That must have been some screen mural. A May 10, 2000 editorial in the Albuquerque Journal called it “some of the state’s best neon, … the giant, dancing flamenco couple on East Central’s now-gone Terrace Drive-In.”
An Oct. 28, 1995 Journal editorial reminisced, “For many small children in Albuquerque in the 1950s, one of the city’s most beautiful sights was the 92-foot-high, neon dancing lady at the Terrace Drive-In entrance. There was plenty of time to study her swirling, glowing skirt.”
A Feb. 26, 1984 Journal story wrote, “a Spanish dancer’s ruffled neon skirts swirled nightly behind the big screen of the Terrace Drive-In Theater.”
And a July 19, 1981 Journal story might have been the highest praise of all. “And between 1951 and June 1980, there was a queen of the (neon) tubes, an empress of electricity who presided over this phosphorescent firmament. She stood some 70 feet high, and nearly 50 feet wide when she flapped her arms. She glowed in every basic color. She was the Spanish dancing lady who sashayed her ruffled red-and-blue skirt above generations of Albuquerqueans, the neon symbol of the Terrace Drive-In.”
Even earlier! That photo is included in the Roll-a-Grill ad in the Oct. 10, 1953 issue of Motion Picture Herald. It’s probably in the public domain by now.
That photo is from The Amarillo Globe-Times of April 22, 1948, in a story explaining that the Trail’s opening had been delayed by heavy rains at the wrong time.
The Oklahoma Route 66 tourist guide that I picked up while passing through says that’s the Guardian of the Mother Road Mural, designed by Tulsa-based Rick Sinnett. The bird is a scissor-tailed flycatcher, the Oklahoma state bird.
This photo was also used in Lynne Rostochil’s essay on the Founders District at OKCMod.com.
Rather than indicate credits for each of the article’s many photos, they’re lumped together at the end: “Photo credits:
Vonnee Gregg/Curtis Burga collection; OKC Talk; Oklahoma History Center;
OPUBCO Collection – OHC;
Allison collection – Retro Metro OKC;
Metropolitan Library System – Oklahoma City collection;
Fritzler collection;
Isaac Harper;
Drake Sorey collection;
Googlemaps” So the answer’s in there somewhere.
The July 1964 issue of International Projectionist had an article with details of the workings of the system, followed by this note: “Local 423 in August (1963?) signed its first contract with the Circle Drive-In Theatre. Under terms of the one-year agreement, some concessions were made because the project is experimental. The projectionist spends an average of 15 minutes per day checking the mirrors for alignment.”
Hey, moviesjs9144! I would like to get your permission to use a couple of the photos you’ve uploaded in my upcoming book. Could you please drop me an email at mkilgore@carload.com?
I don’t have a good closing date for the Grande except for what I read here on CT. USGS aerials showed in active in March 1980. The Motion Picture Almanac listed it through its final drive-in list in 1988, which means almost nothing. The MPA said it was owned by Eli Schwartz in 1955-66, Grande Invs. in 1977-82, and J. Jaeger in 1983-88. The ownership change in 1983 suggests it was open at least that long. A 1996 aerial showed the Grande dismantled by then.
Separately, Myron S. Woodcock’s obituary said he “owned and operated the Berwan Theatre and the Grande Drive-In, at Sullivan”.
A small Grand Opening ad for the Grande ran in the Franklin County Tribune (Union MO) on Aug. 22, 1952. The trade magazine The Exhibitor chimed in on Sept. 3 to say “In Sullivan, Mo., the Grande Drive-In has been opened by A. Schwartz, who also owns and operates the Grande Cafe and the Grande Tourist Court. His son, Eli Schwartz, is manager.”
But the local Sullivan Tri-County News, which should have had the best knowledge of the place, wrote that the Grande Drive-In finally opened on Sept. 10, 1952. I’ve uploaded the Grand Opening ad from the Sullivan Tri-County News of the Thursday before and checked the following week to see a normal ad for the Grande – no mention of any further delays.
The News' Sept. 4 front page story about the Grande said that Mr. A. Schwartz was the owner and E. Schwartz was the manager. The screen tower was 60 feet high, and there were “individual car speakers at each of the 300 parking stands.”
I found the answer to that motor court. Sure enough, it was the New Grande Courts Motor Hotel, built in 1949 by Abe Schwartz. (Postcard here.) Since he owned both, I’ll bet that guests on the west side could see the movie.
The New Grande Courts later became the Hitching Post Motel, then the Family Motor Inn, and as of this writing, it’s a Motel 6.
Found it! Something looking very much like a defunct drive-in sat just where the auction ad described it. The drive-in was pretty obvious in a 1993 aerial, and you can still see the property outline today at what Google Maps calls an Unnamed Road about a half mile north of Middleton / Thompson West Road on the east side of US 27 just a bit south of the Colquitt city limits. The closest address that I could generate on Google Maps was 824 Martha Berry Highway, Colquitt, GA.
