As a child I remember my mother telling me about the kidnapping. She never mentioned that chess Master Norman T. Whitaker was involved in a scam involving the kidnapping.
I met Whitaker once at a tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina...he was hawking a book he co-authored with Glen Hartleb titled 365 Selected Endgames. He said, "Learn everything in this book and you'll be a Master." It didn't work, but then I never leaned everything in the book.
The most infamous person in America was probably gangster Al Capone, but people were enjoying the comedy of Laurel and Hardy and W.C. Fields.
It was also the first year that the Federal government reached into people's pockets to snatch a penny a gallon for gasoline. That was even though in 1932 the auto industry was suffering a serious drop in sales. Even so, they still managed to produce some of the most memorable cars in history. Ford introduced the V8, Hudson introduced the Terraplane (an inexpensive, yet powerful vehicle) and all the automakers made important advances in engineering and styling.
We've all seen the disclaimer, “This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental” that is at the end of all movies. It's there because in 1932 the Russian prince who killed Rasputin sued MGM for not accurately depicting Rasputin’s murder in their 1932 film Rasputin and the Empress. Details
Other interesting facts: The University of Southern California was the first to print “property of” on their t-shirts in 1932. An office staple, the staple remover, was invented. The dog in Mickey Mouse cartoons named Goofy debuted in 1932, but his original name was Dippy Dawg. Be thankful you didn't live back then...life expectancy for males was only 61.0 and for females it was 63.5 years.
The following game which won Frank Marshall a brilliancy prize is just a fun game to play over.
A little bit about Marshall's opponent. The September 1923 issue of Boy’s Life magazine had an article about a couple of young men attending New York University, 15-year old David Gladstone (1907 - June 15, 1964, 57 years old) who had graduated from high school in Newark, New Jersey, was one of them and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle touted him as a new chess prodigy. His father had taught him the game only 2-1/2 years previously.
Gladstone was good enough to play in the 1944-45 US Championship (won by Arnold Denker), but finished 17th out of 18 with a +2 -14 =1 score.
At one time he served as president of the Queens Chess Club and he also played for the Manhattan Chess Club.
When downloading the following game it lists him as having been playing for the Manhattan CC, however, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle article mentioning the game says he was playing for Rice Progressive. After graduating from NYU he graduated from Harvard Law School and for many years he maintained an office in Brooklyn until around 1949 when he went to work for the State Rent Commission and later when it became the City Rent Commission. At the age of 57, Gladstone suffered a fatal heart attack near his home.
In his notes to this game Marshall noted that while his notes may have indicated that conducting a "tricky and puzzling attack" looked easy, it was, in fact, "a man-sized job over the board."
[Event "New York Met League Champ"]
[Site "New York, NY USA"]
[Date "1932.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Frank Marshall"]
[Black "David Gladstone"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D63"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "1932.??.??"]
{Queen's Gambit Declined: Classical} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5.
e3 Nbd7 6. Rc1 c6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Qc2 h6 9. Bh4 a6 10. a3 dxc4 {Giving up the
fight for the tempo. Usual is 10...Re8. It's interesting that in my database
black fares poorly in this position no matter what he plays. After the text
white wins half of the games and the other half is evenly split between black
wins and draws. But, that's better than 10...Re8 where white also wins 50% of
the games, but black only a scant 7%!} (10... b6 11. Bd3 Bb7 12. O-O c5 13. Bg3
dxc4 14. Bxc4 Bxf3 15. gxf3 b5 {lead to a quick draw in Sasikiran,K (2661)
-Zvjaginsev,V (2674) Khanty Mansiysk 2007}) (10... b5 {was suggested by
Marshall.} 11. c5 e5 12. dxe5 Ne8 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Ne2 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Qxe5 {
is equal. Eliskases,E-Ragozin,V Semmering 1937}) 11. Bxc4 b5 12. Ba2 (12. Bd3 {
is not quite as precise. After} c5 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nd7 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16.
Bh7+ Kh8 17. Be4 Rb8 18. f4 c4 {Black is slightly better.}) 12... c5 13. Ne4 {
As Marshall pointed out, the book line is 13 dxc5. He also commented that his
novelty is no better, but objectively it gave Gladstone more to think about.} (
13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. O-O Be7 15. Rfd1 Qe8 16. Bb1 g6 17. e4 {white has the more
promising position, but black is not with resources of his own.}) 13... Qa5+
14. Nfd2 {After this black can boast of having a slight advantage.} (14. Ke2 {
Although 14.Ned2 was satisfactory, this surprising move keeps the balance.} Bb7
15. Nxf6+ Nxf6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Bb1 Rfc8 18. Qh7+ Kf8 19. e4 {with a very
sharp position.}) 14... cxd4 {After this ...Bb7 is a strong threat.} (14... Bb7
15. Nxc5 Bxc5 16. dxc5 Bxg2 17. Rg1 {is equal.}) 15. O-O dxe3 {Marshall wrote,
"As will be seen, the acceptance of the speculative P-sacrifice is playable;
but the return of the P with 15...d3 is simpler."} (15... d3 16. Qxd3 Bb7 17.
