Same drive-in? Alamogordo Daily News, July 5, 1966: (Associated Press story about storms) “A drive-in theater was reported destroyed near Kimball Prairie, Minn.”
Over several months, I posted some notes about the Jet in Truth or Consequences here in the entry for Tularosa’s Jet Drive-In. Sorry about that. I’ve removed the bad ones, and here are the remaining relevant notes:
Motion Picture Exhibitor, Jan. 16, 1963: “The Bijou, Muse-U, and Jet Drive-In have changed hands. Juan G. and Jose G. Contreras are the new owners. Ed S. Turned has owned the houses for 18 years.”
Boxoffice, March 8, 1965: “The Jet Drive-In and the Muse-U, both located in Tularosa, N.M., have been acquired by Cliff and Susan Reed of New York City. Purchase was made from the Otero County State Bank of New Mexico and extensive remodeling and alterations are being completed prior to reopening”
Also, it appears that the Jet was renamed the Route 54 before it closed. The 1966 Motion Picture Almanac included the Route 54, owner “R & R Dist.,” capacity 250. On April 9, 1967, the Route 54 “North of Tularosa” advertised its “Gala Re-Opening Show” in the Alamogordo Daily News.
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “In 1948, Theater Enterprises, Inc., acquired 14 acres from Hobbs Houses, Inc., on the Hobbs-Lovington highway and built the Sky-Vu drive-in theater."
I’ll bet that’s what someone read in 1975 and repeated. Was the date mentioned in 1951 just a typo, or did someone misremember a date that badly just 28 months after the drive-in opened?
Anyway, the last Sky Vu ad I could find in the News-Sun was $1 a carload on Jan. 28, 1962 for “Hell Bent for Leather” and “Plunder in the Sun”. The next day’s paper had ads for the Flamingo Twin Drive-In but nothing for the Sky Vu.
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “Hobbs second drive-in, the Eagle, opened last year on a 10-acre tract at 300 North Burk. It is owned by E. L. Williamson of Abilene, Tex., and managed by Mrs. Lucille Nunnally."
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “The first announcement (of the soon-to-open theater) said it would be called the “Strand.” A second announcement a few days later saw the name changed to the “Fawn.” It opened in a sheet-iron building leased from John Sharbauer on Sept. 6, 1930. The first picture starred Harry Richmond and Jean Bennett in “Putting on the Ritz.” It was a silent picture … Sound equipment was installed in the Fawn on Sept. 19. Sometime later - probably in 1931 - the theater’s name was changed again to the Strand. … in 1932, Griffith (Theaters) leased the Fawn theater which had been closed for about a year … Griffith renamed it the Rex and it remained Hobbs' only theater until the Rig … was opened late in 1935 … The Rex theater was destroyed in an early morning blaze on May 6, 1936. The fire, described by newspapers as a “$50,000 loss,” also destroyed three other buildings and damaged several others, including the postoffice, in the same block."
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “The second theater opening in Hobbs was the Derrick … early advertisements located it as "adjoining the federal postoffice building on East Carlsbad.” (Carlsbad is the former name of Broadway.)“ Its first movie was the 1925 silent film "She” starring Betty Blythe.
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “The first motion picture house (in Hobbs) … was called the Ritz, and it was built on the site of the Roosevelt theater which was destroyed by fire several months ago. Manager of the independently-operated Ritz was George S. Gufford … While the present Rig theater (which opened late in 1935) was under construction, Judge T. A. Whelan of Lovington bought the old Ritz theater. He changed its name to the Roosevelt and opened up for business.”
Crawley’s appeared precisely once in the Theatre Catalog (1955-56 edition) and Motion Picture Almanac (1956). Both named Perry Crawley as the owner and the capacity at 200.
Going from experience, the Theatre Catalog listing suggests Crawley’s was open by early 1955. The MPA listing points to it still being around in early 1956, and its departure (in lieu of the Varsity) in 1957 suggests that it closed before the end of 1956.
Boxoffice, Aug. 5, 1963: “W. T. Kerr, Sulphur, … was also a partner in a drive-in, the Starlight, which was destroyed in a windstorm and never reopened. His partner was Mrs. Izah Adams, who operated the Ritz Theatre, Sulphur, for many years, but who is no longer in the theatre business."
