Billboard, March 20, 1954: “First drive-in for Bethlehem, Pa., has a May opening planned. It will be located near the Butztown city line. Harold Hirshberg, who operates the Palace Theater, Bethlehem, said the operation sponsored by a group of his associates will be built at a cost of $175,000 and will accommodate 900 cars. The drive-in will be erected on a 20-acre site purchased by the newly formed company, Bethlehem Amusement Corporation, of which Hirshberg is secretary. He said the local project will be the first outdoor theater in the country built exclusively for CinemaScope. Acreage will permit construction of long driveways, all modern equipment, a playground for children and a nursery.”
This is the first I’ve heard of this brand of shenanigans. Did this really happen elsewhere, or was it a Fort Worth thing?
Billboard, March 6, 1954: “A new menace has come to plague Texas drive-in operators. Its still the teen-agers who before made off with speakers. Now, according to Earl Powell, manager of Parkaire Drive-In, Fort Worth, the vogue is for youngsters to form a motorcade of about 20 cars and make a lightning-like charge on the drive-in. Just after the last show starts and theater personnel have left their posts, the motorcade pounces down on the drive-in and to speed around the theater, driving bumper-to-bumper, and spraying gravel into the windshields of cars viewing the film while keeping their horns blowing.”
Billboard, Jan. 30, 1954: “Jenson and Wilkerson, owners-operators of the Rhea Theater, Denver City, Tex., have purchased land on which they plan to construct a new drive-in theater.”
If that was a bluff, it looks like it worked.
Billboard, Feb, 27, 1954: “Bill Jenson and Reese Wilkerson have purchased the Mustang Drive-In, Denver City. Tex. Jenson owns the Rhea Theater there with Wilkerson as city manager.”
Billboard, Jan. 2, 1954: “Col. H. A. Cole has closed his drive-in for the season at Bonham, Tex., but has reopened the Elie (sic?) after a remodeling program.”
Outstanding catch, Kris4077! I just uploaded a 1950 USGS aerial for that spot which confirms it, south of 21st St about halfway between Fairlawn and Wanamaker.
The drive-in was still intact enough on Feb. 4, 2006 that a murdered woman was found in a storage building there. YourCentralValley.com wrote yesterday that the culprit had just been convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
In the July 22, 1988 article announcing that Salina’s 81 Drive-In would not reopen, the Hutchinson News wrote that Dickinson also owned a drive-in in Pittsburg that had closed. Perhaps the 69’s final shows were in 1987 as were the 81’s.
And yes, I would happily pay $5 for a good photo of this drive-in’s sign. :)
The Trails End was one of the few drive-ins that were in every Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list from the first in the 1950-51 edition to the last in 1988. Its first appearance in the Film Daily Year Book’s lists was 1951, so my guess would be a 1950 opening.
The closing date is even fuzzier. The drive-in looked operational in a 1981 aerial photo, and it was still included in a 1983 topo map, but the screen was gone in a 1991 aerial.
Boxoffice noted on Oct. 29, 1962 that 38-year-old Calvin A. Strowig was running as a Republican for the state House of Representatives. “Strowig and his brother Bob are partners in several theatres including the Plaza and Trail’s End Drive-In at Abilene and other houses in Oklahoma and Iowa.”
The April 6, 1966 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor, AKA the 1966 Theatre Catalog, had a full page on the Westgate. The photos have already been uploaded, and here’s some of the text:
The new 2,000 car Westgate Drive-In, a show place for drive-in entertainment in New Orleans, boasts a 135 ft. wide screen, distinctive sign, and six-lane boxoffice which allows easy traffic flow and spacious drives leading to well lighted lamp entrances. …
Illuminated aisles show the way to the impressive concession area, which uses colorful formica counters, wood paneling and wrought iron railings to create an attractive, French quarter mood.
Ballantyne’s Ed Nelson drew plans for the Westgate for Mrs. Stella Landaiche, owner. Local contractor was James Hoffa.
The April 6, 1966 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor, AKA the 1966 Theatre Catalog, gave the new Thunderbird a full page. The photos have already been posted here, and here’s some of the text:
Fox West Coast Theatres' new Thunderbird Drive-In represents an investment of approximately $600,000 in land and structures. Architext Gale Santocono of San Francisco drew the plans for the 1,182 car drive-in, located on Folson Boulevard at Sunrise Avenue, east of Rancho Cordova.
