The Berkshire and Lanesboro drive-ins were separate.
Boxoffice, May 12, 1958: “Sylvan Leff’s beautiful and modern 750-car Pittsfield Drive-In at Pittsfield, Mass., is being operated this season on lease by Al Daytz of Boston. Daytz, whose brother Mickey, onetime Warner salesman here (in Albany), is associated with him in a buying-booking service and in drive-in projects, has also taken over the Berkshire Drive-In on the other side of Pittsfield and another at nearby Lanesboro.”
Boxoffice, April 18, 1966: “Al Daytz, president of Esquire Theatres of America, … also operates three drive-ins around Pittsfield, Mass. These are the Pittsfield, the Berkshire and the Lanesboro.”
Boxoffice, May 12, 1958: “Sylvan Leff’s beautiful and modern 750-car Pittsfield Drive-In at Pittsfield, Mass., is being operated this season on lease by Al Daytz of Boston. Daytz, whose brother Mickey, onetime Warner salesman here (in Albany), is associated with him in a buying-booking service and in drive-in projects, has also taken over the Berkshire Drive-In on the other side of Pittsfield and another a nearby Lanesboro.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 18, 1958: “Bob Case, former Kingston city manager … now is at the Pittsfield (Mass.) Drive-In … The Daytz brothers are operating the Pittsfield this season on lease from Sylvan Leff”
Former owners Melvin and Alice Slater wrote a lengthy letter published in the May 12, 1958 issue of Boxoffice. “We (my husband and I) bought this theatre and building, putting our life’s savings plus everything we made in show business back into it in remodeling and buying the best of new modern theatre equipment, determined to build a fine business from a rundown and outmoded one. After five years of strident effort and hard work, we did. Then TV hit our community. That was a year and a half ago. Need I say more? … we closed our doors April 30.”
Boxoffice, July 28, 1958: “Two bus loads of handicapped children attending Variety’s Camp O'Connell are taken each Thursday to the Starlite Drive-In at Wexford. James H. Nash, one of the ozoner owners, counted 54 kiddies and 14 staff members last week enjoying the recreational facilities of its $25,000 playground”
Looks like Carlin’s, with the apostrophe, should also be an alternate name. ;)
Boxoffice, July 28, 1958: “Purchase of an admission ticket for Carlin’s Drive-In between 6 and 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday admits the patron to a swim in the adjacent Olympic Pool until 8 o'clock show time, according to Manager Stanley Stern. The swimming pool happens to be handy since it is the one remaining attraction that was part of the original Carlin’s Amusement Park, the site of which has been converted to the 1,800-car drive-in.”
Boxoffice, July 28, 1958: “Joe Miller, onetime Columbia manager, said he was still passing up "fast buck” pictures at the Menands Drive-In on the Albany-Troy road. “I have not played them since I opened the theatre, and I plan to continue this policy,” he said."
Boxoffice, July 28, 1958: “Alan V. Iselin’s Auto-Vision in East Greenbush wound up its 19th anniversary week with an "All Request Show,” consisting of three science-fiction shockers - “Satellite in the Sky,” “Killers From Space” and “Phantom From Space”."
That’s just wrong. Surely no one who had previously viewed the last two movies would request an encore. And that “19th anniversary” is bogus, since it would put the Auto-Vision’s opening date at 1939. Sometimes drive-ins would talk about their 19th year as a 19th anniversary, and this is a good example.
Variety, July 3, 1940: “William F. Murray, booker for Grand National in Albany and Buffalo until company folded, managing new Auto-vision theatre in East Greenbush. Owen Holmes, a former Springfield (Mass.) projectionist, operates the drive-in.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 4, 1958: “Lightning struck the projection booth and screen at Lamont’s Vail Mills Drive-In, between Amsterdam and Gloversville, during a recent Saturday evening show … Harry Witzke, projectionist, was unharmed and continued the showing.”
The Lisbon’s first appearance in the Theatre Catalog was in the 1952 edition. No capacity figure, owners Royal and John Boldue, Colebrook, N. H.
