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The Film Programs of the Detroit Film Theatre, Michigan Theater and Redford Theatre

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Looking Back

May 1931/1956/1981

Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in May 1931, 1956, and 1981. Also included is some interesting history about other area movie theaters and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.

* 1931 * 1956 * 1981 *

1931

With summer approaching, the Michigan Theater announced, "New Cooling Plant Now in Operation - 70 Degrees Cool Always." Newspaper ads showed the Michigan name draped in ice and proclaimed that "waves of gloriously fresh, delightfully cool air pour over you from our perfect ventilating system."

Among the films at the Michigan were Strangers May Kiss, with Norma Shearer, who a few months earlier had won the 1929/30 Oscar for best lead actress (for The Divorcee). In the May 11 Ann Arbor Daily News, columnist Allison Ind wrote, "Strangers May Kiss is a most simple story, very modern, very vivacious and quite acceptably sexy." Also showing at the Michigan this month were Trader Horn and The Front Page, both later nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award for 1930/31.

The Redford presented two other Best Picture nominees for 1930/31—East Lynne and Skippy. Redford audiences checked the weather report before seeing such double bills as New Moon and Rain or Shine (a circus drama directed by Frank Capra), or Lightning Flyer and June Moon. Mixed among the Detroit News movie ads on May 7, 1931 was this announcement: "Baseball Today at 3 p.m., Detroit vs. Chicago, Box and Reserve Seats at Navin Field."

Also at the Redford was Charlie Chaplin's silent City Lights, whose limited popularity threatened the future of silent films, said Detroit News columnist Harold Heffernan on May 17, 1931: "Two leading neighborhood theaters in Detroit played the Chaplin picture recently and with all the advance publicity the comedy had during its long downtown run it failed to make much of a stir." A News article on May 24 about television heralded further changes: "The problems encountered in television can be likened to those of the first days of talkies and, therefore, no certainty exists as to the exact requirements needed."

New realities also faced visitors to the Detroit Institute of Arts, where the deepening Great Depression threatened an exhibition of contemporary French art. But private funds and art loans saved the day. The art dated from the 1870s and challenged DIA patrons with its new ideas. "Disliking modern art is probably better than ignoring it," wrote Detroit News art columnist Florence Davies about the show, which included works by Matisse, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Picasso and Braque.

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1956

It's Friday, May 11, 1956. At the Redford, doors open at 5:45 p.m. for a double feature of Our Miss Brooks (with Eve Arden) and Hell on Frisco Bay (Alan Ladd and Edward G. Robinson). Our Miss Brooks starts at 6 and 9:10 p.m. and is described in ads as "the funniest manhunt since the first Eve put the bite on Adam's Apple." Hell on Frisco Bay is "the blistering story of a fall guy who was cheated by his wife," and shows at 7:25 and 10:40 p.m.

The most popular movies at the Redford in May 1956 were the dramas Rose Tattoo and The Man with the Golden Arm. Italian actress Anna Magnani won a lead actress Oscar for Rose Tattoo, which led Redford double bills that included Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble with Harry and the war drama Hell's Horizon. Frank Sinatra received his only Best Actor Academy Award nomination for The Man with the Golden Arm, which appeared on Redford twin bills with the western At Gunpoint (Fred MacMurray) and the Blake Edwards musical comedy Bring Your Smile Along.

The science fiction craze of the 1950s hit the Michigan Theater with "2 Science Shockers That Will Have You Gasping For Breath!": World Without End and The Atomic Man. But that's not all! Three weeks later, "The Top Shock Show Of All Time" arrived at the Michigan with Day the World Ended and The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues. On a quieter note, the Michigan hosted a 15th anniversary reissue of Citizen Kane, which will be playing at the Redford on May 26 and 27, 2006.

John Wayne visited Detroit on Friday, May 18 to promote his new movie The Searchers, which opened that day exclusively at the Palms Theater (Woodward and Elizabeth). Wayne told Detroit Free Press Movie Critic Helen Bower, "The more people can know you, the better it is for your pictures." Daily showings of The Searchers (and second feature The Scarlet Hour) ran from 11:12 a.m. until about 6 a.m. the next morning.

Exhibitions at the Detroit Institute of Arts this month included French Taste in the 18th Century, Home Design Competition: Builders Association of Metropolitan Detroit, and the 20th Annual Exhibition from the Detroit Public Schools. French taste was also on display at the World and Studio movie theaters, which hosted the first Detroit showing of the 1954 French film The Game of Love ("Strictly For Adults," said the ads).

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1981

The Detroit Film Theatre ended the Winter/Spring season of its eighth year with a season record attendance of about 80,000, noted Susan Stark of the Detroit News. About half of those patrons attended the Sunday night 3-D series. In Stark's story, DFT Director Elliot Wilhelm said, "I think we gave Detroiters a good overview of what's going on at the movies and they responded magnificently."

This last month of this DFT season included the Hungarian Confidence (1980), the French Poto and Cabengo (1979) and the Italian Luna (1979). Also playing was Image Before My Eyes (1981), a documentary about Jews in Poland before the two World Wars. American film fans enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock's 3-D Dial M for Murder (1954) and Buster Keaton in Seven Chances (1925) and Sherlock Jr. (1924). The season ended on May 30 with the appropriately titled Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960). DFT staff and visitors then took a break until Aug. 7, when the next season opened with Francois Truffaut's The Last Metro (1980).

On May 2, the Classic Film Theatre of the Michigan Theatre presented The Wizard of Oz (1939), which returns to the Michigan on May 20, 2006. The CFT also launched a Cary Grant Festival on May 23, 1981. In an Ann Arbor News article about this festival (and an Alfred Hitchcock festival in June), Arts Editor Rich Quackenbush wrote, "The majestic Michigan, of course, offers the facilities to show classic movies in the bigger-than-life setting for which they were intended."

From May 8 to May 10, the St. Joe's Radio-thon Auction on WAAM-AM (1600) radio let listeners bid on "two noontime performances by a Michigan Theatre organist or bid on two hour-long sessions at the keyboard for yourself." A Memorial Show at the Michigan on May 29 included the movie Maytime (1937) and musical performances by organist Newton Bates and the Livingston County Midlakes Chorus.

Redford audiences enjoyed two classic musicals, including Fiddler on the Roof (1971), which was shown on May 1 and 2. Anchors Aweigh (1945) washed ashore at the Redford on May 15 and 16. On May 9, renowned theater organist Gaylord Carter accompanied the dramatic silent film Sunrise (1927). The month ended on May 29 and 30 with Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 film The Lady Vanishes.

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