The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice explained why the almost-complete drive-in didn’t open that year:
“ROLLA, MO. – Rowe Carney, head of R. E. Carney Theatres, Harry Blunt and associates have purchased ground between new Highway 66 and old 66 as the site for a 500-car drive-in. They hope to have it ready for operation early next spring.
“Previously, Carney contemplated locating the new drive-in on a site north of the Pennant hotel. Under the new arrangement, the firm will abandon the smaller drive-in, which was being constructed by Cecil and Roscoe Hopkins of the Hopkins Motor Sales Co., Lebanon, Mo., which they purchased a few weeks ago. Rolla thus will have only one drive-in, instead of two competing ones. The larger one planned by Carney and his associates will cost about $100,000.”
Then a front-page story in the Rolla Daily Herald on Aug. 18, 1950 helped explain why it didn’t open earlier that year:
“Recent heavy rains have slowed down the work on the new Rolla Drive-in Theater being constructed on Highway 66 between Rolla and Northwye by Rowe Carney.
“The drive-in, located on the south side of the highway in a natural amphitheatre, was smoothed down, and workmen were ready to apply gravel on the "floor,” but the rains made several ditches which will have to be filled before the gravel is spread."
Carney said he still expected to open the Rolla “shortly after Sept. 1.” The drive-in was to include “a big playpen for the kiddies” and chairs for patrons who didn’t want to sit in their cars.
Another note from the Sept. 3, 1949 BoxOffice, “Word comes from Lovington, Ill., that the drive-in planned for that community will operate with 16mm films. Sam Randall is said to be the owner. The little drive-in at Brussels also uses 16mm pictures.”
From the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice, “Hurdis E. Boyd hopes to open his 500-car drive-in at Kennett, Mo., within the next two weeks. The theatre has been equipped by Joe Hornstein, Inc. Boyd also is owner of the local Coca-Cola Co.”
And then it happened, as written in the Sept. 10 issue. “The 500-car Tommie’s Drive-In at Kennett, operated by H. E. Boyd, opened.”
“September 8 (1949) was the opening date for the Quincy Drive-In at West Quincy, Mo. World Theatrical Enterprises of St. Louis is the owner.” – BoxOffice, Sept. 10, 1949
The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice offered an unusually accurate prediction:
“A new drive-in is under construction at McAllen, and will be known as the Palmer (sic) Drive-In. It will accommodate 400 cars and Richard Bull, owner, formerly of Big Spring, plans to open the theatre September 15.”
ATLANTIC, IOWA—The Corral, Atlantic’s drive-in, constructed by the Pioneer Theatre Co. of Minneapolis, opened its gates recently with Mayor Robert Wilburn officiating. The mayor cut the tapes and purchased the first ticket. The Pioneer company also operates the Atlantic and Grand theatres here.
The theatre has a western motif with rustic gateway, sapling fences and buildings and furnishings of natural wood. Attendants wear jeans, boots, western shirts and hats. At the opening, the Atlantic Saddle club, guests of the theatre, paraded on horseback. After the parade, the horses were tethered at a log hitching rack. Admission charge to the Corral is 50 cents for adults: children free.
The Corral opening is the third participated in by Manager Art Farrell since he joined Pioneer in 1935. He built and managed two theatres for the company at Rock Rapids and came here as manager of the Atlantic and Grand in 1941. He started in the theatre business as an usher at the Paramount, Des Moines, in 1929. He became assistant manager of the Paramount and later managed the Strand in Des Moines and the Ottumwa in Ottumwa for Tri-States.
Truby Bell, manager of the Grand, is manager of the drive-in, under the general supervision of Farrell. Bell was employed by the Skelly Oil Co. before joining Pioneer in 1934.
OSKALOOSA, IOWA – An overflow crowd of 700 autos turned out for the opening of Oskaloosa’s new open-air theatre on the Pella road near here. Mayor Carl E. Johnson and G. Ralph Branton, general manager for Tri-States, were the speakers at the formal ceremony. Dick Wilson, former assistant manager of the Tri-States drive-in at Des Moines, in manager. There is space for 500 autos. Traffic control is in charge of John Norris, retired police captain from Miami, Fla.
We’ve got an opening date for the Starlite, Sept. 14, 1949.
