Grand Junction’s Daily Sentinel wrote on Nov. 15, 1956, “A new drive-in theater, with the largest screen on the Western Slope, is to be constructed one-half mile west of the city limits on Highway 50. Guy Carlucci Jr., of Fruita, and A. B. Moore of Colorado Springs, are partners in the new enterprise. Estimated cost of the installation will be $40,000 to $45,000. Parking space will be provided for 400 cars. The screen, 97 feet wide by 57 feet high, will accommodate wide screen pictures.”
During the two summers the Monument was open, Grand Junction had twice as many active drive-ins (four) as indoor theaters.
In a Dec. 12, 1976 retrospective, the local Daily Sentinel wrote, “West of Grand Junction on 23 Road, just off Highway 6-50, the Monument Drive-In opened in June of 1957. This theatre did not do well, perhaps because of its location, and closed early that season. In mid-1958, it opened under new management.”
That story on Grand Junction’s drive-ins got most details right, but not everything. In 1957, the Monument continued to advertise into October, closing a little earlier than the other three in town but not what I’d call “early.”
A June 5, 1958 note in the Daily Sentinel read, “Monument Theatre / Opens tonight showing Safari and Battle Stations also Cartoon. Under new management. Box office and Snack Bar open 7:15 nightly.” Its ad returned the next day, and it included the line “Under New Management”.
After July 30, the ads took a break for almost two weeks. When the Monument ad returned Aug. 9, it started with “Now open / Improved light and projection”. The last ad I could find for the Monument was Sept. 15, 1958.
I can’t find any evidence that the Chief showed movies at any time before its Grand Opening on March 21, 1952. rivest266 has the ad from that day’s Daily Sentinel, and here’s what it looked like the day before:
In a June 28, 2004 sidebar about Mike Thomason’s 2002 book “Starlight Memories,” the Pueblo Chieftain listed the following “Facts about Mesa Drive-In”:
Opened: Aug. 17, 1951.
Opening day prices: Adults, 50 cents; children under 12, free.
Owner/operator: Roy E. “Tiny” Vaughan (1951-1975).
Current owner/operator: Chuck and Marianne James (1994-present).
First features: ‘The Texas Rangers,’ ‘Icabod and Mr. Toad’ and ‘The Three Little Pigs.’
On its Grand Opening night, the South showed “Mr. Belvedere Goes to College” with Clifton Webb, the short “Spirit of ‘49” with Jack Benny, “and Color Cartoon”.
The Motorena held its Grand Opening on July 17, 1948, tied for the second Denver-area drive-in with Lakewood’s West. Its first program was just “Mother Wore Tights” with Betty Grable “Plus: Color Cartoons”.
The Grand Opening ad for the West “across from arms plant” on July 17, 1948 included “The Adventures of Robin Hood” with Errol Flynn, “All American Coed” with Frances Langford, “And All-Color Cartoon”.
The Wadsworth’s Grand Opening ad on May 8, 1954, promised a program of “Walking My Baby Back Home” with Donald O'Connor, “The Stand at Apache River” with Stephen McNally, and an unfortunately named “Kolor Kartoon Karnival”. The same program was advertised the next three days, so that’s probably what really happened.
The opening double feature for the Havana, “Colorado’s first outdoor motion picture theatre in a garden atmosphere,” on Wed., May 25, 1966 was Debbie Reynolds in “The Singing Nun” and “Promise Her Anything” with Warren Beatty.
That’s a great find! It’s available at a Tripod site dedicated to collecting issues of the Sunliner News.
Not only was it published without a copyright, the issue’s masthead specifically stated, “News material may be reproduced without permission.” That’s about as public domain as it gets!
My continuing quest to find newspaper ads for this drive-in led me to the nearby Dolores Star. My spot-checking found ads, along with the indoor AnLe, in June 1959, July 1960, and June 1961. Perhaps continuing its 1955 spelling, all three ads called it the “Arroya”.
Unfortunately, the two theaters stopped advertising in the Star after the July 7, 1961 issue. A spot check of June 1962 failed to find any theater ads.
It appears that the Skylite (built by the Sky Light Amusement Co.) didn’t run any grand opening ad in the local Delta County Independent newspaper. Its first ad was May 12, 1949, touting the May 13-14 double feature of “The Adventures of Gallant Bess” and “Gas House Kids Go West”. The ad concluded “Watch for your weekly program through the mail”.
