Author Archives: mrdrivein

Watch the last year of film at a Colorado drive-in

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Chuck and Marianne James of the Mesa Drive-InI get to watch a lot more drive-in footage than most folks, and Mahala Gaylord of The Denver Post has put together the finest short drive-in video I’ve seen so far. It’s all about the Mesa Drive-In (Pueblo CO) and its owners, Chuck and Marianne James, as they contemplate the end of 35mm film after this season. Gaylord captures the images and sounds of the twilight drive-in experience, and even includes the best recording I’ve seen of assembling reels of film into the platter-borne movies that run in one long series.

Oh yes, there’s also an article involved. Steve Raabe of the Post gets the number of remaining Colorado drive-ins right (seven), but doesn’t link to any of them. He’s got some great quotes from George Kelloff, owner of the Star Drive-In (Monte Vista) and the adjacent Movie Manor Motel. Kelloff was one of the first to convert to digital projection during the last off-season. I knew that he had to convert sometime or he’d be left with a standalone motel on the far outskirts of a small town. “If we didn’t have the motel, we probably would have shut down the drive-in,” he said.

Raabe also talked with Pamela Friend of the other Colorado Star Drive-In (Montrose) about her campaign to raise enough money to finance digital conversion. The fundraiser made $16,000 so far, and the results were so gratifying that Friend took out a personal loan to make up the difference. It was a pretty good Colorado roundup to go with a magnificent video. Check it out!

Canada’s Hanover goes digital

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Digital movie projector

This is actually a digital projector in Glendale AZ, but I couldn’t find any Hanover photos.

Over at The Post of Ontario, Patrick Bales reported this week on the reopening of a Hanover tradition, the Hanover Drive-In Theatre. It begins its 60th year with a new digital projector.

Hanover co-owner JD Lyons talked about making the decision to switch from film. “We sort of had to pay, convert, or become history,” Lyons said. ” We decided, after dwelling on that for sometime, that we would make the move and go to digital.”

The other co-owner, Lyle Schaus, makes sure that the movie’s hard drives and activation keys are working before showtime. “Last thing I want is to have a bunch of people in here, start the machine, and no go,” he said.

The Post article also includes a couple of nice photos and a lot more about Lyons and Schaus and the history of the Hanover. So you just know that you ought to go read it!

Here’s how to listen to the Bourbon Drive-In

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Bourbon Drive-In marquee and screen next to railroad tracks

photo by Bill Eichelberger, used by permission

Brenna Angel of National Public Radio member station WUKY presented a nice report this week about the Bourbon Drive-In near Paris KY. It’s always nice to get the sights of the drive-in (and there’s an excellent, unrelated drive-in photo on WUKY’s page), but it’s a rare gift to be able to hear the sounds of the drive-in. There was a film projector tick-a-ticking, a 57-year-old popcorn machine popping, and co-owner Patricia Earlywine talking about getting the drive-in spirit “in your blood”.

There’s a short clip of D. Edward Vogel, board member of the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association and owner of Bengies Drive-In of Maryland. (Good thing Angel did that over the phone and not at Bengies or she’d be in trouble.) Angel mentions a studio program to reimburse some costs for converting from film to digital projection, but that the Bourbon couldn’t use it because it requires a high-speed internet connection. That’s the first I’d heard of that; I’d think that dishNet satellite broadband might work.

At the end, Angel shows that she gets it. “Going to a drive-in movie theater isn’t really about the movie,” she says. “It’s about the experience of being there.” Amen to that! So go over to that WUKY page and don’t read the report, click the play button and listen to the sounds of the drive-in.