The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice wrote that it was being built “on Route 19 north of Chimney Town by Charles H. Brittan jr., Park Dobson jr., and Burdett Fitch.” and was to be known as the Starlight.
And that must have been what happened, since the May 27, 1950 issue of BoxOffice reported:
ALLIANCE, NEB. – The Starlite Drive-In has been opened here by Managers Park Dobson, Burdette Fitch and Charlie Brittan. The ozoner was built last summer and was open from September 14 until early December.
DUBUQUE, IOWA – The Dubuque Drive-In, just opened here, claims it will be the first open-air theatre to contain a balcony. The topography of the land at the theatre, on John Deere road north of Highway 52, makes it possible to have a “balcony,” according to Manager Robert Shelton. The theatre has space for more than 600 cars. Shelton began his career in Council Bluffs and later went to Des Moines and Sioux City. John Rigdon of Dubuque is assistant manager of the theatre.
MARSHALL, MO. – The first drive-in theatre in this area was opened this week by Robert M. Rogers who operates the Lyric Theatre in Buckner, Mo. There is no other drive-in within a radius of 35 miles.
Rogers, who has been in exhibition for three years, has built a 450-car theatre one mile east of Marshall on Highway 240. It is a nine-ramp layout with RCA in-car speakers and Century projection. It has a sloping screen tower, with a screen 37x50 feet.
The projection building also includes a large concessions area and various patron facilities.
“We plan to book only the family trade type of picture,” Rogers said. The opening picture was “Slave Girl.” Rogers intends to manage the theatre himself.
And the drive-in was flipped before it opened. The followup from the Sept. 3 BoxOffice: “The newly opened 350-car Park Side Drive-In has been purchased by J. T. Ghosen of the Highway 50 Drive-In Theatre Corp. Ghosen took over the project shortly before its completion.”
A note in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice mentioned, “The 312-seat Haug Theatre has been operated (in Brussels) on a parttime basis for several years.”
An article in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice provides different information, perhaps reflecting the difference between a preview (soft) opening and a grand opening:
GREEN BAY, WIS. – The new Starlite Outdoor Theatre was opened here with the officials of the county board, Mayor Dominic Olejniczak, association of commerce officials and others attending the ceremony.
The theatre will accommodate 800 cars. The screen tower is 73 feet high, with a 53-foot high neon sign back of it. Robert LeCoque, manager, says that width of the entrances was increased from 40 to 90 feet to avoid traffic congestion. Near the entrance, a picket fence was erected to designate the entrance point on the highway.
A feature of the drive-in is the pony ride to keep kids occupied. Opening show was “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid,” two color cartoons, a short feature and newsreel. Two shows are given each night.
I may have been wrong on labeling Pimes as a misspelling, because that’s the way it was again in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
“EAST ST. LOUIS: The recently incorporated Jablonow-Komm Theatres, Inc., of St. Louis has closed a ten-year lease on the Mounds, a 1,000-car drive-in opened by the Pimes Co. July 1 on U.S. 40, the Collinsville road.”
The longer article included another reference to the Pimes company. No, I don’t know why it was called “Pimes,” but I presume it was someone’s name. And if you check the very nice Mounds photo under the Photos tab here on CT, you’ll read the story behind the apparent lake.
An aside in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice mentioned a sighting of owners Alex Balanesi and Stuart Fletcher and manager Charles Gubser “of the recently opened Hecker Pass Drive-In”.
Looks like 1949 was definitely the Sunset’s opening year. The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice includes the “350-car drive-in opened by Clyde Leeson” in Carthage in a list of theater openings.
ELDON, MO. – The new Ozark Theatre built here by Tom Edwards of the Edwards & Plumlee circuit to replace the house destroyed by fire last February is expected to be ready for opening about September 1. Constructed of concrete and brick, the new Ozark is virtually fireproof. A cry room will be one of the features of the house. The personal property of Edwards and his wife, the new Ozark will be managed by Bill Smith.
A YouTube video, shot in May 1959 by Rowe Carney Jr. and Tom Smith, shows a car’s-eye perspective of the Rolla Drive-In from the divided highway behind it. The back of the screen tower comes into view on the left side at about 2:58.
