Michael V. Doyle
The Purpose of this book is to document selected small town movie theatres in Michigan
during their most successful years, 1930’s to 1960’s. Authentic photos show theatres in
their final architectural design. The book also focuses on the movie theatre as a
primary entertainment venue in a small community.
Michael V. Doyle, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus and Senior Author has spent thirty years at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. Doyle, a Grand Rapids native, is a theatre historian and collector of movie memorabilia. He is also the author of Michigan Movie Theatres: A Pictorial History and American West on Film: The Agrarian Frontier
The twentieth century saw the rise, fall, and ultimately, the reincarnation of some small-town and neighborhood movie theatres in America. Prior to World War One, a large number of movie theatres sprang up, not only in the large cities, but also especially in the small towns. These small town movie houses made for an ideal meeting place, not to mention making it easier to see the big movies without having to travel to the big cities. By the 1920s, the icon of the movie theatre’s marquee was a symbol to the public that their town was prospering.
After World War Two, America became more mobile, moving away from big cities into suburban areas, and small towns more frequently became “bedroom communities” for those working in the cities. This led to decentralization of local neighborhood and small town services, including the local movie theatres. But television began to enter American homes at the outset of the 1950s, and the bright lights for movie theatres began their slow downhill fade toward the dismal neglect of the 1960s and 70s, a time when theatres crumbled and closed. Then came the restoration and resurgence of the late 1980s and 90s, led by people in towns all over America.
