Both the Indianapolis Star (in 2010) and the Franklin Daily Journal (in 2013) wrote that owner Mike Rembusch “created” or “built” the drive-in in 2005.
A friendly voice in Outdoor Moovies' YouTube video says, “We opened the drive-in last September. It’s Grand Opening was in April.” But the Daily Journal ad I’ve uploaded shows they were calling it a Grand Opening on Sept. 24, 2004. It’s first full season was in 2005, but I think it’s safe to say it was built and opened in 2004.
Rick and Elaine Dearduff bought the drive-in in 2003; that may have been when they added the periods to make it M.E.L.S. As of May 2017, they still own it.
Just for you, dear Cinema Treasures reader, I ponied up the cash to Newspapers.com to find most of the answers to our questions, all in one July 1998 article. According to the Indianapolis Star:
Harry Ziegler founded the drive-in, which opened in 1946. (That plus the weird capacity number makes the single Morrison mention look like a misplaced index card in the Theatre Catalog files.) Ziegler showed Mother Wore Tights on a 16mm projector he operated from a chicken coop.
John Osborne bought it in 1972 from the retiring Ziegler.
Mike and Melanie Roth bought the “deteriorating” facility in 1994, “fixed it up and renamed it Mel’s after Melanie.” (Dunno when Mel’s became M.E.L.S.) At that point, they were only the third owner.
“The two huge Motiograph projectors are 50 years old and resemble cannons capable of hurling artillery shells to Frankfort.”
OTOH, the article always referred to the pre-Mels name as the Starlite, and claimed it was “the second oldest in the country”, so like all sources, it’s not perfect.
The Skyline opened on Memorial Day Weekend 1950, built by Robert Wilcox and a partner just after he left the Air Force, and has been in continuous operation since, according to its YouTube video.
Various sources say that Joe (Joey?) Gaudin (Goddin? Gautin?) is the owner, some say co-owner along with Matt Masters. Indianapolis Monthly wrote that Gaudin bought it “from the original owners” in 2009. But I doubt that.
Here’s part of a photo caption about Shelbyville’s indoor Strand from Panoramio, which is closing soon so I’ll paste it here: It opened for movies in March, 1916. William C. Meloy was the owner. Mr. Meloy passed away in 1938. His sons ran it until 1951 when they sold it to the Switow Brothers of Louisville, KY. About 1973, the theatre changed hands again. By this time, the Switows had changed the name to Cinema. This time the DeWitt family became the owners.
That parallels my references' Skyline owners. Robert Wilcox was listed as owner in 1952. S. J. Switow is listed as the Skyline’s owner in 1959. E. Dewitt was the owner in 1982-88.
The Bloomington Herald Times has a May 2001 article about the “Center Brook”, but it’s behind a paywall. (cough Google cached) It says that Robert and Stacia Zloty bought the 50-year-old Center Brook Drive-in and entertainment complex at a sheriff’s sale. “The Zlotys reopened the Center Brook on Sept. 1, 2000”. So it must have been closed for a while?
“My husband wanted the baseball diamonds, and I wanted the outdoor theater. I hope to make the drive-in look like it used to when it first opened,” Stacia said. The article includes a (staged?) photo of her checking a speaker for possible replacement.
“Center Brook originally opened on May 2, 1950, and was built and operated by Clyde Weddle Jr., Clyde Weddle Sr. and Robert H. Brown.”
Stacia remembered that the original screen was 60-by-60 feet, and there were 500 parking spaces.
From the CenterBrook About Us page, which also has plenty of photos:
The Centerbrook Drive-in first opened on Tuesday May 2nd, 1950 (see the ad to the left… note the original wooden screen, which was blown down by a tornado in the 1960′s), and has been serving Martinsville, IN and the surrounding communities ever since. Centerbrook gets it’s name from the two nearby towns of Centerton and Brooklyn (“Center”-ton combined with “Brook”-lyn).
