Detroit
Movie Palaces
The
Film Programs of the Detroit Film Theatre, Michigan Theater, and
Redford Theatre
The Film Programs of the Detroit Film Theatre, Michigan Theater, and Redford Theatre
Your Guide to Classic Movie Theater Filmgoing!
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Looking Back
August 1947
Step back in time to see what area movie theaters were presenting in August 1947. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.
For more information about these theaters, see Cinema Treasures or Water Winter Wonderland.
The
perennial Christmas favorite Miracle
on 34th Street opened in Detroit on Friday, August 22, 1947 at
the Fox, on a double bill with Second
Chance (Kent Taylor, Louise Currie). It starred Maureen O'Hara,
John Payne, and Edmund Gwenn in his Oscar-winning role as Santa Claus.
Miracle
on 34th Street had earlier opened in New York City on June 4,
1947.
"If
you've begun to lose faith in a world which seems full of sham, try 'Miracle
on 34th Street'," wrote Norman Kenyon in the Detroit Free Press
on August 23, 1947. "It got underway at the Fox Theater Friday. Full
of quiet humor and sugar-coated philosophy, it offers a relaxing antidote
to the 'There ain't no Santa Claus' bitterness so prevalent today."
"Outside
the Fox Theater it is August and hot and stuffy; inside it is the time
of Christmas and good cheer and good will and the laughter of children,"
wrote Al Weitschat in The Detroit News on August 23, 1947. "For
on the screen is a story about Santa Claus and a miracle, and not the
least part of that miracle is that it summons up the spirit of the happiest
season when it dwells not at all in the mind."
At
the Fox, Miracle
on 34th Street followed a run of Ivy
(Joan Fontaine). It was succeeded by Mother
Wore Tights (Betty Grable, Dan Dailey). Earlier in the month,
the Fox hosted The
Ghost and Mrs. Muir, starring Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, and
George Sanders.
Other
downtown Detroit movies on August 22, 1947 included Cry
Wolf (Errol Flynn, Barbara Stanwyck) at the Michigan; Welcome
Stranger (Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald) at the United Artists;
Crossfire
(Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan) at the Palms; and Calcutta
(Alan Ladd) at the Madison.
Reissues
were popular with Gone
with the Wind (1939) at the Adams; Frankenstein
(1931) and Dracula
(1931) at the Downtown; and Marked
Woman (1937, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart) and Dust
Be My Destiny (1939, John Garfield, Priscilla Lane) at the Broadway-Capitol.
Also
on August 22, the Redford hosted a double bill of High
Barbaree (Van Johnson) and Love
and Learn (Jack Carson). The art film Cinema screened The
Vow ("Epic Film Story of Stalin").
Miracle
on 34th Street opened for a second Detroit run on November 17,
1947, at the Riviera, Fisher, Madison, Cinderella, RKO Uptown, and Royal.
It opened at the Redford on November 26 (the day before Thanksgiving),
and played for four days, long enough to help launch the Christmas season.
Ann
Arbor audiences were treated to the opening of Miracle
on 34th Street at the Michigan on Sunday, August 3, 1947. University
of Michigan graduate Valentine Davies earned an Academy Award for the
story for the film.
Also
playing in Ann Arbor on August 3 was the Abbott and Costello comedy Buck
Privates Come Home at the State. The Wuerth was screening Walt
Disney's Song
of the South and The
Magnificent Rogue (Lynne Roberts, Warren Douglas). The Whitney
was showing Code
of the West (James Warren, John Laurenz) and Web
of Danger (Adele Mara and Bill Kennedy, later famous as a TV movie
host in the Detroit area).
At
the Michigan, Miracle
on 34th Street was accompanied by the George Pal Puppetoon Tubby
the Tuba. Miracle
on 34th Street followed a run of The
Private Affairs of Bel Ami (George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, Ann
Dvorak), and was succeeded by The
Trouble with Women (Ray Milland). It returned to Ann Arbor on
October 15, 1947 for a two-day run at the Wuerth with The
Millerson Case (Warner Baxter).
Click
here to see a PDF of newspaper
images relating to the opening of Miracle
on 34th Street.
