1937

1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday in the Gregorian calendar.

 Events 
 American Ballet Theatre founded
 January 1 – Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua
 January 11 – The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.
 January 19 – Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
 January 23 – In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime and assassinate its leaders.
 January 31 – Ohio River floods
 January 31 – 31 people executed in the Soviet Union for "Trotskyism"
 March 18 – 300 students and teachers die after an exploson is a caused by a gas leak at the New London school in Texas.
 May 7 – the German zeppelin (airship) LZ 129 Hindenburg catches fire, while trying to land in New Jersey.
 October - Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina orders the execution of the Haitian population living within its borderlands with Haiti, resulting in the Parsley Massacre.
 December 21 – Walt Disney's first full length feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is premiered at Carthay Circle Theater.

 Births 
January 8 - Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
January 30 - Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
February 21 - King Harald V of Norway
March 20 – Jerry Reed, American musician (d. 2008)
April 6 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor
April 28 - Saddam Hussein, Iraqi leader (d. 2006)
May 14 - Ferd Hugas, Dutch actor and screenwriter (d. 2025)
July 18 – Hunter S. Thompson, American writer and journalist (d. 2005)
December 21 – Jane Fonda, American actress
December 30 - Gordon Banks, English footballer
December 31 - Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor

Hit songs
 "Sweet Leilani" – by Harry Owens, from the movie Waikiki Wedding, won the Academy Award for the best song.