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

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Looking Back

July 1931/1956/1981

Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in July 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

When the 1930/31 Academy Awards were announced on Nov. 10, 1931, the lead acting winners were familiar to visitors to the Michigan Theater on Monday, July 13, 1931. That evening, Lionel Barrymore starred in the drama A Free Soul, while Marie Dressler lit up the screen in the Guest Night bonus movie Min and Bill.

Also appearing at the Michigan was James Cagney in The Public Enemy, "a picture so startling in its reality, so devastating in its truth—it will leave you breathless." Ten years before Humphrey Bogart appeared in the classic The Maltese Falcon, an earlier version of the film screened at the Michigan, starring Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez.

At the Redford, 14 different feature films appeared in 31 days. Enjoying "long" runs (three days) at the Redford were The Secret Six, with Wallace Beery; Laughing Sinners (which reunited Joan Crawford and Clark Gable); Seed (with operetta singer John Boles and Bette Davis in her second movie); and Five and Ten (Marion Davies and Leslie Howard).

The Redford was part of the Publix Greater Talkie Theatres chain, which also included the Annex (Grand River near Joy), Birmingham (Old Woodward near Maple), Royal Oak (4th St. and Washington Ave.), Alhambra (Woodward and Kenilworth), Century (14th St. and W. Grand Blvd.); Tuxedo (Hamilton and Tuxedo); Riviera (Grand River and Joy); and Ramona (Gratiot and Six Mile).

These neighborhood movie houses showed films that often screened first at the larger downtown Publix Shows theaters: the Fisher (Grand Boulevard at Second); Paramount (Broadway at Grand Circus Park); Michigan (Bagley near Grand Circus Park); United Artists (Bagley at Grand Circus Park); and State (Woodward near Grand Circus Park).

(For more historical information about Detroit-area movie theaters, visit these web sites: Cinema Treasures and Water Winter Wonderland.)

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1956

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."

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).

At the Art Institute in Detroit, gallery talks were given on "Art of East and West" and "Blown and Molded Glass." Children enjoyed a special vacation program on Indians of North America. Exhibitions included the Michigan Water Color Society's 10-year retrospective.

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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1981

The Detroit Film Theatre continued its summer vacation. It gave way to the Afternoon Film Theatre, which presented a series of "Hollywood whodunits" that screened at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays through Sundays in the Lecture/Recital Hall or the Holley Room of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Films in the series included Phantom Lady (1944), Murder, My Sweet (1944), Mildred Pierce (1945) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946).

At the Michigan, the Michigan Community Theatre Foundation presented an Independence Day Vaudeville show on Friday, July 3. It included organist Don Haller, the Galliard Brass Ensemble and the film Sergeant York (1941).

The Classic Film Theatre continued picking most of the Michigan movies, including the foreign language films Cousin, Cousine (1975), Autumn Sonata (1978), and Small Change (1976). Also shown was a rock'n'roll double bill of Monterey Pop (1968) and Gimme Shelter (1970).

Two famous duos appeared at the Redford. On July 10 and 11, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn starred in Adam's Rib (1949). Two weeks later, the Laurel and Hardy Festival included Sons of the Desert (1933), Brats (1930) and Saps at Sea (1940).

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