I love your research, 50sSnipes, though I have seen so many references to the spelling Leeson, including an interview with his son.
I’m so glad that you found an opening date, which lines up well with the Boxoffice note. Where did you find it? If it’s a grand opening ad, could you post it?
Boxoffice, June 6, 1953: “Grinnell, Iowa - The new drive-in on Highway 146 near here is to open not later than June 1.”
Boxoffice, July 18, 1953: (in a list of drive-ins opened in the first half of 1953) “Grinnell - Grinnell, George Mart, manager”
Boxoffice, Aug. 1, 1953: “Grinnell, Iowa - Grinnell Drive-In opened with George Mart as manager.”
Boxoffice, July 8, 1963: “Nature put on quite a performance with an early evening windstorm Friday, June 29 … two Central States airers lost their screen towers - at Grinnell and Ottumwa.”
Boxoffice, July 29, 1968: “A Junior Chamber of Commerce benefit night was held at the Grinnell Drive-In.”
Boxoffice, July 8, 1963: “Nature put on quite a performance with an early evening windstorm Friday, June 29 … two Central States airers lost their screen towers - at Grinnell and Ottumwa. Manager Earl Rolison rigged up a 30x50-foot canvas "screen” between two poles and Ottumwa was in operation despite the downed tower."
Boxoffice, July 8, 1963: “Nature put on quite a performance with an early evening windstorm Friday, June 29 … the Pioneer’s attractions board was a crumpled shambles following the 70-mile-an-hour blow.”
Sounds like the Airway widened its screen a lot later than most drive-ins.
Boxoffice, July 1, 1963: “At (Dick) Davis' other airer, the Airways (sic?) in Memphis, Mo., workmen have been busy widening the screen and generally redecorating.”
Boxoffice, July 1, 1963: “Two area drive-ins are rushing to get open by mid-June. Pounding the nails and sawing the boards at a frantic clip are workmen at Gabe Dilhuery’s skytop at Prior Lake ad Reno Wilk’s second drive-in at Minot, N.D. Both are being equipped by Minneapolis Theatre Supply.”
Boxoffice, July 1, 1963: “Two area drive-ins are rushing to get open by mid-June. Pounding the nails and sawing the boards at a frantic clip are workmen at Gabe Dilhuery’s skytop at Prior Lake ad Reno Wilk’s second drive-in at Minot, N.D. Both are being equipped by Minneapolis Theatre Supply.”
Wentzville Union, July 26, 1978: “For 21 years, visitors and Osage Beach residents alike have pulled off the highway to attend the interdenominational service. A group of lay Christians first organized services at the Osage Beach Glaize Drive-In Theater to attract vacationers who "neglected to pack suitable church attire” and who would only attend an early service because of “action-packed days.” Nine years later, when up to 300 persons attended, the services were moved across the highway to the present location of Hope Chapel."
Boxoffice’s Feb. 17, 1951 roundup of drive-in projects indicated that a 306-car drive-in in Denison was already operating. Unless it showed movies during an Iowa winter, the Denison probably opened in 1950. Owners were listed as Ted Krogh and Cecil Crouse. That pair had sold the Carroll (IA) Drive-In in the summer of 1949.
Independent Film Journal, June 12, 1954: “An explosion at the Denison Drive-In occurred recently while Ted Krogh was in process of cleaning the film projectors. Theatre is owned by Cecil Crouse.
Boxoffice, Aug. 7, 1961: “Fred Ballantyne is contemplating a complete remodeling job for his drive-in theatre at Denison, Iowa.”
Carroll (IA) Times Herald, June 22, 1974: “Damages were scattered as last night’s storm passed through Denison. A large section of the screen at the Denison drive-in theater was disengaged”
Boxoffice, June 4, 1949: Reynolds Drive-In near Transfer, Pa., has installed an electric clock on the large screen tower. This clock, facing the highway, has a six-foot dial, with neon-lighted hands and figures. Carl T. McKnight and Carl C. Blake, owners of the theatre, will run advertising lines on the clock such as: “For the Correct Time and Your Best Time Look to the Picture Tower of the Reynolds Drive-In Theatre.”
The Galva Autovue Facebook page says its final night was Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, with “Inside Out” and “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”. In 2018, someone stole its marquee sign. Google Street View shows the screens still up, but few other signs of life. Maybe mark this drive-in closed?
For the closing date, the last active listing I could find in the Arizona Republic was for the weekend of Sept. 10, 1982. That’s when the Thunderbird showed Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Poltergeist.