Its 74-ft. high screen tower has a special corrugated facing which curbs distortion at extreme side viewing angles. A chain link fence, with redwood fillers, is 22 ft. high to mask auto lights on the Boulevard. The entire ramp field, including driveways, is surfaced in asphalt paving meeting roadway standards.
More Starling hijinks reported by the March 29, 1950 issue of the Odessa (TX) American:
SAN ANGELO – (AP) Attorneys for a drive-in theater today appealed to county court two fines of $25 each imposed in corporation court Tuesday on charges of showing “Stromboli,” the film starring Ingrid Bergman.
A jury fined R. S. Starling, owner of the Starlite drive-in, $25 a day for the two days the picture was shown. He was fined for not having a censor board permit to show the film. Ava Smith, county probation officers and a censor board member, ruled the film was not to be shown.
Billboard, July 2, 1955: “The Renninger, Schuykill County, Pa., drive-in has opened on a six-day schedule. It is closed Thursdays, the date of the nearby weekly Schuykill Haven open market. Double bills are shown Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.”
Billboard, July 2, 1955: “The Ol-Worth Drive-In Theater opening at Olney, Tex., has been postponed because of wind damage, according to Billy Wilson, manager. The main structure has had to be torn down and will have to be rebuilt.”
The Island Valley Daily Bulletin ran the story of the sale on Oct. 31, 2019. According to that article, William Oldknow and Jack Anderson opened the Mission Drive-In, which had a capacity of 1350, on May 28, 1956. As was common for large drive-ins of the period, it had a 122x50-foot curved screen designed for CinemaScope. On the first night, the Mission showed the double feature Picnic and Star in the Dust.
In my book Drive-Ins of Route 66, I wrote that the Tascosa opened in May 1952. Looking back, I’m not sure exactly why I wrote that – probably a mention in a May or June 1952 trade magazine.
Anyway, here’s something new and different from the Aug. 16, 1952 issue of Billboard:
Operators of the Tascosa Drive-In Theater, Amarillo, Tex., W. O. Beardon and L. R. Doyal, were charged by the National Production Authority last week with “unlawfully” using copper wire in excess of authorized quantities to build the theater. One of the counts charged the theater operators with “false information regarding the amount of copper wire” used in its construction. Assistant General Counsel Robert Winn said it was the first time NPA has lodged any charges of alleged violations against anyone in Texas.
The Film Daily Year Book first included this as Motor-In in its 1948 edition. It became the Stockton Motor Movies in 1949. The Motion Picture Almanac series included the Motor Movies through its 1982 edition, and a 1982 aerial photo showed it in good shape, but the drive-in fell off the 1983 list.
I agree with the commenters above that the address should be 4000 S. El Dorado or something close to it.
A March 2019 Google Street View shows an empty, grassy field where the Motor Movies once stood.
The Star-Vue’s last appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists was the 1979 edition. Its ramps were run-down but intact in a 1983 aerial photo, but the industrial park was in its place in a 1993 aerial. (Although a 1999 (!) topo map still included it – another reason to stay skeptical of topo maps.)
Salida’s Motor-In’s first appearance in the Film Daily Year Book’s drive-in lists was the 1949 edition. It was the Motor-In in the 1948-49 Theatre Catalog, but the next edition called it the Modesto Motor In, capacity 443, owned by the Lippert circuit. By 1952, the Catalog called it the Modesto D. I., capacity 573. (In the 1955-56 edition, the Catalog gave up and just called it Drive In.)
The first Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list for the 1950-51 book included the Motor-In, capacity 400. It remained the Motor-In in the MPA, though the capacity grew to 602 beginning in 1960. The MPA listed the Motor-In in 1970 but not in its 1972 edition, a rare update for that period.
For an address, you could use 4710 Kiernan Ct, which is adjacent to the back half of the Motor-In’s old viewing field. According to a March 2019 Google Street View, that field was/is a vacant lot for sale.
Billboard, April 10, 1954: “The Smith Drive-In Theater has been opened at Carthage. Tex., by Seth and Wilton Smith. co-owners.”
Billboard, March 20, 1954: “First drive-in for Bethlehem, Pa., has a May opening planned. It will be located near the Butztown city line. Harold Hirshberg, who operates the Palace Theater, Bethlehem, said the operation sponsored by a group of his associates will be built at a cost of $175,000 and will accommodate 900 cars. The drive-in will be erected on a 20-acre site purchased by the newly formed company, Bethlehem Amusement Corporation, of which Hirshberg is secretary. He said the local project will be the first outdoor theater in the country built exclusively for CinemaScope. Acreage will permit construction of long driveways, all modern equipment, a playground for children and a nursery.”