Boxoffice, Aug. 5, 1963: “W. T. Kerr, Sulphur, who owns the Arbuckle Drive-In, Davis, reports that J. C. Drake, who had the drive-in leased for the past several months, is no longer connected with the drive-in. Kerr was on the (Oklahoma City Film) Row recently and brought along with him Clay Pitchford, Mistletow Express agent of Davis, who also owns a flower shop. Pitchford will operate the Arbuckle Drive-In for Kerr and they were setting future bookings, as this is Pitchford’s first venture in the motion picture theatre business. He did operate the drive-in for a short time while Drake had it under lease.”
Boxoffice, May 28, 1949: “Lloyd Kerby, owner of the Kerby, Worland, Wyo., has bought ten acres near town and will build a $75,000, 350-seat (sic) drive-in, equipped with Simplex booth, sound and in-car speakers, all furnished by National Theatre Supply.”
I just uploaded a 1962 photo that included the original building, and I think it’s consistent with the 1983 photo. But you’re better at picking out visual details, Kenmore, so I am happy to read your perspective.
(Farwell) State Line Tribune, July 30, 1953: “Friona is to have a new business west of town. W. E. McGlothin is moving a building and equipment for a new Drive-in theater.”
(Farwell) State Line Tribune, Aug. 6, 1953: “Bill McLaughlin, operator of the local downtown theatre, said this week that he is making progress on the erection of a drive-in theatre on Highway 60 just west of Friona. Asked as to when the theatre might be in operation, McLaughlin admitted that it might be possible he would not open this fall, but added that he was going ahead on the work. The drive-in, second in Friona, will accommodate 240-250 cars, McLaughlin said, adding he was moving these up here from another location. (Huh?) Ramps have been run already, and erection on the tower is expected to begin soon."
The Chief was the first drive-in to open in Friona. It was advertising in the (Farwell) State Line Tribune on Aug. 6, 1953, on the same page as an article about Bill McGlothin building a 240-250-car drive-in, “second in Friona”.
The 1958 topo map previously uploaded here showed the projection-concession building that matched a building in a 1983 aerial photo. Long story short, I think that it’s still there, now alone in a vacant lot, and Google Maps gives it the address of 2524 W 7th St, Clovis, NM 88101.
Following up that weird mention of the Comet screen in February 1957, in December 1957 the Clovis News-Journal ran a classified ad for residential lots “North of Comet Drive-In.” I’d love to know the reason for the delay between the screen’s erection and the August 1958 grand opening.
The Comet’s last ad in the News-Journal was on May 15, 1960. The next day, there was no Comet ad, and the ad for the co-owned Yucca included the note, “Watch for opening of La Fonda”. On May 19, as workers were dismantling the Comet’s screen, it toppled over, leaving it “in bad shape” and delaying the reopening of the La Fonda for several weeks until “a new screen will be constructed” there, co-owner Loyd Franklin said at the time. Later local histories said that the Comet screen moved to the La Fonda, so it’s unclear whether that was accurate.
Clovis News-Journal, July 24, 1960: “Loyd Franklin, operator of La Fonda Drive-In, reported to police Friday (22) that vandals broke and entered the defunct Comet Drive-In on W. 7th. Police said there was no damage.”
Notes from a morning rummaging around in the (Carrizozo) Lincoln County News:
The Nike opened on June 22, 1956 (quoted 20 years later - no movie info), built by Mr. and Mrs. Bill Skelton. Fred Miller leased the drive-in in September 1961, then Doug and Betty Willias leased it for the 1962 season. Robert (Bob) Means ran the Nike in 1963, and Bill Baker opened it for its final season in 1964. It closed on Sunday, Sept. 27, with a showing of “Captain Newman, M. D.” starring Gregory Peck and Tony Curtis.
The Nike’s sign was still there in July 1967, because that’s when a 15-year-old ran his car into it. Means bought the site from Skelton in 1969, planning to develop it as a trailer park; he said he’d keep the concession/projection building to use as a utility room. Means sold the screen for scrap in 1975, and it came down on Feb. 10 that year. At the time, Means said the Nike had closed in 1961, illustrating the unreliable nature of memory, even of a business one had operated just 12 years earlier. But I digress.
The Albuquerque Journal wrote in 1996 that a 75-year-old former cowboy was living in the Nike’s old projection room. And today, armed with NMDOT’s aerial and Google Maps, I see that the building is still there, surrounded by old cars and trucks. Maps' address for that building is 6465 US-380.
Unlike that odd Lazy H thing, the full-sized Corral was on the north highway, about where a Lowe’s is today. A good address would be 2519 W Pierce St, Carlsbad, NM 88220.
Something called the “Lazy H Corral Drive-In Pitcher Show / Just this side of White’s City” ran ads in the Carlsbad Current-Angus on August 1-16, 1946. I can’t find anything else about it, so I assume it was a makeshift event.
