Lorain Journal Movie Ads – May 1956

Here’s yet another vintage newspaper page, this time from the May 4, 1956 edition of the Lorain Journal. No front page this time; it’s the page with all the movie listings and restaurant ads, and there’s plenty of fun stuff to look at for longtime Lorainites.

Drive-ins were big back then, and all of the local ones were showing historical action movies.

At the Carlisle Drive-in there was John Wayne and Lauren Bacall in Blood Alley (1955). The second half of the double feature was Fort Yuma (1955)  with Peter Graves.

At the Lorain Drive-in, Burt Lancaster was starting in The Kentuckian (1955), with Jack Webb in Pete Kelly’s Blues as the second feature.

And over at the Tower Drive-in on Lake Avenue, The Warriors (1955) a late entry with Errol Flynn, was finishing its run.

Who would have guessed that in 2020, the one local drive-in still around – Aut-o-Rama – would be enjoying renewed popularity, thanks to the coronavirus and the necessities of social distancing? (I wrote about my trip to Aut-o-Rama back here.)

Courtesy Aut-o-Rama website.
Hey, that’s a commercial for Pic on the screen!

Anyway, back to the ads.

The one big ad that stands out on the page is for a movie I’ve never heard of: On The Threshold of Space starring Guy Madison, Wild Bill Hickok himself. It was showing at the Tivoli in Downtown Lorain.

There’s lots of other stars represented on the page, including Audie Murphy in World in My Corner (1956) at the Ohio Theater, and good ol’ Randolph Scott in Thunder Over the Plains (1953) about to open at the Palace as part of a children’s matinee. (I’ve seen so many Randolph Scott westerns on GRIT that he’s become somewhat of a favorite.)

I know I’ve been doing this blog for a long time when I see that I’ve written about most of the restaurants and businesses on this Journal page, including the Pueblo, the Showboat, Ben Hart’s, Evan’s Grill, Crystal Beach Ballroom and 4-Winds Drive-in.