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

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Looking Back

June 1932/1957/1982

Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in November 1932, 1957, and 1982. Also included is some interesting history about other area movie theaters. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.

* 1932 * 1957 * 1982 *

1932

As the Great Depression continued, the Redford and Michigan tried new ways to pull in crowds. The Redford started presenting live plays on Sundays, along with movies. Plays also were staged at other neighborhood Publix Theaters (Annex, Alhambra, Ramona). The Michigan lowered the highest ticket price for its regular shows from 50 to 40 cents, and cut the adult price for the Saturday morning children shows from 30 to 15 cents.

"A new dispensation in things theatrical began at the Redford Theater Sunday afternoon with the opening performance of a three-act comedy, presented by living actors of excellent gifts in a temple heretofore devoted to the magic shadowshapes of the cinema," wrote Russell McLauchlin in the June 6, 1932 Detroit News. This Thing Called Love featured Emily Ross, a star of Detroit Civic Theater productions at the Bonstelle Theatre.

On the Redford screen, Paul Muni, George Raft and Ann Dvorak starred in the gangster drama Scarface. Patrons marveled at Tarzan the Ape Man (Johnny Weismuller) and also enjoyed a "Big Surrounding Show". Robert Montgomery appeared in But the Flesh is Weak and Letty Lynton (with Joan Crawford). Other leading ladies included Claudette Colbert (Misleading Lady) and Joan Bennett (The Trial of Vivienne Ware). As the Republican presidential convention debated Prohibition, moviegoers watched The Wet Parade, with Walter Huston and Jimmy Durante.

At the Michigan, Greta Garbo graced the screen in As You Desire Me. Stars of the recent hits All Quiet on the Western Front (Lew Ayres) and Frankenstein (Mae Clarke and Boris Karloff) lived in a Night World. Some pre-Production Code spice seasoned the titles of Sinners in the Sun (Carole Lombard and Chester Morris) and Merrily We Go To Hell (Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March). Ruth Chatterton, star of the late 1920s and early 1930s, tried to boost her career with her first Warner Brothers movie, The Rich Are Always with Us.

In Detroit, the United Artists Theater closed for the summer on June 8 (with the last showing of As You Desire Me), and re-opened on Sept. 1 with White Zombie. In the June 19, 1932 Detroit News, a note at the end of the "Selected for the Children" movie list read: "Pictures shown in downtown theaters do not commence neighborhood runs until 28 days later."

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1957

Fifty years before Andy Griffith's delightful performance in Waitress, he made his film debut in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (with Patricia Neal). Also at the Michigan was Gun for a Coward, with Fred MacMurray, who in the mid-1950s "emulated Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea and kept his career going with budget-price actioners, mostly Westerns" (The Great Movie Stars, David Shipman).

Also popular at the Michigan were The Iron Petticoat (Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn) and The D.I., starring Jack Webb (Joe Friday on the television show Dragnet). Making their film debuts were Anthony Franciosa in This Could Be the Night (with Jean Simmons and Paul Douglas), and James MacArthur in The Young Stranger. Sci-fi fans enjoyed a twin bill of 20 Million Miles to Earth and The 27th Day. Cartoons included To Catch a Woodpecker (Woody Woodpecker) and Piker's Peak (Bugs Bunny).

At the Redford's screening of Oklahoma! (1955), moviegoers could "Enjoy This Great Musical With The Benefit of Full Stereophonic Sound". Other Redford highlights included The Wings of Eagles (John Wayne); Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum); and The Rainmaker (Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn). Second features included The Halliday Brand (Joseph Cotten) and The Tall T (Randolph Scott, Maureen O'Sullivan). Children enjoyed a double bill of Cinderella (1950) and The Brave One.

For art film fans, the Studio and World in Detroit cashed in on the success of Federico Fellini's La Strada (1954) with that director's earlier film The Young and Passionate (1953), which played as I Vitelloni at the Detroit Film Theatre in Jan. 2004. Also showing Italian movies was the Temple Art Cinema—The Bicycle Thief (1948) and Paisan (1946). At the Krim, Invitation to the Dance followed Funny Face. In Ann Arbor, the Campus showed The Most Noble Lady (Yang Kwei Fei), starring Machiko Kyo, "the Japanese Enchantress of Gate of Hell and Rashomon".

In downtown Detroit, the Grand Circus Park underground parking garage opened, which made it easier for visitors to the Madison, Adams, Fox, United Artists and other downtown theaters. At the Michigan in Detroit, Debbie Reynolds sang her hit song "Tammy" in Tammy and the Bachelor, which Helen Bower of the Detroit Free Press called "hot weather entertainment for the family trade." (June 27, 1957)

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1982

As the Detroit Film Theatre took a summer break, the Afternoon Film Theatre of the Detroit Institute of Arts finished its series of Japanese films with Double Suicide (1969) and The Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970). The AFT then screened newsreels that covered different periods from 1898 to 1945.

Music filled the air at the Redford with one of its all-time favorite movies, Singin' in the Rain (1952), on June 4 and 5. Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds starred in this highly acclaimed musical romantic comedy, which most recently played at the Redford in 1998, 2003 and 2006. Three weeks later, on June 25 and 26, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy sang in their first film together, Naughty Marietta (1935).

The Michigan launched a tribute to director Howard Hawks with Twentieth Century (1934), His Girl Friday (1940), Bringing Up Baby (1938), El Dorado (1967) and Hatari! (1962). Foreign language films included Ashes and Diamonds (1958) and a double bill of Fellini Satyricon (1969) and Fellini's Roma (1972). "It's Showtime!" was a benefit for the Artworlds Center for Creative Arts that included dancing, mime and vaudeville.

June 11 brought the opening of the most popular film of the summer—Steven Spielberg's fantasy E.T. It played at the still-open Allen Park and Showcase Sterling Heights theaters, and at the now-closed Beacon East, Dearborn, Movies at Oakland, Movies at Twelve Oaks Mall, Old Orchard, Quo Vadis, Showcase Pontiac, Towne, and Winchester theaters. It also played at six long-gone drive-ins (Ecorse Rd., Galaxy, Grand River, Gratiot, Waterford and Wayne).

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