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Manager Joe Donahue of the Lisbon Drive-In at Lewiston, Me., passed out cigars to all female customers who would light them immediately as an on-the-premises promotion for "The Bonnie Parker Story.” (They were permitted to hand the cigars to their escorts after a few puffs.)"
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Salisbury, Md. - The Ulman Theatre Corp. is planning to build a drive-in theatre near here. Bernard Ulman, Baltimore, circuit president, who was here to look over the proposed site, said that the drive-in possibly will be located on Route 13. The airer will accommodate 500-700 cars.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Roanoke, Va. - Mr. and Mrs. Atkins, formerly owners and operators of the Lee Drive-In in Lexington, have purchased the Riverside Drive-In here from Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Pence for $25,000. The new owners will install new sound equipment and improve concessions equipment at the theatre located at 1942 Bennington St., S.E.”
Now that I know which Roanoke drive-in was the Riverside (it was the one by the river), I can check the aerial photos. They indicate that the Riverside was still intact in 1969, but long gone in 1982. It was still in the 1973 topo map but replaced by housing in the 1978 map.
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “George Tice … is a partner-owner with George Saittis, who together … own and operate the Twin Hi-Way Drive-In west of Crafton.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Bob Trautman, whose Hill-Top Drive-In near Butler was closed about two seasons because of highway projects, reopened this spring.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Jim (Geibel)’s original outdoor theatre, the Geibel Drive-In near Butler, has been closed for three years because of a state road building project. Jim wants some action on damages from the highway department, but nothing has happened to date.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 14, 1958: “The Knickerbocker News illustrated a story on the acquisition of the Super 50 Drive-In, Ballston, by Tri-City Drive-In Theatres of Albany, with a picture of Alan V. Iselin and Claude Swanson, new manager of the 1,000-carer, shaking hands”
Boxoffice, June 19, 1967: “Hillcrest Drive-In, Heber Springs, Ark., operated by J. O. Smith, opened for full-time operation Friday (16).”
An article about Cinema Radio sound conversions in the March 17, 1975 issue of Boxoffice said that Altec Service Corp. had upgraded “the 400-car Hillcrest Drive-In, Heber Springs, Ark., (Victor Weber)”.
The 1972 Motion Picture Almanac listed the Hillcrest with a capacity of 270 cars. After the MPA rebooted its drive-in list in 1977, it no longer included the Hillcrest; without other evidence, I would guess that the drive-in closed after the 1975 or 1976 season.
Thanks, Kenmore. I knew that if anyone could find it, you could.
I’ve uploaded a postcard of the Stevesville motel that mentions the drive-in. Another postcard I noticed on eBay of the same motel noted on the back that its proprietor was Steve P. Neofotis, matching the Theatre Catalog listing.
To underline an earlier point, I put the ever-fallible Motion Picture Almanac’s erroneous spelling of the drive-in in quotes to show that I did not endorse it. Although there is a city in Virginia with the N, it’s 150 miles away. The Stevesville (no-N) cabins were one mile north of Lexington, and that was the name of the adjacent drive-in.
One more note. Joseph George Daher coached the Virginia Military Institute men’s basketball team for three years, 1943-45. VMI is also in Lexington, so it’s probably the same guy. He and the wife also had a couple of apparently unrelated real estate transactions in Lexington in the late 1950s.
Just sayin', the Motion Picture Almanac never updated its listing for the “Stevensville.” It continued through 1976 with no capacity. When the MPA rebooted its drive-in list, briefly getting serious about it after years of relative neglect, the Stevesville/Stevensville was gone.
I have no idea how long this drive-in stayed open. The idea that it was leased to another operator in late 1958 suggests that it might not have lasted long after that, and I have no evidence that it operated in 1959 or later.
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “John Popescu of the Blue Sky (sic?) Drive-In near Ellwood City, celebrated his fifth anniversary there very profitably. For two evenings the patrons were admitted for five cents, and approximately 2,000 were counted. Each year at anniversary time Popescu exploits the event with fireworks, giveaways, etc.”
