Comments from MichaelKilgore

The Oct. 19, 1957 issue of BoxOffice gave us an approximate opening date and the reason for the drive-in’s first name:

“SPENCER, IND. – Charles E. and Charles P. Records of Bloomington, Ind., have opened the Records Drive-In at the junction of state roads 43 and 67 five miles north of here. The new drive-in accommodates more than 400 cars, has an all-steel panoramic screen.”

A 2013 article in Indianapolis Monthly told the story of Jon Walker, who bought the old Records “40 years ago” (1973?) and changed its name “in honor of the state highway”.

The drive-in’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac’s drive-in list was the 1960 edition, capacity 500, owner “Phil Records by Pete Fortune”. In 1962, it was Phil Records by Indianapolis Co-op, and the 1963-66 MPAs listed Ora Sparks in charge.

The 1976 MPA still called it the Records, but the MPA was mostly on autopilot during 1967-76. The 1977-79 MPAs showed it as the Cinema 67, capacity 350, owner B. Dennis. For 1980-82, that switched to J. Walker; the 1983-88 editions listed W. Reed. I’d guess he was related to Ron Reed, who co-owned Spencer’s indoor theater, the Tivoli, with “John” Walker.

Citation for this really nifty, possibly copyrighted photo:

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Star-Vu Drive-in Theatre, Longmont, Colorado.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/aab9d7af-0d1f-8301-e040-e00a18064189

BoxOffice reported that the Winchester opened in 1960. It cost $450,000 to build and was owned even then by Syufy Enterprises.

While it’s true that the Carena has a Gering postal address, municipal boundaries show that it is completely within Terrytown. Which is to be expected; Terry Carpenter founded the drive-in and also incorporated the village and named it for himself.

From the Oct. 27, 1956 Motion Picture Herald:

W. R. Palmer, owner of the Palmer News Company, has purchased the stock of Herbert Mack in the Chief drive-in theatre, Topeka, Kan. Palmer, Mack and the late Lawrence Breuninger had owned the stock since it was opened in 1952. The Chief corporation now is owned entirely by the Palmer family. Palmer said he planned no change in policy or operation at this time.

A quick Wikipedia search revealed that Twentynine Palms was named by surveyor Col. Henry Washington who saw the trees there. A quick Google search turned up a page all about the history of William Q. “Bill” Smith’s ranch.

The Motion Picture Herald of Sept. 8, 1956 showed that the Smith’s Ranch did exist already. Its note: “The owners of the Smith Ranch Dr.-In at Twentynine Palms, Mr. and Mrs. Art Clemens, plan to open a new drive-in in Kingman, Ariz.” Not sure whether that became the Sage there, which opened just a couple of weeks after that note and was owned by the Lang Theater Corp.

From the June 23, 1956 Motion Picture Herald:

The Isis theatre and Hilltop drive-in at Marysville, Kan., formerly owned by Liberty Theatre Co. and now operated by Fox-Midwest, are in the hands of a receiver. The courts appointed R. L. Helvering to operate them temporarily.

Followed by the July 7, 1956 issue:

It was published inadvertently in the June 23 issue of the Herald that Fox Midwest operated the Isis theatre and Hilltop drive-in, Marysville, Kan.

From the July 7, 1956 Motion Picture Herald:

Gibralter Enterprises has closed the Rex, Casper, Wyo., the Motorena drive-in, Greeley, Colo., and has placed the Grove, Gering, Neb., on one change a week – weekends.

This drive-in opened in late June or early July 1956, per a note in the July 7, 1956 Motion Picture Herald: “William Claiborne has opened his new Vista View drive-in, with 650-car capacity, at Security, Colo., near Colorado Springs.”

There’s a nice paragraph about the Pine Hill in the June 9, 1956 Motion Picture Herald, under the headline “Maude and Jeff’s Movie Chatter Is Always Okay”:

That’s mild comment, but it fits as a headline, as we’ve said it before in various ways. But Jeff Jefferis, and his helpmate, Maudie, put more human relations into their program copy than you find in bound volumes of other stuff. We have never yet visited the Pine Hill Drive-In at Piedmont, Mo., but we feel like an old friend, at this distance, so folks who really live there must be members of a big, happy family. One thing for sure – and that is that Maude and Jeff are always looking out for the family trade, and making them feel at home, which is the best way to get them out to the movies. He says, it seems as if he spends the best part of his life either writing this monthly chatter or addressing movie calendars by the bushel. And he says further – he doesn’t have to apologize for a single one of the attractions for June – there isn’t a single “dawg” on the entire list! Organ concerts are a regular feature, and he believes the Pine Hill is the only drive-in theatre in Missouri with a Hammond organ.

Silly little note from the April 21, 1956 Motion Picture Herald:

Some vandal has shot out the middle letters in the sign for the Kissimmee Drive-in theatre, so it now reads “Kiss Mee” – which apparently doesn’t hurt business very much or there would be rapid repairs made.

The saga continued. From the Apr. 21, 1956 Motion Picture Herald:

Merf Evans, manager of the Denham, has formed A-Best-Drive-In, Inc., and the company has leased the closed Wadsworth, a 1,000-car drive-in, in a Denver suburb, for 10 years. Terms of the lease are for nine per cent of ticket sales, five per cent of concession income, and 25 per cent of net profits before income taxes. Evans is president of the company and will be managing director.