Showtown USA Drive-In
1900 Hope Street,
Vicksburg,
MS
39180
1900 Hope Street,
Vicksburg,
MS
39180
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Closed after the 1980 season.
The Rivoli Drive-In opened on December 26th, 1951. Grand opening ad posted.
Rivoli Drive-In opening 26 Dec 1951, Wed The Vicksburg Post (Vicksburg, Mississippi) Newspapers.com
This opened earlier than 1952. Vicksburg had another drive-in theater at the time located south of then-Highway 61 called the Vicksburg Drive-In, which will have its own page soon.
Reopened as Showtown USA Drive-in on 30th May 1968 with “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Naked runner”.
Last season: 1980.
Reopened as Showtown USA Drive-In on May 30th, 1968. Ad posted.
Article in Queston:
Rivoli Drive-In union trouble 25 Aug 1955, Thu Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) Newspapers.com
August 25, 1955 from the Clarion-Ledger:
Picketed Drive-in Theater Wrecked Damage Set At $20,000. VICKSBURG: A drive-in theatre involved in a controversy with union projectionist here was wrecked Tuesday night, and Wednesday the head of the union offered his services to the police in an effort to bring the guilty parties to justice. Police Capt. James Abies estimated damage at the Rivoli Drive In at $20,000. It was entered after closing time Tuesday night and its projection equipment battered to bits. In addition more than a hundred speakers were taken, Capt. Abies said. The Union official Lloyd Ledbet, executive vice president and chairman of the Board of Local 589. International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Operators, said the union had picketed the theatre after a controversy over wages. He said he had volunteered his services to police in “clearing up this unfortunate incident and bringing the guilty parties to justice.”
This drive-in spent most of its life as the Rivoli Drive-In. The first reference that I could find in The Exhibitor was 1952. In February 1963, Gulf States Theatres sold it to W. A. Porter. Five years later in February 1968, Gulf States reacquired the Rivoli and announced that it would be renovated and renamed Showtown U.S.A.