The Motion Picture Almanac listed the Freer as capacity 250, owner H. J. Telford, through 1966. For another decade, the Freer stayed on the list, which didn’t include owner info and was rarely updated in that period. For the 1977 MPA, the Freer fell off the list.
The first newspaper reference I could find was Nov. 15, 1949 when the Joplin Globe reported a benefit turkey shoot to be held “by Clyde Leeson, operator of Sunset Courts and Sunset Drive-In theater.”
The Theatre Catalog listed the Sunset’s capacity as 300, but the Motion Picture Almanac put it at 200.
The Sunset ad in the Carthage Press said that the Sept. 23, 1973 slate of Kansas City Bomber and Return of Sabata would be “the last showing for this season.” A church note from Jan. 26, 1974 casually mentioned that the 66 and the Sunset were (still) “in operation here.” I didn’t see any later drive-in ads, though the Sunset was the site of many group rummage sales listed in the want ads through at least 1976.
Anna Leeson’s obituary (June 28, 1988, Joplin Globe) said that she and her husband owned and operated the Sunset for 20 years. Clyde’s obit (April 13, 1981, Joplin Globe) also mentioned 20 years of operating the Sunset.
The Webb City opened on June 27, 1953 per an article the next day in the Joplin Globe. “Howard Larsen, manager, said some 800 persons were present. Larsen said a park playground with children’s rides and a lake stocked with fish will be added later on part of the 18-acre tract lease from Mrs. George Hammill.”
An Aug. 25, 1991 article in the Springfield (MO) News-Leader said that the Webb City was still operating on weekends.
The Crescent advertised in the Joplin Globe in May-October 1954. It appears to have ceased advertising in 1955.
An Oct. 16, 1974 obituary in The Kansas City Times said that Vernon D. Gelebert of Baxter Springs KS “owned and operated the Crescent Drive-In, Galena, three years.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the Crescent, capacity 150, owner Vernon D. Geabert.
The Crescent was listed in the Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists in the 1955-59 editions, owner P. Hardwick, no capacity included. In the 1960 edition, it was off the list.
According to extensive notes at MiamiHistory.net, the Tri State had its Grand Opening on June 30, 1949, and had a capacity of 500 cars. “At some point between 1961 and 1965, the Tri-State was renamed to the Sooner. According to historian Fredas Cook, it was to take advantage of the much nicer Sooner sign formerly used south of town.”
Aha! Thanks to the excellent notes at MiamiHistory.net, I have a better explanation for the confusion. The original Sooner opened “a mile south of town, on 66.” Miami History claims that site was prone to flooding, and anyway “At some point between 1961 and 1965, the Tri-State was renamed to the Sooner. According to historian Fredas Cook, it was to take advantage of the much nicer Sooner sign formerly used south of town. Fredas also points out that the original Sooner was a traffic hazard due to its screen facing the highway, that may have contributed to its being closed shortly after opening.”
Where was that short-lived original Sooner? Looking at the maps and photos at Historic Aerials, I’ve found a good candidate in an otherwise unaccounted for drive-in at Dotyville, just southwest of Miami. It’s on the northwest corner of US 59 & Old Route 66 – Google Maps calls it 10991 US-69. The drive-in was on the 1963 topo map, and the ramps were still visible in 1980, but there appears to be no trace of it now.
For the 1952 Theatre Catalog, the Sooner (referred to as #2 D. I.) was under construction. Both the Sooner and the Tri State were listed in the 1955-56 Theatre Catalog. The Sooner’s capacity was 300; Tri State was 400.
For some reason, it’s much easier to find ads for the Tri State in the Miami Daily News-Record than for the Sooner, though the Sooner was included in prizes for the first baby of 1954.
When did it close? In July 1984, the Joplin Globe wrote about alleged bicycle thieves who were “cornered on foot at the Sooner Drive-In theater on North Main Street.”
There’s a good photo from 1985, showing the back of the screen in need of some repair, at American Classic Images.
I’m surprised that some of the outstanding Oklahoma drive-in historians haven’t chimed in with the details on the Lariat. All I have is my bookshelf, but here’s what I’ve got.