This is the first I’ve heard of this brand of shenanigans. Did this really happen elsewhere, or was it a Fort Worth thing?
Billboard, March 6, 1954: “A new menace has come to plague Texas drive-in operators. Its still the teen-agers who before made off with speakers. Now, according to Earl Powell, manager of Parkaire Drive-In, Fort Worth, the vogue is for youngsters to form a motorcade of about 20 cars and make a lightning-like charge on the drive-in. Just after the last show starts and theater personnel have left their posts, the motorcade pounces down on the drive-in and to speed around the theater, driving bumper-to-bumper, and spraying gravel into the windshields of cars viewing the film while keeping their horns blowing.”
Billboard, Jan. 30, 1954: “Jenson and Wilkerson, owners-operators of the Rhea Theater, Denver City, Tex., have purchased land on which they plan to construct a new drive-in theater.”
If that was a bluff, it looks like it worked.
Billboard, Feb, 27, 1954: “Bill Jenson and Reese Wilkerson have purchased the Mustang Drive-In, Denver City. Tex. Jenson owns the Rhea Theater there with Wilkerson as city manager.”
Billboard, Jan. 30, 1954: “Humberto Gonzales has opened a drive-in theater at Zapata, Tex.”
Sounds like the Elite reopened for a while.
Billboard, Jan. 2, 1954: “Col. H. A. Cole has closed his drive-in for the season at Bonham, Tex., but has reopened the Elie (sic?) after a remodeling program.”
Billboard, Jan. 2, 1954: “Gene Nelson is manager of the new Albany (Tex.) Drive-In.”
Outstanding catch, Kris4077! I just uploaded a 1950 USGS aerial for that spot which confirms it, south of 21st St about halfway between Fairlawn and Wanamaker.
The drive-in was still intact enough on Feb. 4, 2006 that a murdered woman was found in a storage building there. YourCentralValley.com wrote yesterday that the culprit had just been convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
In the July 22, 1988 article announcing that Salina’s 81 Drive-In would not reopen, the Hutchinson News wrote that Dickinson also owned a drive-in in Pittsburg that had closed. Perhaps the 69’s final shows were in 1987 as were the 81’s.
And yes, I would happily pay $5 for a good photo of this drive-in’s sign. :)
In the July 22, 1988 article announcing that the 81 would not reopen, the Hutchinson News wrote that the drive-in “first opened in the late 1940s”.
The Trails End was one of the few drive-ins that were in every Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list from the first in the 1950-51 edition to the last in 1988. Its first appearance in the Film Daily Year Book’s lists was 1951, so my guess would be a 1950 opening.
The closing date is even fuzzier. The drive-in looked operational in a 1981 aerial photo, and it was still included in a 1983 topo map, but the screen was gone in a 1991 aerial.
Boxoffice noted on Oct. 29, 1962 that 38-year-old Calvin A. Strowig was running as a Republican for the state House of Representatives. “Strowig and his brother Bob are partners in several theatres including the Plaza and Trail’s End Drive-In at Abilene and other houses in Oklahoma and Iowa.”
The April 6, 1966 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor, AKA the 1966 Theatre Catalog, had a full page on the Westgate. The photos have already been uploaded, and here’s some of the text:
The new 2,000 car Westgate Drive-In, a show place for drive-in entertainment in New Orleans, boasts a 135 ft. wide screen, distinctive sign, and six-lane boxoffice which allows easy traffic flow and spacious drives leading to well lighted lamp entrances. …
Illuminated aisles show the way to the impressive concession area, which uses colorful formica counters, wood paneling and wrought iron railings to create an attractive, French quarter mood.
Ballantyne’s Ed Nelson drew plans for the Westgate for Mrs. Stella Landaiche, owner. Local contractor was James Hoffa.
The April 6, 1966 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor, AKA the 1966 Theatre Catalog, gave the new Thunderbird a full page. The photos have already been posted here, and here’s some of the text:
Fox West Coast Theatres' new Thunderbird Drive-In represents an investment of approximately $600,000 in land and structures. Architext Gale Santocono of San Francisco drew the plans for the 1,182 car drive-in, located on Folson Boulevard at Sunrise Avenue, east of Rancho Cordova.