Sixty seconds with Google brought me to this page with a thorough rundown of average snowfall amounts for towns in New Mexico. Nearby Santa Fe averages almost two feet and even Carlsbad averages a couple of inches.
The Pueblo Drive-In that opened in June 1950 was on Native American land known as Tesuque, well north of downtown Santa Fe. Greer Enterprises essentially moved it to 3251 Cerrillos Road in May 1958, based on an April 13, 1958 note in The Santa Fe New Mexican: “The new location will provide room for 600 cars, compared with 400 in the old location”.
The story of the original Pueblo began in the Aug. 20, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
“SANTA FE – E. John Greer, president of Salmon & Greer, Inc., owner of the Lensic, Alley, Arco and El Paseo theatres here, says Santa Fe will have a new 400-car drive-in, located on the Taos highway 6½ miles north of town, just outside Tesuque.
Arrangements were made to build on Indian land with the U.S. Indian agency, Greer said. Plans call for a playground for children with slides, wings, ponies and a miniature train to be used just before the first of two nightly shows.
The drive-in will be equipped with in-car speakers, concessions bar, moonlight lighting, surfaced ramps and a 50-foot screen. Construction will start immediately and the drive-in will serve Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Tesuque, Espanola and the Espanola valley."
A Feb. 22, 1950 note in The Santa Fe New Mexican said that John H. Veale of Las Cruces was “nearing completion of a drive-in theater for the Salmon and Greer firm at Tesuque”.
The New Mexican wrote on May 21, 1950 that “Quincy Tahoma will have a series of his paintings hung permanently is a candy store connected with the Pueblo Drive-In theater at Tesuque.”
A June 26, 1950 editorial in the New Mexican wrote, “The Pueblo at Tesuque, the community’s first drive-in, is a beautiful structure, approved by even the nature boys of Pojoaque and Nambe. A second drive-in, the Yucca on Cerrillos road, is scheduled to open in a few days equally handsome and well equipped.”
A 1952 aerial shows a drive-in at the Google Maps address of 131 Peak Pl, Santa Fe, NM 87506, though it’s well outside the Santa Fe city limits and about a mile northwest of Tesuque’s boundary.
The Rolla Herald had a front-page story on the situation on Aug. 5, 1949:
Rowe E. Carney, Rolla theatre operator, has purchased the drive-in theatre under construction on Highway 66 east of Northwye from Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Hopkins and Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Hopkins.
Included in the purchase was a three-acre tract of ground between Highway 66 and the Frisco Railroad.
Cecil Hopkins had reported that the theatre would open tomorrow, but construction is not yet completed. …
Mr. Carney, who owns a chain of theatre in this area, had planned to build a drive-in theatre just north of the Pennant Hotel.
One of the first inklings was in the Aug. 6, 1949 issue of BoxOffice.
ROLLA, MO. – Rowe Carney, head of the R. E. Carney Theatres and former Mayor of Rolla, plans to spend $100,000 on the 500-car drive-in which he is constructing on Highway 66.
Another note in the same issue:
ROLLA, MO. – R. E. Carney, local theatre operator, has begun work on a $100,000 drive-in on Highway 66 just north of the Pennant hotel. The theatre will accommodate 550 cars and will have a 60x60-foot tower.
The Aug. 27 issue added a couple more names, “The drive-in theater being erected by Cecil and Roscoe Hopkins on Route 66 two miles east of Rolla, Mo., is expected to be ready for opening within the next two weeks.”
A few more details in the Aug. 20, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
HENDERSON, KY. – The Dixie Drive-In on South 60 across from the ammonia plant has been opened here by Walter Miller and a partner. The drive-in now accommodates 100 cars and an expansion to a 750-car capacity is being planned.
The Ben Bolt Theatre was opened on Aug. 18, 1949, according to a note two days later in BoxOffice. It was built by Theatre Enterprises, Inc. “and named after the old song”. The first movie was It’s a Great Feeling.
“Two murals painted by Frank J. Zimmer, Los Angeles artist, are featured on the wall of the auditorium. Romance of the type suggested by the old song after which the theatre has been named is the theme of the murals, which are made more prominent with black light when the regular house lighting is low.”
