Although typical for the segregated times back then, the unnecessary inclusion of racial descriptions goes against today’s journalistic standards. My note from May 2019 covered the incident as was relevant to the drive-in.
I presume Craig Crawley’s adventure was related to the tornado that ripped down the Woodlane’s screen in October 1966.
And thinking of unusual drive-in names, I believe Missouri’s Woodlane is truly unique.
That is an excellent point, 50sSnipes! “Starline” was used in several company names, plus an apparently legendary South Australia drive-in, but I could find only one (other?) Starline Drive-In in the US. It was in Hines WV, and I just submitted the info to CT.
Ludington Daily News, June 28, 1963: “The 4-Star Theater in Scottville and the Starlite Drive-In Theater just east of Ludington are owned and operated by Glenn G. Wallace, who alternates the operation of the two. The 4-Star is open in the winter, closing when the Starlite opens in the spring, and reopening in the fall when the Drive-In closes. The Starlite plays mostly double features, shows being changed three, sometimes four times each week. Every Thursday night is Buck Night, with prices being a buck a carload. Saturday night is Spook Show and Dusk-to-Dawn shows - the features starting at sundown and Saturday night and continuing on until daybreak Sunday morning. Included in the features every Saturday night is a science fiction, mystery or suspense picture.”
Was the Starlite’s opening postponed a little? It happens…
Motion Picture Exhibitor, March 4, 1964: “Curly Burns has assumed buying and booking duties for Jack Jones' Blue Ridge and the new Starline (sic) Drive-In, Milledgeville, Ga.”
Just sayin', this drive-in was always listed under Milledgeville GA, and Kenmore’s address shows up with a Milledgeville Zip Code in Google Maps. Maybe CT should move the Cadet under Milledgeville?
Was there briefly a second drive-in in Boron? Since I can’t find even one on aerial photos, it seems unlikely. However…
Boxoffice, Sept. 30, 1963: (in Los Angeles notes) “Gilbert Evans, formerly with Vincent Miranda at the Lyric Theatre in Huntington Park, is opening the Sky Line Drive-In at Boron City.”
LA Times, Oct. 3, 1963: (movie listings) “BORON, Starline Drive-In, Hwy. 466 The Road to Hong Kong”
Similar listings appeared through at least the rest of October. Boron’s Starline had disappeared from the LA Times listings in 1964.
Boxoffice, Aug. 25, 1980: “Robert Maestri, of Oregon-California Theatres, Inc., announced the start of the conversion of the Broadway Theatre in Yreka to a twin cinema with a total seating capacity of 575. The complex will feature all new deluxe projection, sound, seating and refreshment facilities. Remodeling work is expected to be completed in late September.”
Boxoffice, April 19, 1952: “Mr. and Mrs. Roy M. Avery, well known throughout Siskiyou county, recently purchased the Shastona Theatre in Mount Shasta from Mr. and Mrs. M. E. Hammond … Avery’s brother Don and his wife, operate the theatre at Etna.”
Boxoffice, Feb. 11, 1950: “YREKA, CALIF. - Surveyors are at work on the site here where a 425-car, $65,000 drive-in is to be erected by Robert L. Lippert Theatres. The drive-in will be built south of town and opened about April 1. The firm’s construction superintendent J. E. Henning is here now supervising work.”
In Boxoffice’s roundup of drive-ins opened in 1950, (printed Feb. 17, 1951), it showed the 380-car Yreka as already in operation, owned by Robert Lippert.
The Jan. 10, 1953 Boxoffice magazine drive-in roundup showed the Cloverleaf as built in 1952 and in operation with a capacity of 700 cars, owned by Community Theatres.
