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Looking Back

August 1957

Step back in time to see what area movie theaters were presenting in August 1957. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.

For more information about these theaters, see Cinema Treasures or Water Winter Wonderland.

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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