Centerbrook has been in continuous operation every year since 1950, and we are lucky to be one of 350+ drive-ins still operating in the U.S. We are the last surviving drive-in out of 4 known drive-ins in Morgan County, including the “Templeton Wheel-in Outdoor Theatre,” which was located on 67 just 3 miles north of Centerbrook (see the ads along the bottom of this page).
The Huntington Drive In Theatre was established May 5th, 1950 and to the best of our knowledge has been in operation ever since. We, John and Anilda Detzler, took over the theatre in August 2001 with plans on improvements. Since then we have made many upgrades and hope to continue to do so with your strong support.
On March 31, 2005 a severe wind storm took down 2/3 of the screen tower. We decided to rebuild and started showing movies again by the Memorial Day Weekend. You can listen to the movie on our in car speakers or FM stereo radio.
Tons of great old photos here. Note that the second screen was built for the 2011 season. That lot was FM only.
The book Huntington County Farmers and Families (1993) said, “The Huntington Theater was owned by Hal Rosebrough, Charlie Cutsall, and a corporation from the south. Gail Lancaster was the manager.” That was from a listing for Melvin Charles Kennedy, who ran the projectors there.
An April 2015 WANE news report (now on YouTube) apparently witnessed the official change in ownership, using title company pens. The report said that previous owners John Detzler and his unnamed wife (her name is Nellie!) bought the place “about 13 years ago”. The new owner was presented as Bob Goodrich of Goodrich Quality Theaters.
An article in The Journal Gazette the previous December noted that the Detzlers had a purchase agreement done for the Huntington Twin. “There are two major reasons: I’m 61 and my wife is 68, and we’ve tried to do most everything ourselves, including the long, late hours,” Detzler said. “Our primary plan, dream and goal has always been to relocate (to Colorado) permanently.” Happy retirement, you two!
The drive-in is now called the Hummel Drive-In (Facebook page title) or Hummel’s Drive-In (sign on the concession stand, posted as its Facebookavatar) or Hummels Drive In (title of its web site home page). As of July 2017, it’s only using one screen.
The Air Line Auto (exec: Arthur Kemp, cap. 300) showed up in the 1948-49 Theatre Catalog. The next year, the Catalog listed Kemp as exec of the Winchester Auto Theatre (cap. 400) and Louis Werzel in charge of the Air Line Dr. Wonder what that was about? I don’t have any other mentions of the Winchester, so I’d guess Catalog confusion or ownership transition.
In the 1952 edition, the exec was Mike Make, the capacity 400. By the 1955-56 edition, it was the Airline Auto.
The 1959-88 IMPAs had Make at the Airline Auto (or just Airline), cap. 500.
It’s Hummel Drive-in. Thanks for asking. As far as we are aware of, it’s the only Hummel Drive-in that is remotely close to this name or spelling, so hopefully the spelling with a “s” or no “s”, won’t confuse people to much! Thanks for reaching out to us and please spread the word.
The Theatre Catalogs assigned the drive-in to Delphos. George Christopher, Christoper Bros. were listed as the owner of the Starlite (capacity 350) in the 1948-49 edition. The 1949-50 edition had changed it to Staup Auto Theatre, capacity 300. By the 1952 edition, it was the Van Del, capacity 500.
Capacity numbers in the IMPAs jumped around from 350 to 536. The Van Del was listed in Delphos through 1984, then moved to Van Wert.
My Theatre Catalogs through 1955 list only the Sidney Drive-In for Sidney. The 1959 IMPA lists both the Sidney and the Auto Vue. By the 1963 edition, there was just the Auto Vue.
Now combine that with this from its Kickstarter: “Built in 1956 by the Nagelspach brothers, the Auto Vue was purchased by its present owner, the Rees family, in 1987.”
The Sidney was built in 1950, but it’s long gone. The Auto Vue was built in 1956, until I hear different.
