An article in the Billings Gazette quoted owner Riley Cook in saying that the wooden tower, “moved to Laurel from Cody, Wyoming about 17 years ago,” was uninsured. “I didn’t have a dime of insurance on it because you can’t insure an old wood framed screen like that,” Cook said.
The Sunset went up for sale in January 2022, per a Buffalo Business Journal story, which said owners Mark Zambito and Denise Stornelli want to retire. Its web site says it’s closed for the 2022 season.
The Sunset’s final show (for the season?) was Sept. 11, 2021. As of now, its web site is now lapsed, its Facebook page hasn’t been updated all year, and its phone recording still says it’s closed for the season. I hope it reopens, but for now I consider it closed.
The RV Park’s web site no longer mentions anything about showing movies. Otherwise very positive reviews on TripAdvisor suggest that the drive-in was still active in 2018, but by October 2019 “movies no longer shown.”
Okay, it’s June now, and the Skyview’s web site still shows it “closed for the foreseeable future.” It may reopen later, but I’ll admit that now it’s closed.
On April 29, 2022, the Hi-way posted on its Facebook page: “Dear patrons,
We have made the tough decision to not open for this movie season. We will still host private events but we will not be playing movies to the general public. We know this announcement may be a disappointment to many patrons looking forward to our 72nd year.
We appreciate your understanding at this time, but we are being lead in a different direction and would consider selling it under the right circumstances.
Message us with serious offers only.”
Per a KUTV story last month, the Motor Vu has been sold to a housing developer. The drive-in’s web site says “Until Further Notice Movies are Closed”. I’d call it closed.
The Sunset was open in 2020 and 2021, but its last movie update on Facebook was for the first weekend in August 2021. Its web site also has no movie updates, and when I tried to call the phone number, it just rang. I hope the Sunset opens some time in 2022, but I’m starting to consider it closed.
The Motor Vu continues its summer shows in 2022, per this KPVI news story. For four nights only, it’ll show “Jurassic Park” followed by another classic film, with all gate proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House of Charities of Idaho.
Unfortunately, that’s not the 81 in Salina. An ebay seller posted this as an original postcard for sale with no copyright notice on the writing side, which would put it in the public domain. Its original caption was “Wichita … 81 Drive-In Theatre … Photo by Unruh”. Sure enough, this photo is already posted here on CT for Wichita’s 81.
An ebay seller posted this as an original postcard for sale with no copyright notice on the writing side, which would put it in the public domain. Its original caption was “Wichita … 81 Drive-In Theatre … Photo by Unruh”
It’s time to change the Chama Drive-In’s status to active. As I type, it’s selling tickets for Jurassic World: Dominion for Thursday-Sunday nights in the next two weeks, and there’s every indication shows will continue the rest of the summer.
A walking tour brochure from the Aztec Museum Association (PDF) included this caption for the theater: “Built in l927 by J. Oscar Manning as the Mayan Theater, and later renamed Aztec Theater, this building has long been an important source of entertainment for San Juan County residents.”
Theatre Catalog, 1952: “Jingle Bob D. I. Exec: R. I. Payne, Theatre Entrs., Inc., Tower Petroleum Bldg., Dallas, Tex. (500)”
The last ad I could find in the Roswell Daily Record for the Jingle Bob was on Oct. 15, 1965. Its final movies were “Primitive Love” (1964, Italian, starring Jayne Mansfield) and “Pattern for Plunder” (aka Operation Mermaid, 1963).
As kennerado noted, this drive-in consistently advertised from at least 1953 until it closed as the Ballojak (occasionally Ballojack) with no hyphens or spaces.
The Feb. 17, 1951 issue of Boxoffice included the Ballojak in a list of drive-ins under construction. The 1952 Theatre Catalog included the “Ballo Jak (sic?) D. I. Exec: R. I. Payne, Theatre Entrs., Inc., Tower Petroleum Bldg., Dallas, Tex. (500)” So it must have opened in 1951.
The final ad I could find in the Roswell Daily Record for the Ballojak, then owned by Commonwealth, was on Sept. 20, 1970.
The Frontier’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was in the 1960 edition, suggesting an opening in 1959 or earlier. The capacity was 100 cars; the owner was H. C. Lancaster.
