77 Drive-In
9301 S. Shields Boulevard,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73160
9301 S. Shields Boulevard,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73160
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Peerless Theatres
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Odom Drive-In, Barton's 77 Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Odom Drive-In opened on July 2, 1947 with John Wayne in “Angel and the Badman”. It was owned by R. Lewis Barton and Peerless Theatres Inc. On March 28, 1948 it was renamed Barton’s 77 Drive-In. On July 7, 1968 the name was changed to the 77 Drive-In.
It was a single screen and could accommodate 948 cars. The 77 Drive-In was closed on September 2, 1975.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
Reopened as the Barton’s 77 Drive-In on March 10th, 1949. Another grand reopening ad from July 7th, 1968 (along with the Airline Drive-In). Both ads posted.
Also opened with a Bugs Bunny cartoon(not named), and a Three Stooges short(Fright night).
Management built a new concession stand in the 1955-56 offseason, per a Feb. 25, 1956 note in the Motion Picture Herald.
More personal details than normal from the June 21, 1947 BoxOffice:
Robert L. Barton, son of the R. Lewis Bartons, and Betty Lou Humphrey were married recently. Both the bride and bridegroom were Oklahoma City university students. The bride was president of her senior class. The couple is on a one-month wedding trip to Canada and Niagara Falls. Young Barton is associated with his dad in the theatre business but plans to continue his college education in the autumn. His father owns a chain of houses in Oklahoma, including the Home, Knob Hill and Redskin here. He also is building a new drive-in near the city which will have a 1,000-car capacity. It is three miles south of the city on Norman Highway 77, and will be known as the Odom.
Name changed to Burton’s 77 Drive-in on 10/3/1949 with “That wonderful urge”. Reopened on 7/7/1968 with “Cool Hand Luke” and “Wait until dark”.
I would double- and triple-check any source I found that contradicted Wesley Horton’s work. In this case, it’s undeniably true that March 6, 1948 was not a Friday. But March 26, 1948 was.
One more minor flaw in Horton’s date, this March 26 ad specifies that the 77 will open for the season on Easter Sunday - March 28, 1948.
Note to MichaelKilgore,
You need to recheck your data. March 6, 1948 was indeed a Friday. Note the advert from the Oklahoman archives on that date:
https://imgur.com/a/D6cxGrH
To Wesley Horton, Welcome back! So great to hear from you! I just read your name in the “Tulsa Movie Theaters” book I bought this week. Please drop me an email at mkilgore@carload.com!
I bow to you in your superior Oklahoma drive-in knowledge, and probably much more, but every calendar I’ve accessed insists that March 6, 1948 was a Saturday. That would line up with the Daily Oklahoman believing that the 26th was a Friday. All I know is what I read.
Tough question: WHY was this drive-in named the Odom? When it was built, the future Odom Road didn’t exist.
The easy answer would be that the Sullivan Theatre chain, which opened the NW Hi-Way the same night as the Odom’s debut, had something to do with it, since the head of that chain was Odom Farrell (O.F.) Sullivan. That theory would say that Sullivan sold it to Barton during the first off-season, and that’s why he renamed it Barton’s 77.
If only I hadn’t found the June 21, 1947 BoxOffice note above, which clearly shows that Barton finished the Odom. BUT look who started it before Barton bought it.
Motion Picture Herald, Feb. 15, 1947: “First drive-in theatre for this area has been announced for opening about April 15 with construction started last week on a 1,000-car unit to cost $100,000, as announced by C. C. McCollister of Wichita, Kan., president of Peerless Theatres, Inc., Sanford Swim is vice-president and Merle L. Barnes is secretary-treasurer of the company. The new theatre will be called the Odom.”
I’ll keep looking, but right now I’d say that O.F. Sullivan probably had a piece of Peerless.
From the thread about the NE 66 drive in theatres…
This is WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BARTON DRIVE-IN THEATRES:
“MichealKilgore asks about the relationship of the Thomases and R.L. Barton. . they were related, but the Thomas family BUILT and sold the 66 to the Barton’s in the period where R.L. Barton was acquiring all the drive-in theatres in the greater OKC area.
And save for Charlie Shadid’s efforts at the Hillcrest and Cinema 70, as well as Roy Stanton (owner of Springlake park) / George Grube’s efforts with the 14 flags in the late 60’s he would have.
But then, R.L. Barton sold/leased all of his theatre interests in 1966 to Greater Oklahoma City Amusement (headed by Lewis Ingram). After R.L. Bartons death in 75 the properties went to his eldest son, Gerald (who had recently bought into the United Founders life insurance company).
All the drive-in properties were mortagaged to the hilt, and sold to United Founders Life company. Gerald Barton was investigated by the state, and moved to California.
So ENDED all of the Barton Drive in theatres:
-The Airline -The Bomber/Soldier Creek (Midwest City) -The Circle (Bethany) -The Del (Del city) -The Lakeside DI (OKC) -The North Penn Twin -The NW Hiway DI (OKC) -The Sooner Twin (Midwest City) -The 66 Drive-in (The old N.E. 66 THIS THEATRE) -The 77 Drive-in -The old Tinker DI property (Midwest City)
The only theatre to survive into the 70’s was the Sooner Twin and 77. The Sooner Twin survived into the early 80’s while the 77 showed porn until about ‘74 and closed for good. All the others were closed."