Photo by Keith via Cinema Treasures

It’s Day 217 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I left Indiana behind, driving two and a half hours from Versailles IN to the South Drive-in Theater in Columbus OH.

According to the South’s history page, it opened in 1950. The South was the second drive-in built by Leo Yassenoff in Columbus. In 1971, Skip Yassenoff bought the drive-in from his elderly cousin and continues to operate it today.

One of Skip’s first projects was replacing the South’s original “telephone tower” screen with a modern steel screen. As luck would have it, a year later a tornado took down this new screen. The tornado rolled through the drive-in on a Wednesday night in late May just before dark. There were a number of patrons in the drive-in at the time who rode out the tornado. The cashier in the box office could see the tornado coming and just sat there, finally diving face first into a nearby drainage ditch.

Its history page also says that the South added a second screen in 1987, but the 1984 International Motion Picture Almanac already listed the South with two screens. So let’s just agree that it happened in the mid-80s.

In a 2011 entry in Marshall McPeak’s blog, he interviewed Skip, who at that point owned a total of seven other outdoor theaters. At the time of the post, he was still using two film projectors and in-car speakers like the old days, although radio sound was also available. “Skip says the theater’s success is all about location, convenience and price,” McPeek wrote. “He emphatically points out that nostalgia plays only a minuscule role in bringing in clientele.”

The South has also been the site of a large flea market on weekends since the mid 1970s. Based on their web site and YouTube channel, someone there is spending more time promoting the daytime flea market than the nighttime movies. It must be doing really well.

Once again, the twin screens saved me this night. One side had The Emoji Movie, but the other had Atomic Blonde, which I watched for the second time. Not that bad at all!

Miles Today / Total:  152 / 26682 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Atomic Blonde / 132

Nearby Restaurant: With a name like that, I just had to seek out Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace in downtown Columbus. The basic chili dog is just $3, but you need to try much more than the basics here. I had Slappy Pappy’s Super Sloppy dog with bacon, cheese,
sour cream, and topped off with french fries, for just $3.50. Added an order of fried leeks to that, and it still felt like a bargain.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I always feel safe choosing a Hampton Inn, and this one down by the Scioto Downs race track seemed newer than most. My room had a mini fridge, which I consider much more important than a microwave, and the wifi was solid. Breakfast was the great free Hampton standard. And the best part was that the hotel was attached to the track, although I’ve never figured out the right way to bet on harness races.

Only in Columbus: Every summer, the Ohio State Fair sets up in Columbus, and every year it shows off some of the finest butter sculptures you’ll ever see. In 2017, a team of artists worked 500 hours and used 2,000 pounds of butter to create the butter cow (an annual fixture since 1903) and a huge bottle of chocolate milk, the official beverage of the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

Next stop: Skyview Drive-In Theatre, Lancaster OH.

Photo from the Melody 49 Facebook page

It’s Day 214 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I drove north from the Starlite Drive-In Theatre in Amelia OH, bypassed Dayton (for now), and pulled up at the Melody 49 Drive-In, a couple of miles northeast of Brookville. The leisurely drive took less than two hours.

According to Greater Dayton Drive-In Movie Theaters by Curt Dalton (available online here), the Melody 49 opened in July 1966 with space for 1,100 cars on its 18 acres. Back then, it cost half a million dollars to build, including a 75’ x 130’ Cinemiracle screen and electric car heaters for winter showings. It was owned by Chakeres Theaters, which has owned it ever since.

In 1982, the Melody 49 switched to an AM radio broadcast, and in 1998 it switched to FM. In between, it added a second screen in 1987 after salvaging a screen from Miami Township’s Southland 75 when it closed. The new drive-in’s name was the Melody 49 Twin.

The Melody 49 was the second all-medallion theater in Ohio, meaning that everything was electrically operated, including the heating and air-conditioning. Its three-lane snack bar was built to be capable of serving 2,000 patrons in 30 minutes. Automatic food warmers were installed to ensure that the snacks remained hot and delicious.

This drive-in was the lone survivor of a Chakeres Theaters drive-in shutdown wave early last year. The Melody Cruise-In in Springfiend Township, the Skyborn Cruise-In in Fairborn and the Wilmington Drive-In didn’t open for the 2016 season, as announced in a Facebook post reported by the Dayton Daily News. In a later article, Chakeres general manager Mark Booth said the issue was the costs of converting to digital projection and added that “no decisions have been made about whether the theaters will re-open (in 2017).” They didn’t. Good thing that the Melody 49 converted!

Thank goodness this drive-in has two screens, because one had The Emoji Movie on it. I chose whatever was on Screen 2, which turned out to be War for the Planet of the Apes again. Compared to the alternative, not that bad.

Miles Today / Total:  78 / 26417 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: War for the Planet of the Apes / 129

Nearby Restaurant: Sticking close to the drive-in, I found out about a good buffet in Brookville with the unassuming name of Rob’s Restaurant. It has a real menu too, and I was tempted by today’s special of stuffed chicken breast, but why stop there when there’s a whole buffet’s worth of fried chicken available? And homemade rolls, and desserts. And veggies too, because I need to eat healthy.

Where I Virtually Stayed: One of the closest hotels to the drive-in is the Hampton Inn in Englewood. I knew this place was good because I stayed here last year. It’s tucked out of the way, but not so hard to find once you’ve been here once. It offered the typical Hampton amenities, a short walk to several restaurants, and the nice Hampton breakfast. It’s so nice to get reacquainted with an old friend.

Only in Brookville Clayton: The Melody 49 is between Brookville and Clayton, where they have a local outpost of the Esther Price candy store. According to Roadside America, a few years ago Esther-Price painted a giant chocolate box lid in their parking lot. It used to be roped off but now anyone can walk right up and touch it. (I’d feel strange about parking on it.) You can even see it on Google Maps.

Next stop: Dixie Twin Drive-In, Dayton OH.