The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice explained why the almost-complete drive-in didn’t open that year:
“ROLLA, MO. – Rowe Carney, head of R. E. Carney Theatres, Harry Blunt and associates have purchased ground between new Highway 66 and old 66 as the site for a 500-car drive-in. They hope to have it ready for operation early next spring.
“Previously, Carney contemplated locating the new drive-in on a site north of the Pennant hotel. Under the new arrangement, the firm will abandon the smaller drive-in, which was being constructed by Cecil and Roscoe Hopkins of the Hopkins Motor Sales Co., Lebanon, Mo., which they purchased a few weeks ago. Rolla thus will have only one drive-in, instead of two competing ones. The larger one planned by Carney and his associates will cost about $100,000.”
Then a front-page story in the Rolla Daily Herald on Aug. 18, 1950 helped explain why it didn’t open earlier that year:
“Recent heavy rains have slowed down the work on the new Rolla Drive-in Theater being constructed on Highway 66 between Rolla and Northwye by Rowe Carney.
“The drive-in, located on the south side of the highway in a natural amphitheatre, was smoothed down, and workmen were ready to apply gravel on the "floor,” but the rains made several ditches which will have to be filled before the gravel is spread."
Carney said he still expected to open the Rolla “shortly after Sept. 1.” The drive-in was to include “a big playpen for the kiddies” and chairs for patrons who didn’t want to sit in their cars.
Another note from the Sept. 3, 1949 BoxOffice, “Word comes from Lovington, Ill., that the drive-in planned for that community will operate with 16mm films. Sam Randall is said to be the owner. The little drive-in at Brussels also uses 16mm pictures.”
From the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice, “Hurdis E. Boyd hopes to open his 500-car drive-in at Kennett, Mo., within the next two weeks. The theatre has been equipped by Joe Hornstein, Inc. Boyd also is owner of the local Coca-Cola Co.”
And then it happened, as written in the Sept. 10 issue. “The 500-car Tommie’s Drive-In at Kennett, operated by H. E. Boyd, opened.”
“September 8 (1949) was the opening date for the Quincy Drive-In at West Quincy, Mo. World Theatrical Enterprises of St. Louis is the owner.” – BoxOffice, Sept. 10, 1949
The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice offered an unusually accurate prediction:
“A new drive-in is under construction at McAllen, and will be known as the Palmer (sic) Drive-In. It will accommodate 400 cars and Richard Bull, owner, formerly of Big Spring, plans to open the theatre September 15.”
From the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
ATLANTIC, IOWA—The Corral, Atlantic’s drive-in, constructed by the Pioneer Theatre Co. of Minneapolis, opened its gates recently with Mayor Robert Wilburn officiating. The mayor cut the tapes and purchased the first ticket. The Pioneer company also operates the Atlantic and Grand theatres here.
The theatre has a western motif with rustic gateway, sapling fences and buildings and furnishings of natural wood. Attendants wear jeans, boots, western shirts and hats. At the opening, the Atlantic Saddle club, guests of the theatre, paraded on horseback. After the parade, the horses were tethered at a log hitching rack. Admission charge to the Corral is 50 cents for adults: children free.
The Corral opening is the third participated in by Manager Art Farrell since he joined Pioneer in 1935. He built and managed two theatres for the company at Rock Rapids and came here as manager of the Atlantic and Grand in 1941. He started in the theatre business as an usher at the Paramount, Des Moines, in 1929. He became assistant manager of the Paramount and later managed the Strand in Des Moines and the Ottumwa in Ottumwa for Tri-States.
Truby Bell, manager of the Grand, is manager of the drive-in, under the general supervision of Farrell. Bell was employed by the Skelly Oil Co. before joining Pioneer in 1934.
From the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
OSKALOOSA, IOWA – An overflow crowd of 700 autos turned out for the opening of Oskaloosa’s new open-air theatre on the Pella road near here. Mayor Carl E. Johnson and G. Ralph Branton, general manager for Tri-States, were the speakers at the formal ceremony. Dick Wilson, former assistant manager of the Tri-States drive-in at Des Moines, in manager. There is space for 500 autos. Traffic control is in charge of John Norris, retired police captain from Miami, Fla.
We’ve got an opening date for the Starlite, Sept. 14, 1949.
The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice wrote that it was being built “on Route 19 north of Chimney Town by Charles H. Brittan jr., Park Dobson jr., and Burdett Fitch.” and was to be known as the Starlight.