Bb1 Rfd8 {is no more than equal.}) 16. fxe3 (16. Bb1 {This move, which is
quite typical in these types of positions, was much better than the text.} Nd5
17. Nd6 {Equally good was 17.Bxe7} f5 18. Bxe7 Nxe7 19. Nf3 Qb6 20. Qc7 Nd5 {
and black has a slight advantage.}) 16... Qb6 {While hardly a mistake, this is
not the best.} (16... Bb7 17. Nxf6+ Nxf6 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 {and positionally black
is better.}) 17. Nxf6+ {This wily move by Marshall sets a trap into which
Gladstone falls.} (17. Bb1 {is also a logical move. After} Rd8 18. Nxf6+ Nxf6
19. Bxf6 Qxe3+ 20. Kh1 Bxf6 21. Qh7+ Kf8 {Black is better.}) 17... Bxf6 {
[%mdl 8192] To quote Marshall, "This plausible move loses, whereas 17...Nxf6
would have left him with a satisfactory defense. After the text, white's
attack crashes through to victory."} (17... Nxf6 18. Bb1 Qxe3+ 19. Kh1 Rd8 20.
Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. Rc7 Rd7 {White has no attack and black's position
remains preferable.}) 18. Bb1 {Unlike in previous lines this move is now
decisive. Black now has now defense.} Rd8 (18... g6 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Rxf6
Qxe3+ 21. Kh1 Qe5 22. Rcf1 Bb7 {would, at least, allowed black to continue for
a while.}) 19. Qh7+ Kf8 20. Qh8+ Ke7 {Marshall's next move required some
though because the wrong move would result in giving black some significant
chances to salvage the game.} 21. Qxg7 {This is the move that Gladstone
overlooked. Black will find his K wandering in the middle of the boar, and
with most of his pieces serving as just bystanders the result cannot be in
doubt.} (21. Bxf6+ {is weaker.} Nxf6 22. Qxg7 Qxe3+ 23. Rf2 (23. Kh1 Qg5 {
favors black}) 23... Rxd2 24. Qxf6+ Kd6 25. Qxf7 Rxf2 26. Qc7+ Kd5 27. Kh1 {
Only this!} (27. Ba2+ {This is tempting, but it loses!} Ke4 28. Kh1 Kf5 {
Black's K is safe and he is a R up.}) 27... Ra7 28. Ba2+ (28. Qxc8 Kd6 29. Rd1+
Ke7 {Black is better.}) 28... Ke4 29. Bb1+ Kd5 30. Ba2+ {draws}) 21... Qxe3+
22. Kh1 Bxh4 {Marshall commented that black has to take the B. Taking it
results in a forced mate in 10 moves, but all alternatives were hopeless.} (
22... Qd4 23. Bg6 Kd6 24. Ne4+ Qxe4 25. Bg3+ Be5 26. Bxe4 Bb7 27. Qxf7 Rdc8 28.
Bxe5+ Nxe5 29. Rcd1+ Nd3 30. Rxd3+ Bd5 31. Rxd5+ exd5 32. Qxd5+ Kc7 33. Qc5+
Kd8 34. Rd1+ Ke8 35. Bg6#) (22... Kd6 23. Rxf6 Ne5 24. Ne4+ Kd5 25. Rff1 Nc4
26. Bxd8 Bd7 27. Rfd1+ Kc6 28. Rd6+ Kb7 29. Rxd7+ Kc8 30. Rc7+ Kxd8 31. R7xc4
Qg1+ 32. Rxg1 bxc4 33. Qf8+ Kc7 34. Qd6+ Kc8 35. Qc6+ Kd8 36. Rd1+ Ke7 37. Qd6+
Ke8 38. Nf6#) 23. Qxf7+ Kd6 24. Ne4+ Kd5 25. Qh5+ Bg5 26. Qd1+ {Missing the
shorter mate...not that it matters!} (26. Rfd1+ Ke5 27. Nxg5 hxg5 28. Qf7 Rf8
29. Qg7+ Rf6 30. Qe7 Rf7 31. Qxf7 Qxc1 32. Qg7+ Nf6 33. Rxc1 Ra7 34. Qxg5+ Kd6
35. Qc5+ Kd7 36. Qxa7+ Kd8 37. Qc7+ Ke8 38. Bg6+ Kf8 39. Qf7#) 26... Qd4 27.
Qb3+ Ke5 28. Qg3+ Kd5 29. Qd6# 1-0
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