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Get the Reel Story in Detroit
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
March 5, 2007 at 8:00 am
DETROIT, MI — A new exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum highlights Detroit movie theaters with a large selection of memorabilia.
Long gone are the days of getting dressed up to see a movie downtown, at a theater where patrons were greeted by a doorman and a full orchestra added live music to the mix.
But that era — and the decades of local movie-going that followed — are preserved by “Detroit: The ‘Reel’ Story,” a new exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum that traces the history of Detroit movie theaters from the early part of the 20th century to today.
Curator Michael Hauser of Detroit — who loaned many of the items on display — created the exhibit after working on the recent book “Detroit’s Downtown Movie Palaces” with DHM curator of collections Marianne Weldon. He said viewers can see how theaters evolved and how local history, architecture, promotions and graphics changed with the times.
With an in-depth look into suburban theaters as well, this seems like a very comprehensive exhibit that should not be missed.
For more, go to C&G News or the museum site.
Comments (2)
Congratulations to Michael Hauser for his work on this exhibit, and a word of appreciation to Arcadia Press for publishing his new book on Detroit theatres as well as other modestly-priced theatre history books.
I had the chance to see this while in Detroit this past weekend; it’s a terrific exhibit. Perhaps one of the saddest things is to see the blow-ups of the movie directory pages from the Detroit newspapers over the years – there is one from each decade from the twenties through the nineties – and realize that one time Detroit had over a hundred single screen theaters and drive-ins.
It would be wonderful if other city museums or local city historical societies would create similar exhibits from time to time focusing on the movie-going experience and theaters over the years in their respective areas.