Sounds like the Mission was temporarily closed in 1993.
Joe Bob Briggs, Aug. 8, 1993: “Norman Lear Alert! The Mission IV Drive-In, last remaining drive-in in San Antonio, Texas, recently was shut down by Act III-Santikos Theatres, which is partly owned by Norman Lear. How did we ever let this guy into Texas in the first place?”
Joe Bob Briggs, May 21, 1986: “Communist Alert! The Cayman Islands, home of bank employees with suitcases handcuffed to their arms that go down there to catch a few rays, has LOST its only drive-in. The Pease Bay Outdoor Cinema is littered with palm fronds, and fronded with litter. This is one of the most capitalist places to hide your money in the world, so we KNOW the Commies did it.”
Joe Bob Briggs, May 7, 1986: “Victory over Communism! After two years of utter darkness, the 271 Drive-In in Paris, Texas, got reopened by a Louisiana boy named Jim Moss and a local guy name of David Floyd. First night back, they were set to open at 7 and they had cars lined up out on the highway at 5:30. They been sold out ever since, includin the tornado night, when they were showin Porky’s numbers one, two and three. They get a special commendation for promising never to show Paris, Texas at the 271.”
Joe Bob Briggs, March 5, 1986: “Communist Alert! The Lakeshore Drive-In in Edgewater, Colo., is gonna be ripped down next summer with CITY MONEY. Why? “To improve the physical image of the city,” according to wimp-of-the-year drive-in destroyer Tom Kristopetit, head of the Edgewater Redevelopment Authority. Instead of a drive-in, the Head Wimp wants a Safeway, offices, restaurants and 250 “housing units.” He’s spending $16 million on it. If they’d show decent flicks, they could make that in one night."
Joe Bob Briggs, Dec. 11, 1985: “Communist Alert! There’s not much time left to save the Sunset Drive-In in Tumwater, Wash., where the city is holding meetings to try and confiscate the land for a new City Hall. Same old story - somebody sees a beautiful drive-in and the COVET it for alien uses."
Through its final drive-in list (1988), the Motion Picture Almanac continued to list it as the Varsity. (And still open, for that matter.) But this is probably about that drive-in:
Joe Bob Briggs, Nov. 6, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Portales Drive-In in Portales, N.M., just got bought up for "investment purposes.” I think we all know what that means. Pretty soon it’s gonna be a Richard Simmons Anatomy Asylum if those people don’t act immediately."
Joe Bob Briggs, Aug. 14, 1985: “Victory Over Communism! The Big Sky Drive-In in Phoenix was liberated from the condo developers and is OPEN again. Remember, with faith and a million dollars, anything is possible.”
Joe Bob Briggs, July 31, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Parkway Drive-In in Petaluma, Calif., the one right there next to Leisure Lake Mobile Home Park and Highway 101, is about to get fern-barred into oblivion by a developer named Marshall Ward. If this one goes, the closest one left to Santa Rosa is the Redwood Drive-In in Rohnert Park, and who the heck wants to go there?”
Joe Bob Briggs, June 26, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Vista Vue Drive-In in Security, Colo., bit the dust on May 30 when they chopped down the supports and let the mother fall down right there in front of God and everybody. Now this is right next door to Colorado Springs, so you might be wondering, WHERE THE HECK WAS THE AIR FORCE ACADEMY? They waited till school was out for the summer. You see how smart these guys are?”
Joe Bob Briggs, May 1, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Sunset Drive-In in Hot Springs, Arkansas, is history. A grocery chain got it, but they didn’t get the screen yet. We’re talkin about trying to project around the Safeway, but they plowed up all the parking ramps.”
Joe Bob Briggs, April 10, 1985: “Communist Alert! They bulldozed over the Rodeo Drive-In in Tucson for no good reason whatsoever. Ever since they started wheeling in the nursing-home patients from Detroit, this stuff has been happening all over Arizona.”
Joe Bob Briggs, March 20, 1985: “Communist Alert! They chopped down the screen at the Winchester Drive-In in Campbell, Calif., so they can put up a "research and development complex” named Campbell Corporate Center"
Joe Bob Briggs, March 6, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Silver Dollar Drive-In in Albuquerque is history. It’s outta here. Gravel city. By the time I found out, it was already a bunch of pansy apartments with wet bars. It was liberals from Santa Fe.”