Theater Enterprise started construction on the real Corral in January 1952 and held its grand opening on April 13, 1952. The first movie was “Peggy.”
The Corral’s final ad in the Current-Angus said that it would close for the season on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1957. The final show was “The Searchers.” It apparently never reopened, and a 1960 article about a nearby small grass fire referred to it as “the old Corral Drive-In Theatre”.
Carlsbad Current-Argus, Wed., Sept. 26, 1979: “The Cavern Theater will close its doors Tuesday (Oct. 2nd) as a full-time theater, but will re-open on special occasions, holidays or when a suitable film product is available. Theater manager Abby Parrish … said that the theater will still house the (local Commonwealth Theaters) office. It will also be available for clubs and presentations … The last performance on Tuesday will be a showing of "Alien.” "
That “Now Open” ad coincided closely with the closing of Roswell’s Ballojak Drive-In, so the Cactus folks might have been trying to capture some of that business.
A Roswell Daily Record columnist wrote in 2018 that way back when, for a treat he would sometimes go to “the Cactus Drive-in to see the shows in Spanish, which was usually one of the more famous stars like Cantinflas, Antonio Aguilar and others.”
The first ad I could find for the Yucca in the Lovington Leader said it was “Now Open” on Sept. 21, 1951. Its program that night and the next was the 1947 John Wayne classic “Angel and the Badman,” plus cartoon and comedy (short?).
Unfortunately, the Leader, soon to be the Daily Leader, appears to have taken a few years off from running theater ads. Spot checks in the summers of 1955-57 turned up nothing for any movie house. In the summer of 1958, the Daily Leader ran ads for the indoor Lea and the Wildcat Drive-In, but nothing about the Yucca.
The Yucca’s last appearance in Frontier Theatres' list of holdings was in the 1960 Motion Picture Almanac; it was gone in the 1961 MPA.
Based on the aerial photos, the Skyline was about where the American’s St. Louis Ground Operations Center building is today. Its sign says its address is 10900 Lambert International Boulevard, and sure enough, Google Maps likes 10900 Lambert International Blvd, Bridgeton, MO 63044.
Same drive-in? Alamogordo Daily News, July 5, 1966: (Associated Press story about storms) “A drive-in theater was reported destroyed near Kimball Prairie, Minn.”
Over several months, I posted some notes about the Jet in Truth or Consequences here in the entry for Tularosa’s Jet Drive-In. Sorry about that. I’ve removed the bad ones, and here are the remaining relevant notes:
Motion Picture Exhibitor, Jan. 16, 1963: “The Bijou, Muse-U, and Jet Drive-In have changed hands. Juan G. and Jose G. Contreras are the new owners. Ed S. Turned has owned the houses for 18 years.”
Boxoffice, March 8, 1965: “The Jet Drive-In and the Muse-U, both located in Tularosa, N.M., have been acquired by Cliff and Susan Reed of New York City. Purchase was made from the Otero County State Bank of New Mexico and extensive remodeling and alterations are being completed prior to reopening”
Also, it appears that the Jet was renamed the Route 54 before it closed. The 1966 Motion Picture Almanac included the Route 54, owner “R & R Dist.,” capacity 250. On April 9, 1967, the Route 54 “North of Tularosa” advertised its “Gala Re-Opening Show” in the Alamogordo Daily News.
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “In 1948, Theater Enterprises, Inc., acquired 14 acres from Hobbs Houses, Inc., on the Hobbs-Lovington highway and built the Sky-Vu drive-in theater."
I’ll bet that’s what someone read in 1975 and repeated. Was the date mentioned in 1951 just a typo, or did someone misremember a date that badly just 28 months after the drive-in opened?
Anyway, the last Sky Vu ad I could find in the News-Sun was $1 a carload on Jan. 28, 1962 for “Hell Bent for Leather” and “Plunder in the Sun”. The next day’s paper had ads for the Flamingo Twin Drive-In but nothing for the Sky Vu.
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “Hobbs second drive-in, the Eagle, opened last year on a 10-acre tract at 300 North Burk. It is owned by E. L. Williamson of Abilene, Tex., and managed by Mrs. Lucille Nunnally."
