Rick Cohen, owner of the Transit Drive-In in Lockport NY, wrote a fine essay about this “Drive-In Without A Name”. According to him, this Olden drive-in was under construction when the owner’s daughter died in an accident. It was never opened, operated, or even named.
According to Google Street View, the skeleton was still there as of May 2013.
There was another article today about the still-standing sign in The Daily Courier of Prescott. An excerpt:
(Jane) Orr and (fellow Class of 1963 alum Stephen) Rogers, along with some other loyal drive-in patrons, have worked to maintain the sign, complete with posting occasional messages on the marquee to commemorate holidays, anniversaries, and at least one marriage proposal. The sole message prohibition: nothing commercial or political.
This past week, Orr and Rogers posted a Valentine’s Day missive: “Senator Drive-In — We Still Love and Miss You.” A big red heart is on the far side.
An article in today’s Cape Cod Times says that site of the West Yarmouth will be used for an Irish festival in 2018. It’s “been a point of contention for the town since it was purchased for recreational use in 1985. In 2015, a Drive-in Site Utilization Committee was formed to consider possible uses … but push back from nearby residents has prevented any projects from moving forward.”
It listed the address for the site as 669 Route 28.
A quick check of the International Motion Picture Almanacs on my shelf show a 1000-car drive-in, sometimes called the Yarmouth, in the census-designated place of West Yarmouth (within the town of Yarmouth) beginning in either the 1958 or 1959 edition and continuing through its last drive-in list in 1988.
Like lorraine1031, I remember the Waldo Theater just a block and a half from the Katz with its soda fountain bar by a row of wooden telephone booths. My strongest memory was when, as a grade-schooler in 1971 or ‘72, I saw a four-movie Beatles marathon there. Little did I know how soon it would close after that. Thanks for keeping the memories alive!
The July 23, 1955 Billboard magazine wrote “Ellis Drive-In, near Wilmington, Del., reopened with accomodations for more than 1000 automobiles, twice its former size. Formerly the Brandywine, it is under direction of A. M. Ellis Theaters Company, Philadelphia. The spot is under the supervision of Larry Ruch, district manager. Don Warner, manager of the Chester Pike Drive-In, Chester, Pa., as also manager of Ellis Drive-In. … Box office has been relocated, new roads have been built, and a fence put around the property.”
Great find, Kenmore. In retrospect, the name “Drive In Road” was a dead giveaway. I really had to strain at that 1989 Historic Aerials photo to see what might be a screen facing south. With the trees already growing in the view field, it’s hard to tell how large it was just from that.
The Crest, or its remains, were still visible in the 1994 photo at Historic Aerials. In the 2005 photo, foliage has begun moving into the viewing area, and in the 2009 photo, the storage units were in place.
The “Cho Co”, capacity 200 and owned by Floyd Cox, was in the first Theatre Catalog list for its 1948-49 edition. It morphed into the “Cho-Co” by 1955-56 but otherwise stayed the same.
The “Choco Cho”, capacity 200 and owned by Floyd Cox, was in the first International Motion Picture Almanac list for its 1951-52 edition. The IMPA eventually changed the listing to Choco, but otherwise kept it the same through 1963. The Choco was off the list for good by the 1966 edition.
The El-Co’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was the 1955 edition, capacity 140, owner Garland Wilson. (The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog had the same info except its capacity was 141.) It stayed that way through at least 1966. The El-Co was still on the list in the 1976 edition of the MPA, but was gone by 1978, never to return.
The viewing area was still visible in HistoricAerial.com’s 1995 photo at the southeast corner of what is now E0520 Road and Main Street. (Thanks, Kenmore!) Buildings had replaced it by the 2003 photo.
A Dec. 2, 2011 article in the Woodward News said that El-Co owners “Jason Swanson and Lance Schultz, both of whom grew up in Shattuck, built the theatre to provide the community with entertainment.” They formed J&L Oilfield Services there in 2002 and had been board members of the Shattuck National Bank.
The El-Co was only open during the summer in 2017. Based on posts on its Facebook page, its first show was May 26, and its final show was August 5.
A July 4, 2004 article in The Tampa Tribune said that The Dade City Banner said the Joy-Lan opened on March 9, 1950 with the movie Challenge to Lassie. It had “risen from a field in six weeks”. The Tribune itself first listed the Joy Lan in January 1951.
Carl Floyd was listed as the owner in the 1951-52 International Motion Picture Almanac.
As mentioned in that YouTube video that FloridaDriveIns posted, the Joy-Lan was closed in March 1995 by its owner, Floyd Theaters, which had recently sold most of its assets to Carmike. One of the conditions of the sale was that potential competitors such as the Joy-Lan had to be shut down.
Former Floyd Enterprises president Harold Spears formed Sun South Theaters and bought the Joy-Lan along with the Silver Moon in Lakeland, Fun Lan in Tampa, and the Lake Worth, formerly the Trail. The Joy-Lan reopened on Oct. 11, 1996.