The Lariat was absent from the Theatre Catalog’s first two lists in their 1948-50 editions. It debuted on the TC’s third list for the 1952 edition.
The Lariat was in the first Motion Picture Almanac list, the 1950-51 edition. Here’s a summary of all of its MPA list mentions:
1950-52: capacity 300, no owner
1952-54: capacity 300, owner Video
1958-66: capacity 300, owner Video Ind.
1969-76: capacity 300, no owner info (though included in the Video Independent Theatres, Inc's holdings)
There’s a nice aerial photo at the Tulsa Historical Society, although it inaccurately captions that the Skyline opened in 1956. Actually, it was included in the Theatre Catalog’s first drive-in list in the 1948-49 edition. The exec at the time was Henry Gritting of Griffith Theatres.
The Motion Picture Almanacs listed the Apache with a capacity of 225, then 200, which seems reasonable looking at Drive-in 54’s aerial photo. The Theatre Catalogs had the capacity at 300, owner Earl Snyder.
The 1955-56 Theatre Almanac listed the Pirate with a capacity of 150, owner Henry Simpson.
The drive-in’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was the 1960 edition, when it was listed as the “Purple Pirate” in Briston(sic), capacity 220, owner Henry Simpson. Except for correcting to Bristow, it stayed that way through 1976.
In the 1977 MPA, it changed to the Pirate, owner R. Stomme, capacity 200. That’s the way it stayed through the MPA’s final drive-in list in 1988.
The Motion Picture Almanac series whiffed completely on the Rig. Another reason to believe that there were more drive-ins than any single source ever listed.
I could find a few hints elsewhere. It was listed in the 1955 Film Daily Year Book and the 1955-56 Theatre Catalog (capacity 200, owner J. E. Stribling).
An ad in the May 5, 1957 Daily Oklahoman included the Rig as one of the theatres to show The Buster Keaton Story.
The Sundown had been closed for years before the Woodstock surfaced in the 1980 edition of Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists. The Woodstock had one of the briefest runs of any mentioned by the MPA, making its final appearance in the 1982 book. For its three years, it was shown with capacity 200, owner E. Roupe.
The Motion Picture Almanac’s first reference to any drive-in in Edmund was the Sundown in its 1953-54 edition. It carried the same info through the 1965 edition: capacity 300, owner J. & J. Hull. For the 1966 edition, the Sundown fell off the list.
The drive-in was still called the Bomber in a December 1962 Daily Oklahoman article. OTOH, I found it listed in an ad in July 1966 as the Soldier Creek, and it was included in a merger with Gulf States in June 1968, so I’m not sure how long it stayed open.
This drive-in closed some time in 1972. I noticed it in an ad in June 1972. It was the subject of an auction on Nov. 16, 1972, and a Daily Oklahoman article from March 11, 1973 announced plans for a mall at the site “once occupied by the Twilight Gardens drive-in theater.”
The Daily Oklahoman wrote on June 9, 1968 that the former Barton drive-ins, including “the Sooner Twin, North Penn Twin, Northwest Highway, Cinema C, Cinema 66, Lake Air, Airline, Barton’s 77 and Soldier Creek”, were going to be merged with Ferris Enterprises, run by Maurice Ferris.
“Ferris said the merged companies plan to remodel all of the former Barton theaters at a cost of more than $500,000. The remodelling will begin June 12 with the closing of the North Penn Twin and the Cinema 66.”
The Okie Mod Squad web site has a couple of photos of the ruins, posted in August 2018, as well as more notes about the Lake Air.
The site says the golf range morphed into the drive-in in 1950. “According to one expert, ‘It was built by Robert and Charles Mc Farland and sold to local theater magnet, Robert Lewis Barton in 1959.’ … The drive-in closed after the 1967 season and became a go-cart track then a golf range again and maybe even a church before being abandoned altogether in the early 2000s.”
The Motion Picture Almanacs listed the Lake Air under Oklahoma City.
