THE WAY IT WAS…
... Our Early Movie Theaters
by Al Eicher

Growing up in the small town of Pigeon in the 1940s and ’50s were full of some great experiences. Going to the movies at the Gem Theater was high on my list of places to go and be totally immersed in the “make believe world” of Hollywood. At age 13, Mrs. Thiel, owner of the theater, hired me to sell popcorn and handle the concession stand. Mr. Wesley Thiel established the theater in 1914 at the time Pigeon had its first electric power generator. The early movies from New York and California were silent short films. Can you imagine going to the movies to see action scenes and see the lips move but not hear a voice? All you needed was a good piano player and a way to create some sound effects! It would take 15 more years before the film carried a sound track, which was no doubt a great improvement to the silent movie experience.

Let’s take a look at the establishment of movie theaters in the upper Thumb region. Sebewaing had one of the earliest theaters in Huron County. William Jahr the theater owner, over time, had three different locations in the village before establishing the Lincoln Theater on Center Street. The theater had a flat curtain, which displayed local merchant advertisements, which was customary in most small town theaters.

The Bad Axe Theater was established in the 1920s, and by the 1930s had built a modern projection booth with the new RCA sound system. Messrs. Sckuckert & Stafford were owners of the Bad Axe, Cass City and Caro theaters in these early years. In the late 1920s, Saturday night in many Huron and Tuscola County towns was a time when people did their shopping and socializing. This was most true in the summertime. At Cass City, the Meier’s Meat Market would stay open until after the late night second feature was over at the theater, because people then came to pick up their meat orders for the weekend. Remember, people did not have good refrigeration back then. If you went to the 1920s Cass City Theater, you entered the Fort’s Confectionery store and were ushered to the theater just behind the food products area of the store.

At Harbor Beach, in 1911, the Opera House burned down, including the City Hall and Fire Department building. In the years following, Mr. Charles Petit established the Temple Theater by remodeling the old Jenks Hardware Store. Mr. Petit ran silent movies at this location and in 1918 moved the Temple Theater into the Community House building. Sadly, another fire destroyed the building and theater, but with the help of many men in the community, a new theater was built and nicknamed “The Calamity Theater.” The first talking picture was shown here in 1929.

The first movie theater in Port Austin was at Heins Hardware in the 1930s. In the 1940s, John E. Upthegrove, Sr. built a theatre in Port Austin. The theater on Railroad Street in May of 1958 was operated by Ethel Upthegrove, and in later years it becomes a theater for the Port Austin Community Players.

The Star Theatre in Elkton was built in 1940 by Gar Ackerman. For the next 16 years it was one of the focal points in the community. Lots of people came to town for the many weekly features.

In 1950, when I was 15 years of age, Mrs. Thiel asked if I would be interested in operating the two large movie projectors in the fireproof booth above the audience. Rollie Smith and Porky Britt were the regular projectionists at the time. Both men were deer hunters and the season had arrived. I was to fill in while they were gone. Threading the projector and rewinding the film reels was easy. The 35mm movie reels were each about 23 minutes long so you had to be ready to make the transition from one projector to the next. You also had to make the carbon arch burn just right to get a bright picture on the screen.

The worst thing that could happen was to have a fire in the projection booth. There really wasn’t anything in the booth to burn. Or, so I thought! If the film breaks and lodges in the gate, where the light from the carbon arch passes, the film will burn. It happened to me and I could see the image of flames on the screen. The film is designed not to burn, but under this rare condition it will burn slowly. Luckily I pulled the 10-inch piece of film out of the gate area, which then stopped burning. I had butterflies in my stomach the rest of the night.

The 1950s were the great years for the Hollywood musicals, and people flocked to the theaters on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings to see these star-studded shows. A children’s ticket sold for 15 cents and adults were 65 cents. Candy bars sold for 10 cents, and a bag of popcorn with butter was 12 cents. We didn’t sell any beverages and, as I recall, none of the theaters had restrooms at that time.

In 1951, I ran the movie “An American in Paris” starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant and Nina Fosh. This was one of many MGM musicals to come to the Gem Theater. The following year, MGM had another hit with “Singin’ in the Rain” with Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Rita Moreno and Cyd Charisse. When you work at a theater and have an opportunity to see a movie over and over, especially a Sunday feature which is shown seven times, the theme music and stories seem to lock in. In 1953, Disney released “Peter Pan.” Great musicals continued with “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” in 1954 with Howard Keel and Jane Powell. That same year Warner Bros. released “A Star is Born” and at Christmastime, Paramont Vistavision brought us “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen. These were great wholesome movies the family could enjoy.

In the 1950s Drive-In Theaters came to our area. I am sure many of you remember the Blue Sky Drive-In, the M-53 Drive-In and the Caro Drive-In. In the later 1950s we enjoyed more musicals such as “The King and I” with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, and then in 1958, the music of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II in “South Pacific” with Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi. I hope your memory banks are working so you, too, can remember That’s The Way It Was…at your movie theater.

Al and Dave Eicher provide television production services to corporations, ad agencies and nonprofit organizations.  They also create Michigan town histories and offer lecture services on a variety of Michigan History Events. You may contact them at  248-333-2010;  E-mail: info@program-source.com; Web site:  www.program-source.com.