By 1985, the Republic was running stories about the “vacant” or “defunct” Thunderbird site.
I wrote in the second edition of “Drive-Ins of Route 66,” but neglected to mention here, that the Fair Park apparently closed on Aug. 18, 1948. Its ads in the Black Dispatch ended on Aug. 14, with movies listed through the following Wednesday.
The Black Dispatch is now available on Newspapers.com, and I found a couple more fragments of information there, though still nothing new about the drive-in’s closure.
The Fair Park was slow to open. In its first “opening soon” ad on June 5, 1948, it said “for opening date / see next weeks edition of this newspaper”. That optimistic note was followed by similar ads on (at least) June 12, June 19, and July 3.
On July 17, the date of the Fair Park’s grand opening, the Black Dispatch ran a front-page article on the drive-in’s manager. “Mr. H. R. Fall (sic) of the Southwest Theatres anounced this week his appointment of local hotel man and owner-operator of several eastside enterprises, Winard Norman, as manager of the state’s first Negro outdoor theatre, the Fair Park Drive-In … his new responsibilities entail management of ten employees who serve as ticket sellers, ushers, concession aides, etc.”
Boxoffice, Oct. 20, 1948: “Birmingham - "Working a matinee in a drive-in theatre” is a standing jest among projectionists all over the country. But Ralph A. Root, business agent for MPPMO Local 236, recently was called upon to assign an operator to just such work. It wasn’t for a motion picture, however. It seems that a local radio evangelist wanted to hold a meeting at the new Fair Park Drive-In. He wanted to utilize a public address system, fed into the theatre’s in-car speakers. A projectionist would have to be on hand to monitor the sound. Root promptly assigned Hartwell Montgomery, regular projectionist, to handle the job."
The Raleigh Road must have opened by 1952, since the 1952 Theatre Catalog included it as one of five Fayetteville drive-ins. It was owned by H. B. Meiselman and had a capacity of 600 cars.
The Nov. 3, 1954 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor included the Raleigh Road as one of the many drive-ins destroyed or heavily damaged by Hurricane Hazel. But it must have been repaired or rebuilt.
Motion Picture Exhibitor, Jan. 17, 1962: “FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The College Community Planning Board has advised that it plans to take legal action to close the Raleigh Road Drive-In, located near the new Methodist College campus. The drive-in, operated by H. B. Meiselman Theatres, Charlotte, was closed for a long period of time, during which the Planning Board passed an ordinance banning drive-in theatres in the area. Recently, the drive-in was reopened to business.”
Film Daily, May 3, 1948: (under Theaters Opened) “Bonds, drive-in, Bennettsville, S. C., by Walter H. Bonds.”
The Nov. 3, 1954 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor reported that “Hurricane Hazel was the greatest calamity ever suffered by drive-ins in the Carolinas.” The “Bonds Drive-In” was one of dozens listed as “destroyed or badly damaged”.
Looking at the yearbook, the “Mystic Maze,” I don’t see a copyright notice anywhere. That would make its contents, including this ad, public domain material.
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “Mr. and Mrs. U. Walker, owners, have finished their new Skyvue (sic?) drive-in, Winona, Miss., which opens next week.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “M. H. Miller, owner, reports his Starlite drive-in, Henderson, Ky., has been finished and is ready for formal opening May 13.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “Marie Goodhand is this week opening her new 400-seat Goodhand, Kimball, Neb. It will take the place of the old America, which will be remodeled for other business.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “The Allen theatre, Lowell, formerly the Crown, which has been closed for three years, has been converted into a merchandising store, leased to the Middlesex Supply Company.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “American Theatres Corp. opened its sixth drive-in April 30 in Oxford, Mass., on Routes 20 and 12.”
Boston Globe, June 15, 1956: “Oxford Kiddie Park, New England’s newest amusement park, located in North Oxford at the junction of Routes 20 and 12, is nearing completion and will be open with special ceremonies tomorrow. The Kiddie Park is under management of the American Theatres Coporation, operators of the adjacent Oxford Drive-In Theatre.”
Yet another spelling. Motion Picture Herald, May 1, 1954: “L. P. Head, manager of the Co-Pia drive-in, Hazelhurst (sic), Miss., advised that April 30 was the date for the ozoner’s re-opening.”
I love your research, 50sSnipes, though I have seen so many references to the spelling Leeson, including an interview with his son.