MPA drive-in list summary:
1950-59: capacity 506, owner R. E. & C. B. McFarland
1960-66: capacity 506, owner Robert Barton
1969-76: capacity 506, no owner info
1977: off the list
The May 19, 1951 Daily Oklahoman reported a recent storm that “tore up the screen of the Lake Air drive-in theater on the site of the old Lakeside golf course.”
The El Reno Daily Tribune had an advertisement for “Drive-In Theatre” in its Sept. 14, 1948 issue.
The Daily Tribune wrote on April 10, 1949 that the El Reno Drive-In would “open the season” on April 16, according to manager G. F. Hill.
The Daily Tribune wrote on June 28, 1950 that owner Walter B. Shuttee had let a contract to build a new screen for the El Reno Drive-In. “Of concrete block construction, the work is expected to be completed for a July 4 re-opening, Shuttee said. The screen was damaged during a wind and hail storm Tuesday, June 20.” The re-opening was later delayed to July 7 due to construction delays.
Some kind of drive-in in El Reno was listed in the Motion Picture Almanacs from their first list in 1950-51 to the final list in 1988. Here is the summary:
1950-65: El Reno Drive In, capacity 400, owner Walter Shuttee
1966: Squaw, capacity 300, owner Video Theatres
1969-76: Squaw, capacity 300, no owner info
1977-82: Squaw Drive In, capacity 200, owner Video Indep.
1983-84: Squaw Drive In, 1 screen, owner Video Indep.
1985-88: Squaw Drive In, 1 screen, owner Martin
By November 1995, a story in the Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) referenced an auction at “El Reno’s Old Squaw Drive-In”, so it was probably closed by then.
The 66 Drive-In (no “Route” mentioned in the name) first appeared in the 1949-50 edition of the Theatre Catalog, capacity 400, owner Video Ind. Theatres, Inc. The 66 was also in the first Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list, the 1950-51 edition, and stayed through the final MPA list in 1988.
The Bearcat first showed up in the Motion Picture Almanac’s drive-in lists in the 1953-54 edition under “Erie”. That was corrected to Erick in the 1955 edition.
The Pioneer first appeared in the Motion Picture Almanac in the 1951-52 edition.
The Amarillo Globe-Times wrote on April 30, 1956: “Seibert Worley, manager of the Shamrock theaters, has announced that work is progressing on a project of widening the screen at the Pioneer Drive-In Theater in order to equip it for (sic)Cinemescope.”
Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list mentions:
1951-66: Pioneer Drive-In, Capacity 300, Owner J. S. Worley
The Motion Picture Almanac listed the Freer as capacity 250, owner H. J. Telford, through 1966. For another decade, the Freer stayed on the list, which didn’t include owner info and was rarely updated in that period. For the 1977 MPA, the Freer fell off the list.
The first newspaper reference I could find was Nov. 15, 1949 when the Joplin Globe reported a benefit turkey shoot to be held “by Clyde Leeson, operator of Sunset Courts and Sunset Drive-In theater.”
The Theatre Catalog listed the Sunset’s capacity as 300, but the Motion Picture Almanac put it at 200.
The Sunset ad in the Carthage Press said that the Sept. 23, 1973 slate of Kansas City Bomber and Return of Sabata would be “the last showing for this season.” A church note from Jan. 26, 1974 casually mentioned that the 66 and the Sunset were (still) “in operation here.” I didn’t see any later drive-in ads, though the Sunset was the site of many group rummage sales listed in the want ads through at least 1976.
Anna Leeson’s obituary (June 28, 1988, Joplin Globe) said that she and her husband owned and operated the Sunset for 20 years. Clyde’s obit (April 13, 1981, Joplin Globe) also mentioned 20 years of operating the Sunset.
The Webb City opened on June 27, 1953 per an article the next day in the Joplin Globe. “Howard Larsen, manager, said some 800 persons were present. Larsen said a park playground with children’s rides and a lake stocked with fish will be added later on part of the 18-acre tract lease from Mrs. George Hammill.”
An Aug. 25, 1991 article in the Springfield (MO) News-Leader said that the Webb City was still operating on weekends.
The Crescent advertised in the Joplin Globe in May-October 1954. It appears to have ceased advertising in 1955.