Near the other side of the drive-in’s life, the Aug. 1, 1988 issue reported that Dustin Palmer had shifted from managing Topeka’s Dickinson six-plex to the Cloverleaf, “which re-opened May 27.”
davidcoppock, the Grand Opening flyer in the photos here included “The most in fine food and snack bar refreshments”
Denny Pine, thanks for nailing down the Circle’s closing date. Here’s a memory of the place from the Albuquerque Tribune decades later (7/16/87):
“Even the oddball Circle Drive-In, also known as the Autoscope, is long gone. Located at 2900 Carlisle Blvd., N.E. in the early 1960s, the Circle projected movies via mirrors to a battery of 3-by-5 foot television-like screens, one in front of each car. But the Circle owners, who showed X-rated films at drive-ins in Joplin, Mo., didn’t realize the strength of Albuquerque winds. Evening breezes kept the Circle from ever working properly.”
On Jan. 19, 2024, there was a small fire behind the dormant Garberville. According to a story in Redheaded Blackbelt, firefighters ran a hose through the theater to quickly extinguish the fire.
The article said that the building had been sold after the theater closed in 2016. Renovation efforts since then have been intermittent. “An unidentified man at the scene stated that the theatre would reopen in approximately 18 months.”
After years of frustration, I found the Garberville! The great, helpful folks at the UC-Berkeley library pointed me to FrameFinder, an aerial photo tool hosted by UC-Santa Barbara. A 1954 aerial photo shows the drive-in pretty much exactly where the Caltrans yard is today.
I’ll leave it to Kenmore and others to estimate the capacity based on that photo. There are a lot of ramps there.
Motion Picture Herald, Feb. 12, 1955: “Amelia Ellis, who operates the Mason theatre at Mason, Tenn., and Frayser drive-in at Memphis, is now building a new drive-in at Millington, Tenn., 18 miles north of Memphis. Millington is the location of the Navy base with around 16,000 men enrolled in its schools, hospital and air wing.”
Motion Picture Exhibitor, May 11, 1955: “Amelia Ellis has opened her new Ellis Drive-In, Millington, Tenn., equipped for 400 cars. She has a 90-foot screen for VistaVision and Cinemascope.”
Motion Picture Exhibitor, Nov. 6, 1963: “Howard Nicholson, former manager (of the Memphis Paramount exchange), resigned to operate Ellis Drive-In, Millington, Tenn.”
In an old article, the Christian Chronicle wrote that the Harrington family opened the Calvert in 1953. And the contemporary accounts bear that out.
Motion Picture Herald, Aug. 8, 1953: “Paul Harrington, of nearby Covington, Ky., has opened his new Calvert drive-in, at Calvert City, Ky., of which S. H. Pewitt is manager.”
Motion Picture Herald, March 27, 1954: “Paul Harrington, owner, has closed his Calvert theatre, Calvert City, Ky., and opened his Calvert drive-in for the summer.”
According to a ad two days earlier in the (Boise) Idaho Statesman, the Emmett held its grand opening on April 11, 1950. Its first movie was “The Red Pony.”
The first newspaper ad, or mention, that I could find for the Pay-Ont was in the April 28, 1949 edition of the (Boise) Idaho Statesman. That ad said nothing about being a grand opening.
Boxoffice, June 3, 1963: “Audrey Jacobs has leased her Osecoles (sic) Theatre, Soquel, to John Bowles of San Francisco. The theatre has been redecorated and renamed the Cinema. An art policy, with an eye to the growth of Santa Cruz, and the new University, are the theatre’s current plans.”
Although typical for the segregated times back then, the unnecessary inclusion of racial descriptions goes against today’s journalistic standards. My note from May 2019 covered the incident as was relevant to the drive-in.
I presume Craig Crawley’s adventure was related to the tornado that ripped down the Woodlane’s screen in October 1966.
And thinking of unusual drive-in names, I believe Missouri’s Woodlane is truly unique.
That is an excellent point, 50sSnipes! “Starline” was used in several company names, plus an apparently legendary South Australia drive-in, but I could find only one (other?) Starline Drive-In in the US. It was in Hines WV, and I just submitted the info to CT.