Its 74-ft. high screen tower has a special corrugated facing which curbs distortion at extreme side viewing angles. A chain link fence, with redwood fillers, is 22 ft. high to mask auto lights on the Boulevard. The entire ramp field, including driveways, is surfaced in asphalt paving meeting roadway standards.
Billboard, June 7, 1952: “New Hi Ho Drive-In Theater has been opened at Spur, Tex., by J. D. McCain.”
More Starling hijinks reported by the March 29, 1950 issue of the Odessa (TX) American:
SAN ANGELO – (AP) Attorneys for a drive-in theater today appealed to county court two fines of $25 each imposed in corporation court Tuesday on charges of showing “Stromboli,” the film starring Ingrid Bergman.
A jury fined R. S. Starling, owner of the Starlite drive-in, $25 a day for the two days the picture was shown. He was fined for not having a censor board permit to show the film. Ava Smith, county probation officers and a censor board member, ruled the film was not to be shown.
Billboard, July 2, 1955: “The Renninger, Schuykill County, Pa., drive-in has opened on a six-day schedule. It is closed Thursdays, the date of the nearby weekly Schuykill Haven open market. Double bills are shown Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.”
Billboard, July 2, 1955: “The Ol-Worth Drive-In Theater opening at Olney, Tex., has been postponed because of wind damage, according to Billy Wilson, manager. The main structure has had to be torn down and will have to be rebuilt.”
The Island Valley Daily Bulletin ran the story of the sale on Oct. 31, 2019. According to that article, William Oldknow and Jack Anderson opened the Mission Drive-In, which had a capacity of 1350, on May 28, 1956. As was common for large drive-ins of the period, it had a 122x50-foot curved screen designed for CinemaScope. On the first night, the Mission showed the double feature Picnic and Star in the Dust.
Probably the origin story, from the Aug. 16, 1952 issue of Billboard:
Frank Love Jr., manager of the Kermit Theaters, Kermit, Tex., announces that construction will start there soon on a 500-car capacity drive-in.
In my book Drive-Ins of Route 66, I wrote that the Tascosa opened in May 1952. Looking back, I’m not sure exactly why I wrote that – probably a mention in a May or June 1952 trade magazine.
Anyway, here’s something new and different from the Aug. 16, 1952 issue of Billboard:
Operators of the Tascosa Drive-In Theater, Amarillo, Tex., W. O. Beardon and L. R. Doyal, were charged by the National Production Authority last week with “unlawfully” using copper wire in excess of authorized quantities to build the theater. One of the counts charged the theater operators with “false information regarding the amount of copper wire” used in its construction. Assistant General Counsel Robert Winn said it was the first time NPA has lodged any charges of alleged violations against anyone in Texas.
The Film Daily Year Book first included this as Motor-In in its 1948 edition. It became the Stockton Motor Movies in 1949. The Motion Picture Almanac series included the Motor Movies through its 1982 edition, and a 1982 aerial photo showed it in good shape, but the drive-in fell off the 1983 list.
I agree with the commenters above that the address should be 4000 S. El Dorado or something close to it.
A March 2019 Google Street View shows an empty, grassy field where the Motor Movies once stood.
The Star-Vue’s last appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists was the 1979 edition. Its ramps were run-down but intact in a 1983 aerial photo, but the industrial park was in its place in a 1993 aerial. (Although a 1999 (!) topo map still included it – another reason to stay skeptical of topo maps.)
The drive-in appeared to be intact in a 1982 aerial photo, but a 1983 aerial showed construction of the shopping center underway.
Salida’s Motor-In’s first appearance in the Film Daily Year Book’s drive-in lists was the 1949 edition. It was the Motor-In in the 1948-49 Theatre Catalog, but the next edition called it the Modesto Motor In, capacity 443, owned by the Lippert circuit. By 1952, the Catalog called it the Modesto D. I., capacity 573. (In the 1955-56 edition, the Catalog gave up and just called it Drive In.)
The first Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list for the 1950-51 book included the Motor-In, capacity 400. It remained the Motor-In in the MPA, though the capacity grew to 602 beginning in 1960. The MPA listed the Motor-In in 1970 but not in its 1972 edition, a rare update for that period.
For an address, you could use 4710 Kiernan Ct, which is adjacent to the back half of the Motor-In’s old viewing field. According to a March 2019 Google Street View, that field was/is a vacant lot for sale.