Moonlite Drive-In

601 N. Main Street,
Stillwater, OK 74075

Unfavorite 1 person favorited this theater

Showing 9 comments

drgwcs
drgwcs on September 9, 2022 at 3:45 am

This stood on the northeast corner of Main and Hall of Fame- Hall of Fame actually covers some of that land. After demolition much of the area was a vacant field but a Putt Putt mini gold as well as a couple of businesses and a trailer court occupied some of the land. That was demolished with construction of the shopping center.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on May 20, 2022 at 11:11 am

Claude Leachman of the Leachman Theatre launced the Moonlite on June 16, 1949 with Canyon Passage.

jwmovies
jwmovies on February 26, 2019 at 9:19 am

A more accurate address for this theater is 601 N Main St, Stillwater, OK 74075. This points directly to the entrance road. The parking lot for this shopping center is where the drive in stood.

Please update.

Drive-In 54
Drive-In 54 on April 19, 2015 at 9:44 pm

The correct address is: W Hall of Fame Ave and North Main, Stillwater, OK

whorton
whorton on July 13, 2012 at 6:38 pm

From the American Institute of Drive-in Archaeology database:

Moonlight Drive-in Theatre (article, ad)

Location given as North on Main

Location: N 36° 7.66' W 97° 3.42'

Satellite photography shows no remains and unknown building on site

Grand opening 15 Jun 1949

Newspaper account lists Claude E. Leachman as managing director of Griffith-Leachman theatres.

Operated By Video Theatres from 16 Jun 1949 until 7 Feb 1968

1949-50 Theatre Catalog lists Video theatres as oner M9-C400-D7

1955 Theatre Catalog lists Video Theatres as owner C327

1965 IMPA lists Video Theatres as owner 1965 IMPA lists capacity as 400

Side note, Lostmemory mentions that IMPA actually gets something right. I have to confirm as a long time Drive in researcher, I discovered that back before the days of the EVIL SAMS DRIVE-IN THEATRE GUIDE…Seems that IMPA listed something and rarely if ever updated it. And it was typical that a theatre might have been closed 10 years and still be listed in the IMPA.

The notation at the top, (article, ad) indicates that I have located and copied both the original opening ad for the theatre, and a short newspaper article about it.

Wesley Horton AIDA. .

If anyone is wondering “who the heck this guy is” Randell Kunkell mentions it at the bottom of his Drive in theaters of the Mid atlantic at:

http://www.driveins.org/thanks.htm

He even continues to list the columns I wrote for the old Evil Sam’s site here:

http://www.driveins.org/aida1.htm

http://www.driveins.org/aida2.htm

http://www.driveins.org/aida3.htm

http://www.driveins.org/aida4.html

NYozoner
NYozoner on January 21, 2011 at 12:17 am

Here is a 1964 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:

http://flic.kr/p/9bU2oN

seymourcox
seymourcox on June 29, 2009 at 8:00 pm

This is completely off the subject of the Moonlite Drive-In, but – did Fox Theatres operate any cinemas on Times Square or downtown Los Angeles?

seymourcox
seymourcox on June 27, 2009 at 8:47 pm

Lost Memory:
Have you gotten your crystal ball out of the repair shop yet? I have a couple of questions to ask you.

seymourcox
seymourcox on June 25, 2009 at 6:31 pm

The below site clears up the spelling of the Moonlite Drive-In. Looks as if this theatre was designed in Western Moderne styling. To see vintage photos type in word “Moonlite”,
View link