Ludington Daily News, June 28, 1963: “The 4-Star Theater in Scottville and the Starlite Drive-In Theater just east of Ludington are owned and operated by Glenn G. Wallace, who alternates the operation of the two. The 4-Star is open in the winter, closing when the Starlite opens in the spring, and reopening in the fall when the Drive-In closes. The Starlite plays mostly double features, shows being changed three, sometimes four times each week. Every Thursday night is Buck Night, with prices being a buck a carload. Saturday night is Spook Show and Dusk-to-Dawn shows - the features starting at sundown and Saturday night and continuing on until daybreak Sunday morning. Included in the features every Saturday night is a science fiction, mystery or suspense picture.”
Was the Starlite’s opening postponed a little? It happens…
Motion Picture Exhibitor, March 4, 1964: “Curly Burns has assumed buying and booking duties for Jack Jones' Blue Ridge and the new Starline (sic) Drive-In, Milledgeville, Ga.”
Just sayin', this drive-in was always listed under Milledgeville GA, and Kenmore’s address shows up with a Milledgeville Zip Code in Google Maps. Maybe CT should move the Cadet under Milledgeville?
Thanks for your patience, Kenmore. I finally found the drive-in in one of those 1962 aerials. If only they’d had a 1963 photo of the Starline. ;)
Was there briefly a second drive-in in Boron? Since I can’t find even one on aerial photos, it seems unlikely. However…
Boxoffice, Sept. 30, 1963: (in Los Angeles notes) “Gilbert Evans, formerly with Vincent Miranda at the Lyric Theatre in Huntington Park, is opening the Sky Line Drive-In at Boron City.”
LA Times, Oct. 3, 1963: (movie listings) “BORON, Starline Drive-In, Hwy. 466 The Road to Hong Kong”
Similar listings appeared through at least the rest of October. Boron’s Starline had disappeared from the LA Times listings in 1964.
The FrameFinder site has a number of 1960s aerial photos available around Boron, but I haven’t found a nearby drive-in yet.
Two scraps that indicate the McDowell stayed in the picture.
Boxoffice, May 31, 1965: “Keith McDowell of the Desert Lake Drive-In, Boron, Calif., has opened the theatre for the season”
Boxoffice, May 2, 1966: “Boron, Calif., out on the desert, sent Keith McDowell of the Desert Lake Drive-In to (Los Angeles) Filmrow on business.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 25, 1980: “Robert Maestri, of Oregon-California Theatres, Inc., announced the start of the conversion of the Broadway Theatre in Yreka to a twin cinema with a total seating capacity of 575. The complex will feature all new deluxe projection, sound, seating and refreshment facilities. Remodeling work is expected to be completed in late September.”
Boxoffice, April 19, 1952: “Mr. and Mrs. Roy M. Avery, well known throughout Siskiyou county, recently purchased the Shastona Theatre in Mount Shasta from Mr. and Mrs. M. E. Hammond … Avery’s brother Don and his wife, operate the theatre at Etna.”
Boxoffice, Feb. 11, 1950: “YREKA, CALIF. - Surveyors are at work on the site here where a 425-car, $65,000 drive-in is to be erected by Robert L. Lippert Theatres. The drive-in will be built south of town and opened about April 1. The firm’s construction superintendent J. E. Henning is here now supervising work.”
In Boxoffice’s roundup of drive-ins opened in 1950, (printed Feb. 17, 1951), it showed the 380-car Yreka as already in operation, owned by Robert Lippert.
The Jan. 10, 1953 Boxoffice magazine drive-in roundup showed the Cloverleaf as built in 1952 and in operation with a capacity of 700 cars, owned by Community Theatres.
Near the other side of the drive-in’s life, the Aug. 1, 1988 issue reported that Dustin Palmer had shifted from managing Topeka’s Dickinson six-plex to the Cloverleaf, “which re-opened May 27.”
Confirmed.
