Tuesday, April 25, 2023

On Area Screens – April 1953

One of the funnier things I've discovered when looking at old Journal theater pages is that my tastes in cinema are pretty much aligned with the B movies of the 1950s: westerns and Bowery Boys comedies. You'll find both on this page, which ran in the Journal back on April 4, 1953.

Let's look at some of the features that were uh, featured on the page.
The Tivoli and the Warner Bros. Palace had the biggest ads. At the Tivoli was Seminole, with Rock Hudson, Barbara Hale and Anthony Quinn. If you're looking for a typical Indians-are-the-bad-guys flick, this isn't it; the Seminole people are presented in a sympathetic fashion, picked on by the mean U. S. fort commander who wants to wipe them out. The Palace had Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in The Stooge, (one of the few features with the word 'Stooge' in the title that doesn't star Larry, Curly Joe DeRita and Moe).
For Westerns, we had Randolph Scott and Donna Reed in Hangman's Knot at the Tower Drive-in. It's a good one (I've seen it on GRIT TV) and it also has Lee Marvin – one of the greats – in it.
The aforementioned Bowery Boys (Lorain favorites) were starring in their latest feature, No Holds Barred, at the Lorain Theatre as well as the Elvira Theatre. This time, Sach has mysteriously acquired superhuman powers that Slip hopes to exploit in the pro wrestling arena. Unfortunately, the power seems to randomly travel to different parts of his body and they don't always know where it's concentrated.
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One thing that caught my eye on the Journal page is the photo of comedian Eddie Peddie at the top left, announcing his appearance at the Showboat in Downtown Lorain. The photo caption notes that he is named with Billy Kozak.
Peddie appeared on this blog before (here). By 1956, he was teamed with musician Danny Stanton; the team of Stanton and Peddie appeared at the Auto Show at the Lorain Arena.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Jeopardy" starring Barbara Stanwyck and "Niagra" starring Marilyn Monroe are classic 1950's dramas.Jeopardy has a cool little shoebox 1950 Ford convertible as a central character.And Niagra has Marilyn in her best dramatic role ever.The beauty really could act.

Dan Brady said...

You're right! And "Niagara" is one of my favorite movies. I even did a post on MM:
https://danielebrady.blogspot.com/2022/08/death-of-marilyn-monroe-front-page.html

And Niagara Falls has been the subject of many posts too:
https://danielebrady.blogspot.com/search/label/Niagara%20Falls

Don Hilton said...

All these decades later and we're *still* waiting for 3-D Movies!

-Alan D Hopewell said...

The Elvira was on its last legs, as it closed later that year.

-Alan D Hopewell said...

According to Cinema Treasures, the Elvira closed on 13 July of 1953, with the Pearl Theater closing on the 16th.

Buster said...

Hey, a movie page where I've actually seen some of the movies! "Niagara" was a great one, I agree. The plot of that Bowery Boys epic is reminiscent of the adventure where Huntz Hall gets clonked on the head and begins to croon like Bing. A classic. (My standards are low.)

-Alan D Hopewell said...

I saw THE AVENGERS in 3-D when it came out in 2012, really didn't notice much difference.