The Northside held its Gala Opening on Friday, May 26, 1950. Its opening program was “Tycoon” starring John Wayne and “Mighty Joe Young” plus “Always a Color Cartoon”. It advertised “Picnic tables for those who want to eat their picnic dinner and see the show” along with a “New Cafeteria Type Snack Bar.”
The Aircadia, “The Theatre of Tomorrow – Today!”, held its Gala Opening on Friday, April 8, 1955. The opening program was “The High and the Mighty” starring John Wayne, plus Walt Disney’s “Stormy”. Admission was 65 cents for adults, but “kiddies free”.
The opening date was May 5, 1950. As was later reported, the first double feature was “Jolson Sings Again” and “Riders in the Sky,” and it also included the Bugs Bunny cartoon “Long Haired Hare”.
According to a Grand Opening article, the drive-in accommodated 700 cars in its 15 acres “atop the hill at Eighth Street and Brookside Avenue”. It had a grassed-in playground, lighted speaker poles, and attendants to wipe windshields and fix flat tires.
The 8th Street had three 25-foot poles at the back of the viewing area where “moonlight” lamps were operated by dimmers. A Gazette Telegraph story said that they were “the first to be installed west of the Mississippi River and are the latest type developed for drive-in theatres.”
The drive-in was managed by Ralph Langston, who had worked as an assistant manager for the South Drive-In in Englewood CO.
The Starlight’s final ad before its screen tower was destroyed was in the Sept. 24, 1976 issue of the Rocky Ford Daily Gazette. Since that ad didn’t specify which days the shows would run, my guess for its final night would be Sunday, Sept. 26. The program was “Born to Kill” and “Jackson County Jail”.
A quick check of the July 11, 1977 Daily Gazette showed ads for indoor theaters (the Grand and the Fox), and the La Junta drive-in (which must have repaired its screen), but not the Starlight.
Boxoffice, Feb. 3, 1945: “BRIGHTON, COLO. – M. H. Philipsen of Denver has taken over management of the Rex Theatre here, replacing Duane Welch who moved to California. Philipsen managed the Santa Fe Theatre in Denver for Atlas Theatre Corp.”
Later Boxoffice notes tell this story: Philipsen moved over to manage the Kar-Vu Drive-In when it opened in April 1950, apparently replaced at the Rex by P. R. Ruddick. When the army recalled Ruddick later that year, Philipsen temporarily returned during the winter of 1950-51. In May 1951, Atlas brought in T. V. Austin from Salt Lake City to manage the Rex, freeing Philipsen to concentrate on the Kar-Vu.
The Pines’ first ad in the Fort Collins Coloradoan was May 29, 1968, featuring “The Way West” and “The Hallelujah Trail”. It ended with the note, “Drive south and save!” (The Pines charged 90 cents per adult while the Starlite charged a full $1.)
There’s a huge, detailed story about the Rio (and a few other things) by Bob Amick (is that you, rda?) in the Dec. 12, 2016 issue of the (Meeker) Herald Times. There’s even more in an accompanying PDF to the article.
The family of Don Dennis, who was reportedly a projectionist at the Valley in the late 1950s, has a huge page of photos and info about the theater.
That page said that Schumour Theaters was a division of Gibralter Entertainment, a confederation consortium of small chains in
Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado run mainly by Charles Gilmour M. C. Schulte. Schumour owned the Valley early in the 1950s, and “Mitch Kelloff owned the Valley Theater in the 50’s and into the 60’s.” There are more photos, newspaper ads, and other souvenirs than I have room to describe here. DonDennisFamily.com did a great job in assembling all of it to show off to all of us internet historians.
Grand Junction’s Daily Sentinel wrote on Nov. 15, 1956, “A new drive-in theater, with the largest screen on the Western Slope, is to be constructed one-half mile west of the city limits on Highway 50. Guy Carlucci Jr., of Fruita, and A. B. Moore of Colorado Springs, are partners in the new enterprise. Estimated cost of the installation will be $40,000 to $45,000. Parking space will be provided for 400 cars. The screen, 97 feet wide by 57 feet high, will accommodate wide screen pictures.”
During the two summers the Monument was open, Grand Junction had twice as many active drive-ins (four) as indoor theaters.