There’s a nice YouTube video of how the Pine Hill looked as of summer 2017. The land slopes nicely toward the screen, and it looks like someone could reopen it with just a smidgen of cleanup. And a digital projector. A Jan. 3, 2018 post on Facebook said, “Still have not sold!!! If you’re seriously interested in purchasing, message us.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the owner as A. B. Jefferis, capacity just 200. Its first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanacs was the 1957 edition, same owner, capacity 300. It stayed that way through 1966. Jefferis also owned the indoor theater in Piedmont.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on March 23, 1973 that one Mrs. Maude Jefferis of Piedmont photographed odd blinking lights “high above the drive-in movie screen that stands beyond a pond in Mrs. Jefferis’s front yard.” That must be the adjacent house east of the Pine Hill.
When the MPA resumed owner info in 1978, it was listed as Bazzell, capacity 200. For the 1980-88 editions, the owner was L. Ross.
Victor Weber of Judsonia AR just retired, and he was quoted in a story at Arkansas Online: “I had the big drive-in over at Russellville. I also had three cinemas there. I played Star Wars. I still had it for a first run for a drive-in. I remember I grossed $18,000 on that movie.”
As The Sentinel of Carlisle PA put it later, 28-year-old Donn Mowery’s indoor Newville Theater was destroyed by fire and he “took the insurance money and built the drive-in on the only road between Carlisle and Shippensburg at the time, Route 11. Because of the prime location, the drive-in prospered.” It’s been in the family ever since, (Donn was still in charge in 2003), and its marquee looks the same as it did when advertising the 1952 movie Bloodhounds of Broadway.
Based on articles in the weekly Newville Valley Times-Star, the Cumberland’s opening night (delayed twice by wet weather) was on August 1, 1952, showing Annie Get Your Gun.
One last note from Billboard, June 17, 1950 issue, datelined “PHILADELPHIA, June 10 – … Other drive-in openings in Eastern Pennsylvania area this week included … the new Midway Drive-In opened by the Berneys near Lewistown”
And one more thing – As I type, the main description says the Midway has two screens, but I only see one on Google’s satellite view and the drive-in only lists one double feature on its summer web site (as retrieved from archive.org). Perhaps that note is inaccurate?
An October 1985 article in The Daily Collegian said that Joseph Favuzza and Frank W. Royer had owned the Starlite since 1965, “but are now selling the business.”
Scraping for more clues, I saw that the drive-in’s domain is currently registered to Jeff Favuzza.
Which led me to the Philadelphia Inquirer of Aug. 5, 1992: “Owners of the Midway Drive-In say their patrons were illegally searched by police, who charged 75 people with underage drinking.” Part owner Joseph Favuzza was considering a lawsuit. “What we’re trying to do is right a wrong, said his son, Jeff Favuzza, the drive-in’s manager. The story also got picked up by the Associated Press.
Somebody at the Juniata County Historical Society wrote that the Midway’s opening night was May 17, 1950. “The Berneys, Irvin and Doris, were the first proprietors and showed the film ‘When My Baby Smiles at Me,’ in Technicolor that first night.”
The Daily News of Huntingdon ran a Grand Opening ad on May 17, 1950. The Newport News-Sun also ran a “Grand Opening” ad on April 3, 1952, but clearly that must have been a mere season opener.
The 1950-52 Theatre Catalogs listed the Midway under Lewistown, capacity 400, owned by Irving Berney. The 1955-56 edition listed its capacity at 800.
A note in the April 11, 1953 Billboard magazine read, “Percy A. Niemond … will transfer to the Midway Drive-In, between Lewistown and Mifflintown, Pa., owned by Irvin Berney.”
The International Motion Picture Almanacs also listed the Midway under Lewistown, beginning with the 1951-52 edition. By the next edition, it added the capacity (400) and owner or booker of W. M. Humphreys, which evolved to William Humphreys by 1959. By the 1963 edition, the owner changed to Frank Royer, and that’s the way it stayed through the final IMPA list in 1988.
Norman Gasbarro’s Lykens Valley blog has a great history of the Sky-Vu. “In 1949, the land on which the theatre now stands, was sold by Allen Lincoln Shade and Etta May [Hartman] Shade to Eston C. Artz and Stanford E. Carl. Eston and Stanford established a partnership to create the Sky-Vu Drive-In Theatre in 1950.”
The first newspaper reference I could find was an ad in the Elizabethville Echo of July 13, 1950. It doesn’t quite say so, but it appears to be a grand opening ad: “SKY VU Drive-In Theatre welcomes you to one of America’s most unique outside theatres.” The ad described the Sky Vu’s benefits in copy that wasn’t repeated in the weekly ads that followed. (I’ve uploaded the ad to the Photos section here.)
