Finklea Drive-In
Finklea,
SC
29569
1 person
favorited this theater
The Finkleas Drive-In was opened in April 1949. The 1952 Theatre Catalog included a listing for the Finklea Drive-In, capacity 150 cars, owner Harry Ludlam.
The February 2, 1953 issue of Motion Picture Exhibitor reported that the new owner of the Finklea was “J. H. Huggins. He is remodeling for the new media.” On December 12 that year, Boxoffice said that the drive-in “has been sold to L. R. McCracken”.
In an August 27, 1955 note about Hurricane Connie damage, Boxoffice wrote that the Finklea Drive-In “has closed indefinitely.” But the 1960 Film Daily Year Book included the Finklea in its drive-in list. The Motion Picture Almanac, often slow to notice changes, listed the Finklea through its 1960 edition, still showing Harry Ludman as the owner, but dropped it in 1961.
Contributed by
Michael Kilgore
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
There looks to have been a drive-in under construction at the major intersection at Finklea in a 1951 aerial photo, I’m not sure on what address to give though.
Agree with kennerado. That’s definitely a drive-in being constructed in the 1951 aerial.
By 1983, it had totally disappeared and nothing but farmland is present. I can just make out the crop marks of the ramps and projection booth/concession stand, but that might be more my imagination than anything else.
As to the address, “Finklea, SC” seems to be just as accurate, if not more so compared to every other address I’ve tried.
Interestingly, it appears a drive-in at the same location opened in April 1949. This was reported in the Tabor City Tribune on 30th March, 1949:
“The drive-in theater at Finklea crossroads will open Friday night, April 1. Two shows will be presented every night except Sunday, beginning at 7:30. The new theater is owned by H V. Hewett and O.L. Coleman of Tabor City, who also are owners of the Conway Drive-In Theater.”
So it appears it was either damaged and rebuilt and/or renovated around 1950-51.
Another possibility is it was a temporary drive-in when originally put in place. That would explain the lack of ramps and projection booth/concession stand in the 1951 aerial.
When that became a success, a permanent one was constructed and what we see in the aerial is the permanent screen, fencing, and ticket booth with the projection booth/concession stand yet to be constructed.
To refine Kenmore’s suggestion, what if the Finklea never had ramps or a projection booth, at least before Huggins’s remodeling? That kind of setup, even for a “permanent” drive-in, wasn’t unheard of in rural areas. Somebody with a 16mm projector and a loudspeaker could present a show for a few dozen carefully positioned cars. (The aerial photos show few neighbors who could object to the noise.) All you’d really need is a screen and the fencing to keep out freeloaders. And if Connie knocked over that screen, with television on its way, maybe the owner decided it wasn’t worth rebuilding it.
As an update to this, there is now a 1958 aerial photo on Historic Aerials which shows the remains of the drive-in. Looks like it didn’t last very long.
The 1958 aerial shows ramps present amid the remnants of a drive-in that was clearly demolished.
The “remodeling to the new media” statement could be a switch to widescreen. But the timing is really early since “The Robe”, which was the first Hollywood widescreen film was released in the same year. And many drive-ins didn’t make the switch until a couple of years later.
All I can say is that in less than five years this drive-in seemed to have undergone two remodeling efforts before Hurricane Connie destroyed it for good.