Flamingo Drive-In

Boxoffice wrote on October 25, 1952 that the Flamingo Drive-In had opened in Laurinburg, owned by Meiselman Theatres.

A note in the December 27, 1952 issue of Boxoffice told of district manager E. Y. Stafford placing a “free admission” advertisement in the Marlboro Herald-Advocate 20 miles away. They distributed flyers locally “since there is no daily paper in the immediate area.”

On August 12, 1953, the Exhibitor magazine wrote that Stellings-Gossett Theatres, Inc., had been formed to take over operation of eight theatres in North Carolina, including equipment and leases of seven theatres from H. B. Meiselman. The Flamingo Drive-In was one of them.

The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog included the Flamingo Drive-In as one of the two drive-ins in Laurinburg. It was run by Stellings-Gossett Theatres, and had a capacity of 400 cars.

In 1963, a tornado toppled the screen at “H. B. Meiselman Theatres' Flamingo Drive-In” for the second time in two years, according to a Boxoffice story that ran on June 17. Manager B. T. Haley described his newest replacement screen as 40x50 feet, covered by 4x8 asbestos sheets.

Per an October 12, 1964 note, Charles Tucker’s Flamingo Drive-In showed “Soft Skin on Black Silk”, leading to Tucker’s arrest on obscenity charges. The note described the drive-in as being on U.S. 15-401 near St. Andrews Presbyterian College.

A 1975 topo map showed a drive-in across US 15-401 from St. Andrews College southwest of town. (Based on a 1956 aerial photo, the drive-in predated the college.) Photos showed the drive-in intact in 1987 but overgrown in 1999. Habitat For Humanity and an apartment complex occupy the site today.

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