The 1949-50 Theatre Catalog lists “Drive In” in Gratz, capacity 550, Exec: Artz and Carl (UNC). Did that mean under construction? By the 1952 edition, the listing had evolved to the Sky Vu, capacity 232, Exec: Eston, Artz and Carl, Spring Glen.
The 1951-52 International Motion Picture Almanac listed the
“Skyview”, capacity 230, owned by G. Wolfe, which is how it stayed through at least 1959. For the 1961-66 editions, only the owner changed, to E. Hotz.
When ownership information resumed after a decade off, the 1978 edition listed Trautman, capacity 200. Except for a minor update to M. Trautman, that’s how it stayed through the final IMPA list in 1988.
The Lykens Valley blog fills in part of this period. Around 1969, Marvin Troutman, son of Marvin and Ada Troutman, bought the Sky-Vu and the nearby Halifax Drive-In. “Shortly afterward, he and his wife formed Martro Theatres, Inc.” And they began running X-rated movies at both drive-ins.
The United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association wrote that the Sky-Vu reopened in 1994. Which means it must have been closed for a while before that.
Reports say the Sky Vu closed (again) in 2014. When Tim and Renate Neal leased and reopened it in 2016, Marvin Troutman still owned the place.
The May 8, 1954 Billboard magazine said the Roy Sullender’s National Screen Service Corporation was handling the buying and booking for the Sky-Vu. In Feb. 5, 1955, it said that Tri-States Buying and Booking Service was handling the drive-in.
It had to have been the Halifax, as it was known when it opened in the early 1950s and as it was listed in the 1986 IMPA, for example. By then it was owned by Marvin Troutman operating as Martro Theatres and probably still showing X-rated movies.
Shankweiler’s history page says it opened on April 15, 1934. Kerry Segrave’s book Drive-In Theaters also lists that date, but says it’s “questionable”. The first reference I could find in The Morning Call of nearby Allentown was on May 22, 1937 when an ad for Shankweiler’s restaurant added “Shankweilers’s Open Air Theatre Now Open (for the season?) – Talkie Shows Every Sun., Wed. & Fri. Evenings”.
The Segrave book says that Wilson Shankweiler was a movie buff who saw the original Camden NJ drive-in while on vacation in 1933. “Behind the hotel he owned in Orefield was a deserted landing strip, which Shankweiler converted to a makeshift drive-in. The first screen consisted of two poles and a sheet.” The hotel building, still there, was converted to a funeral home in 2010.
Lehigh Valley Business listed the chain of ownership in a 2015 article. In 1958, Shankweiler rented the drive-in to Al Moffa, a close friend who had helped him build it. “The next year, Shankweiler sold it to Moffa’s manager, Bob Malkemis.” In 1983, Malkemis sold Shankweiler’s to Paul Geissinger and his wife, who together “operated it as a second job and as a hobby.”
Geissinger is an electrician, and according to a now-vanished Project Drive-In article, in 1986 he built the first FM radio broadcast unit for use in a drive-in.
The Allentown Morning Call wrote in October 1982 that neighbors weren’t bothered that Becky’s was showing X-rated movies. William Beck’s son Dennis had purchased the drive-in “at the beginning of the year.”
That article also said that in 1939, Beck “opened his own drive-in in Berlinsville and charged an admission of 25 cents per car. … In 1945, Becky expanded again on another site, and two years later he installed in-car speakers.”
In an undated article at the Lehigh Valley Marketplace, it said that Beck “opened the Route 45 Drive-in on leased property; in 1946, he bought the land where his namesake theater now stands.” Which explains why he moved a block away.
The Blue Mountain Town & Country Gazette wrote in July 2014 that when the Route 45 opened, it had two loudspeakers for the whole viewing field. “Around 1981, he put in the radio transmitters in AM, so people couldn’t steal or damage the speakers,” said Beck’s son Darrell. “Then it went to FM and it’s done that way still today.” It also said the drive-in changed its name when the highway number changed in 1971.
Around 1971, Beck switched to adult movies “for survival” according to later generations. “People would snicker, but we had to do that or there would be a store here now,” co-owner Cindy Beck Deppe told The Morning Call in September 1997. William Beck died in 1987, and the following year his widow and children switched back to family films.
The Morning Call declined to advertise X-rated movies, which makes it difficult to determine exactly when the drive-in changed its name. A Sept. 1972 article about a traffic accident still called it the Route 45. A slate of kid-friendly movies was advertised for Becky’s on Memorial Day Weekend 1975.
Billboard magazine was late in noticing the drive-in, writing in a July 17, 1948 roundup, “Others recently opened are … the Route 45 Drive-In at Berlinsville, under Beck operation”.
In the May 19, 1951 issue, the Philadelphia-based Allied Motion Picture Theater Service announced it had added the Route 45 (among others) as a booking client. In the April 19, 1952 issue, Route 45 owner William D. Beck announced he was doing his own booking. Then on April 23, 1955, another Philadelphia company, Tri-State Buying & Booking Service, started “handling” the Route 45.