An Oct. 16, 1974 obituary in The Kansas City Times said that Vernon D. Gelebert of Baxter Springs KS “owned and operated the Crescent Drive-In, Galena, three years.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the Crescent, capacity 150, owner Vernon D. Geabert.
The Crescent was listed in the Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists in the 1955-59 editions, owner P. Hardwick, no capacity included. In the 1960 edition, it was off the list.
According to extensive notes at MiamiHistory.net, the Tri State had its Grand Opening on June 30, 1949, and had a capacity of 500 cars. “At some point between 1961 and 1965, the Tri-State was renamed to the Sooner. According to historian Fredas Cook, it was to take advantage of the much nicer Sooner sign formerly used south of town.”
Aha! Thanks to the excellent notes at MiamiHistory.net, I have a better explanation for the confusion. The original Sooner opened “a mile south of town, on 66.” Miami History claims that site was prone to flooding, and anyway “At some point between 1961 and 1965, the Tri-State was renamed to the Sooner. According to historian Fredas Cook, it was to take advantage of the much nicer Sooner sign formerly used south of town. Fredas also points out that the original Sooner was a traffic hazard due to its screen facing the highway, that may have contributed to its being closed shortly after opening.”
Where was that short-lived original Sooner? Looking at the maps and photos at Historic Aerials, I’ve found a good candidate in an otherwise unaccounted for drive-in at Dotyville, just southwest of Miami. It’s on the northwest corner of US 59 & Old Route 66 – Google Maps calls it 10991 US-69. The drive-in was on the 1963 topo map, and the ramps were still visible in 1980, but there appears to be no trace of it now.
For the 1952 Theatre Catalog, the Sooner (referred to as #2 D. I.) was under construction. Both the Sooner and the Tri State were listed in the 1955-56 Theatre Catalog. The Sooner’s capacity was 300; Tri State was 400.
For some reason, it’s much easier to find ads for the Tri State in the Miami Daily News-Record than for the Sooner, though the Sooner was included in prizes for the first baby of 1954.
When did it close? In July 1984, the Joplin Globe wrote about alleged bicycle thieves who were “cornered on foot at the Sooner Drive-In theater on North Main Street.”
There’s a good photo from 1985, showing the back of the screen in need of some repair, at American Classic Images.
I’m surprised that some of the outstanding Oklahoma drive-in historians haven’t chimed in with the details on the Lariat. All I have is my bookshelf, but here’s what I’ve got.
The Lariat was absent from the Theatre Catalog’s first two lists in their 1948-50 editions. It debuted on the TC’s third list for the 1952 edition.
The Lariat was in the first Motion Picture Almanac list, the 1950-51 edition. Here’s a summary of all of its MPA list mentions:
The screen was gone from the 1995 aerial photo.
There’s a nice aerial photo at the Tulsa Historical Society, although it inaccurately captions that the Skyline opened in 1956. Actually, it was included in the Theatre Catalog’s first drive-in list in the 1948-49 edition. The exec at the time was Henry Gritting of Griffith Theatres.
Motion Picture Almanac drive-in theater list mentions:
The Motion Picture Almanacs listed the Apache with a capacity of 225, then 200, which seems reasonable looking at Drive-in 54’s aerial photo. The Theatre Catalogs had the capacity at 300, owner Earl Snyder.
The 1955-56 Theatre Almanac listed the Pirate with a capacity of 150, owner Henry Simpson.
The drive-in’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was the 1960 edition, when it was listed as the “Purple Pirate” in Briston(sic), capacity 220, owner Henry Simpson. Except for correcting to Bristow, it stayed that way through 1976.
In the 1977 MPA, it changed to the Pirate, owner R. Stomme, capacity 200. That’s the way it stayed through the MPA’s final drive-in list in 1988.
The Motion Picture Almanac series whiffed completely on the Rig. Another reason to believe that there were more drive-ins than any single source ever listed.
I could find a few hints elsewhere. It was listed in the 1955 Film Daily Year Book and the 1955-56 Theatre Catalog (capacity 200, owner J. E. Stribling).
An ad in the May 5, 1957 Daily Oklahoman included the Rig as one of the theatres to show The Buster Keaton Story.
