Poquonnock Bridge is a part of the Town Of Groton. I grew up across the street and used to listen for the car horns. This happened often as they wouldn’t hire IATSE projectionists but instead they would hire inexperienced projectionists even in its day. It was managed by the McNaughton family. This was a beautiful Drive In with a v shaped fence that enclosed a beautiful garden that kept people from siloetting on the screen. There were Disney characters attached to the pickets. The snack bar was well kept n the day, and it had a great playground right below and in front of the screen. I loved the merry go round that was really just a spinning disk. Multi colored.
I worked the booth myself a few times as I was sent by our business agent when they finally hired IATSE for its operators. The booth was in terrible shape by the time I got to work there. No x rated films that I remember, but I wasn’t the regular operator. It had RCA Brenkert projection and sound heads and RCA lamp houses. I had never seen RCA lamps before, but they resembled Peerless. They were really beat up.
Sad ending to such a beautiful Drive In.
By the way the address confusion might be due to the fact that the entrance seemed to constantly move.
Where route 117 now is located was the original entrance. There was no 117 back then. Later the entrance weaved between the drug store and Sully’s Tavern which were on route one. Then they built 117 and the entrance was moved toward the back of the theater Right through what is now the Senior Citizen Center. There was a small sign that lit up and moved with the entrance. On the side facing route 1 there was a changeable marquee.
By the way, they had the first in car heaters in our area. They were gas heaters, and they had a bernzomatic tank attached. The tank hung outside the window and the heating unit hung inside.
One more thing I’m going to add. One night I was assigned The Bridge for a Friday night. I was busy doing my job when someone came into the booth to tell me I had a phone call. Pre-cell days. I would have to finish my change over and run all the way to the box office. II said hello and on the other end was Bruno Weingarten the owner of Norwich New London. He had a very distinctive accent. “ Where are you?”
“Hi Bruno, Larry has me working the Bridge Drive In tonight.”
Bruno says, “That is not a Drive In. This is a Drive In.”
“ I know. I will be back tomorrow night.”
“I certainly hope so, Bruno Replied.
"I don’t want you anywhere but here.”
“Yes sir.”
Then I ran like there was a wind behind me, finished threading and made the change over in time.
Tom Beebe
The original drive in was at the intersection of Boston Post Road and Clark Lane.
The foot print was actually the entire shopping center now there.
Later, a new screen was erected to the left of the old foot print. My brother, Larry and I were involved in the booth installation. Nothing was new. All used equipment Brenkert projectors and Ashcraft lamps. The sound amplifier tower (RCA) Theater Sound I located just inside the door from the rectifier room to help cool it.
The screen was nowhere as big as the original Drive In. The parking lot lights from the shopping center lit up the field causing the old lamp houses to compete. Unfortunately, even with home made sheet metal shades installed around the parking lot lights, it never really worked. In your arial photo the second Drive In can be seen to the right of the shopping center. It is rusting away and being reclaimed by the trees. It was a nice experiment, but a failure. Side note: The original Drive In was very successful packed almost every weekend and well built much like the original Norwich New London. What was unusual, was that the projection booth was on the left of the snack bar unlike any other Drive In in the area.
Tom Beebe
The east screen was the original theater. The original booth on the east side was removed during the renovation. It was about 1/3 of the way back from the screen which was damaged and removed after the theater closed. The booth sat very low in the ground with a high angle to the screen. The new snack bar and with the projection booth on the roof was at the back of both theaters. The projection lamps were ORC (Optical Radiation Corp) 6000’s the most powerful available at the time. The booth was so far from the east screen that we could not get a bright picture. The west screen was bright, but when wet, it made the light reflect back. The projectors were Century 35. East had new ones with Century optical sound, while the west projectors were an older Century projector with RCA sound heads. They both ran beautifully. Towards the end of my time there, Cinema Radio had been installed on the East Screen. The speaker posts and electric in car heater posts were not removed. On opening night of Mame 1975 with Lucile Ball, both houses were packed. Right after intermission, the rain came and it poured so hard, the the light from the east side formed on the rain – less than 10 feet in front of the booth and didn’t reach the screen. Along the corner of the snack bar/ booth which was on the roof was our main field light tower. I was just lifting the reel up to the upper spindle when lightning hit the field light poll. The system we used was known as semi automatic. I never used it preferring the old fashioned method of changing over, but the movies were loaded on large house reels Max 3 reels to 1. I dropped the reel to the floor and scrambled out of the booth and down the stairs, where I insisted that Bruno give out fog passes because, I wasn’t going back up there again tonight. Dave the manager calmed me down telling me that a spark or flame had just shot out of the pizza oven and reached all the way to the condiment bar, and besides, Bruno and Bea had already left with the receipts and the fog passes. Not over yet, I slowly went back up the stairs. The projectors were still humming along. The West screen still had about 25 minutes before change over. So I picked up the reel again, lifted it over my head, again and moved toward the upper spindle. The lightening hit again on cue. It sounded like someone had fired a gun behind me and reel fell to the floor again. I sat on the stairs until I was ok tried a third time and succeeded. At the end of the show there was one car left on the lot besides staff. The storm did something to it. Anyway, I loved that theater, the booth, standing on the roof and seeing all those cars on both screens and waiving to my wife and babies who were playing on the playground many nights. Bruno was the coolest guy I ever met, and I am sad to see the current or at least 2005 condition of the Norwich New London Twin Drive in, the only Drive in that brings you two fine shows. Bruno. Tom Beebe Operator
Poquonnock Bridge is a part of the Town Of Groton. I grew up across the street and used to listen for the car horns. This happened often as they wouldn’t hire IATSE projectionists but instead they would hire inexperienced projectionists even in its day. It was managed by the McNaughton family. This was a beautiful Drive In with a v shaped fence that enclosed a beautiful garden that kept people from siloetting on the screen. There were Disney characters attached to the pickets. The snack bar was well kept n the day, and it had a great playground right below and in front of the screen. I loved the merry go round that was really just a spinning disk. Multi colored. I worked the booth myself a few times as I was sent by our business agent when they finally hired IATSE for its operators. The booth was in terrible shape by the time I got to work there. No x rated films that I remember, but I wasn’t the regular operator. It had RCA Brenkert projection and sound heads and RCA lamp houses. I had never seen RCA lamps before, but they resembled Peerless. They were really beat up. Sad ending to such a beautiful Drive In. By the way the address confusion might be due to the fact that the entrance seemed to constantly move. Where route 117 now is located was the original entrance. There was no 117 back then. Later the entrance weaved between the drug store and Sully’s Tavern which were on route one. Then they built 117 and the entrance was moved toward the back of the theater Right through what is now the Senior Citizen Center. There was a small sign that lit up and moved with the entrance. On the side facing route 1 there was a changeable marquee. By the way, they had the first in car heaters in our area. They were gas heaters, and they had a bernzomatic tank attached. The tank hung outside the window and the heating unit hung inside. One more thing I’m going to add. One night I was assigned The Bridge for a Friday night. I was busy doing my job when someone came into the booth to tell me I had a phone call. Pre-cell days. I would have to finish my change over and run all the way to the box office. II said hello and on the other end was Bruno Weingarten the owner of Norwich New London. He had a very distinctive accent. “ Where are you?” “Hi Bruno, Larry has me working the Bridge Drive In tonight.” Bruno says, “That is not a Drive In. This is a Drive In.” “ I know. I will be back tomorrow night.” “I certainly hope so, Bruno Replied. "I don’t want you anywhere but here.” “Yes sir.” Then I ran like there was a wind behind me, finished threading and made the change over in time. Tom Beebe
I sat in the balcony below the booth and enjoyed What’s Up Doc. The matinee was full and The Whole crowed laughed so hard our side hurt.
The original drive in was at the intersection of Boston Post Road and Clark Lane. The foot print was actually the entire shopping center now there. Later, a new screen was erected to the left of the old foot print. My brother, Larry and I were involved in the booth installation. Nothing was new. All used equipment Brenkert projectors and Ashcraft lamps. The sound amplifier tower (RCA) Theater Sound I located just inside the door from the rectifier room to help cool it. The screen was nowhere as big as the original Drive In. The parking lot lights from the shopping center lit up the field causing the old lamp houses to compete. Unfortunately, even with home made sheet metal shades installed around the parking lot lights, it never really worked. In your arial photo the second Drive In can be seen to the right of the shopping center. It is rusting away and being reclaimed by the trees. It was a nice experiment, but a failure. Side note: The original Drive In was very successful packed almost every weekend and well built much like the original Norwich New London. What was unusual, was that the projection booth was on the left of the snack bar unlike any other Drive In in the area. Tom Beebe
The east screen was the original theater. The original booth on the east side was removed during the renovation. It was about 1/3 of the way back from the screen which was damaged and removed after the theater closed. The booth sat very low in the ground with a high angle to the screen. The new snack bar and with the projection booth on the roof was at the back of both theaters. The projection lamps were ORC (Optical Radiation Corp) 6000’s the most powerful available at the time. The booth was so far from the east screen that we could not get a bright picture. The west screen was bright, but when wet, it made the light reflect back. The projectors were Century 35. East had new ones with Century optical sound, while the west projectors were an older Century projector with RCA sound heads. They both ran beautifully. Towards the end of my time there, Cinema Radio had been installed on the East Screen. The speaker posts and electric in car heater posts were not removed. On opening night of Mame 1975 with Lucile Ball, both houses were packed. Right after intermission, the rain came and it poured so hard, the the light from the east side formed on the rain – less than 10 feet in front of the booth and didn’t reach the screen. Along the corner of the snack bar/ booth which was on the roof was our main field light tower. I was just lifting the reel up to the upper spindle when lightning hit the field light poll. The system we used was known as semi automatic. I never used it preferring the old fashioned method of changing over, but the movies were loaded on large house reels Max 3 reels to 1. I dropped the reel to the floor and scrambled out of the booth and down the stairs, where I insisted that Bruno give out fog passes because, I wasn’t going back up there again tonight. Dave the manager calmed me down telling me that a spark or flame had just shot out of the pizza oven and reached all the way to the condiment bar, and besides, Bruno and Bea had already left with the receipts and the fog passes. Not over yet, I slowly went back up the stairs. The projectors were still humming along. The West screen still had about 25 minutes before change over. So I picked up the reel again, lifted it over my head, again and moved toward the upper spindle. The lightening hit again on cue. It sounded like someone had fired a gun behind me and reel fell to the floor again. I sat on the stairs until I was ok tried a third time and succeeded. At the end of the show there was one car left on the lot besides staff. The storm did something to it. Anyway, I loved that theater, the booth, standing on the roof and seeing all those cars on both screens and waiving to my wife and babies who were playing on the playground many nights. Bruno was the coolest guy I ever met, and I am sad to see the current or at least 2005 condition of the Norwich New London Twin Drive in, the only Drive in that brings you two fine shows. Bruno. Tom Beebe Operator