Melody Cruise-In Auto Theatre
4025 E. National Road,
Springfield,
OH
45505
4025 E. National Road,
Springfield,
OH
45505
6 people
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Opened July 3, 1947 with Cornel Wilde in “Bandit of Sherwood Forest”. It opened with a 500-car capacity. By 1955 it was operated by Chakeres Theatres, the Melody Cruise-In Auto Theatre showed first run movies throughout the Summer season, but only opened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A second screen was added on May 16, 1980. Located just down the street from Chakeres Cinema 10 and the closed Show Boat Drive-In, the Melody Cruise-In was Springfield’s last drive-in. It was closed in 2016 and used as a church. It was demolished in November 2022 for housing.
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
my bad it does have two screens!
Boxoffice, Nov. 14, 1953: “A number of improvements are planned at the Melody Cruise-In before its reopening next spring, according to Michael H. Chakeres, general manager of the Springfield Theatres Co. A 65-foot-wide screen will be installed, along with about 100 more speakers, at the airer on Route 40 east of Springfield.”
Boxoffice, July 5, 1947: “SPRINGFIELD — Clark county’s first drive-in theatre, Melody Cruise-In, opened July 2 at a site a mile and a half east of Springfield on U.S. 40. The drive-in has a 500-car capacity. It is owned by Raymond K. Stout of Dayton. Manager is E. G. Babb, Springfield. ‘The theatre will operate on four changes a week. Bookings are handled by “Woody” Bressler of Cincinnati.”
Grand opening ads posted.
The second screen opened on May 16th, 1980, with yellow speaker posts. the Ramps were not realigned. Grand opening ad posted
Opened July 3rd, 1947 per:
Melody Cruise In opening 29 Jun 1947, Sun The Springfield Daily News (Springfield, Ohio) Newspapers.com
and
Demolition has begun. New housing will be built.
Shame!
Jan of 2023, showed to be in the process of being demo’d.. By Aug of 2023, it was all gone.. Per Googlemaps. RAC Photography
The new housing on the property has movie related street names. Picture Parkway and Scorsese St. are a few examples.