October 29 Birthday
On October 29, 1929 — Black Tuesday — the stock market crashed. The Dow fell 12%, losing $14 billion in value (equivalent to $200 billion today). The market had already fallen 21% on Black Thursday. The crash was not a single event but a process — the market would continue to fall for three years, losing 89% of its value by July 1932. The Great Depression that followed lasted a decade. The crash was caused by margin buying — investors had borrowed to buy stocks, and when prices fell, brokers issued margin calls. $30 billion in wealth evaporated. Fanny Brice, born this day in 1891, was a vaudeville comedian who became a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Her story was told in the musical Funny Girl, which made Barbra Streisand a star. Brice's character "Baby Snooks" was a radio staple for twenty years. People born on October 29 fall under the zodiac sign of Scorpio. The birthstone is Opal and the birth flower is Marigold. Historical events on October 29 include 1929: Black Tuesday — stock market crash accelerates (Great Depression begins), 1901: Leon Czolgosz, McKinley's assassin, executed by electric chair, 1998: John Glenn returns to space at age 77 (oldest person in space). Famous people born on October 29 include Fanny Brice (1891), Winona Ryder (1971), Tracee Ellis Ross (1972).