And I’m a little confused about the exact name these days. The Facebook page is titled Sidney Auto-vue, but its posts (including one from yesterday) call it Auto Vue. The title at the top of its home page is Auto Vue. The owner’s 2014 Kickstarter repeatedly calls it the Auto Vue. So the way I see it, the Facebook page title is the outlier and the correct name should be Auto Vue. Phew!
After a while, I found an East Niagara Post article from May (!) 2015 that reported that Transit owner Rick Cohen made it over 250 miles to Ridgeland SC before a sprained ankle make him quit. Meanwhile, the Auto-vue took out a loan for the digital projector it needed, but with $8000 raised from the fundraising walk to lower its cost. “I give them a lot of credit for having the courage to move forward,” Cohen said.
In February 2015, after a drive-in association meeting in Florida, the owner of the Transit in Lockport NY started walking from Kissimmee toward New Jersey, birthplace of drive-in theaters, to raise money and awareness for the Auto-vue. Several outlets picked up the story, and radio station WKSU wrote, “The Auto-Vue is owned by Teresa Covington’s parents, and she runs the theater. … Covington’s parents turn 81 this year, and she has been working alongside them since they bought the drive-in in 1986. She got in touch with Cohen for brainstorming ideas.”
The 1969 IMPA already showed a capacity of 430, so I’m guessing that either the parking expansion came before the new screen, or they both happened a little earlier than estimated.
The 1000 Car, single screen Drive-In opens on August 21st, 1964 by owner-operators John and Mary Magocs.
A contest was held at the Drive-In shortly after it opens to decide on a name… the winner received a brand new sewing machine. The winning name was The Capri. That name was submitted by… Mary Magocs (and yes, she kept the sewing machine :–)
Admission in 1964 was $1.00 and a cheeseburger was 45¢. The snack bar at the time was leased to Auto City Candy Company of Detroit. Operating a Drive-In for the Magocs was a family affair. John and Mary, John Jr. and Tom, spent many a night making sure the show went off each night.
In 1977, the operation of the Capri Drive-In was leased to William Clarke of Coldwater while the Magocs resided in Florida. In 1980, Tom and John Jr. resumed operation of the theatre. Tom and John Jr. were 5 and 9 years old when John and Mary opened the theatre. After 16 years of learning the ropes, the boys took over. One of their first decisions was to install AM radio transmission of the movie sound. This was cutting edge technology at the time in the Drive-In industry. All but 5 rows of speakers were removed.
In 1982, Susan Magocs (Tom’s beautiful wife) assumed operation of the Snack Bar. Between 1964 and 1981 the snack bar had been run separately. For those of you who remember back 20 years, this was a major UPGRADE for the concession stand. The Capri Drive-In’s concession now consistently rates as one of the best Drive-In concessions in operation.
In 1986, the Capri became a twin. Screen Two was added on the back side of theatre. Screen One’s car capacity was decreased to 550 cars, with Screen Two parking 300 more. It was at this time that 5 remaining rows of speakers were also removed. In 1996, sadly, the original “showman”, John Magocs Sr. passed away in his Naples, Florida home.
Concession 1997 through 2000 saw The Capri Drive-In continually increase their technology and film exhibition capabilities. FM radio transmission of the sound, following by FM Stereo brought indoor theater sound quality to the Outdoor show. The Addition of a Red Dye Cye Analog filter (which was replacing Silver Nitrate on new films) allowed the Capri able to show current first run films.
Great article on builder / owners Rod and Donna Saunders in the June 25, 2017 Toledo Blade.
Lots of details and a few photos of the Saunders family. My favorite is the description of how remote the Field of Dreams is. “Part of the fun is trying to find the site in the first place. Tucked away on quiet, two-lane Township Road 6, … (which) feels more like a wide, one-lane road. … (W)hen corn’s about ready to be harvested — it’s easy to drive by the site without knowing it.”
WLUC, Upper Michigan’s News Leader, ran a story about the Manistique in September 2016. The report is now on YouTube.