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “A Clark Transfer driver discovered a fire in the concession stand of Charlie Rowlett’s Blue Star Drive-In, Petersburg, Va. Working around the clock, Charlie was back in business come showtime.”
The Modern Theatre section of the Sept. 8, 1958 issue of Boxoffice had a two-page feature on the Carlin Drive-In. Its top feature was its paved viewing area, for which the “cost for this excellent surface was approximately $1 per square yard.”
My favorite sentence: “The theatre is surrounded by a seven-foot redwood picket fence topped with three strands of barbed wire.”
The article never used the apostrophe-s with the name. At a minimum, “Carlin Drive-In” should be an alternate name for this record.
Boxoffice, Sept. 8, 1958: “The Triangle Theatre in East Liberty, which was a well-patronized theatre for most of its two score years, has closed. Located on teeming Frankstown avenue, it had been a Negro patronage house for many years. A few years ago Abe Joseph turned over the operation to the Mervis brothers. They tried a foreign film policy but it didn’t click; then they returned to a last-run east-end policy, then had to go to weekends only. Being dismantled this week, the old Triangle reportedly will be remodeled into a bingo parlor and amusement center.”
The Merryland first appeared in the Motion Picture Almanac in the 1967 edition (capacity 500) as one of two Marietta drive-ins, along with the Starlite. That persisted through the 1976 edition. In 1977, the MPA rebooted its drive-in list, and the Starlite was the only Marietta drive-in.
A reasonably thorough search of the 1967 MPA circuit list failed to turn up the Merryland. JUR Theatre Circuit owned the Starlite and the Riverside, which was listed under Constitution OH. Shea Enterprises owned two local indoor houses, the Colony and the Putnam. As always, I would love to know the source of the assertion that the Merryland was open from at least 1968-70.
The Berkshire and Lanesboro drive-ins were separate.
Boxoffice, May 12, 1958: “Sylvan Leff’s beautiful and modern 750-car Pittsfield Drive-In at Pittsfield, Mass., is being operated this season on lease by Al Daytz of Boston. Daytz, whose brother Mickey, onetime Warner salesman here (in Albany), is associated with him in a buying-booking service and in drive-in projects, has also taken over the Berkshire Drive-In on the other side of Pittsfield and another at nearby Lanesboro.”
Boxoffice, April 18, 1966: “Al Daytz, president of Esquire Theatres of America, … also operates three drive-ins around Pittsfield, Mass. These are the Pittsfield, the Berkshire and the Lanesboro.”
Boxoffice, May 12, 1958: “Sylvan Leff’s beautiful and modern 750-car Pittsfield Drive-In at Pittsfield, Mass., is being operated this season on lease by Al Daytz of Boston. Daytz, whose brother Mickey, onetime Warner salesman here (in Albany), is associated with him in a buying-booking service and in drive-in projects, has also taken over the Berkshire Drive-In on the other side of Pittsfield and another a nearby Lanesboro.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 18, 1958: “Bob Case, former Kingston city manager … now is at the Pittsfield (Mass.) Drive-In … The Daytz brothers are operating the Pittsfield this season on lease from Sylvan Leff”
Former owners Melvin and Alice Slater wrote a lengthy letter published in the May 12, 1958 issue of Boxoffice. “We (my husband and I) bought this theatre and building, putting our life’s savings plus everything we made in show business back into it in remodeling and buying the best of new modern theatre equipment, determined to build a fine business from a rundown and outmoded one. After five years of strident effort and hard work, we did. Then TV hit our community. That was a year and a half ago. Need I say more? … we closed our doors April 30.”