And that must have been what happened, since the May 27, 1950 issue of BoxOffice reported:
ALLIANCE, NEB. – The Starlite Drive-In has been opened here by Managers Park Dobson, Burdette Fitch and Charlie Brittan. The ozoner was built last summer and was open from September 14 until early December.
From the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
DUBUQUE, IOWA – The Dubuque Drive-In, just opened here, claims it will be the first open-air theatre to contain a balcony. The topography of the land at the theatre, on John Deere road north of Highway 52, makes it possible to have a “balcony,” according to Manager Robert Shelton. The theatre has space for more than 600 cars. Shelton began his career in Council Bluffs and later went to Des Moines and Sioux City. John Rigdon of Dubuque is assistant manager of the theatre.
From the July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
MARSHALL, MO. – The first drive-in theatre in this area was opened this week by Robert M. Rogers who operates the Lyric Theatre in Buckner, Mo. There is no other drive-in within a radius of 35 miles.
Rogers, who has been in exhibition for three years, has built a 450-car theatre one mile east of Marshall on Highway 240. It is a nine-ramp layout with RCA in-car speakers and Century projection. It has a sloping screen tower, with a screen 37x50 feet.
The projection building also includes a large concessions area and various patron facilities.
“We plan to book only the family trade type of picture,” Rogers said. The opening picture was “Slave Girl.” Rogers intends to manage the theatre himself.
And the drive-in was flipped before it opened. The followup from the Sept. 3 BoxOffice: “The newly opened 350-car Park Side Drive-In has been purchased by J. T. Ghosen of the Highway 50 Drive-In Theatre Corp. Ghosen took over the project shortly before its completion.”
The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice noted, “The 300-car Limberlost Drive-In was opened August 19 by Clyde Nihiser, owner.”
A note in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice mentioned, “The 312-seat Haug Theatre has been operated (in Brussels) on a parttime basis for several years.”
An article in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice provides different information, perhaps reflecting the difference between a preview (soft) opening and a grand opening:
GREEN BAY, WIS. – The new Starlite Outdoor Theatre was opened here with the officials of the county board, Mayor Dominic Olejniczak, association of commerce officials and others attending the ceremony.
The theatre will accommodate 800 cars. The screen tower is 73 feet high, with a 53-foot high neon sign back of it. Robert LeCoque, manager, says that width of the entrances was increased from 40 to 90 feet to avoid traffic congestion. Near the entrance, a picket fence was erected to designate the entrance point on the highway.
A feature of the drive-in is the pony ride to keep kids occupied. Opening show was “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid,” two color cartoons, a short feature and newsreel. Two shows are given each night.
I may have been wrong on labeling Pimes as a misspelling, because that’s the way it was again in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
“EAST ST. LOUIS: The recently incorporated Jablonow-Komm Theatres, Inc., of St. Louis has closed a ten-year lease on the Mounds, a 1,000-car drive-in opened by the Pimes Co. July 1 on U.S. 40, the Collinsville road.”
The longer article included another reference to the Pimes company. No, I don’t know why it was called “Pimes,” but I presume it was someone’s name. And if you check the very nice Mounds photo under the Photos tab here on CT, you’ll read the story behind the apparent lake.
An aside in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice mentioned a sighting of owners Alex Balanesi and Stuart Fletcher and manager Charles Gubser “of the recently opened Hecker Pass Drive-In”.
Looks like 1949 was definitely the Sunset’s opening year. The Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice includes the “350-car drive-in opened by Clyde Leeson” in Carthage in a list of theater openings.
From the Aug. 27, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
ELDON, MO. – The new Ozark Theatre built here by Tom Edwards of the Edwards & Plumlee circuit to replace the house destroyed by fire last February is expected to be ready for opening about September 1. Constructed of concrete and brick, the new Ozark is virtually fireproof. A cry room will be one of the features of the house. The personal property of Edwards and his wife, the new Ozark will be managed by Bill Smith.
There’s an excellent wide-screen video of the Uptown as it appeared in October 1966 on YouTube.
A YouTube video, shot in May 1959 by Rowe Carney Jr. and Tom Smith, shows a car’s-eye perspective of the Rolla Drive-In from the divided highway behind it. The back of the screen tower comes into view on the left side at about 2:58.