David Vaughn told WLUC, “I was the second owner of the drive-in theater. It was built in 1953. Then I bought it in 1972 and ran it to 1995.” The report agrees that it had closed in 2001.
Hey, this drive-in wasn’t “closed in 2014” and should be marked as open now. (Seasonal, of course.) It’s showing the latest Spider-Man installment tonight. Check its Facebook page.
The reference books (yes, I know they’re not perfect) suggest a short initial run followed by a revival, possibly by a child of Pat.
Pat’s Auto Vue wasn’t in the 1952 Theater Catalog, but was there in the 1955-56 edition. It was in the 1963 IMPA (Pat H. Metzger), but there was nothing for Smelterville in 1969-76.
The “Valley Ctr. Flick D/I” (G. Metzger) was listed in Smelterville in the IPMA lists from at least 1982 to the last one in 1988.
That’s got to be “the old Smelterville drive-in” that the Smelterville Lions Club operates one night a year (for two years now) as part of Frontier Days. The photo in the Shosone News-Press matches Google’s aerial photo down to the small tree in front of the right side of the screen.
According to the News-Press article, “The Lions drew an enormous crowd from all around the region last year when they held a showing of ‘The Goonies.’ A line of cars reportedly stretched all the way from the old drive-in to the Interstate-90 on-ramps.”
The 2017 one-nighter will be Sept. 9, when they’ll show Stand By Me.
Both the Indianapolis Star (in 2010) and the Franklin Daily Journal (in 2013) wrote that owner Mike Rembusch “created” or “built” the drive-in in 2005.
A friendly voice in Outdoor Moovies' YouTube video says, “We opened the drive-in last September. It’s Grand Opening was in April.” But the Daily Journal ad I’ve uploaded shows they were calling it a Grand Opening on Sept. 24, 2004. It’s first full season was in 2005, but I think it’s safe to say it was built and opened in 2004.
Rick and Elaine Dearduff bought the drive-in in 2003; that may have been when they added the periods to make it M.E.L.S. As of May 2017, they still own it.
Just for you, dear Cinema Treasures reader, I ponied up the cash to Newspapers.com to find most of the answers to our questions, all in one July 1998 article. According to the Indianapolis Star:
Harry Ziegler founded the drive-in, which opened in 1946. (That plus the weird capacity number makes the single Morrison mention look like a misplaced index card in the Theatre Catalog files.) Ziegler showed Mother Wore Tights on a 16mm projector he operated from a chicken coop.
John Osborne bought it in 1972 from the retiring Ziegler.
Mike and Melanie Roth bought the “deteriorating” facility in 1994, “fixed it up and renamed it Mel’s after Melanie.” (Dunno when Mel’s became M.E.L.S.) At that point, they were only the third owner.
“The two huge Motiograph projectors are 50 years old and resemble cannons capable of hurling artillery shells to Frankfort.”
OTOH, the article always referred to the pre-Mels name as the Starlite, and claimed it was “the second oldest in the country”, so like all sources, it’s not perfect.
For a drive-in that’s supposed to have had so many name changes, my sources are very consistent:
1948-49: no listing
1949-50: Frankfort-Lebanon, Charles F. Morrison (capacity 400!)
1952-56: Frankfort-Lebanon, Harry Ziegler (150)
1959-63: Frankfort-Lebanon, Harry W. Ziegler (100)
1969-76: Frankfort-Lebanon (100)
1982: Lebanon Frankfort, J. Osborne (250)
1984-88: Lebanon Frankfort, J. Osborne
The Skyline opened on Memorial Day Weekend 1950, built by Robert Wilcox and a partner just after he left the Air Force, and has been in continuous operation since, according to its YouTube video.
Various sources say that Joe (Joey?) Gaudin (Goddin? Gautin?) is the owner, some say co-owner along with Matt Masters. Indianapolis Monthly wrote that Gaudin bought it “from the original owners” in 2009. But I doubt that.
