![“What’s Playing?” A Look at Michigan Theater Marquees, 1900-2000](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2023/04/attachment-upper-michigan-1930s.jpg?w=980&q=75)
“What’s Playing?” A Look at Michigan Theater Marquees, 1900-2000
Unless you visit or drive-thru one of Michigan's small towns or the old sections of a city, you may not see what old movie theater marquees were like.
Modern movie theatre marquees are.....well.....boring. Many of them slap a flat slab on the side of the building and list eight or ten different movies and you wind up standing there like an idiot trying to read them all....or reading them from your car and blocking traffic.
Other theaters are set back a good distance and have the marquee sitting alongside the road...and we're supposed to read all these titles while we're driving? Don't think so.
![99.1 WFMK logo](https://townsquare.media/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/WFMKFM.png?w=100)
Nowadays, most people rely on the internet to find what movies are playing and marquees are just an afterthought.
The old classic movie houses had two marquees: one would be a tall, stories-high vertical sign that had the name of the theater, and the other was either a rectangle, square, or triangle that wrapped around the outside of the entrance, complete with bright lights. And instead of eight or ten titles, it was just one – and sometimes two if they were showing a double feature.
Some were grand, some were bland.
So now, the question: what were some of the movies Michiganders were enjoying all those decades ago? Not all the feature films were blockbusters. Some were B-movies with unrecognizable titles. Some of the titles seen on the marquees in the gallery below are some I definitely never heard of...
Now take a look and see what movies were playing throughout Michigan all those years ago!
Michigan's Old Movie Theater Marquees
MORE MICHIGAN MOVIE STUFF:
1st Jesse James Film Shot In Michigan, 1908
Lansing Theaters and Memorabilia
Abandoned United Artists Theatre, Detroit (now demolished)
More From 99.1 WFMK
![A Look Inside Old Michigan Department Stores: 1900-1916](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-big-rapids-early-1900s.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![A Skeleton Appears on the Lake Michigan Shore Every Few Years](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-mlive-youtube-1-18.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![The Ghost Town of Wildwood: Cheboygan County, Michigan](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-winter-time-1910-a.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![If You Want Michigan’s Best Donut, Go To This Bakery in Jackson](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-127.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![The Only Source of Water That Supplied an Entire Town: Ogemaw Springs, Michigan, Late 1800s](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-chosen-won-youtube-14-4.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Remembering Michigan’s A&P Stores: When Did They Go Belly-Up?](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-1941-public-domain-via-wiki-1.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Once Prosperous, Now a Shadow Town: Prescott, Michigan](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-former-business-3.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![The Two Michigan Ghost Towns Furthermost from the Ohio Border](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-junet-2.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Was There a Place Called ‘Purgatory’ in Michigan? Oh, Yeah…](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-haunted-michigan-youtube-4.jpg?w=980&q=75)