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “The first announcement (of the soon-to-open theater) said it would be called the “Strand.” A second announcement a few days later saw the name changed to the “Fawn.” It opened in a sheet-iron building leased from John Sharbauer on Sept. 6, 1930. The first picture starred Harry Richmond and Jean Bennett in “Putting on the Ritz.” It was a silent picture … Sound equipment was installed in the Fawn on Sept. 19. Sometime later - probably in 1931 - the theater’s name was changed again to the Strand. … in 1932, Griffith (Theaters) leased the Fawn theater which had been closed for about a year … Griffith renamed it the Rex and it remained Hobbs' only theater until the Rig … was opened late in 1935 … The Rex theater was destroyed in an early morning blaze on May 6, 1936. The fire, described by newspapers as a “$50,000 loss,” also destroyed three other buildings and damaged several others, including the postoffice, in the same block."
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “The second theater opening in Hobbs was the Derrick … early advertisements located it as "adjoining the federal postoffice building on East Carlsbad.” (Carlsbad is the former name of Broadway.)“ Its first movie was the 1925 silent film "She” starring Betty Blythe.
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “The first motion picture house (in Hobbs) … was called the Ritz, and it was built on the site of the Roosevelt theater which was destroyed by fire several months ago. Manager of the independently-operated Ritz was George S. Gufford … While the present Rig theater (which opened late in 1935) was under construction, Judge T. A. Whelan of Lovington bought the old Ritz theater. He changed its name to the Roosevelt and opened up for business.”
Crawley’s appeared precisely once in the Theatre Catalog (1955-56 edition) and Motion Picture Almanac (1956). Both named Perry Crawley as the owner and the capacity at 200.
Going from experience, the Theatre Catalog listing suggests Crawley’s was open by early 1955. The MPA listing points to it still being around in early 1956, and its departure (in lieu of the Varsity) in 1957 suggests that it closed before the end of 1956.
Boxoffice, Aug. 5, 1963: “W. T. Kerr, Sulphur, … was also a partner in a drive-in, the Starlight, which was destroyed in a windstorm and never reopened. His partner was Mrs. Izah Adams, who operated the Ritz Theatre, Sulphur, for many years, but who is no longer in the theatre business."
Boxoffice, Aug. 5, 1963: “W. T. Kerr, Sulphur, who owns the Arbuckle Drive-In, Davis, reports that J. C. Drake, who had the drive-in leased for the past several months, is no longer connected with the drive-in. Kerr was on the (Oklahoma City Film) Row recently and brought along with him Clay Pitchford, Mistletow Express agent of Davis, who also owns a flower shop. Pitchford will operate the Arbuckle Drive-In for Kerr and they were setting future bookings, as this is Pitchford’s first venture in the motion picture theatre business. He did operate the drive-in for a short time while Drake had it under lease.”
Boxoffice, May 28, 1949: “Lloyd Kerby, owner of the Kerby, Worland, Wyo., has bought ten acres near town and will build a $75,000, 350-seat (sic) drive-in, equipped with Simplex booth, sound and in-car speakers, all furnished by National Theatre Supply.”
I just uploaded a 1962 photo that included the original building, and I think it’s consistent with the 1983 photo. But you’re better at picking out visual details, Kenmore, so I am happy to read your perspective.
(Farwell) State Line Tribune, July 30, 1953: “Friona is to have a new business west of town. W. E. McGlothin is moving a building and equipment for a new Drive-in theater.”
(Farwell) State Line Tribune, Aug. 6, 1953: “Bill McLaughlin, operator of the local downtown theatre, said this week that he is making progress on the erection of a drive-in theatre on Highway 60 just west of Friona. Asked as to when the theatre might be in operation, McLaughlin admitted that it might be possible he would not open this fall, but added that he was going ahead on the work. The drive-in, second in Friona, will accommodate 240-250 cars, McLaughlin said, adding he was moving these up here from another location. (Huh?) Ramps have been run already, and erection on the tower is expected to begin soon."
The Chief was the first drive-in to open in Friona. It was advertising in the (Farwell) State Line Tribune on Aug. 6, 1953, on the same page as an article about Bill McGlothin building a 240-250-car drive-in, “second in Friona”.
That’s the grand opening ad that appeared in the Clovis News-Journal on May 11, 1950. It’s probably in the public domain.
The former 4-Lane site, later a Stuckey’s, is now “Stickey’s,” a cannabis retailer. Google Maps has its address as 420 US-60 70 84, Clovis, NM 88101.
The 1958 topo map previously uploaded here showed the projection-concession building that matched a building in a 1983 aerial photo. Long story short, I think that it’s still there, now alone in a vacant lot, and Google Maps gives it the address of 2524 W 7th St, Clovis, NM 88101.
Following up that weird mention of the Comet screen in February 1957, in December 1957 the Clovis News-Journal ran a classified ad for residential lots “North of Comet Drive-In.” I’d love to know the reason for the delay between the screen’s erection and the August 1958 grand opening.