Here’s part of a photo caption about Shelbyville’s indoor Strand from Panoramio, which is closing soon so I’ll paste it here: It opened for movies in March, 1916. William C. Meloy was the owner. Mr. Meloy passed away in 1938. His sons ran it until 1951 when they sold it to the Switow Brothers of Louisville, KY. About 1973, the theatre changed hands again. By this time, the Switows had changed the name to Cinema. This time the DeWitt family became the owners.
That parallels my references' Skyline owners. Robert Wilcox was listed as owner in 1952. S. J. Switow is listed as the Skyline’s owner in 1959. E. Dewitt was the owner in 1982-88.
The Bloomington Herald Times has a May 2001 article about the “Center Brook”, but it’s behind a paywall. (cough Google cached) It says that Robert and Stacia Zloty bought the 50-year-old Center Brook Drive-in and entertainment complex at a sheriff’s sale. “The Zlotys reopened the Center Brook on Sept. 1, 2000”. So it must have been closed for a while?
“My husband wanted the baseball diamonds, and I wanted the outdoor theater. I hope to make the drive-in look like it used to when it first opened,” Stacia said. The article includes a (staged?) photo of her checking a speaker for possible replacement.
“Center Brook originally opened on May 2, 1950, and was built and operated by Clyde Weddle Jr., Clyde Weddle Sr. and Robert H. Brown.”
Stacia remembered that the original screen was 60-by-60 feet, and there were 500 parking spaces.
FWIW, my references all list the Centerbrook capacity at 400, with one exception.
The Theatre Catalogs place the Centerbrook in Centerton. Exec: Clyde E. Weddel, Jr.
The 1959-63 IMPAs also used Centerton, owner Charles Morrison, who also owned the Maplecroft DI in Clayton.
The 1982-88 IMPAs had owner R. Terrell and a capacity (in ‘82) of just 250.
From the CenterBrook About Us page, which also has plenty of photos:
The Centerbrook Drive-in first opened on Tuesday May 2nd, 1950 (see the ad to the left… note the original wooden screen, which was blown down by a tornado in the 1960′s), and has been serving Martinsville, IN and the surrounding communities ever since. Centerbrook gets it’s name from the two nearby towns of Centerton and Brooklyn (“Center”-ton combined with “Brook”-lyn).
Centerbrook has been in continuous operation every year since 1950, and we are lucky to be one of 350+ drive-ins still operating in the U.S. We are the last surviving drive-in out of 4 known drive-ins in Morgan County, including the “Templeton Wheel-in Outdoor Theatre,” which was located on 67 just 3 miles north of Centerbrook (see the ads along the bottom of this page).
From the archived web site in 2013:
The Huntington Drive In Theatre was established May 5th, 1950 and to the best of our knowledge has been in operation ever since. We, John and Anilda Detzler, took over the theatre in August 2001 with plans on improvements. Since then we have made many upgrades and hope to continue to do so with your strong support.
On March 31, 2005 a severe wind storm took down 2/3 of the screen tower. We decided to rebuild and started showing movies again by the Memorial Day Weekend. You can listen to the movie on our in car speakers or FM stereo radio.
Tons of great old photos here. Note that the second screen was built for the 2011 season. That lot was FM only.
The book Huntington County Farmers and Families (1993) said, “The Huntington Theater was owned by Hal Rosebrough, Charlie Cutsall, and a corporation from the south. Gail Lancaster was the manager.” That was from a listing for Melvin Charles Kennedy, who ran the projectors there.
An April 2015 WANE news report (now on YouTube) apparently witnessed the official change in ownership, using title company pens. The report said that previous owners John Detzler and his unnamed wife (her name is Nellie!) bought the place “about 13 years ago”. The new owner was presented as Bob Goodrich of Goodrich Quality Theaters.
