![](https://goodspeedgratiotcountyhistorical.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/11-30-44-ar.jpg?w=434)
![](https://goodspeedgratiotcountyhistorical.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/img479.jpg?w=1024)
![](https://goodspeedgratiotcountyhistorical.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/img481.jpg?w=651)
Above: War Bond drives were held at Alma’s Strand Theatre during World War II. “Going My Way,” featuring Bing Crosby, was held in early December 1944; bonds could be obtained at the Strand Theatre in November 1944; one of the last war bond shows took place in early June 1945. Viewers who purchased E Bonds received free tickets.
Another world war knocked on Gratiot County’s door before the 1940s began. During these events, going to the movies offered escape and entertainment as the country slowly drifted toward direct involvement in World War II.
As 1940 began, the Strand Theatre started a local run of movies called “Alma’s Local News Reel.” Billy Farrell played on the new Hammond Organ some of these nights at the Strand. Farrell played the organ thirty minutes before every show, and customers regularly asked him to play their favorite music. The Alma Lions Club sponsored a talking picture, “We’re in the Movies,” which became a two-hour feature involving local community members. The John B. Rodgers Producing Company of Fostoria, Ohio, came to town and directed and filmed the movie. This color movie, shot over five days in Alma, involved local people and businesses that depicted everyday life in the city. To get people to see the film, the Lions Club promoted the project with a “Movie Queen” contest to select an Alma “Glamour Girl.” Lois Brainard, one of the thirty-seven contestants, won with 4,770 votes. Brainard and the other contestants then attended the premiere. “We’re in the Movies” had six showings in Alma and raised enough money for several Alma Lions Club service projects.
However, the biggest news in March 1940 was the premiere of “Gone with the Wind,” which had a limited one-week engagement at the Strand. Tickets cost $1.10 for reserved seats and could only be purchased ahead of time through mail orders. The movie debuted on Easter Sunday and had been highly anticipated in Alma, and it would not appear again until 1941. The epic Civil War movie, shot in color, lasted four hours. Over time, “Gone with the Wind” would hold the most viewings in the Strand’s history, appearing each decade until the theatre’s closing in the 1990s. Also, “Gone with the Wind” marked the debut of more color movies in Gratiot County movie theaters.
In late 1941, ticket prices at the Strand jumped to eleven cents for children and twenty-five cents for adults. Down the street, the Alma Theater completed a new remodeling project. Owners changed the seating arrangement to include only one center aisle and raised the seating capacity to 324 people. As a result, the Alma Theater raised prices to eleven cents and twenty cents for movies.
After Pearl Harbor, viewers caught up on the war and world news through the “March of Time” newsreel, which appeared before each main feature. To commemorate Pearl Harbor Day in 1944, the Strand supported the Sixth War Loan Drive by showing Bing Crosby in “Going My Way” for one night only on December 7. However, a viewer had up to a week ahead of time to buy a bond to see the movie. Every purchase of a $25 bond gave the buyer a ticket to the show. Ultimately, the drive was successful and raised $30,000 in bond sales! Another bond show occurred at the Strand in 1945 with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in “Without Love.”
Earlier in the war, in response to orders from the War Production Board, Alma participated in a “brownout” to conserve energy, which affected the lighting of the marquee. People walking up and down Superior Street could no longer read the movie titles from a distance. However, on the night of Tuesday, May 8, 1945, the Strand Theatre turned on its marquee again in response to the news of Germany’s surrender. That night, the Strand lit up and joined many businesses in celebrating the war’s end in Europe by turning on their lights up and down Superior Street. After a long period of darkness, someone in Alma commented, “Superior Street is again as brilliant at night as of yore.” In a short time, the movie lights in Alma appeared every night in 1945 with the end of World War II.
Copyright 2024 James M. Goodspeed