The Sundown had been closed for years before the Woodstock surfaced in the 1980 edition of Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists. The Woodstock had one of the briefest runs of any mentioned by the MPA, making its final appearance in the 1982 book. For its three years, it was shown with capacity 200, owner E. Roupe.
The Motion Picture Almanac’s first reference to any drive-in in Edmund was the Sundown in its 1953-54 edition. It carried the same info through the 1965 edition: capacity 300, owner J. & J. Hull. For the 1966 edition, the Sundown fell off the list.
The drive-in was still called the Bomber in a December 1962 Daily Oklahoman article. OTOH, I found it listed in an ad in July 1966 as the Soldier Creek, and it was included in a merger with Gulf States in June 1968, so I’m not sure how long it stayed open.
This drive-in closed some time in 1972. I noticed it in an ad in June 1972. It was the subject of an auction on Nov. 16, 1972, and a Daily Oklahoman article from March 11, 1973 announced plans for a mall at the site “once occupied by the Twilight Gardens drive-in theater.”
The Daily Oklahoman wrote on June 9, 1968 that the former Barton drive-ins, including “the Sooner Twin, North Penn Twin, Northwest Highway, Cinema C, Cinema 66, Lake Air, Airline, Barton’s 77 and Soldier Creek”, were going to be merged with Ferris Enterprises, run by Maurice Ferris.
“Ferris said the merged companies plan to remodel all of the former Barton theaters at a cost of more than $500,000. The remodelling will begin June 12 with the closing of the North Penn Twin and the Cinema 66.”
The Okie Mod Squad web site has a couple of photos of the ruins, posted in August 2018, as well as more notes about the Lake Air.
The site says the golf range morphed into the drive-in in 1950. “According to one expert, ‘It was built by Robert and Charles Mc Farland and sold to local theater magnet, Robert Lewis Barton in 1959.’ … The drive-in closed after the 1967 season and became a go-cart track then a golf range again and maybe even a church before being abandoned altogether in the early 2000s.”
The Motion Picture Almanacs listed the Lake Air under Oklahoma City.
MPA drive-in list summary:
The May 19, 1951 Daily Oklahoman reported a recent storm that “tore up the screen of the Lake Air drive-in theater on the site of the old Lakeside golf course.”
The El Reno Daily Tribune had an advertisement for “Drive-In Theatre” in its Sept. 14, 1948 issue.
The Daily Tribune wrote on April 10, 1949 that the El Reno Drive-In would “open the season” on April 16, according to manager G. F. Hill.
The Daily Tribune wrote on June 28, 1950 that owner Walter B. Shuttee had let a contract to build a new screen for the El Reno Drive-In. “Of concrete block construction, the work is expected to be completed for a July 4 re-opening, Shuttee said. The screen was damaged during a wind and hail storm Tuesday, June 20.” The re-opening was later delayed to July 7 due to construction delays.
Some kind of drive-in in El Reno was listed in the Motion Picture Almanacs from their first list in 1950-51 to the final list in 1988. Here is the summary:
By November 1995, a story in the Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) referenced an auction at “El Reno’s Old Squaw Drive-In”, so it was probably closed by then.
Wesley Horton hit some great high points, so let me fill in the rest of the Clinton’s Motion Picture Almanac history:
The 66 Drive-In (no “Route” mentioned in the name) first appeared in the 1949-50 edition of the Theatre Catalog, capacity 400, owner Video Ind. Theatres, Inc. The 66 was also in the first Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list, the 1950-51 edition, and stayed through the final MPA list in 1988.
MPA drive-in list summary:
The Bearcat first showed up in the Motion Picture Almanac’s drive-in lists in the 1953-54 edition under “Erie”. That was corrected to Erick in the 1955 edition.
All mentions in the MPA lists:
The Pioneer first appeared in the Motion Picture Almanac in the 1951-52 edition.
The Amarillo Globe-Times wrote on April 30, 1956: “Seibert Worley, manager of the Shamrock theaters, has announced that work is progressing on a project of widening the screen at the Pioneer Drive-In Theater in order to equip it for (sic)Cinemescope.”
Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list mentions: