Correction to above: The old drive-in name in Dickso was the MIDWAY Drive-In, not the Skyway, which now operates as the BROADWAY Drive-In. Another interesting aspect of the Bodens' opeation of the Sundown Drive-in in Paris is that the Bodens' home was in Springville, TN on the otherside of Henry County. In order to be closer to late-night closings of the drive-in, the Bodens returned from their annual trans-continental road trip to Hollywood (for contracting their upcoming season’s movies)in 1951 pulling behind their Cadillac the first long long RV house trailer ever seen in West Tennessee. They parked it in at the rear of the Sundown’s lot for conveniently “crashing” late at night after the shows. About the time they brought the RV trailer back from California, their was a Dezi & Lucille Ball color comedy movie released entitled “The Long Long Trailer”! The Bodens were the real life episode of that movie by way of their pulling that trailer all the way back to Tennessee over those 1950 roads!!!
My grandmother Anne Folkes Harris Boden and step grandfather I.W. Boden built the Sundown Drive-In Theater, Paris, TN, in 1948. The Bodens closed it in about 1964 shortly before my grandmother’s death that same year. (Prior to death, the Bodens partnered with my uncle, James C. Harris, III,in building & operating the Skyway Drive-in at Dickson, TN, which still may be in business but long sold to others.) As a kid from Nashville, I would visit my grandparents at the Paris Sundown and work in the concessions stand, projection shack & play ground. In the early years of theater operation, the Bodens provided unique entertainment for the customers' kids prior to showtime which began after dusk. While still daylight, donkeys with rope halters took the kids on rides around the playground built at the foot of the big screen. These gentle burrows were a carry-over from the Bodens' rural road show basketball & softball games played on animals during World War II. Many wonderful memories from the Sundown days!!!
Correction to above: The old drive-in name in Dickso was the MIDWAY Drive-In, not the Skyway, which now operates as the BROADWAY Drive-In. Another interesting aspect of the Bodens' opeation of the Sundown Drive-in in Paris is that the Bodens' home was in Springville, TN on the otherside of Henry County. In order to be closer to late-night closings of the drive-in, the Bodens returned from their annual trans-continental road trip to Hollywood (for contracting their upcoming season’s movies)in 1951 pulling behind their Cadillac the first long long RV house trailer ever seen in West Tennessee. They parked it in at the rear of the Sundown’s lot for conveniently “crashing” late at night after the shows. About the time they brought the RV trailer back from California, their was a Dezi & Lucille Ball color comedy movie released entitled “The Long Long Trailer”! The Bodens were the real life episode of that movie by way of their pulling that trailer all the way back to Tennessee over those 1950 roads!!!
My grandmother Anne Folkes Harris Boden and step grandfather I.W. Boden built the Sundown Drive-In Theater, Paris, TN, in 1948. The Bodens closed it in about 1964 shortly before my grandmother’s death that same year. (Prior to death, the Bodens partnered with my uncle, James C. Harris, III,in building & operating the Skyway Drive-in at Dickson, TN, which still may be in business but long sold to others.) As a kid from Nashville, I would visit my grandparents at the Paris Sundown and work in the concessions stand, projection shack & play ground. In the early years of theater operation, the Bodens provided unique entertainment for the customers' kids prior to showtime which began after dusk. While still daylight, donkeys with rope halters took the kids on rides around the playground built at the foot of the big screen. These gentle burrows were a carry-over from the Bodens' rural road show basketball & softball games played on animals during World War II. Many wonderful memories from the Sundown days!!!