As JAlex’s comment indicated, the Broadway was planning to open with The Man Behind the Gun and Sabre Jet, but it didn’t actually open until a few days later when Return to Paradise and 99 River Street were booked.
That fourth feature really should have had something to do with juniors, but my quick search of movie titles before 1981 turned up empty. Any nominees?
I found the true Grand Opening ad in the Rockford Morning Star, indicating that it opened May 29, 1948. The opening program was Hold That Blonde! starring Veronica Lake, two cartoons, and the short Unusual Occupations.
More notes: “The River Lane Drive-In in Rockford, Ill., has been opened by the Riverlane Amusement Co. The company is controlled by the Schermer family of St. Louis.” —BoxOffice, June 26, 1948.
The 1948-49 Theatre Catalog listed the River Lane Outdoor, Highway 173, capacity 650, Exec: Manne Shermer, Riverlane Amusement Corp. For the 1952-56 Catalogs, the Capacity had gone up to 690 and the Riverlane exec had changed to Bill Dubinsky.
In 1963, Broadway Drive-In Theatre, Inc. lost a lawsuit against the US regarding taxes collected in 1955-57. The full decision, on Leagle, and the part I find most interesting is the list of corporation members:
A. R. Parker, Pres. & Treas., 120 shares, 24%
Edward E. Bischoff, 1st Vice Pres., 120 shares, 24%
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog and all Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list appearances (1956-67) for the Broadway list a capacity of 800, owner A. R. Parker.
Starting in December 1954 and continuing for at least a year, the Broadway hosted a shuttle for folks who wanted to park there and shop downtown. It cost 10 cents to park, 35 cents for the round-trip fare.
The Oct. 4, 1961 St. Louis Post-Dispatch said that A. Ray Parker, mayor of Brentwood, “divides his working day between the mayor’s job and management of an outdoor motion picture theater which he owns”. He had headed six corporations owning movie theaters, but only one was active at the time of the article, presumably the one with the Broadway.
From the Motion Picture Exhibitor, July 1, 1959: “Construction work is being pushed on the new Thunderbird Drive-In (in St. Louis), which is being built by the Jablonow-Komm Theatres.”
The follow-up on July 15, 1959: “The Thunderbird Drive-In, with accommodations for almost 900 cars, opened.”
The Thunderbird (finally) debuted in the Motion Picture Almanac in the 1963 edition, capacity 800, owner Louis Jablonow. It stayed that way through 1966, then the MPA didn’t list owners in 1967-76. In 1977, the Thunderbird’s owner was Mid-America Theatres. And even though we have a better closing date, the MPA continued to list the Thunderbird through 1979. Sigh!
Looks like this opened as the Comet, the name mentioned in that 1956 legal spat, and the opening date was in 1952.
The 1952 Theatre Catalog lists the Comet, capacity 564, owned by Steve Bennis. The 1955-56 Catalog dropped the capacity to 562 and changed the Exec names to the names from the legal tussle.
The Motion Picture Almanac shows the Comet in Freeport, capacity 400, owned by Steve Bennis Circuit, beginning in the 1952-53 edition and continuing through 1966. By 1969, the MPA had switched the drive-in’s name to Bennis.
From beginning? to end, notes from the Rockford IL newspapers.
On March 4, 1952, the Morning Star wrote, “An 11-acre tract west of Freeport at the end of Gypsy lane has been purchased by William Bennis, general manager of Bennis Theaters, for a drive-in theater … The plot is along U S. highway 20 and just east of the federal housing project.”
On April 18, 1956, the Morning Star wrote that some folks sued the Freeport Drive-In Theater corporation over hogging the first and second run movies. On May 24, it reported that William and Dorothy Bennis asked the court to appoint a receiver for the drive-in, with many of the same names involved.
The April 28, 1981 Register Star referred to the site as “the former Bennis Drive-in Theater location”.
On Aug. 12, 1982 the Register Star reported that drive-in owner Anthony Bennis was one of the investors in the shopping center that would replace the Bennis Drive-In Theatre. Groundbreaking was expected on Oct. 1 that year.
Looks like the second screen was added in May 1979. The Bel-Air’s listings in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had only one program through May 3, 1979 but listed two of them on May 10, 1979.
The Lark Theatre closed as a movie theater in early 1954, based on a note in the March 13, 1954 issue of BoxOffice. It took out a large display ad in the Brazil Times to explain “Why the Lark Theatre Is Closing,” blaming TV and changes in film production.