In a Dec. 12, 1976 retrospective, the local Daily Sentinel wrote, “West of Grand Junction on 23 Road, just off Highway 6-50, the Monument Drive-In opened in June of 1957. This theatre did not do well, perhaps because of its location, and closed early that season. In mid-1958, it opened under new management.”
That story on Grand Junction’s drive-ins got most details right, but not everything. In 1957, the Monument continued to advertise into October, closing a little earlier than the other three in town but not what I’d call “early.”
A June 5, 1958 note in the Daily Sentinel read, “Monument Theatre / Opens tonight showing Safari and Battle Stations also Cartoon. Under new management. Box office and Snack Bar open 7:15 nightly.” Its ad returned the next day, and it included the line “Under New Management”.
After July 30, the ads took a break for almost two weeks. When the Monument ad returned Aug. 9, it started with “Now open / Improved light and projection”. The last ad I could find for the Monument was Sept. 15, 1958.
I can’t find any evidence that the Chief showed movies at any time before its Grand Opening on March 21, 1952. rivest266 has the ad from that day’s Daily Sentinel, and here’s what it looked like the day before:
Note that the opening program was “Distant Drums” with Gary Cooper, the short “Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd in Sweden,” and a Cartoon Carnival.
In a June 28, 2004 sidebar about Mike Thomason’s 2002 book “Starlight Memories,” the Pueblo Chieftain listed the following “Facts about Mesa Drive-In”:
Opened: Aug. 17, 1951.
Opening day prices: Adults, 50 cents; children under 12, free.
Owner/operator: Roy E. “Tiny” Vaughan (1951-1975).
Current owner/operator: Chuck and Marianne James (1994-present).
First features: ‘The Texas Rangers,’ ‘Icabod and Mr. Toad’ and ‘The Three Little Pigs.’
Most showings: ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968).
Longest opening run: ‘Jurassic Park’ (1993) and ‘Unforgiven’ (1993) – each six weeks.
Longest season: Year-round from April 1958 through January 1960.
Shortest seasons: Late May through late September (1997 and 2001).
On its Grand Opening night, the South showed “Mr. Belvedere Goes to College” with Clifton Webb, the short “Spirit of ‘49” with Jack Benny, “and Color Cartoon”.
Although it wasn’t its Grand Opening, the Valley first advertised on June 6, 1953, showing “Titanic” with Barbara Stanwyck and “Watusi”.
The Motorena held its Grand Opening on July 17, 1948, tied for the second Denver-area drive-in with Lakewood’s West. Its first program was just “Mother Wore Tights” with Betty Grable “Plus: Color Cartoons”.
The Grand Opening ad for the West “across from arms plant” on July 17, 1948 included “The Adventures of Robin Hood” with Errol Flynn, “All American Coed” with Frances Langford, “And All-Color Cartoon”.
The Wadsworth’s Grand Opening ad on May 8, 1954, promised a program of “Walking My Baby Back Home” with Donald O'Connor, “The Stand at Apache River” with Stephen McNally, and an unfortunately named “Kolor Kartoon Karnival”. The same program was advertised the next three days, so that’s probably what really happened.
The first double feature at the Arapahoe was Paul Newman in “Sometimes a Great Notion” and Richard Thomas in “Red Sky at Morning”.
The opening double feature for the Havana, “Colorado’s first outdoor motion picture theatre in a garden atmosphere,” on Wed., May 25, 1966 was Debbie Reynolds in “The Singing Nun” and “Promise Her Anything” with Warren Beatty.
That’s a great find! It’s available at a Tripod site dedicated to collecting issues of the Sunliner News.
Not only was it published without a copyright, the issue’s masthead specifically stated, “News material may be reproduced without permission.” That’s about as public domain as it gets!
That’s a detail from this postcard, dated 1940. It appears to have been published without a copyright notice, which would put it in the public domain.
My continuing quest to find newspaper ads for this drive-in led me to the nearby Dolores Star. My spot-checking found ads, along with the indoor AnLe, in June 1959, July 1960, and June 1961. Perhaps continuing its 1955 spelling, all three ads called it the “Arroya”.
Unfortunately, the two theaters stopped advertising in the Star after the July 7, 1961 issue. A spot check of June 1962 failed to find any theater ads.
