Metro Mercury I & II
16860 Schaefer Highway,
Detroit,
MI
48235
16860 Schaefer Highway,
Detroit,
MI
48235
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In the early and middle 1960s, exclusive first run movies at the Mercury included Exodus (1960), The Longest Day (1962), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Charade (1963), and A Shot in the Dark (1964). After that, the Mercury participated in wide area releases of new movies, including Thunderball (1965) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967). (From the Detroit Free Press archives of Newspapers.com)
Loved going to this theater. My cousin family resided so close. We could walk to Federals Dept which was located few doors down. The first movie we watched Ten Commandment. Those were the days. More peaceful and loving environment
June 11th, 1941 grand opening ad in photo section.
Dear Slugger, Missmerc, etc., I just discovered this site because I was thinking about being at the Mercury theater, seeing so many wonderful movies, ( when the price was actually a quarter) and marveling at the beautiful images on the walls and around the screen, incredible lights on the ceiling too. If there is any possibility of my seeing those images at a higher resolution I would be so appreciative! Thank you for the discussion and the memories, glisa
The mural photos were posted by Lost Memory on 8/8/05. They don’t need to be reposted.
Please oh please repost those pics of the Mercury! I would so love to see them! Please slugger! I’ve already seen the ones at waterwinterwonderland, would love to see others.
Thank you!
missmerc
thanks so much for the great photos. It really brings back memories. Where on earth did you get them? Could you email me higher resolution copies?
Slugger,
go to waterwinterwonderland.com and find the Mercury Theater. I sent them some great shots of the murals that were sent to me. This site is
not accepting photos right now, so I couldn’t post them here.
missmerc
Thanks, must’ve been toward the end. Sigh… A place that brought so many happy memories. I would love to have some shots of the astromonical murals in the auditorium.
I am going to try to contact Rogvoy Architects to see if they have any pictures. Perhaps someone who frequents this site can help.
Slugger,
I’m glad someone else laments the demolition of the glorious Mercury murals.They were indeed magical. I didn’t get to go there very often, and I don’t remember which movies I saw there, but I’ll never forget those grand and ethereal figures flying silently among the planets and stars. They always made me feel as if I were there with them in outer space. It’s hard for me to believe that no one considered the murals worth recording, not to mention saving. Surely there must be some record of them from the time the theater was built?
I loved this theater. I grew up nearby and on the last day of school, the nuns would hand out coupon books to all the kids. The coupons were for matinees. I saw at least 300 movies at the Mercury. Including the first runs of, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “ The Miracle Worker”, “The Music Man” etc. The murals on the walls were magic. I spent as much time looking at them as I did watching the movies. I remember the last movie I saw there. It was “To Sir with Love” in 1967. I was sad to hear it was demolished. I wonder if anyone has any photos of the murals.