That must have been some screen mural. A May 10, 2000 editorial in the Albuquerque Journal called it “some of the state’s best neon, … the giant, dancing flamenco couple on East Central’s now-gone Terrace Drive-In.”
An Oct. 28, 1995 Journal editorial reminisced, “For many small children in Albuquerque in the 1950s, one of the city’s most beautiful sights was the 92-foot-high, neon dancing lady at the Terrace Drive-In entrance. There was plenty of time to study her swirling, glowing skirt.”
A Feb. 26, 1984 Journal story wrote, “a Spanish dancer’s ruffled neon skirts swirled nightly behind the big screen of the Terrace Drive-In Theater.”
And a July 19, 1981 Journal story might have been the highest praise of all. “And between 1951 and June 1980, there was a queen of the (neon) tubes, an empress of electricity who presided over this phosphorescent firmament. She stood some 70 feet high, and nearly 50 feet wide when she flapped her arms. She glowed in every basic color. She was the Spanish dancing lady who sashayed her ruffled red-and-blue skirt above generations of Albuquerqueans, the neon symbol of the Terrace Drive-In.”
Even earlier! That photo is included in the Roll-a-Grill ad in the Oct. 10, 1953 issue of Motion Picture Herald. It’s probably in the public domain by now.
That photo is from The Amarillo Globe-Times of April 22, 1948, in a story explaining that the Trail’s opening had been delayed by heavy rains at the wrong time.
The Oklahoma Route 66 tourist guide that I picked up while passing through says that’s the Guardian of the Mother Road Mural, designed by Tulsa-based Rick Sinnett. The bird is a scissor-tailed flycatcher, the Oklahoma state bird.
This photo was also used in Lynne Rostochil’s essay on the Founders District at OKCMod.com.
Rather than indicate credits for each of the article’s many photos, they’re lumped together at the end: “Photo credits: Vonnee Gregg/Curtis Burga collection; OKC Talk; Oklahoma History Center; OPUBCO Collection – OHC; Allison collection – Retro Metro OKC; Metropolitan Library System – Oklahoma City collection; Fritzler collection; Isaac Harper; Drake Sorey collection; Googlemaps” So the answer’s in there somewhere.
Currently listed for a mere $290,000. Some places you can’t buy a house at that price.
Then again, it is a fixer-upper.
The July 1964 issue of International Projectionist had an article with details of the workings of the system, followed by this note: “Local 423 in August (1963?) signed its first contract with the Circle Drive-In Theatre. Under terms of the one-year agreement, some concessions were made because the project is experimental. The projectionist spends an average of 15 minutes per day checking the mirrors for alignment.”
Hey, moviesjs9144! I would like to get your permission to use a couple of the photos you’ve uploaded in my upcoming book. Could you please drop me an email at mkil
I don’t have a good closing date for the Grande except for what I read here on CT. USGS aerials showed in active in March 1980. The Motion Picture Almanac listed it through its final drive-in list in 1988, which means almost nothing. The MPA said it was owned by Eli Schwartz in 1955-66, Grande Invs. in 1977-82, and J. Jaeger in 1983-88. The ownership change in 1983 suggests it was open at least that long. A 1996 aerial showed the Grande dismantled by then.
Separately, Myron S. Woodcock’s obituary said he “owned and operated the Berwan Theatre and the Grande Drive-In, at Sullivan”.
A small Grand Opening ad for the Grande ran in the Franklin County Tribune (Union MO) on Aug. 22, 1952. The trade magazine The Exhibitor chimed in on Sept. 3 to say “In Sullivan, Mo., the Grande Drive-In has been opened by A. Schwartz, who also owns and operates the Grande Cafe and the Grande Tourist Court. His son, Eli Schwartz, is manager.”
But the local Sullivan Tri-County News, which should have had the best knowledge of the place, wrote that the Grande Drive-In finally opened on Sept. 10, 1952. I’ve uploaded the Grand Opening ad from the Sullivan Tri-County News of the Thursday before and checked the following week to see a normal ad for the Grande – no mention of any further delays.
The News' Sept. 4 front page story about the Grande said that Mr. A. Schwartz was the owner and E. Schwartz was the manager. The screen tower was 60 feet high, and there were “individual car speakers at each of the 300 parking stands.”
I found the answer to that motor court. Sure enough, it was the New Grande Courts Motor Hotel, built in 1949 by Abe Schwartz. (Postcard here.) Since he owned both, I’ll bet that guests on the west side could see the movie.
The New Grande Courts later became the Hitching Post Motel, then the Family Motor Inn, and as of this writing, it’s a Motel 6.
Photographer Quinta Scott shows this photo on her page of Route 66 Photos of Missouri.
To amplify JAlex’s comment, the I-44’s final ad in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was Sunday, Sept. 23, 1984.
The Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists always had the I-44’s capacity at 200 cars.