In its 1951-54 editions, the International Motion Picture Almanac listed both the Route 45, capacity 300, in “Walnut Port” and the “Berlinsville Drive-In”, capacity 600, in Berlinsville, both owned by Wm. Beck. For the 1955-59 editions, the IMPA didn’t list the Route 45 but still had the Berlinsville.
Both fell off the IMPA list in 1961-66. (Both drive-ins were listed in the 1950 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures, but neither were there in the 1964 edition.) The Route 45 was back in 1969-76, then fell off again for good by 1978. It appears that the IMPA never listed it as Becky’s.
Becky’s official history page has a photo captioned “The very first site of the drive-in, which is a block away from its present location. It is now a baseball field.” It also says the drive-in moved by “circa 1948”. A 1951 photo at Historic Aerials shows the drive-in in its present location and a faint baseball diamond a block away where the field would later appear. On the other hand, I can’t find any evidence of a second drive-in near Berlinsville.
The history page also says the state changed the highway number “around 1971”, implying that’s when the drive-in’s name changed. Wikipedia says the change came in May 1966. And Becky’s added a second screen in 2005 and swapped it for a permanent second screen in 2007.
A commenter on Retro Roadmap wrote that the drive-in showed X-rated movies in the 1970s and early 80s. Still “even though it was an adult theater it had the number one rated snackbar”.
The Southington’s listing for May 18, 1955 was Seminole Uprising followed by Blackboard Jungle, which were still showing on May 20. The listing didn’t appear on May 13 (the previous Friday) or May 17, or Aug. 13, 1954 (spot check). I’m feeling more confident about that May 18, 1955 opening date.
In June 1978, the local Planning and Zoning Commission approved John Perakos' request to build a second screen. On July 9, 1979, the Southington was still advertising for one screen, but by July 13 it was advertising as the Southington Twin.
A July 1985 article said the Southington opened in 1955, so there’s one more source that agrees with me.
In December 1992, the Perakos family had informally offered to sell the drive-in for $2.75 million to the town of Southington, but the town wasn’t interested.
But in 1995, Sperie Perakos said he had no plans to give up the Southington, which he had recently remodeled.
In October 2002, the Perakos family sold West Hartford’s indoor Elm Theater. That left the family with only one “operating” theater – the Southington.
In April 2004, Southington voters approved the $1.61 million purchase of the 40-acre parcel by 2299 to 1087.
The question of What Is A Drive-In Theater is a legitimate topic. I examined the issue last year here: http://carload.com/2016/09/how-to-define-the-drive-in-theater/ In short, I’d say that it’s any screen fixed in one place with recurring movies that anyone may drive in to view, so I include the Southington.
Two Billboard magazine articles suggest a long gestation period for the Southington. On March 25, 1950, it wrote that property owners were appealing the build approval given to James A. Holmes. “Hearings on the granting of the permit … were among the longest ever held.” Holmes estimated a capacity of 800 cars and construction cost of $100,000.
Those property owners must have found plenty of ways to delay the project, because the next Billboard article is from May 28, 1955. “Perakos Theater Associates opened its second Connecticut drive-in venture, the $200,000 Southington Drive-In Theater, Wednesday (18). Melvin Siegal, formerly with ABC Vending, is resident manager.” Every other source I’ve read says 1954 but no date, so I’d go with Billboard’s opening date of Wednesday, May 18, 1955.
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the Southington with a capacity of 950 cars and exec: Conn. Th. Ct. The Southington’s first appearance in the International Motion Picture Almanac was the 1956 edition, owned by P & H Amusement Corp. By the 1961 edition, it also listed its capacity of 1100!
The 1978 IMPA listed the drive-in under Plainsville, owner Perakos, which was how it stayed through the last list in 1988.
An August 2002 article in The New York Times wrote, “For Mr. (Sperie) Perakos, tracking the growth trend is important. Southington Drive-In is a family business, opened in 1954 by his father, and now owned by himself and his brothers, John and Peter Perakos Jr.” The article also quote the family talking about their dedication and how they were hooked on the business, and mentioned that “despite stormy weather, car after car pulled into the Southington Drive-In.”
Just a few weeks later, the Perakos family closed the drive-in for good. An article in the Republican-American, captured at the CinemaTour forum, wrote that as of July 2003, a For Sale sign was on the property, and “Sperie and Peter Perakos referred questions about the property to their nephew, Peter, a Hartford-based attorney.”
Another article in that same forum thread, from the Hartford Courant, said in August 2003, “Peter G. Perakos II, a lawyer whose family has run the theater for a half-century, says that, no matter what, the drive-in will reopen next spring. He said the theater closed this year because the Perakos family members who run the theater, now in their 80s, were unable to get help.” It did not reopen in 2004.
The New Haven Register had a nice article about the rebirth of the Southington, which reopened in June 2010.
