Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts

2009 photo of the Music Hall/Wilson Theatre.
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Here is a more recent photo of the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.

Added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1977

Wilson Theatre (added 1977 – Building – #77000725)
Also known as Music Hall
350 Madison Ave., Detroit
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event
Architect, builder, or engineer: Smith,Hinchman & Grylls, Kapp,William
Architectural Style: Other
Area of Significance: Performing Arts, Architecture
Period of Significance: 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Theater

Re: the introductory remarks here, “…The Music Hall was only the second Cinerama theater in the world, and supposedly the most successful.” It might not have been the most successful in terms of boxoffice, those honors probably going to the New York and Hollywood Warner’s. But the MH still racked up some impressive honors. “This Is Cinerama” ran 99 weeks, bested only by the DC Warner (100 wks), NY Warner (125 wks), and the Hollywood Warner (132 wks). However, the MH’s run of “Cinerama Holiday” was the longest of all at 81 weeks. An executive of Cinerama Theatre Operations stated in a 1957 interview in “Variety” that bus and train excursions accounted for about 40 percent of Cinerama’s attendance. By the time this was printed, a “I Have Seen Cinerama Four Times Club” had 176 local members. It was also estimated – and this is trivia at its best – that in the first 4 years of Cinerama exhibition, “…the theatre’s curtain has traveled back and forth equivalent to a distance of 75 miles. A staff of 11 projectionists used more than 1,200 pairs of nylon gloves for inspecting and rewinding the film.”