Did You Know Metro Goldwyn Meyer Released Mackinac Island Film In 1944?

Mackinac Island is one of the must-see locations in Michigan, and for a long time, it's fascinated visitors from all over the world. So much so that in the 1940s, Metro Goldwyn Meyer decided to make an entire short film about the history of Mackinac Island and highlighted some of its most well-known customs and features of the time.

The original publisher of the film, Jim Tapley, shared his thoughts on discovering it:

Gloria and I were fascinated by this short on TCM, just a time-filler between movies. Mackinac Island hasn't changed a whole lot since 1944 when this movie was produced, but it's still as beautiful as ever.

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One commenter on the video brought up the fact that there's a Starbucks Coffee on the island, and defended it, while a local went OFF on them for the defense:

It has NOT been here for years and it does NOT need to be here. Tourist destination or not, Mackinac Island is all about the preservation of history, and I cannot name a single islander that is happy about that Starbucks (OR that friggin' Harley Davidson store) being there. It's a chain. We don't want them here. You can go to Starbucks nearly anywhere else, but while you're here, VISIT A LOCAL COFFEE SHOP FOR GOODNESS'S SAKES. It's better than the crap Starbucks serves anyway.

Regardless of how you feel about the shops on the island, when I visited Mackinac in 2021, it really was a cool historical look into our state's past and really was worth the visit. Honestly, from the look of the video, not much has changed in 80 years.