Joe Bob Briggs, Feb. 13, 1985: “Communists discovered in Akron suburbs! A few weeks ago some KGB spies slipped into Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and started ripping down the Ascot Drive-In to put up a used pickup-truck lot. Before the boys in the showroom over at Pride Chevrolet found out about it, it was already Smithereen City. That’s how they do it, they sneak up on you.”
Joe Bob Briggs, Jan. 9, 1985: “Miracle in Carolina! Last week, just in time for Christmas, the Skyline Drive-In in Wilmington, N.C., was resurrected for the first time since Hurricane Diana made it look like a permanent screening of Friday the 13th in 3-D. They call it the Skyway now, and they’re back to four bucks a carload, except for people from Raleigh who have to pay five.”
Joe Bob Briggs, Nov. 22, 1984: “Communist Alert! Last week a Superior Court judge named Henry V. Barnette Jr. (also known as Hanky Panky) said the Cairo Drive-In was a “public nuisance” and closed the sucker down. It’s the one in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., run by Jimbo Bullock. Jimbo’s 64 years old and his wife just had a heart attack and he just flat don’t have the cold cash to appeal. It’s one thing when the greedy turkeys buy up the land and rip down the screens to build Wal-Marts. It’s a whole lot different when our own judges and lawyers turn out to be Communists in disguise.”
Joe Bob Briggs, Dec. 26, 1984: “Communist Alert! New facts keep coming out about Judge Henry V. “Hanky Panky” Barnette and his ruling that closed down the Cairo Drive-In in FuquayVarina, N.C. It seems that Hanky had to watch nine movies, including one that they put on upside down, before he could figure out they were “obscene.” First he watched Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle, then Titillation, Up and Coming, Johnny Does Paris, Summertime Blue, and four more of the suckers."
Joe Bob Briggs, Dec. 5, 1984: “Communist Alert! World War III on the horizon! Last week the last operating drive-in in Lubbock, Texas was burned to the ground. The Circle Drive-In’s last double feature was Let’s Get Physical and Taboo, and Lubbock police are talking vigilante city by the drive-in haters and their fellow Babtist sympathizers."
Joe Bob Briggs, Sept. 19, 1984: “Communist Alert! Joe Bob reminds you that last week they shut down the Southside Drive-In in Macon, George, for no good reason, which means they got the same number of drive-ins in Bibb County as Trans-Ams in Peking.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the Ranger under Ranger TX, owner H. N. Rapp, capacity 200 cars.
The RV park across the highway from the old Ranger site lists a Ranger TX postal address. This drive-in really ought to be listed here too under Ranger TX.
In July 1984, Joe Bob Briggs published a letter describing “an old, broken-down drive-in” on the south side of I-20 between Ranger and Olden at Exit 347. “(I)ts screen has crumbled, and grass and brush grow rampant over the parking lot.” Those are pretty specific details, but I can’t find a drive-in at that exit in old aerial photos.
On the other hand, in October 1984, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported that the Ranger’s owner, Jackie Thornton, said the drive-in would be converted to radio sound “in about a year.” He also said the Ranger had never shown X-rated movies and wouldn’t as long as he owned it.
Boxoffice, Sept. 20, 1952: “CASSVILLE, MO. - The Green Hills Drive-In was opened here August 21 by Mr. and Mrs. Glen Hall, owners of the Hall Theatre here. "Sound Off” was the opening picture."
Boxoffice, Sept. 13, 1952: “A recent tornado that swept through the Poplar Bluff, Mo., vicinity did some damage to the Poplar Bluff Drive-In on Route 67. The drive-in, owned by Rodgers Theatres of Cairo, continued to operate”
Aerial photos show the drive-in was still intact in 1975 but had been razed by 1986. Its boundary walls appeared unusually tall; was that the reason it was named the Fortress?
The Google Maps address of 15 Alec Roy Rd is reasonably close to where the drive-in had been.
Boxoffice, Aug. 16, 1952: “Owner Willard Gamble has installed two 10,000-watt projector lamps at the Eugene Drive-In. They will produce 40 per cent more light. Gamble recently purchased controlling interest in the airer.”
Boxoffice, Sept. 13, 1952: “The Eugene (Ore.) Drive-In, operated by William Gamble, recently installed a miniature train on the playground”
Sounds like the Mission was temporarily closed in 1993.