The drive-in’s final MPA appearance was in 1968; although the book was mostly on autopilot at the time, it dropped the Frontier in 1969. That suggests a closing date of 1968 or earlier.
Boxoffice, April 13, 1957: “Buddy Bass of McNatt Theatres has purchased the Lone Star Drive-In, Daingerfield, from Okleigh Hill and assumed operations. The McNatt chain has houses in Daingerfield, Naples and Hughes Springs”
Boxoffice, April 17, 1957: “Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Graham, formerly of St. Louis … have been operating the Starlite Drive-In on Route 19 north of Salem, Mo., since June 1955 under a lease from Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hamaker of Salem, who opened that drive-in in September 1950.”
Boxoffice, April 6, 1957: “A new drive-in, the Trail, will be opened this month on the Corsicana highway near Athens. Owners, Cliff Turner jr. and B. L. Hagle, also have two film houses in Corsicana”
Boxoffice, April 6, 1957: “William J. Buetler has taken over full operation of the Raos (sic), Taos, N. M. His father, the late Floyd Beutler, had owned half of the theatre, and Jack Brandenberg has sold the other half to the son.”
Boxoffice, Dec. 21, 1959: “Bud Howell has purchased the Taos (N.M.) Theatre from William Butler.”
The 1952 Theatre Catalog listed under Hillsboro NM the following: “Hill D. I. Exec: C. V. Jones, Robb and Rowley United Ct., 314 S. Harwood St., Dallas, Tex. (300)”
But that’s a perfect match for the Hill Drive-In in Hillsboro TX which opened Aug. 3, 1950 and was operated by Robb & Rowley United. That 1952 Catalog did not include the Texas Hillsboro, so it was probably misplaced.
It’s darned difficult to prove a negative, but it sure looks like the tiny town of Hillsboro NM never had a drive-in, especially one that held more cars than the town had people.
An article in the Billings Gazette quoted owner Riley Cook in saying that the wooden tower, “moved to Laurel from Cody, Wyoming about 17 years ago,” was uninsured. “I didn’t have a dime of insurance on it because you can’t insure an old wood framed screen like that,” Cook said.
On its Facebook page, the TK/Starlite says it “will not be opening in 2022. We will reopen in 2023.”
Do we count that as open or closed?
The Sunset went up for sale in January 2022, per a Buffalo Business Journal story, which said owners Mark Zambito and Denise Stornelli want to retire. Its web site says it’s closed for the 2022 season.
The Sunset’s final show (for the season?) was Sept. 11, 2021. As of now, its web site is now lapsed, its Facebook page hasn’t been updated all year, and its phone recording still says it’s closed for the season. I hope it reopens, but for now I consider it closed.
The RV Park’s web site no longer mentions anything about showing movies. Otherwise very positive reviews on TripAdvisor suggest that the drive-in was still active in 2018, but by October 2019 “movies no longer shown.”
Okay, it’s June now, and the Skyview’s web site still shows it “closed for the foreseeable future.” It may reopen later, but I’ll admit that now it’s closed.
On April 29, 2022, the Hi-way posted on its Facebook page: “Dear patrons, We have made the tough decision to not open for this movie season. We will still host private events but we will not be playing movies to the general public. We know this announcement may be a disappointment to many patrons looking forward to our 72nd year. We appreciate your understanding at this time, but we are being lead in a different direction and would consider selling it under the right circumstances. Message us with serious offers only.”
I’m calling it closed for now.
Per a KUTV story last month, the Motor Vu has been sold to a housing developer. The drive-in’s web site says “Until Further Notice Movies are Closed”. I’d call it closed.
The Family is still active, though it’s trying to raise money to refurbish its screen. Its new web site is at https://www.thefamilydi.com/ .
The Sunset was open in 2020 and 2021, but its last movie update on Facebook was for the first weekend in August 2021. Its web site also has no movie updates, and when I tried to call the phone number, it just rang. I hope the Sunset opens some time in 2022, but I’m starting to consider it closed.
The Motor Vu continues its summer shows in 2022, per this KPVI news story. For four nights only, it’ll show “Jurassic Park” followed by another classic film, with all gate proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House of Charities of Idaho.
