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Looking Back

July 1956

Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in July 1956. Also included is interesting history about other area movie theaters. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.

A couple of men and one woman dominated the programming at the Redford with seven-day movie engagements. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (with Gregory Peck) was followed by The Man Who Knew Too Much (starring James Stewart and directed by Alfred Hitchcock).

In between those two films, Susan Hayward showed off her 1955 Oscar-nominated skills in the drama I'll Cry Tomorrow. For three days, that film was paired with Hilda Crane (starring Jean Simmons), "a passionate outcry against impulsive marriages and the multiple divorce of today's youth." (I'll Cry Tomorrow video courtesy of Turner Classic Movies)

At the Michigan, That Certain Feeling starred Bob Hope and Eva Marie Saint in her first film since her Oscar-winning role in On the Waterfront two years earlier. That Certain Feeling later moved to the Lakes Drive-In Theatre (on US-18, east of Brighton). In Detroit, Bob Hope made a personal appearance at the premiere of this movie at the Michigan (Bagley near Grand Circus Park).

An article in the July 22, 1956 Detroit News said that the summer box office was strong, with popular films like Trapeze, The King and I, Moby Dick, The Eddy Duchin Story, and That Certain Feeling. But the article noted that "the best potential audience for movies today, theater men agree, is the 11 to 30 age group 'not trapped by television' and that more movies with young story content and young players are needed."

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