Rick Cohen, owner of the Transit Drive-In in Lockport NY, wrote a fine essay about this “Drive-In Without A Name”. According to him, this Olden drive-in was under construction when the owner’s daughter died in an accident. It was never opened, operated, or even named.
According to Google Street View, the skeleton was still there as of May 2013.
There was another article today about the still-standing sign in The Daily Courier of Prescott. An excerpt:
(Jane) Orr and (fellow Class of 1963 alum Stephen) Rogers, along with some other loyal drive-in patrons, have worked to maintain the sign, complete with posting occasional messages on the marquee to commemorate holidays, anniversaries, and at least one marriage proposal. The sole message prohibition: nothing commercial or political.
This past week, Orr and Rogers posted a Valentine’s Day missive: “Senator Drive-In — We Still Love and Miss You.” A big red heart is on the far side.
An article in today’s Cape Cod Times says that site of the West Yarmouth will be used for an Irish festival in 2018. It’s “been a point of contention for the town since it was purchased for recreational use in 1985. In 2015, a Drive-in Site Utilization Committee was formed to consider possible uses … but push back from nearby residents has prevented any projects from moving forward.”
It listed the address for the site as 669 Route 28.
A quick check of the International Motion Picture Almanacs on my shelf show a 1000-car drive-in, sometimes called the Yarmouth, in the census-designated place of West Yarmouth (within the town of Yarmouth) beginning in either the 1958 or 1959 edition and continuing through its last drive-in list in 1988.
Like lorraine1031, I remember the Waldo Theater just a block and a half from the Katz with its soda fountain bar by a row of wooden telephone booths. My strongest memory was when, as a grade-schooler in 1971 or ‘72, I saw a four-movie Beatles marathon there. Little did I know how soon it would close after that. Thanks for keeping the memories alive!
The July 23, 1955 Billboard magazine wrote “Ellis Drive-In, near Wilmington, Del., reopened with accomodations for more than 1000 automobiles, twice its former size. Formerly the Brandywine, it is under direction of A. M. Ellis Theaters Company, Philadelphia. The spot is under the supervision of Larry Ruch, district manager. Don Warner, manager of the Chester Pike Drive-In, Chester, Pa., as also manager of Ellis Drive-In. … Box office has been relocated, new roads have been built, and a fence put around the property.”
Great find, Kenmore. In retrospect, the name “Drive In Road” was a dead giveaway. I really had to strain at that 1989 Historic Aerials photo to see what might be a screen facing south. With the trees already growing in the view field, it’s hard to tell how large it was just from that.
The Crest, or its remains, were still visible in the 1994 photo at Historic Aerials. In the 2005 photo, foliage has begun moving into the viewing area, and in the 2009 photo, the storage units were in place.
The “Cho Co”, capacity 200 and owned by Floyd Cox, was in the first Theatre Catalog list for its 1948-49 edition. It morphed into the “Cho-Co” by 1955-56 but otherwise stayed the same.
The “Choco Cho”, capacity 200 and owned by Floyd Cox, was in the first International Motion Picture Almanac list for its 1951-52 edition. The IMPA eventually changed the listing to Choco, but otherwise kept it the same through 1963. The Choco was off the list for good by the 1966 edition.
The El-Co’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was the 1955 edition, capacity 140, owner Garland Wilson. (The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog had the same info except its capacity was 141.) It stayed that way through at least 1966. The El-Co was still on the list in the 1976 edition of the MPA, but was gone by 1978, never to return.
The viewing area was still visible in HistoricAerial.com’s 1995 photo at the southeast corner of what is now E0520 Road and Main Street. (Thanks, Kenmore!) Buildings had replaced it by the 2003 photo.
A Dec. 2, 2011 article in the Woodward News said that El-Co owners “Jason Swanson and Lance Schultz, both of whom grew up in Shattuck, built the theatre to provide the community with entertainment.” They formed J&L Oilfield Services there in 2002 and had been board members of the Shattuck National Bank.
The El-Co was only open during the summer in 2017. Based on posts on its Facebook page, its first show was May 26, and its final show was August 5.
A July 4, 2004 article in The Tampa Tribune said that The Dade City Banner said the Joy-Lan opened on March 9, 1950 with the movie Challenge to Lassie. It had “risen from a field in six weeks”. The Tribune itself first listed the Joy Lan in January 1951.
Carl Floyd was listed as the owner in the 1951-52 International Motion Picture Almanac.
As mentioned in that YouTube video that FloridaDriveIns posted, the Joy-Lan was closed in March 1995 by its owner, Floyd Theaters, which had recently sold most of its assets to Carmike. One of the conditions of the sale was that potential competitors such as the Joy-Lan had to be shut down.
Former Floyd Enterprises president Harold Spears formed Sun South Theaters and bought the Joy-Lan along with the Silver Moon in Lakeland, Fun Lan in Tampa, and the Lake Worth, formerly the Trail. The Joy-Lan reopened on Oct. 11, 1996.