An article in The Journal Gazette the previous December noted that the Detzlers had a purchase agreement done for the Huntington Twin. “There are two major reasons: I’m 61 and my wife is 68, and we’ve tried to do most everything ourselves, including the long, late hours,” Detzler said. “Our primary plan, dream and goal has always been to relocate (to Colorado) permanently.” Happy retirement, you two!
The drive-in is now called the Hummel Drive-In (Facebook page title)
or Hummel’s Drive-In (sign on the concession stand, posted as its Facebookavatar) or Hummels Drive In (title of its web site home page). As of July 2017, it’s only using one screen.The Air Line Auto (exec: Arthur Kemp, cap. 300) showed up in the 1948-49 Theatre Catalog. The next year, the Catalog listed Kemp as exec of the Winchester Auto Theatre (cap. 400) and Louis Werzel in charge of the Air Line Dr. Wonder what that was about? I don’t have any other mentions of the Winchester, so I’d guess Catalog confusion or ownership transition.
In the 1952 edition, the exec was Mike Make, the capacity 400. By the 1955-56 edition, it was the Airline Auto.
The 1959-88 IMPAs had Make at the Airline Auto (or just Airline), cap. 500.
From the horse’s mouth on Facebook:
It’s Hummel Drive-in. Thanks for asking. As far as we are aware of, it’s the only Hummel Drive-in that is remotely close to this name or spelling, so hopefully the spelling with a “s” or no “s”, won’t confuse people to much! Thanks for reaching out to us and please spread the word.
The Theatre Catalogs assigned the drive-in to Delphos. George Christopher, Christoper Bros. were listed as the owner of the Starlite (capacity 350) in the 1948-49 edition. The 1949-50 edition had changed it to Staup Auto Theatre, capacity 300. By the 1952 edition, it was the Van Del, capacity 500.
Capacity numbers in the IMPAs jumped around from 350 to 536. The Van Del was listed in Delphos through 1984, then moved to Van Wert.
My Theatre Catalogs through 1955 list only the Sidney Drive-In for Sidney. The 1959 IMPA lists both the Sidney and the Auto Vue. By the 1963 edition, there was just the Auto Vue.
Now combine that with this from its Kickstarter: “Built in 1956 by the Nagelspach brothers, the Auto Vue was purchased by its present owner, the Rees family, in 1987.”
The Sidney was built in 1950, but it’s long gone. The Auto Vue was built in 1956, until I hear different.
And I’m a little confused about the exact name these days. The Facebook page is titled Sidney Auto-vue, but its posts (including one from yesterday) call it Auto Vue. The title at the top of its home page is Auto Vue. The owner’s 2014 Kickstarter repeatedly calls it the Auto Vue. So the way I see it, the Facebook page title is the outlier and the correct name should be Auto Vue. Phew!
After a while, I found an East Niagara Post article from May (!) 2015 that reported that Transit owner Rick Cohen made it over 250 miles to Ridgeland SC before a sprained ankle make him quit. Meanwhile, the Auto-vue took out a loan for the digital projector it needed, but with $8000 raised from the fundraising walk to lower its cost. “I give them a lot of credit for having the courage to move forward,” Cohen said.
In February 2015, after a drive-in association meeting in Florida, the owner of the Transit in Lockport NY started walking from Kissimmee toward New Jersey, birthplace of drive-in theaters, to raise money and awareness for the Auto-vue. Several outlets picked up the story, and radio station WKSU wrote, “The Auto-Vue is owned by Teresa Covington’s parents, and she runs the theater. … Covington’s parents turn 81 this year, and she has been working alongside them since they bought the drive-in in 1986. She got in touch with Cohen for brainstorming ideas.”
The 1969 IMPA already showed a capacity of 430, so I’m guessing that either the parking expansion came before the new screen, or they both happened a little earlier than estimated.
Operation / ownership highlights from The Capri Story page on its web site:
The 1000 Car, single screen Drive-In opens on August 21st, 1964 by owner-operators John and Mary Magocs.