Boxoffice, July 28, 1958: “Two bus loads of handicapped children attending Variety’s Camp O'Connell are taken each Thursday to the Starlite Drive-In at Wexford. James H. Nash, one of the ozoner owners, counted 54 kiddies and 14 staff members last week enjoying the recreational facilities of its $25,000 playground”
Looks like Carlin’s, with the apostrophe, should also be an alternate name. ;)
Boxoffice, July 28, 1958: “Purchase of an admission ticket for Carlin’s Drive-In between 6 and 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday admits the patron to a swim in the adjacent Olympic Pool until 8 o'clock show time, according to Manager Stanley Stern. The swimming pool happens to be handy since it is the one remaining attraction that was part of the original Carlin’s Amusement Park, the site of which has been converted to the 1,800-car drive-in.”
Boxoffice, July 28, 1958: “Joe Miller, onetime Columbia manager, said he was still passing up "fast buck” pictures at the Menands Drive-In on the Albany-Troy road. “I have not played them since I opened the theatre, and I plan to continue this policy,” he said."
Boxoffice, July 28, 1958: “Alan V. Iselin’s Auto-Vision in East Greenbush wound up its 19th anniversary week with an "All Request Show,” consisting of three science-fiction shockers - “Satellite in the Sky,” “Killers From Space” and “Phantom From Space”."
That’s just wrong. Surely no one who had previously viewed the last two movies would request an encore. And that “19th anniversary” is bogus, since it would put the Auto-Vision’s opening date at 1939. Sometimes drive-ins would talk about their 19th year as a 19th anniversary, and this is a good example.
Variety, July 3, 1940: “William F. Murray, booker for Grand National in Albany and Buffalo until company folded, managing new Auto-vision theatre in East Greenbush. Owen Holmes, a former Springfield (Mass.) projectionist, operates the drive-in.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 4, 1958: “Lightning struck the projection booth and screen at Lamont’s Vail Mills Drive-In, between Amsterdam and Gloversville, during a recent Saturday evening show … Harry Witzke, projectionist, was unharmed and continued the showing.”
The Lisbon’s first appearance in the Theatre Catalog was in the 1952 edition. No capacity figure, owners Royal and John Boldue, Colebrook, N. H.
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Manager Joe Donahue of the Lisbon Drive-In at Lewiston, Me., passed out cigars to all female customers who would light them immediately as an on-the-premises promotion for "The Bonnie Parker Story.” (They were permitted to hand the cigars to their escorts after a few puffs.)"
I’ll just store this here.
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Salisbury, Md. - The Ulman Theatre Corp. is planning to build a drive-in theatre near here. Bernard Ulman, Baltimore, circuit president, who was here to look over the proposed site, said that the drive-in possibly will be located on Route 13. The airer will accommodate 500-700 cars.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Roanoke, Va. - Mr. and Mrs. Atkins, formerly owners and operators of the Lee Drive-In in Lexington, have purchased the Riverside Drive-In here from Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Pence for $25,000. The new owners will install new sound equipment and improve concessions equipment at the theatre located at 1942 Bennington St., S.E.”
Now that I know which Roanoke drive-in was the Riverside (it was the one by the river), I can check the aerial photos. They indicate that the Riverside was still intact in 1969, but long gone in 1982. It was still in the 1973 topo map but replaced by housing in the 1978 map.
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “George Tice … is a partner-owner with George Saittis, who together … own and operate the Twin Hi-Way Drive-In west of Crafton.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Bob Trautman, whose Hill-Top Drive-In near Butler was closed about two seasons because of highway projects, reopened this spring.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1958: “Jim (Geibel)’s original outdoor theatre, the Geibel Drive-In near Butler, has been closed for three years because of a state road building project. Jim wants some action on damages from the highway department, but nothing has happened to date.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 14, 1958: “The Knickerbocker News illustrated a story on the acquisition of the Super 50 Drive-In, Ballston, by Tri-City Drive-In Theatres of Albany, with a picture of Alan V. Iselin and Claude Swanson, new manager of the 1,000-carer, shaking hands”
Boxoffice, June 19, 1967: “Hillcrest Drive-In, Heber Springs, Ark., operated by J. O. Smith, opened for full-time operation Friday (16).”