There’s a nice YouTube video of how the Pine Hill looked as of summer 2017. The land slopes nicely toward the screen, and it looks like someone could reopen it with just a smidgen of cleanup. And a digital projector. A Jan. 3, 2018 post on Facebook said, “Still have not sold!!! If you’re seriously interested in purchasing, message us.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the owner as A. B. Jefferis, capacity just 200. Its first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanacs was the 1957 edition, same owner, capacity 300. It stayed that way through 1966. Jefferis also owned the indoor theater in Piedmont.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on March 23, 1973 that one Mrs. Maude Jefferis of Piedmont photographed odd blinking lights “high above the drive-in movie screen that stands beyond a pond in Mrs. Jefferis’s front yard.” That must be the adjacent house east of the Pine Hill.
When the MPA resumed owner info in 1978, it was listed as Bazzell, capacity 200. For the 1980-88 editions, the owner was L. Ross.
Victor Weber of Judsonia AR just retired, and he was quoted in a story at Arkansas Online: “I had the big drive-in over at Russellville. I also had three cinemas there. I played Star Wars. I still had it for a first run for a drive-in. I remember I grossed $18,000 on that movie.”
As The Sentinel of Carlisle PA put it later, 28-year-old Donn Mowery’s indoor Newville Theater was destroyed by fire and he “took the insurance money and built the drive-in on the only road between Carlisle and Shippensburg at the time, Route 11. Because of the prime location, the drive-in prospered.” It’s been in the family ever since, (Donn was still in charge in 2003), and its marquee looks the same as it did when advertising the 1952 movie Bloodhounds of Broadway.
Based on articles in the weekly Newville Valley Times-Star, the Cumberland’s opening night (delayed twice by wet weather) was on August 1, 1952, showing Annie Get Your Gun.
One last note from Billboard, June 17, 1950 issue, datelined “PHILADELPHIA, June 10 – … Other drive-in openings in Eastern Pennsylvania area this week included … the new Midway Drive-In opened by the Berneys near Lewistown”
And one more thing – As I type, the main description says the Midway has two screens, but I only see one on Google’s satellite view and the drive-in only lists one double feature on its summer web site (as retrieved from archive.org). Perhaps that note is inaccurate?
An October 1985 article in The Daily Collegian said that Joseph Favuzza and Frank W. Royer had owned the Starlite since 1965, “but are now selling the business.”
Scraping for more clues, I saw that the drive-in’s domain is currently registered to Jeff Favuzza.
Which led me to the Philadelphia Inquirer of Aug. 5, 1992: “Owners of the Midway Drive-In say their patrons were illegally searched by police, who charged 75 people with underage drinking.” Part owner Joseph Favuzza was considering a lawsuit. “What we’re trying to do is right a wrong, said his son, Jeff Favuzza, the drive-in’s manager. The story also got picked up by the Associated Press.
Somebody at the Juniata County Historical Society wrote that the Midway’s opening night was May 17, 1950. “The Berneys, Irvin and Doris, were the first proprietors and showed the film ‘When My Baby Smiles at Me,’ in Technicolor that first night.”
The Daily News of Huntingdon ran a Grand Opening ad on May 17, 1950. The Newport News-Sun also ran a “Grand Opening” ad on April 3, 1952, but clearly that must have been a mere season opener.
The 1950-52 Theatre Catalogs listed the Midway under Lewistown, capacity 400, owned by Irving Berney. The 1955-56 edition listed its capacity at 800.
A note in the April 11, 1953 Billboard magazine read, “Percy A. Niemond … will transfer to the Midway Drive-In, between Lewistown and Mifflintown, Pa., owned by Irvin Berney.”
The International Motion Picture Almanacs also listed the Midway under Lewistown, beginning with the 1951-52 edition. By the next edition, it added the capacity (400) and owner or booker of W. M. Humphreys, which evolved to William Humphreys by 1959. By the 1963 edition, the owner changed to Frank Royer, and that’s the way it stayed through the final IMPA list in 1988.
Norman Gasbarro’s Lykens Valley blog has a great history of the Sky-Vu. “In 1949, the land on which the theatre now stands, was sold by Allen Lincoln Shade and Etta May [Hartman] Shade to Eston C. Artz and Stanford E. Carl. Eston and Stanford established a partnership to create the Sky-Vu Drive-In Theatre in 1950.”
The first newspaper reference I could find was an ad in the Elizabethville Echo of July 13, 1950. It doesn’t quite say so, but it appears to be a grand opening ad: “SKY VU Drive-In Theatre welcomes you to one of America’s most unique outside theatres.” The ad described the Sky Vu’s benefits in copy that wasn’t repeated in the weekly ads that followed. (I’ve uploaded the ad to the Photos section here.)
