Springfield Drive-In
1949 E. Sunshine Street,
Springfield,
MO
65804
1949 E. Sunshine Street,
Springfield,
MO
65804
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Opened with “Golden horse show”, a Andy Pandy cartoon(not named), Answer man" and “State fair”.
August 19th, 1947 grand opening ad posted.
The Springfield’s final night was Oct. 7, 1978. On its final weekend, it ran a five-movie Ma and Pa Kettle marathon. Its newspaper ad read, “After being in business since 1947. This Saturday will be the last time you can see a movie at the Springfield Drive In. We will be closing down.”
By the way, the Film Daily Year Book that I mentioned here for listing the Park-In in its list of drive-ins, was wrong. It turned out that Springfield’s Park-In was an indoor theater was a confusing name.
According to notes in BoxOffice, the Springfield opened on Aug. 19, 1947, then held a “Formal Opening” on Sept. 19, 1947. Those notes:
Aug. 16, 1947: “Don Davis returned (to Kansas City) late last week from Springfield where Sam Taft will open his new drive-in next week.”
Aug. 23, 1947: “KANSAS CITY — Two new drive-ins have opened and one is to open soon in this territory. O. F. Sullivan’s second outdoor theatre in Wichita, with a capacity of 750 cars, and Sam Taft’s open-airer in Springfield, also with a 750-car capacity, opened this week. Perish Woodson plans to open his drive-in in Topeka within two weeks.”
Also Aug. 23, 1947: “SPRINGFIELD, MO. — The Springfield Drive-in Theatre, of 750-car capacity, was opened by owner Sam Taft, Tuesday, August 19. The new theatre is RCA-equipped throughout, including the latest type of in-the-car speakers. The order for the equipment was placed through Cine Supply of St. Louis and George McDonald of that company was here supervising the installation of equipment. For the past several years Taft has been manager of the Drive-in Theatre in Des Peres, near St. Louis.“
Sept. 20, 1947: “SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Drive-In, a mile east of town on No. 66, staged a grand opening Friday night, September 19. Accommodating 800 cars, the outdoor spot boasts of the finest equipment and appointments. If the weather remains normal, the situation will remain open for about two months, then will close until next April. The management advises that patrons on foot will be seated on comfortable chairs provided near the front.”
“JEFFERSON CITY – Articles of Incorporation have been granted by the (Missouri) secretary of state’s office to the Springfield Drive-In Corp., authorizing it to own, operate, manage and carry on a general theatre business and to issue up to 100 shares of $100 par value stock. Incorporators were listed as R. M. Shelton, F. L. Moore and R. P. Lyon. Shelton is vice-president and general manager of Commonwealth Theatres, and Moore is listed as secretary-treasurer of the circuit.” —BoxOffice, Jan. 10, 1953
From the July 23, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
SPRINGFIELD, MO. – The local drive-in has sued the nearby Sunshine baseball park for $10,000 damages as the result of the floodlights from the park. The suit forced several changes in the semipro baseball schedules.
Demolished in late october 1978.
The first appearance of a Springfield MO drive-in in the Film Daily Year Book was the “Park-In” in the 1948 edition.
The “Drive-In” was in the first Theatre Catalog drive-in list in the 1948-49 edition. Selected Theatre Catalog list mentions:
The “Drive-In” was in the first Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list in the 1950-51 edition. All MPA list mentions:
Sure enough, in the Theatre Circuits section of the MPAs, Commonwealth showed the Drive-In / Springfield Drive-In in its holdings beginning in that same 1950-51 edition, even though it took the drive-in list a decade to notice.
A special section of the April 10, 1961 issue of Boxoffice had a photo spread of the playground equipment at the Springfield.
Darrell D. Manes, Commonwealth Theatres city manager, said the Springfield “enjoys the patronage of a very well-to-do clientele. Most of the cars on its ramps are Cadillacs and Chryslers, Manes commented.”
https://archive.org/details/boxofficeaprjun179boxo/page/n75
The 40 Highway Drive In Theater in Kansas City was first drive in to open the state in may 1942. The news paper article in picture section says 1948 and 1938 as opening date.