Sunrise Drive-In

When first opened in 1938, screen was reported to be 48 feet high and 65 feet wide. Bottom of the screen was 30 feet above the ground.

Closed in 1978.

Many of the popular outdoor (and beat up old indoor) theaters got together in the late 50’s and formed their own distribution company called “Crown International” I watched as many of those trashy old films that I could. I loved those ‘B" movies and the cheaper the better! Such as; “The Baby Sitter”,“The Fantastic Plastic Machine”, “Chain Gang Women”, A bunch of “Motorcycle flicks”, and “The Sister-In-Law” comes to mind. That company (Crown Int) got big for awhile and had a long list of cool “budget” movies that were star-less but entertaining to watch and then easily forgotten. The film content rating system was still new in 1968-to'70 and “R” meant naked breast and bare butt scenes, and “X” meant full frontal nudity. “Triple XXX” was rare and not generally seen at drive ins, but yes! I did get to see a couple XXX fils like “Sweet Sweetback badassss song” I used to sneak in through one of the many fence holes in the rear of the Drive-In and sat on the ground with my back up against the fence. The fence was just 30 feet beyond the last row of cars,& in the dark. Most of the time we had a six-pack each of Rheingold beer, or a bottle of cheap wine like Boone’s Farm fruit flavors, or (ichhhhkkk) pints of Port wine. I ate hot dogs from the stand, drank beer, and partied 'til theater closing time (about 1:00am) on those hot summer nights along with all my Rosedale Queen’s friends.I look back and have fond memories thanks to the film company “Crown International!”

Pic of the first attraction “Start Cheering” posted in photos. This picture had opened at the Rialto in Times Square on March 16, 1938. The NY Times said “Unsinkably buoyed by the comical intensity of Jimmy Durante, "Start Cheering,” at the Rialto, turns out to be one of the funniest of the year’s admittedly minor productions…

I remember seeing “Night of the living Dead” there. Had to be 1969. Also “Rocky”, “Let’s scare Jessica to death”, The Planet of the Apes. and “The new Centurions”. I believe my brother may have hidden in the trunk one time to reduce costs. Had a nice Playground there for us kiddies. That theater was featured in the Movie “The Lords of Flatbush” and I would not be surprised if it was actually shown there as well. Then they had the Flea Market there also.

Introductory comments up top might be updated to reflect exact opening date of August 10, 1938, and correct time of closure and demolition to 1979, sometime after the run of “The Exorcist” re-release as detailed above by KingBiscuits on January 16, 2010.

Although I grew up not far from Valley Stream, we didn’t do the drive-in much…but how I remember the few times we did!
“King Kong” (the 1976 version); a double bill of “Grizzly” and “Day of the Animals”, and best of all, a double-bill of “Star Wars” (the 1977 original, which was still in its original release at this time) and the 1953 version of “War of the Worlds”! I never did find out how they came up with that combo, but who cares! Seeing the Martian War Machines on that big, big screen was awesome!
(And, yes, I do have plenty of fond memories of the Tuesday and Thursday flea markets, too!)

These little guys spent a fortune buying TV ads for their films just to get theatres to book them. The theatres that failed to pay or paid late hurt them more than the competition from major studios. These exploitation titles kept many small theatres open during the dull months by filling empty seats, albeit with some really bad films. The ad campaigns cost more than the movies themselves so not paying them made their cash flow impossible to maintain. These deadbeat theatres were the same who complained about product shortages.

We sold out a 900 seat theatre in Miami Shores with “Beyond The Door” on opening weekend that had not been sold out since the fifties. A lady passed out during the film and had to be taken away by ambulance. That unplanned event made the film even more popular on the weekdays. By week two the place was empty.

A lot of theatre operators behaved that way back in the seventies. They paid the majors but screwed the independent distributors that didn’t have another film they wanted coming up.

Sometimes even the majors didn’t see their share for six months. Since product came out during summer and Christmas, the boxoffice receipts from one season paid for the previous one. Withholding prints was one way to get paid something.

“Beyond The Door” was a BIG drive-in hit.

A film publicist and filmmaker I knew named Donn Davison told me that Sumner was an “underhanded thief”, and he claimed he forced Sumner to pay rental fees for Beyond The Door ahead of sending Sumner the prints. He claimed that Sumner was notorious when it came to not paying up, and he had Sumner by the balls because the prints were reserved but Davison kept them locked up demanding cash up front. He didn’t release them until Sumner wired money to him the day before the film was to start. Davison said that “Sumner proves that crime pays”. Here’s a small part of the interview I did with Davison: http://www.cinefear.com/davison.html

The biggest attendance that I know of was for “The Dirty Dozen”. We put on an extra showing and it was held over for a week. When “Night of the Living Dead” was shown, folks returning from the snack bar walked like zombies and scared the hell out of those that were stoned. Good times.

Nice to see so many memories of the Sunrise Drive In. I worked there from 1967 until 1970. I started working during the day repairing the damage caused the previous evening; replacing speakers and heaters, re setting speaker poles, repairing the perimeter fencing, etc. All for $1.35 an hour! It paid the bills. The retired guys who cleaned the field burned the garbage in shopping carts they pushed around. They would find some money left in snack box trays and many other “interesting” items.

I switched to nights as a “field usher”. This position included directing cars, replacing defective speakers and heaters, and doing the charity collections. Yeah, that was me banging on your roof when you were occupied in the back seat.

Next was box office cashier, so you and I may have actually met! That was a great job as long as you didn’t mess up. Cars with one occupant were logged and the manager would visit the car in his golf cart later to see if any others had magically appeared. If so, out you go!

The folks that worked there were the roughest, toughest guys I’ve met till this day. Most worked heavy jobs on the Long Island Railroad during the day. To me, they were honest and kind and I’ll never forget them.

Mr. Scott. Lee Scott was the manager and ruled with an iron hand. The only time he smiled was when someone from Redstone Management paid a visit. He yelled, screamed, and was very arrogant. He DID run the place well and we did manage to have a good time working there.

If any of you folks have any questions, bring ‘em on or email me at

In Sumner Redstone’s biography he mentions running the concession stand here for his dad who owned the drive-in. It was the beginning of his interest in movies and real estate.