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Looking Back

September 1956

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

"Grand Opening Of The Completely Remodeled Michigan," read a large ad in the Sept. 26, 1956 Ann Arbor News. That evening, Michigan patrons first enjoyed a "new entrance and marquee, magnificent lobby, double box office for fast service, re-designed auditorium, soft improved lighting, entire theatre newly carpeted, modern rest rooms, luxurious foyer, [and] refrigerated air conditioning for summer comfort." A photograph of the renovated 1956 Grand Foyer currently graces the walls of the Michigan.

In the News ad, Michigan manager Jerry Hoag noted that visitors had been guided on catwalks among scaffolding to see movies: "The pleasures they (moviegoers) received from the pictures, even under these rugged conditions, more than repaid the Michigan staff and myself for the inconvenience of keeping the theatre going." Ken MacDonald of radio station WPAG interviewed Opening Night visitors, who enjoyed Alec Guinness in The Ladykillers and a film about University of Michigan football, The Tradition That is Michigan.

The marquee of the Redford was bursting with pride as Deborah Kerr and William Holden starred in The Proud and the Profane, and Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo appeared in The Proud Ones. Patrons also pounded the pavement to see 23 Paces to Baker Street (Van Johnson) and Crime in the Streets ("The Whole Story of the Rock and Roll Generation"). Earning weeklong runs at the Redford this month were big hits from the previous winter (Guys and Dolls) and summer (Trapeze).

Detroit fans of art film visited the World and Studio theaters to see Madame Butterfly (1954) and French comedian Fernandel in The Return of Don Camillo (1953). Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe—Diana Dors—appeared at the Surf and Coronet in A Kid for Two Farthings (1955). The Krim hosted a delightful double feature of Leslie Caron in Lili (1953) and the ballet classic The Red Shoes (1948).

The Krim also scored a big coup on Sept. 18, 1956 with the Detroit premiere of the Van Gogh biography Lust for Life, with Kirk Douglas. On Sept. 26, War and Peace opened to critical and popular acclaim at the Michigan in Detroit.

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