I’m so glad that you found an opening date, which lines up well with the Boxoffice note. Where did you find it? If it’s a grand opening ad, could you post it?
Boxoffice, June 6, 1953: “Grinnell, Iowa - The new drive-in on Highway 146 near here is to open not later than June 1.”
Boxoffice, July 18, 1953: (in a list of drive-ins opened in the first half of 1953) “Grinnell - Grinnell, George Mart, manager”
Boxoffice, Aug. 1, 1953: “Grinnell, Iowa - Grinnell Drive-In opened with George Mart as manager.”
Boxoffice, July 8, 1963: “Nature put on quite a performance with an early evening windstorm Friday, June 29 … two Central States airers lost their screen towers - at Grinnell and Ottumwa.”
Boxoffice, July 29, 1968: “A Junior Chamber of Commerce benefit night was held at the Grinnell Drive-In.”
Boxoffice, July 8, 1963: “Nature put on quite a performance with an early evening windstorm Friday, June 29 … two Central States airers lost their screen towers - at Grinnell and Ottumwa. Manager Earl Rolison rigged up a 30x50-foot canvas "screen” between two poles and Ottumwa was in operation despite the downed tower."
Boxoffice, July 8, 1963: “Nature put on quite a performance with an early evening windstorm Friday, June 29 … the Pioneer’s attractions board was a crumpled shambles following the 70-mile-an-hour blow.”
Sounds like the Airway widened its screen a lot later than most drive-ins.
Boxoffice, July 1, 1963: “At (Dick) Davis' other airer, the Airways (sic?) in Memphis, Mo., workmen have been busy widening the screen and generally redecorating.”
Boxoffice, July 1, 1963: “Two area drive-ins are rushing to get open by mid-June. Pounding the nails and sawing the boards at a frantic clip are workmen at Gabe Dilhuery’s skytop at Prior Lake ad Reno Wilk’s second drive-in at Minot, N.D. Both are being equipped by Minneapolis Theatre Supply.”
Boxoffice, July 1, 1963: “Two area drive-ins are rushing to get open by mid-June. Pounding the nails and sawing the boards at a frantic clip are workmen at Gabe Dilhuery’s skytop at Prior Lake ad Reno Wilk’s second drive-in at Minot, N.D. Both are being equipped by Minneapolis Theatre Supply.”
Wentzville Union, July 26, 1978: “For 21 years, visitors and Osage Beach residents alike have pulled off the highway to attend the interdenominational service. A group of lay Christians first organized services at the Osage Beach Glaize Drive-In Theater to attract vacationers who "neglected to pack suitable church attire” and who would only attend an early service because of “action-packed days.” Nine years later, when up to 300 persons attended, the services were moved across the highway to the present location of Hope Chapel."
Boxoffice’s Feb. 17, 1951 roundup of drive-in projects indicated that a 306-car drive-in in Denison was already operating. Unless it showed movies during an Iowa winter, the Denison probably opened in 1950. Owners were listed as Ted Krogh and Cecil Crouse. That pair had sold the Carroll (IA) Drive-In in the summer of 1949.
Independent Film Journal, June 12, 1954: “An explosion at the Denison Drive-In occurred recently while Ted Krogh was in process of cleaning the film projectors. Theatre is owned by Cecil Crouse.
Boxoffice, Aug. 7, 1961: “Fred Ballantyne is contemplating a complete remodeling job for his drive-in theatre at Denison, Iowa.”
Carroll (IA) Times Herald, June 22, 1974: “Damages were scattered as last night’s storm passed through Denison. A large section of the screen at the Denison drive-in theater was disengaged”
Boxoffice, June 4, 1949: Reynolds Drive-In near Transfer, Pa., has installed an electric clock on the large screen tower. This clock, facing the highway, has a six-foot dial, with neon-lighted hands and figures. Carl T. McKnight and Carl C. Blake, owners of the theatre, will run advertising lines on the clock such as: “For the Correct Time and Your Best Time Look to the Picture Tower of the Reynolds Drive-In Theatre.”
The Galva Autovue Facebook page says its final night was Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, with “Inside Out” and “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”. In 2018, someone stole its marquee sign. Google Street View shows the screens still up, but few other signs of life. Maybe mark this drive-in closed?
For the closing date, the last active listing I could find in the Arizona Republic was for the weekend of Sept. 10, 1982. That’s when the Thunderbird showed Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Poltergeist.
By 1985, the Republic was running stories about the “vacant” or “defunct” Thunderbird site.