Joe Bob Briggs, Aug. 8, 1993: “Norman Lear Alert! The Mission IV Drive-In, last remaining drive-in in San Antonio, Texas, recently was shut down by Act III-Santikos Theatres, which is partly owned by Norman Lear. How did we ever let this guy into Texas in the first place?”
Joe Bob Briggs, May 21, 1986: “Communist Alert! The Cayman Islands, home of bank employees with suitcases handcuffed to their arms that go down there to catch a few rays, has LOST its only drive-in. The Pease Bay Outdoor Cinema is littered with palm fronds, and fronded with litter. This is one of the most capitalist places to hide your money in the world, so we KNOW the Commies did it.”
Joe Bob Briggs, May 7, 1986: “Victory over Communism! After two years of utter darkness, the 271 Drive-In in Paris, Texas, got reopened by a Louisiana boy named Jim Moss and a local guy name of David Floyd. First night back, they were set to open at 7 and they had cars lined up out on the highway at 5:30. They been sold out ever since, includin the tornado night, when they were showin Porky’s numbers one, two and three. They get a special commendation for promising never to show Paris, Texas at the 271.”
Joe Bob Briggs, March 5, 1986: “Communist Alert! The Lakeshore Drive-In in Edgewater, Colo., is gonna be ripped down next summer with CITY MONEY. Why? “To improve the physical image of the city,” according to wimp-of-the-year drive-in destroyer Tom Kristopetit, head of the Edgewater Redevelopment Authority. Instead of a drive-in, the Head Wimp wants a Safeway, offices, restaurants and 250 “housing units.” He’s spending $16 million on it. If they’d show decent flicks, they could make that in one night."
Joe Bob Briggs, Dec. 11, 1985: “Communist Alert! There’s not much time left to save the Sunset Drive-In in Tumwater, Wash., where the city is holding meetings to try and confiscate the land for a new City Hall. Same old story - somebody sees a beautiful drive-in and the COVET it for alien uses."
Through its final drive-in list (1988), the Motion Picture Almanac continued to list it as the Varsity. (And still open, for that matter.) But this is probably about that drive-in:
Joe Bob Briggs, Nov. 6, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Portales Drive-In in Portales, N.M., just got bought up for "investment purposes.” I think we all know what that means. Pretty soon it’s gonna be a Richard Simmons Anatomy Asylum if those people don’t act immediately."
Joe Bob Briggs, Aug. 14, 1985: “Victory Over Communism! The Big Sky Drive-In in Phoenix was liberated from the condo developers and is OPEN again. Remember, with faith and a million dollars, anything is possible.”
Joe Bob Briggs, July 31, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Parkway Drive-In in Petaluma, Calif., the one right there next to Leisure Lake Mobile Home Park and Highway 101, is about to get fern-barred into oblivion by a developer named Marshall Ward. If this one goes, the closest one left to Santa Rosa is the Redwood Drive-In in Rohnert Park, and who the heck wants to go there?”
Joe Bob Briggs, June 26, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Vista Vue Drive-In in Security, Colo., bit the dust on May 30 when they chopped down the supports and let the mother fall down right there in front of God and everybody. Now this is right next door to Colorado Springs, so you might be wondering, WHERE THE HECK WAS THE AIR FORCE ACADEMY? They waited till school was out for the summer. You see how smart these guys are?”
Joe Bob Briggs, May 1, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Sunset Drive-In in Hot Springs, Arkansas, is history. A grocery chain got it, but they didn’t get the screen yet. We’re talkin about trying to project around the Safeway, but they plowed up all the parking ramps.”
Joe Bob Briggs, April 10, 1985: “Communist Alert! They bulldozed over the Rodeo Drive-In in Tucson for no good reason whatsoever. Ever since they started wheeling in the nursing-home patients from Detroit, this stuff has been happening all over Arizona.”
Joe Bob Briggs, March 20, 1985: “Communist Alert! They chopped down the screen at the Winchester Drive-In in Campbell, Calif., so they can put up a "research and development complex” named Campbell Corporate Center"
Joe Bob Briggs, March 6, 1985: “Communist Alert! The Silver Dollar Drive-In in Albuquerque is history. It’s outta here. Gravel city. By the time I found out, it was already a bunch of pansy apartments with wet bars. It was liberals from Santa Fe.”
Joe Bob Briggs, Feb. 13, 1985: “Communists discovered in Akron suburbs! A few weeks ago some KGB spies slipped into Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and started ripping down the Ascot Drive-In to put up a used pickup-truck lot. Before the boys in the showroom over at Pride Chevrolet found out about it, it was already Smithereen City. That’s how they do it, they sneak up on you.”