A contest was held at the Drive-In shortly after it opens to decide on a name… the winner received a brand new sewing machine. The winning name was The Capri. That name was submitted by… Mary Magocs (and yes, she kept the sewing machine :–)
Admission in 1964 was $1.00 and a cheeseburger was 45¢. The snack bar at the time was leased to Auto City Candy Company of Detroit. Operating a Drive-In for the Magocs was a family affair. John and Mary, John Jr. and Tom, spent many a night making sure the show went off each night.
In 1977, the operation of the Capri Drive-In was leased to William Clarke of Coldwater while the Magocs resided in Florida. In 1980, Tom and John Jr. resumed operation of the theatre. Tom and John Jr. were 5 and 9 years old when John and Mary opened the theatre. After 16 years of learning the ropes, the boys took over. One of their first decisions was to install AM radio transmission of the movie sound. This was cutting edge technology at the time in the Drive-In industry. All but 5 rows of speakers were removed.
In 1982, Susan Magocs (Tom’s beautiful wife) assumed operation of the Snack Bar. Between 1964 and 1981 the snack bar had been run separately. For those of you who remember back 20 years, this was a major UPGRADE for the concession stand. The Capri Drive-In’s concession now consistently rates as one of the best Drive-In concessions in operation.
In 1986, the Capri became a twin. Screen Two was added on the back side of theatre. Screen One’s car capacity was decreased to 550 cars, with Screen Two parking 300 more. It was at this time that 5 remaining rows of speakers were also removed. In 1996, sadly, the original “showman”, John Magocs Sr. passed away in his Naples, Florida home.
Concession 1997 through 2000 saw The Capri Drive-In continually increase their technology and film exhibition capabilities. FM radio transmission of the sound, following by FM Stereo brought indoor theater sound quality to the Outdoor show. The Addition of a Red Dye Cye Analog filter (which was replacing Silver Nitrate on new films) allowed the Capri able to show current first run films.
Great article on builder / owners Rod and Donna Saunders in the June 25, 2017 Toledo Blade.
Lots of details and a few photos of the Saunders family. My favorite is the description of how remote the Field of Dreams is. “Part of the fun is trying to find the site in the first place. Tucked away on quiet, two-lane Township Road 6, … (which) feels more like a wide, one-lane road. … (W)hen corn’s about ready to be harvested — it’s easy to drive by the site without knowing it.”
WLUC, Upper Michigan’s News Leader, ran a story about the Manistique in September 2016. The report is now on YouTube.
David Vaughn told WLUC, “I was the second owner of the drive-in theater. It was built in 1953. Then I bought it in 1972 and ran it to 1995.” The report agrees that it had closed in 2001.
Hey, this drive-in wasn’t “closed in 2014” and should be marked as open now. (Seasonal, of course.) It’s showing the latest Spider-Man installment tonight. Check its Facebook page.
The reference books (yes, I know they’re not perfect) suggest a short initial run followed by a revival, possibly by a child of Pat.
Pat’s Auto Vue wasn’t in the 1952 Theater Catalog, but was there in the 1955-56 edition. It was in the 1963 IMPA (Pat H. Metzger), but there was nothing for Smelterville in 1969-76.
The “Valley Ctr. Flick D/I” (G. Metzger) was listed in Smelterville in the IPMA lists from at least 1982 to the last one in 1988.
That’s got to be “the old Smelterville drive-in” that the Smelterville Lions Club operates one night a year (for two years now) as part of Frontier Days. The photo in the Shosone News-Press matches Google’s aerial photo down to the small tree in front of the right side of the screen.
According to the News-Press article, “The Lions drew an enormous crowd from all around the region last year when they held a showing of ‘The Goonies.’ A line of cars reportedly stretched all the way from the old drive-in to the Interstate-90 on-ramps.”
The 2017 one-nighter will be Sept. 9, when they’ll show Stand By Me.