The 1949-50 Theatre Catalog lists “Drive In” in Gratz, capacity 550, Exec: Artz and Carl (UNC). Did that mean under construction? By the 1952 edition, the listing had evolved to the Sky Vu, capacity 232, Exec: Eston, Artz and Carl, Spring Glen.
The 1951-52 International Motion Picture Almanac listed the “Skyview”, capacity 230, owned by G. Wolfe, which is how it stayed through at least 1959. For the 1961-66 editions, only the owner changed, to E. Hotz.
When ownership information resumed after a decade off, the 1978 edition listed Trautman, capacity 200. Except for a minor update to M. Trautman, that’s how it stayed through the final IMPA list in 1988.
The Lykens Valley blog fills in part of this period. Around 1969, Marvin Troutman, son of Marvin and Ada Troutman, bought the Sky-Vu and the nearby Halifax Drive-In. “Shortly afterward, he and his wife formed Martro Theatres, Inc.” And they began running X-rated movies at both drive-ins.
The United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association wrote that the Sky-Vu reopened in 1994. Which means it must have been closed for a while before that.
Reports say the Sky Vu closed (again) in 2014. When Tim and Renate Neal leased and reopened it in 2016, Marvin Troutman still owned the place.
The May 8, 1954 Billboard magazine said the Roy Sullender’s National Screen Service Corporation was handling the buying and booking for the Sky-Vu. In Feb. 5, 1955, it said that Tri-States Buying and Booking Service was handling the drive-in.
It had to have been the Halifax, as it was known when it opened in the early 1950s and as it was listed in the 1986 IMPA, for example. By then it was owned by Marvin Troutman operating as Martro Theatres and probably still showing X-rated movies.
Shankweiler’s history page says it opened on April 15, 1934. Kerry Segrave’s book Drive-In Theaters also lists that date, but says it’s “questionable”. The first reference I could find in The Morning Call of nearby Allentown was on May 22, 1937 when an ad for Shankweiler’s restaurant added “Shankweilers’s Open Air Theatre Now Open (for the season?) – Talkie Shows Every Sun., Wed. & Fri. Evenings”.
The Segrave book says that Wilson Shankweiler was a movie buff who saw the original Camden NJ drive-in while on vacation in 1933. “Behind the hotel he owned in Orefield was a deserted landing strip, which Shankweiler converted to a makeshift drive-in. The first screen consisted of two poles and a sheet.” The hotel building, still there, was converted to a funeral home in 2010.
Lehigh Valley Business listed the chain of ownership in a 2015 article. In 1958, Shankweiler rented the drive-in to Al Moffa, a close friend who had helped him build it. “The next year, Shankweiler sold it to Moffa’s manager, Bob Malkemis.” In 1983, Malkemis sold Shankweiler’s to Paul Geissinger and his wife, who together “operated it as a second job and as a hobby.”
Geissinger is an electrician, and according to a now-vanished Project Drive-In article, in 1986 he built the first FM radio broadcast unit for use in a drive-in.
The Allentown Morning Call wrote in October 1982 that neighbors weren’t bothered that Becky’s was showing X-rated movies. William Beck’s son Dennis had purchased the drive-in “at the beginning of the year.”
That article also said that in 1939, Beck “opened his own drive-in in Berlinsville and charged an admission of 25 cents per car. … In 1945, Becky expanded again on another site, and two years later he installed in-car speakers.”
In an undated article at the Lehigh Valley Marketplace, it said that Beck “opened the Route 45 Drive-in on leased property; in 1946, he bought the land where his namesake theater now stands.” Which explains why he moved a block away.
The Blue Mountain Town & Country Gazette wrote in July 2014 that when the Route 45 opened, it had two loudspeakers for the whole viewing field. “Around 1981, he put in the radio transmitters in AM, so people couldn’t steal or damage the speakers,” said Beck’s son Darrell. “Then it went to FM and it’s done that way still today.” It also said the drive-in changed its name when the highway number changed in 1971.
Around 1971, Beck switched to adult movies “for survival” according to later generations. “People would snicker, but we had to do that or there would be a store here now,” co-owner Cindy Beck Deppe told The Morning Call in September 1997. William Beck died in 1987, and the following year his widow and children switched back to family films.
The Morning Call declined to advertise X-rated movies, which makes it difficult to determine exactly when the drive-in changed its name. A Sept. 1972 article about a traffic accident still called it the Route 45. A slate of kid-friendly movies was advertised for Becky’s on Memorial Day Weekend 1975.
Billboard magazine was late in noticing the drive-in, writing in a July 17, 1948 roundup, “Others recently opened are … the Route 45 Drive-In at Berlinsville, under Beck operation”.
In the May 19, 1951 issue, the Philadelphia-based Allied Motion Picture Theater Service announced it had added the Route 45 (among others) as a booking client. In the April 19, 1952 issue, Route 45 owner William D. Beck announced he was doing his own booking. Then on April 23, 1955, another Philadelphia company, Tri-State Buying & Booking Service, started “handling” the Route 45.