I wrote in the second edition of “Drive-Ins of Route 66,” but neglected to mention here, that the Fair Park apparently closed on Aug. 18, 1948. Its ads in the Black Dispatch ended on Aug. 14, with movies listed through the following Wednesday.
The Black Dispatch is now available on Newspapers.com, and I found a couple more fragments of information there, though still nothing new about the drive-in’s closure.
The Fair Park was slow to open. In its first “opening soon” ad on June 5, 1948, it said “for opening date / see next weeks edition of this newspaper”. That optimistic note was followed by similar ads on (at least) June 12, June 19, and July 3.
On July 17, the date of the Fair Park’s grand opening, the Black Dispatch ran a front-page article on the drive-in’s manager. “Mr. H. R. Fall (sic) of the Southwest Theatres anounced this week his appointment of local hotel man and owner-operator of several eastside enterprises, Winard Norman, as manager of the state’s first Negro outdoor theatre, the Fair Park Drive-In … his new responsibilities entail management of ten employees who serve as ticket sellers, ushers, concession aides, etc.”
Boxoffice, Oct. 20, 1948: “Birmingham - "Working a matinee in a drive-in theatre” is a standing jest among projectionists all over the country. But Ralph A. Root, business agent for MPPMO Local 236, recently was called upon to assign an operator to just such work. It wasn’t for a motion picture, however. It seems that a local radio evangelist wanted to hold a meeting at the new Fair Park Drive-In. He wanted to utilize a public address system, fed into the theatre’s in-car speakers. A projectionist would have to be on hand to monitor the sound. Root promptly assigned Hartwell Montgomery, regular projectionist, to handle the job."
The Raleigh Road must have opened by 1952, since the 1952 Theatre Catalog included it as one of five Fayetteville drive-ins. It was owned by H. B. Meiselman and had a capacity of 600 cars.
The Nov. 3, 1954 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor included the Raleigh Road as one of the many drive-ins destroyed or heavily damaged by Hurricane Hazel. But it must have been repaired or rebuilt.
Motion Picture Exhibitor, Jan. 17, 1962: “FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The College Community Planning Board has advised that it plans to take legal action to close the Raleigh Road Drive-In, located near the new Methodist College campus. The drive-in, operated by H. B. Meiselman Theatres, Charlotte, was closed for a long period of time, during which the Planning Board passed an ordinance banning drive-in theatres in the area. Recently, the drive-in was reopened to business.”
Film Daily, May 3, 1948: (under Theaters Opened) “Bonds, drive-in, Bennettsville, S. C., by Walter H. Bonds.”
The Nov. 3, 1954 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor reported that “Hurricane Hazel was the greatest calamity ever suffered by drive-ins in the Carolinas.” The “Bonds Drive-In” was one of dozens listed as “destroyed or badly damaged”.
Looking at the yearbook, the “Mystic Maze,” I don’t see a copyright notice anywhere. That would make its contents, including this ad, public domain material.
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “Mr. and Mrs. U. Walker, owners, have finished their new Skyvue (sic?) drive-in, Winona, Miss., which opens next week.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “M. H. Miller, owner, reports his Starlite drive-in, Henderson, Ky., has been finished and is ready for formal opening May 13.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “Ernest Block opened last week his new drive-in at Sabetha, Kan., where he operates also a conventional theatre.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “Marie Goodhand is this week opening her new 400-seat Goodhand, Kimball, Neb. It will take the place of the old America, which will be remodeled for other business.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “The Allen theatre, Lowell, formerly the Crown, which has been closed for three years, has been converted into a merchandising store, leased to the Middlesex Supply Company.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 8, 1954: “American Theatres Corp. opened its sixth drive-in April 30 in Oxford, Mass., on Routes 20 and 12.”
Boston Globe, June 15, 1956: “Oxford Kiddie Park, New England’s newest amusement park, located in North Oxford at the junction of Routes 20 and 12, is nearing completion and will be open with special ceremonies tomorrow. The Kiddie Park is under management of the American Theatres Coporation, operators of the adjacent Oxford Drive-In Theatre.”
Motion Picture Herald, May 1, 1954: “Fire broke out and gutted Angels Camp theatre, owned by Robert Patton, April 14, with damages totaling $175,000.”
Yet another spelling. Motion Picture Herald, May 1, 1954: “L. P. Head, manager of the Co-Pia drive-in, Hazelhurst (sic), Miss., advised that April 30 was the date for the ozoner’s re-opening.”