
Eastern Michigan University Professor Henry Aldridge is honored at the Michigan Theater on Thursday.
Courtney Sacco | AnnArbor.com
Eastern Michigan University held a special event at the
Michigan Theater on Thursday to honor
Henry Aldridge's contribution to both institutions. As his colleagues and he himself remarked at the retirement party, Aldridge lives in two worlds.
Many know him as a film studies professor at EMU, the one who started the Electronic Media and Film Studies program. Also a well-published scholar of the history of film exhibition, Aldridge is retiring after over 4 decades of teaching.
Aldridge is also the man they credit for helping to save the Michigan Theater its Barton Organ from demolition in the late 1970s. A longtime theater volunteer, the antique pipe organ's curator, and an emeritus board member, Aldridge may know the theater better than almost anyone else in town.
More after the jump…