“John Basham is manager of the new Starlight Drive-In opened July 2 by Claude Parrish and Hugh Wallace near Topeka, Kas.” —BoxOffice, July 9, 1949
What a gorgeous photo! Where did it come from?
davidcoppock, the Grand Opening flyer in the photos here included “The most in fine food and snack bar refreshments”
Denny Pine, thanks for nailing down the Circle’s closing date. Here’s a memory of the place from the Albuquerque Tribune decades later (7/16/87):
“Even the oddball Circle Drive-In, also known as the Autoscope, is long gone. Located at 2900 Carlisle Blvd., N.E. in the early 1960s, the Circle projected movies via mirrors to a battery of 3-by-5 foot television-like screens, one in front of each car. But the Circle owners, who showed X-rated films at drive-ins in Joplin, Mo., didn’t realize the strength of Albuquerque winds. Evening breezes kept the Circle from ever working properly.”
On Jan. 19, 2024, there was a small fire behind the dormant Garberville. According to a story in Redheaded Blackbelt, firefighters ran a hose through the theater to quickly extinguish the fire.
The article said that the building had been sold after the theater closed in 2016. Renovation efforts since then have been intermittent. “An unidentified man at the scene stated that the theatre would reopen in approximately 18 months.”
After years of frustration, I found the Garberville! The great, helpful folks at the UC-Berkeley library pointed me to FrameFinder, an aerial photo tool hosted by UC-Santa Barbara. A 1954 aerial photo shows the drive-in pretty much exactly where the Caltrans yard is today.
I’ll leave it to Kenmore and others to estimate the capacity based on that photo. There are a lot of ramps there.
That’s a cropped version of a 1948 photo that’s part of the S. Charles Lee Papers collection at UCLA, which says that it’s copyrighted.
There’s a still sharper version (the original) at the S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962 collection at UCLA, which says that it’s copyrighted. Hmm.
This 1939-40 photo by Julius Shulman is part of the S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962 collection at UCLA, which says that it’s copyrighted.
Motion Picture Herald, Feb. 12, 1955: “Amelia Ellis, who operates the Mason theatre at Mason, Tenn., and Frayser drive-in at Memphis, is now building a new drive-in at Millington, Tenn., 18 miles north of Memphis. Millington is the location of the Navy base with around 16,000 men enrolled in its schools, hospital and air wing.”
Motion Picture Exhibitor, May 11, 1955: “Amelia Ellis has opened her new Ellis Drive-In, Millington, Tenn., equipped for 400 cars. She has a 90-foot screen for VistaVision and Cinemascope.”
Motion Picture Exhibitor, Nov. 6, 1963: “Howard Nicholson, former manager (of the Memphis Paramount exchange), resigned to operate Ellis Drive-In, Millington, Tenn.”
In an old article, the Christian Chronicle wrote that the Harrington family opened the Calvert in 1953. And the contemporary accounts bear that out.
Motion Picture Herald, Aug. 8, 1953: “Paul Harrington, of nearby Covington, Ky., has opened his new Calvert drive-in, at Calvert City, Ky., of which S. H. Pewitt is manager.”
Motion Picture Herald, March 27, 1954: “Paul Harrington, owner, has closed his Calvert theatre, Calvert City, Ky., and opened his Calvert drive-in for the summer.”
According to a ad two days earlier in the (Boise) Idaho Statesman, the Emmett held its grand opening on April 11, 1950. Its first movie was “The Red Pony.”
The first newspaper ad, or mention, that I could find for the Pay-Ont was in the April 28, 1949 edition of the (Boise) Idaho Statesman. That ad said nothing about being a grand opening.
Date of the change:
Boxoffice, June 3, 1963: “Audrey Jacobs has leased her Osecoles (sic) Theatre, Soquel, to John Bowles of San Francisco. The theatre has been redecorated and renamed the Cinema. An art policy, with an eye to the growth of Santa Cruz, and the new University, are the theatre’s current plans.”