Sixty seconds with Google brought me to this page with a thorough rundown of average snowfall amounts for towns in New Mexico. Nearby Santa Fe averages almost two feet and even Carlsbad averages a couple of inches.
The Pueblo Drive-In that opened in June 1950 was on Native American land known as Tesuque, well north of downtown Santa Fe. Greer Enterprises essentially moved it to 3251 Cerrillos Road in May 1958, based on an April 13, 1958 note in The Santa Fe New Mexican: “The new location will provide room for 600 cars, compared with 400 in the old location”.
The story of the original Pueblo began in the Aug. 20, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
“SANTA FE – E. John Greer, president of Salmon & Greer, Inc., owner of the Lensic, Alley, Arco and El Paseo theatres here, says Santa Fe will have a new 400-car drive-in, located on the Taos highway 6½ miles north of town, just outside Tesuque.
Arrangements were made to build on Indian land with the U.S. Indian agency, Greer said. Plans call for a playground for children with slides, wings, ponies and a miniature train to be used just before the first of two nightly shows.
The drive-in will be equipped with in-car speakers, concessions bar, moonlight lighting, surfaced ramps and a 50-foot screen. Construction will start immediately and the drive-in will serve Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Tesuque, Espanola and the Espanola valley."
A Feb. 22, 1950 note in The Santa Fe New Mexican said that John H. Veale of Las Cruces was “nearing completion of a drive-in theater for the Salmon and Greer firm at Tesuque”.
The New Mexican wrote on May 21, 1950 that “Quincy Tahoma will have a series of his paintings hung permanently is a candy store connected with the Pueblo Drive-In theater at Tesuque.”
A June 26, 1950 editorial in the New Mexican wrote, “The Pueblo at Tesuque, the community’s first drive-in, is a beautiful structure, approved by even the nature boys of Pojoaque and Nambe. A second drive-in, the Yucca on Cerrillos road, is scheduled to open in a few days equally handsome and well equipped.”
A 1952 aerial shows a drive-in at the Google Maps address of 131 Peak Pl, Santa Fe, NM 87506, though it’s well outside the Santa Fe city limits and about a mile northwest of Tesuque’s boundary.
The Rolla Herald had a front-page story on the situation on Aug. 5, 1949:
Rowe E. Carney, Rolla theatre operator, has purchased the drive-in theatre under construction on Highway 66 east of Northwye from Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Hopkins and Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Hopkins.
Included in the purchase was a three-acre tract of ground between Highway 66 and the Frisco Railroad.
Cecil Hopkins had reported that the theatre would open tomorrow, but construction is not yet completed. …
Mr. Carney, who owns a chain of theatre in this area, had planned to build a drive-in theatre just north of the Pennant Hotel.
One of the first inklings was in the Aug. 6, 1949 issue of BoxOffice.
ROLLA, MO. – Rowe Carney, head of the R. E. Carney Theatres and former Mayor of Rolla, plans to spend $100,000 on the 500-car drive-in which he is constructing on Highway 66.
Another note in the same issue:
ROLLA, MO. – R. E. Carney, local theatre operator, has begun work on a $100,000 drive-in on Highway 66 just north of the Pennant hotel. The theatre will accommodate 550 cars and will have a 60x60-foot tower.
The Aug. 27 issue added a couple more names, “The drive-in theater being erected by Cecil and Roscoe Hopkins on Route 66 two miles east of Rolla, Mo., is expected to be ready for opening within the next two weeks.”
A few more details in the Aug. 20, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
HENDERSON, KY. – The Dixie Drive-In on South 60 across from the ammonia plant has been opened here by Walter Miller and a partner. The drive-in now accommodates 100 cars and an expansion to a 750-car capacity is being planned.
The Ben Bolt Theatre was opened on Aug. 18, 1949, according to a note two days later in BoxOffice. It was built by Theatre Enterprises, Inc. “and named after the old song”. The first movie was It’s a Great Feeling.
“Two murals painted by Frank J. Zimmer, Los Angeles artist, are featured on the wall of the auditorium. Romance of the type suggested by the old song after which the theatre has been named is the theme of the murals, which are made more prominent with black light when the regular house lighting is low.”