predicted television would fail because the average American family would not have enough time to sit around watching it. Today, on average, 79% of people over the age of 15 spend about 3 hours a day watching television. For those over 65 years old, the average is about an hour more. In 1939, a lot of the over 65 crowd would not have been available to watch television because life expectancy for men was 62.1 years and 65.4 years for women.
In 1939 General Motors introduced the first mass-produced, fully automatic transmission as an option for the 1940 model year Oldsmobile. And, Ernest Vincent wrote the book Gadsby which has over 50,000 words in it without containing the letter e, the most common letter in English. The plot revolves around a dying fictional which is revitalized as a result of the efforts of John Gadsby and a youth organizer.
In other happenings, Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics, Amelia Earhart was officially declared dead after her 1937 disappearance. The first Thin Mint cookies were sold by the Girl Scouts and the first Little League Baseball game was played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Also in baseball, the Hall of Fame was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York.
One of the popular songs of the day was God Bless America sung by Kate Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986). She was known as The First Lady of Radio and besides the song God Bless America, When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain. She became known as The Songbird of the South because of her tremendous popularity during World War II.
I remember Kate Smith from my youth when she appeared on TV shows like The Ed Sullivan Show where she sand her iconic songs. I thought they were awful.
For over a year following her death, her remains were stored in a vault at St. Agnes Cemetery in Lake Placid, New York where she regularly attended Sunday Mass and could be heard singing the hymns, while church officials and Smith's executors engaged in a dispute over her request to be buried in a mausoleum on the cemetery's grounds. Her private burial service wasn't held until November 14, 1987. If you can tolerate it, you can listen to her sing HERE.
The following game was played in the 40th ACF Congress in New York City which ran July 18-29, 1939. This tournament was an important one...at the closing dinner an announcement was made concerning the merger between the American Chess Federation and National Chess Federation. The new organization would be known as the United States Chess Federation.
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| Finals section |
This tournament had a new rule, too. Players had to make 40 moves with two hours and special time clocks were used.
Anthony Santasiere's victory in the following game is impressive. His opponent, Boris Blumin (1908-1998), was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, later settled in Canada and in the late 30s was Canadian Champion in two successive years. Later in life, he moved to New Jersey where he won the Hamilton Chess Club Championship at the age of 78.
Anthony Santasiere–Boris Blumin1–0US Open, New YorkNew York, NY USA18.07.1939Stockfish 15
Colle System 1.d4 f6 2.f3 e6 3.e3 b6 4.d3 b7 5.bd2 d6 6.b3
The Colle-Zukertort System where white aims for a K-side attack; it can be
very dangerous. bd7 7.b2 e7 7...g6 I think this is the safest way to
meet the Colle because it blunts the force of white's B on d3. 8.c4 g7 9.c2 0-0 10.0-0 e8 11.g5 g4 12.df3 f5 with equality. Adly,A (2480)
-Dgebuadze,A (2535) Arnhem 2006 8.0-0 0-0 9.c4 9.e2 c5 10.ad1 d5 11.e5 c7 12.f4 equals. Krueger,P-Moritz,B Frankfurt 1923 9...d5 10.e2 h6 11.e4 dxe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.xe4 xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.e2 What a boring
position. What could go wrong? d7 A bit passive. A more active move was 15..
.c5 16.ad1 e8 17.d3 Very instructive. Santasiere will use
this R as an important part of his K-side attack. c6 this passive approach
is going to cause black problems. 17...Bd6 was better. 18.e5 c7 19.g3 xe5 20.dxe5 Don't worry about the P on e5 blocking white's B; it will get
into play very soon. ad8 20...g6 21.e4 h8 21...ad8 22.xg6+ fxg6 23.xg6+ h8 24.xh6+ g8 25.xe6+ wins for white. 22.h4 White has good
attacking chances, but with careful play black may be able to ward it off. 22.xg6 is no good here because after fxg6 23.xg6 f8 white's attack is
stymied and it's black who is winning. 21.c1 As mentioned previously,
the B gets into play. h7 22.h5 f8 23.xh6 This vigorous move
is by far the best. Even though there is no forced win, black is walking a
very fine line. g6 23...gxh6 gets him mated. 24.g4 h5 25.g8+ h6 26.h8# 24.g5 e7 This meets a clever refutation. 24...xh6 was his best chance. Then after 25.h3 g8 26.xh6 26.xh6 xe5 leaves white with nothing. 26...e7 27.g4 g7 28.h3 h8 And all
white can brag about is having an extra P. Foir white, the win, if there is
one, is a long way off. 25.h3 g8 26.f4 c5 27.g5 d4 This allows a
mate in 5, but there was no way to save the game. 27...f5 28.exf6 f5 29.c7 e7 30.fxe7 is hopeless for black. 28.f6 g7 What's
the quickess finish? 29.h6 Nice! Black cannot avoid mate. 29.h6 xh6 30.xh6 h4 31.xh4 xf2+ 32.xf2 mate next move. 1–0
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