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

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Looking Back

August 1932/1957/1982

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

Optimism greeted the opening of the 1932-33 movie season. "According to Variety, barometer of the show business, the general feeling is that the theaters 'after struggling with the worst summer they've ever known,' are beginning to recover," wrote Harold Heffernan in "The Sound of the Screen" column in The Detroit News (Aug. 15, 1932).

"Screen Mobilizes Every Ounce of Energy to Drive Wolf from Its Door," read a headline in the Aug. 28, 1932 Detroit News. The article said that moviegoers could look forward to new films like Blonde Venus (Marlene Dietrich); Love Me Tonight (Maurice Chevalier); A Farewell to Arms (Helen Hayes); Cecil B. DeMille's The Sign of the Cross; and Back Street.

At the Michigan in Ann Arbor, the Greater Movie Season (Aug. 14-Sept. 10) opened with The Washington Masquerade, starring Lionel Barrymore and Karen Morley. After that came Hollywood Speaks (Genevieve Tobin, Pat O'Brien); Skyscraper Souls (Warren William, Maureen O'Sullivan); The Purchase Price (Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent); and a weeklong run of the hilarious Marx Brothers comedy, Horse Feathers.

Earlier at the Michigan, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell appeared in their latest movie, The First Year. The 10 a.m. Saturday children's movies included Tom Sawyer (1930), Polly of the Circus and Border Law (Buck Jones). Short features included film of 1932 Olympics champion Eddie Tolan, of the University of Michigan. On Aug. 18, a lucky moviegoer won a Copeland refrigerator.

In Detroit, RKO's "Greater Show Season" started on Aug. 11 at the RKO Downtown, with Walter Huston in Frank Capra's American Madness. The next day, the laughter rolled through the Michigan in Detroit with the opening of Horse Feathers (The Marx Brothers). Later at the RKO Downtown, Dolores del Rio and Joel McCrea starred in King Vidor's Bird of Paradise.

The Redford remained dark following its temporary closing on July 8 (it would re-open Oct. 7). But other Publix neighborhood theaters stayed open, including the Annex, which on Aug. 28 showed Unashamed (Helen Twelvetrees), along with "Act-News-Novelty-Song". On Aug. 9, Harold Heffernan of The Detroit News reported that the closed Paramount and United Artists theaters were being reconditioned and would re-open around Sept. 1, when "Two outstanding long run pictures will start these houses on fresh careers."

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1957

At the Redford, moviegoers peeked into The Little Hut, starring Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, and David Niven. On double bills with this movie were Desk Set (Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn) and Hellcats of the Navy (Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Davis), which played at the Veterans Day show at the Redford on Nov. 11, 2005.

Teenage movie fans flocked to Redford showings of Tammy and the Bachelor (Debbie Reynolds, Leslie Nielsen) and Bernardine (Pat Boone, Terry Moore). British movie star Anthony Steel appeared in a double bill of Checkpoint and The Black Tent. Children enjoyed a matinee showing of a "Popeye Cartoon Jamboree", Northern Patrol (1953, with Chinook the Wonder Dog), and Tall in the Saddle (1944, John Wayne).

Readers of the Saturday Ann Arbor News could always count on photographs of movie stars in "Attractions At Ann Arbor Theaters." Aug. 3, 1957 brought these promotions:

• "Comic Lou Costello is shown in a scene from 'Dance with Me Henry,' opening tomorrow at the Ypsi-Ann Drive-In."
• "James Stewart stars in the Cinemascope production, 'Spirit of St. Louis,' opening tomorrow at the Scio Drive-In."
• WALT DISNEY'S DAUGHTER: Sharon Disney makes her film debut in her father's new movie, 'Johnny Tremain,' now at the State Theater."
• AT THE MICHIGAN: Audie Murphy and James Stewart star in 'Night Passage,' which is now running at the Michigan Theater."

Also at the Michigan, Bambi (1942, "Fun-Filled Disney Enchantment!") played for eight days at "regular prices"—65 cents for matinees; 90 cents for evenings and weekends; and 25 cents for children. Also popular was Silk Stockings (Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse). On Aug. 16, Sal Mineo made a personal appearance at the opening of his movie The Young Don't Cry, which played on a double bill with No Time to Be Young, starring Robert (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) Vaughn.

In Detroit on Aug. 14, the Cinerama movie Seven Wonders of the World celebrated one year at the Music Hall. "Bus loads and show trains are reported to account for 40 per cent of Cinerama's attendance," wrote Detroit Free Press Movie critic Helen Bower on Aug. 11. "This has been good for Music Hall's own neighborhood. Business has picked up in stores adjacent to the theater."

Big openings in Detroit included An Affair to Remember (Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr) at the Michigan and The Sun Also Rises (Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner) at the Fox. On Aug. 9, Kim Novak handed out autographed pictures in the lobby of the Adams, which was opening her new movie Jeanne Eagels (also starring Jeff Chandler).

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1982

" 'Passion d'Amore' is the first picture in the new fall season of the Detroit Film Theatre, that once-precocious series which all of a sudden is in its ninth year," wrote Lawrence DeVine of the Detroit Free Press on Aug. 5, 1982. This dark Italian romance opened the DFT season on Aug. 6 and was followed the next weekend by the French crime drama Garde à vue, with Michel Serrault and Lino Ventura.

" 'Diva' is a luminous, daring, enchanting experience in filmmaking," wrote Diane Haithman in the Aug. 19 Detroit Free Press about this French DFT film. The month ended at the DFT with the documentary The Atomic Cafe. The Afternoon Film Theatre of the Detroit Institute of Arts continued its science fiction series, with Invaders from Mars (1953), The Thing (1951), 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and Tarantula (1955).

On Aug. 13 and 14, Redford audiences said Hello Dolly! to Barbara Streisand. Walter Matthau also starred in this 1969 musical that was directed by Gene Kelly. Laughter echoed through the Redford on Aug. 27 and 28 when Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis starred Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy, Some Like It Hot.

It was an epic month at the Michigan Theatre, which showed Gone with the Wind (1939), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Dr. Zhivago (1965). Rock fans enjoyed double features starring Mick Jagger (Gimme Shelter, 1970; Performance, 1970) and John Lennon (How I Won the War, 1967; Let It Be, 1970). The Howard Hawks tribute continued, with twin bills of westerns (Red River, 1948; Rio Bravo, 1959) and comedies (I Was a Male War Bride, 1949; Monkey Business, 1952). Foreign Language films included Werner Herzog's Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) and Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water (1962).

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