It appears that the Skylite (built by the Sky Light Amusement Co.) didn’t run any grand opening ad in the local Delta County Independent newspaper. Its first ad was May 12, 1949, touting the May 13-14 double feature of “The Adventures of Gallant Bess” and “Gas House Kids Go West”. The ad concluded “Watch for your weekly program through the mail”.
The Northside held its Gala Opening on Friday, May 26, 1950. Its opening program was “Tycoon” starring John Wayne and “Mighty Joe Young” plus “Always a Color Cartoon”. It advertised “Picnic tables for those who want to eat their picnic dinner and see the show” along with a “New Cafeteria Type Snack Bar.”
The Aircadia, “The Theatre of Tomorrow – Today!”, held its Gala Opening on Friday, April 8, 1955. The opening program was “The High and the Mighty” starring John Wayne, plus Walt Disney’s “Stormy”. Admission was 65 cents for adults, but “kiddies free”.
This is the bottom half of a photo, dated Feb. 1984, that I found at American Classic Images, which claims to own the rights to it.
The opening program on Aug. 11, 1954 was “Elephant Walk” with Elizabeth Taylor and “Bait” with Cleo Moore.
The opening date was May 5, 1950. As was later reported, the first double feature was “Jolson Sings Again” and “Riders in the Sky,” and it also included the Bugs Bunny cartoon “Long Haired Hare”.
According to a Grand Opening article, the drive-in accommodated 700 cars in its 15 acres “atop the hill at Eighth Street and Brookside Avenue”. It had a grassed-in playground, lighted speaker poles, and attendants to wipe windshields and fix flat tires.
The 8th Street had three 25-foot poles at the back of the viewing area where “moonlight” lamps were operated by dimmers. A Gazette Telegraph story said that they were “the first to be installed west of the Mississippi River and are the latest type developed for drive-in theatres.”
The drive-in was managed by Ralph Langston, who had worked as an assistant manager for the South Drive-In in Englewood CO.
The Starlight’s final ad before its screen tower was destroyed was in the Sept. 24, 1976 issue of the Rocky Ford Daily Gazette. Since that ad didn’t specify which days the shows would run, my guess for its final night would be Sunday, Sept. 26. The program was “Born to Kill” and “Jackson County Jail”.
A quick check of the July 11, 1977 Daily Gazette showed ads for indoor theaters (the Grand and the Fox), and the La Junta drive-in (which must have repaired its screen), but not the Starlight.
Boxoffice, Feb. 3, 1945: “BRIGHTON, COLO. – M. H. Philipsen of Denver has taken over management of the Rex Theatre here, replacing Duane Welch who moved to California. Philipsen managed the Santa Fe Theatre in Denver for Atlas Theatre Corp.”
Later Boxoffice notes tell this story: Philipsen moved over to manage the Kar-Vu Drive-In when it opened in April 1950, apparently replaced at the Rex by P. R. Ruddick. When the army recalled Ruddick later that year, Philipsen temporarily returned during the winter of 1950-51. In May 1951, Atlas brought in T. V. Austin from Salt Lake City to manage the Rex, freeing Philipsen to concentrate on the Kar-Vu.
I found this at KnoxBlogs.com, credited to (Department of Energy archives/Frank Hoffman photograph).
The Pines’ first ad in the Fort Collins Coloradoan was May 29, 1968, featuring “The Way West” and “The Hallelujah Trail”. It ended with the note, “Drive south and save!” (The Pines charged 90 cents per adult while the Starlite charged a full $1.)
There’s a huge, detailed story about the Rio (and a few other things) by Bob Amick (is that you, rda?) in the Dec. 12, 2016 issue of the (Meeker) Herald Times. There’s even more in an accompanying PDF to the article.
The family of Don Dennis, who was reportedly a projectionist at the Valley in the late 1950s, has a huge page of photos and info about the theater.
That page said that Schumour Theaters was a division of Gibralter Entertainment, a confederation consortium of small chains in Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado run mainly by Charles Gilmour M. C. Schulte. Schumour owned the Valley early in the 1950s, and “Mitch Kelloff owned the Valley Theater in the 50’s and into the 60’s.” There are more photos, newspaper ads, and other souvenirs than I have room to describe here. DonDennisFamily.com did a great job in assembling all of it to show off to all of us internet historians.