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

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Looking Back

January 1932/1957/1982

Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in January 1932, 1957, and 1982. 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.

* 1932 * 1957 * 1982 *

1932

"HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL DETROIT!" read the Publix Theatres ad in the Jan. 1, 1932 Detroit News. "These special holiday shows are the brightest message of cheer we could give to you." Entertainment at the Fisher included "Fascinating French Musical Comedy Queen" Irene Bordoni in person, along with the movie This Reckless Age, with Peggy Shannon and Buddy Rogers.

At the Redford, Metropolitan Opera star Lawrence Tibbett appeared in The Cuban Love Song, with Lupe Velez and Jimmy Durante. Also on screen were early lead parts for Ginger Rogers (The Tip Off, with Eddie Quillan and Robert Armstrong) and Carole Lombard (It Pays to Advertise, with Norman Foster). Most popular this month at the Redford were The Sin of Madelon Claudet (Helen Hayes), Ambassador Bill (Will Rogers), Possessed (Joan Crawford and Clark Gable), and Over the Hill (James Dunn).

Movies at the Michigan included Under Eighteen, which was part of a Dec. 4, 2006 "Forbidden Hollywood" lineup on Turner Classic Movies about the edgy movies of the early 1930s. "The story of a girl who was NOT old enough to know better," read a Jan. 6, 1932 ad in The Ann Arbor Daily News for Under Eighteen.

Also drawing crowds at the Michigan were the comedy Flying High (Bert Lahr), Delicious (Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell), and Peach-O-Reno (Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey). A 50-minute movie of Southern California's 21-12 win over Tulane in the 1932 Rose Bowl was filmed with seven cameras and telephoto lens.

In Ann Arbor, the "long dark" Whitney Theatre was scheduled to show German language films, which had drawn praise "because of their exceptional quality and the unusualness of their photographic effects," wrote Allison Ind in the Jan. 26, 1932 Ann Arbor Daily News.

At the Detroit Institute of Arts, city budget cuts contributed to a general fund deficit at the museum. Maintenance money would be raised by the Detroit Museum of Art Founders' Society, which usually just purchased works of art. Funds were needed for "salaries of curators, for special exhibitions, purchases, lectures or other special activities," wrote Florence Davies in the Jan. 19, 1932 Detroit News.

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1957

Box office attractions at the Redford included Love Me Tender (Elvis Presley) and the controversial The Bad Seed. A Jan. 12 Detroit Free Press ad for the Redford read, "SPECIAL KIDDIE MATINEE SATURDAY, 'SHARKFIGHTERS' and 'WAGONS WEST', plus Extra Cartoons—Note: 'Bad Seed' Not Shown at Kiddie Matinee". Long before IMAX movies, a Redford double bill promoted the VistaVision and color of The Mountain and the CinemaScope of Teenage Rebel.

"Your patronage and personal comment have demanded a 2nd week holdover," read a Jan. 19, 1957 Ann Arbor News ad for Giant, which played at the Michigan Jan. 11-24. The new year at the Michigan started with the last Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin movie, Hollywood or Bust. Then came Doris Day in the dramatic Julie (with the 1948 Tom and Jerry cartoon, Old Rockin' Chair Tom). After Giant's two-week run, the screen lit up with Alfred Hitchcock's "first real-life thriller!"—The Wrong Man, with Henry Fonda and Vera Miles.

Years before blockbuster movies opened everywhere, ads appeared in the Jan. 1957 Ann Arbor News for exclusive Detroit runs of Michael Todd's Around the World in 80 Days at the United Artists Theatre and The Ten Commandments at the Madison Theatre. Anastasia (Ingrid Bergman) opened at the State in Ann Arbor and the Fox in Detroit.

Detroit area art film fans lined up at the World and Studio theaters to see the highly publicized La Strada (1954). "They know about juvenile delinquency in France, too," wrote Detroit Free Press Movie Critic Helen Bower about Fruits of Summer (1955), at the Coronet and Surf. Films at the Krim included The Loves and Death of a Scoundrel (1956, with George Sanders, Yvonne DeCarlo and Zsa Zsa Gabor). In Ann Arbor, Orpheum movies included Frisky (1954), with Gina Lollabrigida, and a film about childhood, Lovers and Lollipops (1956).

"One of Rembrandt's best-known works—'A Woman Weeping'—has been given to the Detroit Institute of Arts by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford II," read an article in the Jan. 27, 1957 Detroit Free Press. The authorship of this painting later had to be validated.

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1982

The Michigan Theatre celebrated its 54th anniversary with tributes to the past, present and future. On Friday, Jan. 8, afternoon entertainment included the movie Love Me Tonight (1932), a newsreel from 1932, and a Rupert Otto organ concert. "Friday Night at the Movies" featured Broken Lullaby and Chandu the Magician (both 1932).

Also on Friday evening, a national preservation plaque for the Michigan was unveiled, with a speech by William Murtaugh of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. On Saturday, Jan. 9, "Ann Arbor's own" Judith Dow sang Broadway and patriotic music with the Ann Arbor Chamber Orchestra. On Sunday, Jan. 10, Michigan visitors looked to the future with electronic music from organist John Lauter, locally produced films, and a movie on "Ann Arbor and the Space Age".

The new Detroit Film Theatre season opened on Jan. 15-17 with Cutter's Way (1981), part of the theater's Festival of New Masterworks. On Jan. 22-24, DFT fans took a break from Super Bowl XVI excitement in Pontiac to see Louis Malle's My Dinner with Andre. The afternoon film program of the Detroit Institute of Arts saluted Ernst Lubitsch with Lady Windermere's Fan (1925), Monte Carlo (1930), and Design for Living (1933).

On Jan. 29-31 at the DFT, Andrzej Wajda's Man of Iron (1981) showed the rise of the Solidarity labor movement in Poland, but ironically appeared one month after martial law was declared in Poland. "Maybe viewers who saw the film earlier last year saw the jubilant workers and rejoiced with them," wrote Detroit Free Press Editorial Writer Jeanne Moore on Jan. 29, 1982. "But there's no way you can see it now, in light of last month's repression, without hearing the government's message: we don't share power."

Man of Iron was a sequel to Man of Marble (1977), which opened at the Maple Theatre on Jan. 15. Part of the proceeds from Man of Marble went to the Polish American Congress for food and medical supplies for Poland, according to the Jan. 8, 1982 Detroit Free Press. Man of Marble kicked off "the Maple's drive to establish itself as Detroit's commercial outlet for special interest films," noted the Free Press.

Creatures of very different sizes visited the Redford. On Jan. 8-9, patrons who had recently enjoyed the modern adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark thrilled to the pounding excitement of the original 1933 King Kong. Jeanette MacDonald took a break from her singing partnership with Nelson Eddy to star with Allan Jones in The Firefly (1937), at the Redford on Jan. 22-23. In 1936, Jones appeared in Show Boat, The Great Ziegfield, and the MacDonald/Eddy musical Rose-Marie.

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