In its 1951-54 editions, the International Motion Picture Almanac listed both the Route 45, capacity 300, in “Walnut Port” and the “Berlinsville Drive-In”, capacity 600, in Berlinsville, both owned by Wm. Beck. For the 1955-59 editions, the IMPA didn’t list the Route 45 but still had the Berlinsville.
Both fell off the IMPA list in 1961-66. (Both drive-ins were listed in the 1950 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures, but neither were there in the 1964 edition.) The Route 45 was back in 1969-76, then fell off again for good by 1978. It appears that the IMPA never listed it as Becky’s.
Becky’s official history page has a photo captioned “The very first site of the drive-in, which is a block away from its present location. It is now a baseball field.” It also says the drive-in moved by “circa 1948”. A 1951 photo at Historic Aerials shows the drive-in in its present location and a faint baseball diamond a block away where the field would later appear. On the other hand, I can’t find any evidence of a second drive-in near Berlinsville.
The history page also says the state changed the highway number “around 1971”, implying that’s when the drive-in’s name changed. Wikipedia says the change came in May 1966. And Becky’s added a second screen in 2005 and swapped it for a permanent second screen in 2007.
A commenter on Retro Roadmap wrote that the drive-in showed X-rated movies in the 1970s and early 80s. Still “even though it was an adult theater it had the number one rated snackbar”.
Lots of info from the Hartford Courant:
The Southington’s listing for May 18, 1955 was Seminole Uprising followed by Blackboard Jungle, which were still showing on May 20. The listing didn’t appear on May 13 (the previous Friday) or May 17, or Aug. 13, 1954 (spot check). I’m feeling more confident about that May 18, 1955 opening date.
In June 1978, the local Planning and Zoning Commission approved John Perakos' request to build a second screen. On July 9, 1979, the Southington was still advertising for one screen, but by July 13 it was advertising as the Southington Twin.
A July 1985 article said the Southington opened in 1955, so there’s one more source that agrees with me.
In December 1992, the Perakos family had informally offered to sell the drive-in for $2.75 million to the town of Southington, but the town wasn’t interested.
But in 1995, Sperie Perakos said he had no plans to give up the Southington, which he had recently remodeled.
In October 2002, the Perakos family sold West Hartford’s indoor Elm Theater. That left the family with only one “operating” theater – the Southington.
In April 2004, Southington voters approved the $1.61 million purchase of the 40-acre parcel by 2299 to 1087.
The question of What Is A Drive-In Theater is a legitimate topic. I examined the issue last year here: http://carload.com/2016/09/how-to-define-the-drive-in-theater/ In short, I’d say that it’s any screen fixed in one place with recurring movies that anyone may drive in to view, so I include the Southington.
Two Billboard magazine articles suggest a long gestation period for the Southington. On March 25, 1950, it wrote that property owners were appealing the build approval given to James A. Holmes. “Hearings on the granting of the permit … were among the longest ever held.” Holmes estimated a capacity of 800 cars and construction cost of $100,000.
Those property owners must have found plenty of ways to delay the project, because the next Billboard article is from May 28, 1955. “Perakos Theater Associates opened its second Connecticut drive-in venture, the $200,000 Southington Drive-In Theater, Wednesday (18). Melvin Siegal, formerly with ABC Vending, is resident manager.” Every other source I’ve read says 1954 but no date, so I’d go with Billboard’s opening date of Wednesday, May 18, 1955.
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the Southington with a capacity of 950 cars and exec: Conn. Th. Ct. The Southington’s first appearance in the International Motion Picture Almanac was the 1956 edition, owned by P & H Amusement Corp. By the 1961 edition, it also listed its capacity of 1100!
The 1978 IMPA listed the drive-in under Plainsville, owner Perakos, which was how it stayed through the last list in 1988.
An August 2002 article in The New York Times wrote, “For Mr. (Sperie) Perakos, tracking the growth trend is important. Southington Drive-In is a family business, opened in 1954 by his father, and now owned by himself and his brothers, John and Peter Perakos Jr.” The article also quote the family talking about their dedication and how they were hooked on the business, and mentioned that “despite stormy weather, car after car pulled into the Southington Drive-In.”
Just a few weeks later, the Perakos family closed the drive-in for good. An article in the Republican-American, captured at the CinemaTour forum, wrote that as of July 2003, a For Sale sign was on the property, and “Sperie and Peter Perakos referred questions about the property to their nephew, Peter, a Hartford-based attorney.”
Another article in that same forum thread, from the Hartford Courant, said in August 2003, “Peter G. Perakos II, a lawyer whose family has run the theater for a half-century, says that, no matter what, the drive-in will reopen next spring. He said the theater closed this year because the Perakos family members who run the theater, now in their 80s, were unable to get help.” It did not reopen in 2004.
The New Haven Register had a nice article about the rebirth of the Southington, which reopened in June 2010.