In the United States Gary Cooper was offered a part in the movie Gone with the Wind, but rejected it saying, "Gone With the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling flat on his nose, not me.”
He was wrong. The movie sold an estimated 200 million tickets and the US Population in 1939 was only 131 Million. Adjusted for inflation Gone with the Wind is the highest-grossing movie of all time, at about $3.5 billion.
In another wrong prediction that year, the New York Times predicted that the television would fail because the average American family would not have enough time to sit around watching it.
The year was also the debut of Betty White (1922-1921, 99 years old), who in 2014 was awarded the Guiness World Record for the Longest TV Career for a Female Entertainer.
Speaking of movies, asbestos was used as fake snow in early Hollywood in films such as, The Wizard of Oz.
During the Summer of 1939, the American Chess Federation championship (US Open) was held in New York. Reuben Fine finished ahead of Samuel Reshevsky and I.A. Horowitz.
The Chess Olympiad (known at the time as the Hamilton-Russell Cup) took place in August and September in Buenos Aires and after Germany invaded Poland on September 1st starting the outbreak of WW2, Great Britain dropped out and its players returned to England. Also, many players remained in Argentina and the demographics of the chess world were drastically changed.
In December the American Chess Federation and the National Chess Federation formed the United States Chess Federation.
In a long forgotten domestic event the annual tournament for the 1939 Marshall Chess Club championship ended in a tie between Sidney Bernstein and Milton Hanauer, both of whom at the time were recognized as being among the country's leading players. They intended to play a match to determine the champion, but it never came off.
Frank J. Marshall, the club titleholder in 1937 and 1938, was troubled with ill-health during the tournament and could not do better than share in a five way tie for fourth place.
One of those sharing fourth with Marshall was a college student whom it was felt was a player of great promise, Herbert Seidman. He was the sensation of the tournament, defeating Anthony Santasiere and Marshall in well played games.
Herbert Seidman (October 17, 1920 – August 30, 1995) was a Senior Master born in New York City and he played in several US Championships and was a frequent competitor in open tournaments in the New York City area He was known for his swashbuckling-style, risky sacrificial attacks and offbeat openings. Other than that it seems not much is known of him.
His opponent in this game, Anthony Santasiere (1904-1977) was better known. A middle school mathematics teacher by profession, he was chess writer and also wrote extensively on non-chess topics. Santasiere won the 1945 US Open Champion, won four New York State championships and six Marshall Chess Club championships. He also competed in four US Championships.
Herbert Seidman–Anthony Santasiere1–0B29Marshall CC Championship, New York1939Stockfish 15.1
Sicilian, Nimzovich Variation 1.e4 c5 2.f3 f6 Black's
strategy here is somewhat similar to Alekhine's Defense im which white is
encouraged to chase the N and build up a center which black can then attack. 3.e5 d5 4.c3 xc3 5.dxc3 b6 This was Nimzovich's original idea, but it
loses! 5...e6 meets the threat, ut whute gains the advantage after 6.f4 b6 7.d3 h6 8.e2 b7 9.0-0-0 Gonzalez,Y (2482)-Fernandez Romero,E (2449)
Havana 2005 6.c4 6.e6 refutes black's last move. dxe6 7.xd8+ xd8 8.e5 e8 9.b5+ d7 10.xd7 xd7 11.f4 The threat is the very strong O-O-O.
a6 11...e5 12.0-0-0 wins 12.c6 c8 13.b7 wins the exchange. 6.d3 is not quite as good as 6.e6. b7 7.f4 c7 8.g3 e6 9.0-0 Michell,
R-Nimzovich,A Marienbad 1925 6...e6 7.f4 c7 8.0-0 b7 9.e2 a6
This is a waste of time becasuse white's next move prevents ...b5 and, more
importantly, black's a-Pawn becomes a target. 9...c6 keeps white's
advantahe at a minimum. Play might run... 10.ad1 h6 11.g3 0-0-0 and all
white can claim is a spatial advantage. 10.a4 c6 11.ad1 e7 Naturally
black is in a hurry to castle, but note that white's P on e5 is cutting off
black's pieces from reaching the aid of the K. 11...a5 12.d3 f5 13.h4 g6 is an unattractive setup for black, but at least his defense is holding. 12.d2 0-0 He still needed to try 12...Na5. Now his lightly defended K is in
danger. 13.fd1 fd8 This defends the d-Pawn, but deprives f7
of a defender. Black's position is already approaching the critical stage. 13...ad8 doesn't work because of 14.xa6 xa6 15.xa6 14.g5 h6
All this does is force white to play what he already intended plus is further
weakens the Ks position...and it loses the game. 14...xg5 Eliminating the
threatening N was a must play. Even so, after 15.xg5 Black's R and d-Pawn
are both attacked so his best try is xe5 16.xd8 xd8 17.xa6 xa6 18.xa6 d5 and try to hold on and make white work for the point. 15.xf7 Obvious and winning. xf7 There was no choice. 15...f8 16.xh6+ gxh6 17.xd7 Black has no move that offers any hope of defending himself. 16.xd7 Perhaps this, an absolute crusher, came as a surprise to
Santasiere. 16.g4 allows black some play after xe5 17.f5+ f6 18.xe5 xe5 19.xd7+ xd7 20.xd7+ e8 21.xe5 xe5 22.xb7 b8 23.xb8+ xb8
and although white should win, Bs of opposite color do give black some hope. 16...xd7 16...xd7 is no better. 17.xe6+ xe6 18.c4+ f5 19.f7+ f6 20.xd7 and white is winning here, too. 17.xd7 xd7 18.h5+ g6 It
looks like Santasiere has defended well because after the Q retreats, say wiht
19.Qg4, black can still put up a stout defense. But, Seidman is not done with
the sacrifices. 19.xe6+ xe6 Count up the material. White has
a Q+3Ps vs 2Rs+N+B which should favor black, but black's K is fatally exposed. 20.xg6+ f6 20...d5 21.f7+ e4 22.f3# 21.xf6+ d5 22.f5 White
threatens e6+ and mate. e7 23.e6+ c4 23...e5 24.xe5+ mates next move.
24.d3# 1–0
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