The Comet’s last ad in the News-Journal was on May 15, 1960. The next day, there was no Comet ad, and the ad for the co-owned Yucca included the note, “Watch for opening of La Fonda”. On May 19, as workers were dismantling the Comet’s screen, it toppled over, leaving it “in bad shape” and delaying the reopening of the La Fonda for several weeks until “a new screen will be constructed” there, co-owner Loyd Franklin said at the time. Later local histories said that the Comet screen moved to the La Fonda, so it’s unclear whether that was accurate.
Clovis News-Journal, July 24, 1960: “Loyd Franklin, operator of La Fonda Drive-In, reported to police Friday (22) that vandals broke and entered the defunct Comet Drive-In on W. 7th. Police said there was no damage.”
Notes from a morning rummaging around in the (Carrizozo) Lincoln County News:
The Nike opened on June 22, 1956 (quoted 20 years later - no movie info), built by Mr. and Mrs. Bill Skelton. Fred Miller leased the drive-in in September 1961, then Doug and Betty Willias leased it for the 1962 season. Robert (Bob) Means ran the Nike in 1963, and Bill Baker opened it for its final season in 1964. It closed on Sunday, Sept. 27, with a showing of “Captain Newman, M. D.” starring Gregory Peck and Tony Curtis.
The Nike’s sign was still there in July 1967, because that’s when a 15-year-old ran his car into it. Means bought the site from Skelton in 1969, planning to develop it as a trailer park; he said he’d keep the concession/projection building to use as a utility room. Means sold the screen for scrap in 1975, and it came down on Feb. 10 that year. At the time, Means said the Nike had closed in 1961, illustrating the unreliable nature of memory, even of a business one had operated just 12 years earlier. But I digress.
The Albuquerque Journal wrote in 1996 that a 75-year-old former cowboy was living in the Nike’s old projection room. And today, armed with NMDOT’s aerial and Google Maps, I see that the building is still there, surrounded by old cars and trucks. Maps' address for that building is 6465 US-380.
Unlike that odd Lazy H thing, the full-sized Corral was on the north highway, about where a Lowe’s is today. A good address would be 2519 W Pierce St, Carlsbad, NM 88220.
Something called the “Lazy H Corral Drive-In Pitcher Show / Just this side of White’s City” ran ads in the Carlsbad Current-Angus on August 1-16, 1946. I can’t find anything else about it, so I assume it was a makeshift event.
Theater Enterprise started construction on the real Corral in January 1952 and held its grand opening on April 13, 1952. The first movie was “Peggy.”
The Corral’s final ad in the Current-Angus said that it would close for the season on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1957. The final show was “The Searchers.” It apparently never reopened, and a 1960 article about a nearby small grass fire referred to it as “the old Corral Drive-In Theatre”.
Carlsbad Current-Argus, Wed., Sept. 26, 1979: “The Cavern Theater will close its doors Tuesday (Oct. 2nd) as a full-time theater, but will re-open on special occasions, holidays or when a suitable film product is available. Theater manager Abby Parrish … said that the theater will still house the (local Commonwealth Theaters) office. It will also be available for clubs and presentations … The last performance on Tuesday will be a showing of "Alien.” "
That “Now Open” ad coincided closely with the closing of Roswell’s Ballojak Drive-In, so the Cactus folks might have been trying to capture some of that business.
A Roswell Daily Record columnist wrote in 2018 that way back when, for a treat he would sometimes go to “the Cactus Drive-in to see the shows in Spanish, which was usually one of the more famous stars like Cantinflas, Antonio Aguilar and others.”
The first ad I could find for the Yucca in the Lovington Leader said it was “Now Open” on Sept. 21, 1951. Its program that night and the next was the 1947 John Wayne classic “Angel and the Badman,” plus cartoon and comedy (short?).
Unfortunately, the Leader, soon to be the Daily Leader, appears to have taken a few years off from running theater ads. Spot checks in the summers of 1955-57 turned up nothing for any movie house. In the summer of 1958, the Daily Leader ran ads for the indoor Lea and the Wildcat Drive-In, but nothing about the Yucca.
The Yucca’s last appearance in Frontier Theatres' list of holdings was in the 1960 Motion Picture Almanac; it was gone in the 1961 MPA.
Based on the aerial photos, the Skyline was about where the American’s St. Louis Ground Operations Center building is today. Its sign says its address is 10900 Lambert International Boulevard, and sure enough, Google Maps likes 10900 Lambert International Blvd, Bridgeton, MO 63044.