Joe Bob Briggs, Jan. 9, 1985: “Miracle in Carolina! Last week, just in time for Christmas, the Skyline Drive-In in Wilmington, N.C., was resurrected for the first time since Hurricane Diana made it look like a permanent screening of Friday the 13th in 3-D. They call it the Skyway now, and they’re back to four bucks a carload, except for people from Raleigh who have to pay five.”
Joe Bob Briggs, Nov. 22, 1984: “Communist Alert! Last week a Superior Court judge named Henry V. Barnette Jr. (also known as Hanky Panky) said the Cairo Drive-In was a “public nuisance” and closed the sucker down. It’s the one in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., run by Jimbo Bullock. Jimbo’s 64 years old and his wife just had a heart attack and he just flat don’t have the cold cash to appeal. It’s one thing when the greedy turkeys buy up the land and rip down the screens to build Wal-Marts. It’s a whole lot different when our own judges and lawyers turn out to be Communists in disguise.”
Joe Bob Briggs, Dec. 26, 1984: “Communist Alert! New facts keep coming out about Judge Henry V. “Hanky Panky” Barnette and his ruling that closed down the Cairo Drive-In in FuquayVarina, N.C. It seems that Hanky had to watch nine movies, including one that they put on upside down, before he could figure out they were “obscene.” First he watched Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle, then Titillation, Up and Coming, Johnny Does Paris, Summertime Blue, and four more of the suckers."
Joe Bob Briggs, Dec. 5, 1984: “Communist Alert! World War III on the horizon! Last week the last operating drive-in in Lubbock, Texas was burned to the ground. The Circle Drive-In’s last double feature was Let’s Get Physical and Taboo, and Lubbock police are talking vigilante city by the drive-in haters and their fellow Babtist sympathizers."
Corroborating rivest266.
Joe Bob Briggs, Sept. 19, 1984: “Communist Alert! Joe Bob reminds you that last week they shut down the Southside Drive-In in Macon, George, for no good reason, which means they got the same number of drive-ins in Bibb County as Trans-Ams in Peking.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the Ranger under Ranger TX, owner H. N. Rapp, capacity 200 cars.
The RV park across the highway from the old Ranger site lists a Ranger TX postal address. This drive-in really ought to be listed here too under Ranger TX.
In July 1984, Joe Bob Briggs published a letter describing “an old, broken-down drive-in” on the south side of I-20 between Ranger and Olden at Exit 347. “(I)ts screen has crumbled, and grass and brush grow rampant over the parking lot.” Those are pretty specific details, but I can’t find a drive-in at that exit in old aerial photos.
On the other hand, in October 1984, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported that the Ranger’s owner, Jackie Thornton, said the drive-in would be converted to radio sound “in about a year.” He also said the Ranger had never shown X-rated movies and wouldn’t as long as he owned it.
Corroborating 50sSnipes' date.
Boxoffice, Sept. 27, 1952: “W. T. Kerr of Davis has opened the Arbuckle Drive-In at Davis”
A different crop of this photo appeared in the Sept. 27, 1952 issue of Boxoffice.
Boxoffice, Sept. 20, 1952: “CASSVILLE, MO. - The Green Hills Drive-In was opened here August 21 by Mr. and Mrs. Glen Hall, owners of the Hall Theatre here. "Sound Off” was the opening picture."
Boxoffice, Sept. 13, 1952: “A recent tornado that swept through the Poplar Bluff, Mo., vicinity did some damage to the Poplar Bluff Drive-In on Route 67. The drive-in, owned by Rodgers Theatres of Cairo, continued to operate”
Aerial photos show the drive-in was still intact in 1975 but had been razed by 1986. Its boundary walls appeared unusually tall; was that the reason it was named the Fortress?
The Google Maps address of 15 Alec Roy Rd is reasonably close to where the drive-in had been.
Boxoffice, Aug. 16, 1952: “Owner Willard Gamble has installed two 10,000-watt projector lamps at the Eugene Drive-In. They will produce 40 per cent more light. Gamble recently purchased controlling interest in the airer.”
Boxoffice, Sept. 13, 1952: “The Eugene (Ore.) Drive-In, operated by William Gamble, recently installed a miniature train on the playground”