Found it! Something looking very much like a defunct drive-in sat just where the auction ad described it. The drive-in was pretty obvious in a 1993 aerial, and you can still see the property outline today at what Google Maps calls an Unnamed Road about a half mile north of Middleton / Thompson West Road on the east side of US 27 just a bit south of the Colquitt city limits. The closest address that I could generate on Google Maps was 824 Martha Berry Highway, Colquitt, GA.
As JAlex’s comment indicated, the Broadway was planning to open with The Man Behind the Gun and Sabre Jet, but it didn’t actually open until a few days later when Return to Paradise and 99 River Street were booked.
That fourth feature really should have had something to do with juniors, but my quick search of movie titles before 1981 turned up empty. Any nominees?
I found the true Grand Opening ad in the Rockford Morning Star, indicating that it opened May 29, 1948. The opening program was Hold That Blonde! starring Veronica Lake, two cartoons, and the short Unusual Occupations.
More notes: “The River Lane Drive-In in Rockford, Ill., has been opened by the Riverlane Amusement Co. The company is controlled by the Schermer family of St. Louis.” —BoxOffice, June 26, 1948.
The 1948-49 Theatre Catalog listed the River Lane Outdoor, Highway 173, capacity 650, Exec: Manne Shermer, Riverlane Amusement Corp. For the 1952-56 Catalogs, the Capacity had gone up to 690 and the Riverlane exec had changed to Bill Dubinsky.
In 1963, Broadway Drive-In Theatre, Inc. lost a lawsuit against the US regarding taxes collected in 1955-57. The full decision, on Leagle, and the part I find most interesting is the list of corporation members:
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog and all Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list appearances (1956-67) for the Broadway list a capacity of 800, owner A. R. Parker.
Starting in December 1954 and continuing for at least a year, the Broadway hosted a shuttle for folks who wanted to park there and shop downtown. It cost 10 cents to park, 35 cents for the round-trip fare.
The Oct. 4, 1961 St. Louis Post-Dispatch said that A. Ray Parker, mayor of Brentwood, “divides his working day between the mayor’s job and management of an outdoor motion picture theater which he owns”. He had headed six corporations owning movie theaters, but only one was active at the time of the article, presumably the one with the Broadway.
From the Motion Picture Exhibitor, July 1, 1959: “Construction work is being pushed on the new Thunderbird Drive-In (in St. Louis), which is being built by the Jablonow-Komm Theatres.”
The follow-up on July 15, 1959: “The Thunderbird Drive-In, with accommodations for almost 900 cars, opened.”
The Thunderbird (finally) debuted in the Motion Picture Almanac in the 1963 edition, capacity 800, owner Louis Jablonow. It stayed that way through 1966, then the MPA didn’t list owners in 1967-76. In 1977, the Thunderbird’s owner was Mid-America Theatres. And even though we have a better closing date, the MPA continued to list the Thunderbird through 1979. Sigh!
Looks like this opened as the Comet, the name mentioned in that 1956 legal spat, and the opening date was in 1952.
The 1952 Theatre Catalog lists the Comet, capacity 564, owned by Steve Bennis. The 1955-56 Catalog dropped the capacity to 562 and changed the Exec names to the names from the legal tussle.
The Motion Picture Almanac shows the Comet in Freeport, capacity 400, owned by Steve Bennis Circuit, beginning in the 1952-53 edition and continuing through 1966. By 1969, the MPA had switched the drive-in’s name to Bennis.
From beginning? to end, notes from the Rockford IL newspapers.
On March 4, 1952, the Morning Star wrote, “An 11-acre tract west of Freeport at the end of Gypsy lane has been purchased by William Bennis, general manager of Bennis Theaters, for a drive-in theater … The plot is along U S. highway 20 and just east of the federal housing project.”
On April 18, 1956, the Morning Star wrote that some folks sued the Freeport Drive-In Theater corporation over hogging the first and second run movies. On May 24, it reported that William and Dorothy Bennis asked the court to appoint a receiver for the drive-in, with many of the same names involved.
The April 28, 1981 Register Star referred to the site as “the former Bennis Drive-in Theater location”.
On Aug. 12, 1982 the Register Star reported that drive-in owner Anthony Bennis was one of the investors in the shopping center that would replace the Bennis Drive-In Theatre. Groundbreaking was expected on Oct. 1 that year.
Looks like the second screen was added in May 1979. The Bel-Air’s listings in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had only one program through May 3, 1979 but listed two of them on May 10, 1979.
The Lark Theatre closed as a movie theater in early 1954, based on a note in the March 13, 1954 issue of BoxOffice. It took out a large display ad in the Brazil Times to explain “Why the Lark Theatre Is Closing,” blaming TV and changes in film production.