This week, the Worthington (MN) Daily Globe gave us a present of the kind of relaxing, fun drive-in theater article that’s always a pleasure to read. The occasion was a meeting of Walt Deutsch, a guy who owned the Verne Drive-In Theater (Luverne MN) back in 1960s and 70s, and Glenn Burmeister, the guy who owns it today.
There are so many highlights, but I was most struck by a story that sounds a lot like a report we carried about a Russian drive-in that was looking for someone to scare its patrons.
Burmeister said, “During ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ (Deutsch) had a chainsaw, took the chain off and would go in back of a car, start it up and come out with the chainsaw.”
“There were five girls in the car and when I ran that they piled out the other side,” Deutsch said.
And then there’s romance. “We have had two wedding proposals here,” Burmeister said. “We have another one coming up. I got an email from a guy and he asked if we would do it. Usually what I do is I’m upstairs and I read it and it goes over the speaker system. The one guy, they were in a pick-up and they stood up and I read it. I asked, ‘What if she says no?’ He says, ‘Then I’m embarrassed in front of a lot of people.’”
And those are just two of the great, fun anecdotes that the Daily Globe article covers. I shouldn’t even have to tell you that you should go read it!