Bellevue Drive-In
6016 W. Plank Road,
Bellevue,
IL
61604
6016 W. Plank Road,
Bellevue,
IL
61604
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Great Story.I too thought about putting my name on a Clint Eastwood Movie a couple of times.Snap a picture and take Clint’s name down,,oh I meant MINE.LOL.I had plenty of times to do it was just too lazy to go back up on the marquee,Really wish I had now,Hope you have the “ELVIS” picture.
I was captain of ushers at Bellevue Drive-In during my high school days in 1956-57. While at work one evening, a fellow usher and I decided to put our names up on the Hwy. 116 Marquee sign. Our purpose was to take a quick photo to submit to our high school yearbook. The sign read, “Bill O'Malley and Jerry White star in, The Life of Elvis Presley.” At work a month later, a girl concession worker showed the yearbook w/ picture to my boss Mr. Szold. (I was worried and thought I would be fired).
As it turned out Mr. Szold thanked me for my work done and complimented me on the publicity given to the Bellevue Drive-In.
Here’s a nice shot of the entrance:
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The DVD of Blood Feast has both Dave Friedman & Herschell Gordon Lewis (producer & director of Blood Feast) talking about their “partnership” with Kohlberg on this film & two others. After that partnership dissolved, Friedman would partner with the late Dan Sonney & co-found the Pussycat Theaters chain of “adult movie houses”
This drive-in opened on August 29, 1948 … it’s opening night feature was “Pirates of Monterey” starring Maria Montez and Rod Cameron. It’s original capacity was 750 vehicles but by the time it was purchased by Chicago exhibitor Stan Kohlberg in 1960 it had expanded to it’s final 1400 vehicle capacity.