Unfortunately, that’s not the 81 in Salina. An ebay seller posted this as an original postcard for sale with no copyright notice on the writing side, which would put it in the public domain. Its original caption was “Wichita … 81 Drive-In Theatre … Photo by Unruh”. Sure enough, this photo is already posted here on CT for Wichita’s 81.
An ebay seller posted this as an original postcard for sale with no copyright notice on the writing side, which would put it in the public domain. Its original caption was “Wichita … 81 Drive-In Theatre … Photo by Unruh”
That’s a 2010 photo by Billy Hathorn, who licensed it with Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution.
It’s time to change the Chama Drive-In’s status to active. As I type, it’s selling tickets for Jurassic World: Dominion for Thursday-Sunday nights in the next two weeks, and there’s every indication shows will continue the rest of the summer.
A walking tour brochure from the Aztec Museum Association (PDF) included this caption for the theater: “Built in l927 by J. Oscar Manning as the Mayan Theater, and later renamed Aztec Theater, this building has long been an important source of entertainment for San Juan County residents.”
Theatre Catalog, 1952: “Jingle Bob D. I. Exec: R. I. Payne, Theatre Entrs., Inc., Tower Petroleum Bldg., Dallas, Tex. (500)”
The last ad I could find in the Roswell Daily Record for the Jingle Bob was on Oct. 15, 1965. Its final movies were “Primitive Love” (1964, Italian, starring Jayne Mansfield) and “Pattern for Plunder” (aka Operation Mermaid, 1963).
As kennerado noted, this drive-in consistently advertised from at least 1953 until it closed as the Ballojak (occasionally Ballojack) with no hyphens or spaces.
The Feb. 17, 1951 issue of Boxoffice included the Ballojak in a list of drive-ins under construction. The 1952 Theatre Catalog included the “Ballo Jak (sic?) D. I. Exec: R. I. Payne, Theatre Entrs., Inc., Tower Petroleum Bldg., Dallas, Tex. (500)” So it must have opened in 1951.
The final ad I could find in the Roswell Daily Record for the Ballojak, then owned by Commonwealth, was on Sept. 20, 1970.
The Frontier’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was in the 1960 edition, suggesting an opening in 1959 or earlier. The capacity was 100 cars; the owner was H. C. Lancaster.
The drive-in’s final MPA appearance was in 1968; although the book was mostly on autopilot at the time, it dropped the Frontier in 1969. That suggests a closing date of 1968 or earlier.
Boxoffice, April 13, 1957: “M. B. Miller has reopened his 290-car filmer at Ennis. He’s a school teacher by day at Bardwell”
Boxoffice, April 13, 1957: “Buddy Bass of McNatt Theatres has purchased the Lone Star Drive-In, Daingerfield, from Okleigh Hill and assumed operations. The McNatt chain has houses in Daingerfield, Naples and Hughes Springs”
Boxoffice, April 17, 1957: “Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Graham, formerly of St. Louis … have been operating the Starlite Drive-In on Route 19 north of Salem, Mo., since June 1955 under a lease from Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hamaker of Salem, who opened that drive-in in September 1950.”
Boxoffice, April 6, 1957: “A new drive-in, the Trail, will be opened this month on the Corsicana highway near Athens. Owners, Cliff Turner jr. and B. L. Hagle, also have two film houses in Corsicana”
Boxoffice, April 6, 1957: “William J. Buetler has taken over full operation of the Raos (sic), Taos, N. M. His father, the late Floyd Beutler, had owned half of the theatre, and Jack Brandenberg has sold the other half to the son.”
Boxoffice, Dec. 21, 1959: “Bud Howell has purchased the Taos (N.M.) Theatre from William Butler.”
The 1952 Theatre Catalog listed under Hillsboro NM the following: “Hill D. I. Exec: C. V. Jones, Robb and Rowley United Ct., 314 S. Harwood St., Dallas, Tex. (300)”
But that’s a perfect match for the Hill Drive-In in Hillsboro TX which opened Aug. 3, 1950 and was operated by Robb & Rowley United. That 1952 Catalog did not include the Texas Hillsboro, so it was probably misplaced.
It’s darned difficult to prove a negative, but it sure looks like the tiny town of Hillsboro NM never had a drive-in, especially one that held more cars than the town had people.