An article about Cinema Radio sound conversions in the March 17, 1975 issue of Boxoffice said that Altec Service Corp. had upgraded “the 400-car Hillcrest Drive-In, Heber Springs, Ark., (Victor Weber)”.
The 1972 Motion Picture Almanac listed the Hillcrest with a capacity of 270 cars. After the MPA rebooted its drive-in list in 1977, it no longer included the Hillcrest; without other evidence, I would guess that the drive-in closed after the 1975 or 1976 season.
Thanks, Kenmore. I knew that if anyone could find it, you could.
I’ve uploaded a postcard of the Stevesville motel that mentions the drive-in. Another postcard I noticed on eBay of the same motel noted on the back that its proprietor was Steve P. Neofotis, matching the Theatre Catalog listing.
To underline an earlier point, I put the ever-fallible Motion Picture Almanac’s erroneous spelling of the drive-in in quotes to show that I did not endorse it. Although there is a city in Virginia with the N, it’s 150 miles away. The Stevesville (no-N) cabins were one mile north of Lexington, and that was the name of the adjacent drive-in.
One more note. Joseph George Daher coached the Virginia Military Institute men’s basketball team for three years, 1943-45. VMI is also in Lexington, so it’s probably the same guy. He and the wife also had a couple of apparently unrelated real estate transactions in Lexington in the late 1950s.
Just sayin', the Motion Picture Almanac never updated its listing for the “Stevensville.” It continued through 1976 with no capacity. When the MPA rebooted its drive-in list, briefly getting serious about it after years of relative neglect, the Stevesville/Stevensville was gone.
I have no idea how long this drive-in stayed open. The idea that it was leased to another operator in late 1958 suggests that it might not have lasted long after that, and I have no evidence that it operated in 1959 or later.
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “John Popescu of the Blue Sky (sic?) Drive-In near Ellwood City, celebrated his fifth anniversary there very profitably. For two evenings the patrons were admitted for five cents, and approximately 2,000 were counted. Each year at anniversary time Popescu exploits the event with fireworks, giveaways, etc.”
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “The Princess at Donora, closed for a number of years, has been dismantled and remodeled into a bus station”
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “A Clark Transfer driver discovered a fire in the concession stand of Charlie Rowlett’s Blue Star Drive-In, Petersburg, Va. Working around the clock, Charlie was back in business come showtime.”
The Modern Theatre section of the Sept. 8, 1958 issue of Boxoffice had a two-page feature on the Carlin Drive-In. Its top feature was its paved viewing area, for which the “cost for this excellent surface was approximately $1 per square yard.”
My favorite sentence: “The theatre is surrounded by a seven-foot redwood picket fence topped with three strands of barbed wire.”
The article never used the apostrophe-s with the name. At a minimum, “Carlin Drive-In” should be an alternate name for this record.
Boxoffice, Sept. 8, 1958: “The Triangle Theatre in East Liberty, which was a well-patronized theatre for most of its two score years, has closed. Located on teeming Frankstown avenue, it had been a Negro patronage house for many years. A few years ago Abe Joseph turned over the operation to the Mervis brothers. They tried a foreign film policy but it didn’t click; then they returned to a last-run east-end policy, then had to go to weekends only. Being dismantled this week, the old Triangle reportedly will be remodeled into a bingo parlor and amusement center.”
The Merryland first appeared in the Motion Picture Almanac in the 1967 edition (capacity 500) as one of two Marietta drive-ins, along with the Starlite. That persisted through the 1976 edition. In 1977, the MPA rebooted its drive-in list, and the Starlite was the only Marietta drive-in.
A reasonably thorough search of the 1967 MPA circuit list failed to turn up the Merryland. JUR Theatre Circuit owned the Starlite and the Riverside, which was listed under Constitution OH. Shea Enterprises owned two local indoor houses, the Colony and the Putnam. As always, I would love to know the source of the assertion that the Merryland was open from at least 1968-70.