1961 Jackson, Michigan

Margaret Applin-Martin

1945

Jackson, Michigan

Interviewed on 14 September 2019

by Aria Falcone

            I have to be honest, my family, as a little kid, we didn’t really go to the movies a lot. You know, there weren’t the resources. So, I remember going to the movies more as a teenager with my friends in high school. We didn’t even have a TV, and they didn’t do movies on TV then.

This is funny, on my sixteenth birthday my mother says, “Well what do you want to do?” And I wanted movies and dinner in this neighboring town that had a nice Italian restaurant. And the movie I wanted to see was Pollyanna, with Hayley Mills, and it was pretty much an age of innocence, you know, to be sixteen and wanting to go see Pollyanna. I went with my girlfriends. Of course we got popcorn, pop, and candy. They were in those little boxes. I remember Milk Duds. Neccos were always in that wrapper. I loved anything chocolate. Oh, Good and Plenty. Kind of a variety.

My favorite movie is the one with Bette Davis, you know, where she’s the ugly duckling from a very wealthy family. Now Voyager. She’s from a wealthy Boston family, she’s the youngest, and she’s oppressed. She’s an ex-spinster and she loses it and goes to a mental hospital. Then she changes from the ugly duckling into the beautiful swan. It’s a beautiful story. I also love Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, all those from that era. You know, we watch so many beautiful movies, so many romantic movies. My era was the age of romance. It was wonderful.

I think the role of movies in my life has changed. When I was a teenager, we saw a lot of Elvises, you know, beach blanket films. I think I’ve gotten a little more sophisticated. I love musicals. You know, the most wonderful experience, I was newly married, and it was the first time I had been to the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. We went to see South Pacific on the big screen. When I grew up, the theaters were all very pretty, but I hadn’t been to quite such a grandiose theater because I was from a small town. I think I got more sophisticated. I still don’t want to see a lot of violence, but I graduated from Elvis.

My grandkids especially, we talk about old movies. Kathryn and I talk about old movies all the time, and I’ve introduced her to the Bette Davis one, Dark Victory, dark and sad. She was so mad at me because it was so tragic! I think it gives me a common ground with you, and my children, and probably more right now my grandchildren, Kathryn probably the most, and William. I love that. It’s ageless. It doesn’t change. And I try to see more contemporary movies too, the movies now, and I can talk to them about, “well what did you think of this, what did you think of that.”

I think there’s some really great contemporary movies. Although there are so many horror films that I don’t want to see. I think there are certainly wonderful movies now. I think the era that I grew up in was such a wonderful time. It wasn’t realistic; it was probably more romantic. I really don’t like to be depressed, but I see sad movies too. The people of my era, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, they were such icons. I think there are icons today, but I don’t see the same level of professionalism. Everybody older says, “oh, in my day,” but I do think there are great films today, too.

The movies have helped me through difficult parts of my life. I can’t say it was a movie, but I used to watch a funny show on TV when my husband died. I would just laugh. I also went to one of these movies, P.S. I Love You, about a woman whose husband had just died. I didn’t know what I was getting into. I just wept. It was a beautiful movie, but the place I was at, after just losing my husband, it was so overwhelming.

I think watching a movie is a feel-good experience. It just takes you out of the place you’re at, especially if it’s a hard place. You get a little break from it, like a vacation. That’s why I hope big screen never ends. I know we can watch Netflix, but there’s something about going to the theater that’s just so wonderful. I like the whole ambiance of the theater. Especially someplace like the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. The new theaters are nice too. I like the theater. And now, they have those wonderful recliner seats. I bring a little blanket, and it’s like I’m at home on my couch.

I like both black and white and color. There are some movies I can’t imagine in black and white. Could you imagine Charlie Chaplin in color? Some of the movies have been colorized, like South Pacific, and it’s so beautiful, the scenery, I’d really miss the color. But you know, a good movie, it’s black and white, after a while, you don’t even see it anymore. You don’t even remember that it’s not in color.

I lived close to Jackson and they had a big theater there. I don’t know if it was called the State Theater or what. It was one of those old theaters that had all that art deco and the beautiful pillars and things like that. Right now, my favorite theater would be the Michigan Theatre, in the big theater, not those little annex ones. See a wonderful movie there, that’s the best. A great movie in a great place.

I’m so thankful for the arts and for the wonderful people today and yesterday. What a gift they have given us! I think when I see a good movie, oh my goodness, look at these people and how they contribute to our lives. It’s a big influence. Golly, what would we do without the movies?