Two NY drive-ins face uncertain off-season

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photo by arwcheek, used by permission

photo by arwcheek, used by permission

The Daily Mail of Hudson NY recently ran a lengthy, thoughtful article profiling its two nearby drive-in theaters. The Hi-Way (Coxsackie) and Greenville (Greenville) were candidates in Honda’s Project Drive-In, and they were among the over 100 drive-ins that failed to win a free digital projector. Both owners sound ambivalently positive about their prospects for reopening next spring.

Roger Babcock, owner of the Hi-Way, is looking at spending $300,000 to convert his four-screen drive-in to digital. He told The Daily Mail that his bank has approved a loan for that amount, but he hasn’t decided whether to go through with it. Part of the question is when film will no longer be available, really. Babcock said that Fox once announced it wouldn’t produce 35mm copies of its films after September 2012. “And yet I played an awful lot of Fox films this year in 35mm,” he said. “So even though they’re giving us deadlines, they’re not holding to them. A lot of drive-ins are going to hold right out to the absolute end.”

Ed Spannagel, operator of the Greenville, only has one screen and hopes to raise $80,000 for conversion. He’s got also got a Plan B that matches an idea I had – stay with film. “The good news is those 35mm films are still there,” Spannagel said. “So as long as we’re still able to get access to them, technically speaking, we could still run older films next year once 35 is done being produced.”

But a different drive-in operator once told me that this idea of Spannagel’s and mine won’t necessarily work. There aren’t that many film copies of older movies, and the studios aren’t going to make new prints. Each showing of a film is a slightly destructive process, which I used to appreciate when I’d see the accumulated dirt and scratches on a months-old print at a second-run theater. Finally, there’s a question whether the studios are going to be willing to set a fair price on the license to show that movie. So I hope that Spannagel is right, but I’m no longer so optimistic about that particular Plan B.

Anyway, there’s a whole lot more detail and interesting quotes in The Daily Mail’s article, so you really ought to go read it!

Tiny drive-in scores a digital projector

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Link to video about Australia's Jericho Drive-InHere’s a wonderful little story from ABC, the Australian Broadcast Corporation. The tiny Queensland town of Jericho (population 370) has an even tinier drive-in (36 cars), which has stayed in operation since 1969. Like drive-ins everywhere, it needed to upgrade to a digital projection system to continue showing Hollywood’s finest films. Unlike most other drive-ins, the Jericho got its town council and state government to chip in, and it’s doing great with the new equipment.

I just love what Queensland Minister for Local Government David Crisafulli said about the importance of keeping the drive-in alive. “It stacks up not just from a tourism point of view to have something like this in western Queensland,” Crisafulli said, “but for what it does for the social infrastructure of this town. It’s a point of difference. Not only can they market that to their economic advantage, but also they can proudly say they’re a town where people still matter.”

The only downside of the ABC’s video report is that I can’t embed it here. To see what a tiny Australian drive-in looks like, you’ll have to give it a click!

First and last Wyoming drive-in endures

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Snack bar at the American Dream Drive-InThe Los Angeles Times gave us quite a gift this week with its profile of the American Dream Drive-In of Powell WY. There’s a great video (too bad I can’t embed it here) plus a lengthy story of the history of the American Dream, which opened in 1949 as Wyoming’s first drive-in theater and is now the state’s last one in operation. There’s also a good slide show on the side, although most of those photos show up in the video.

The article profiles Pokey Heny, the owner of the American Dream. Earlier this year, Heny faced the same decision that so many drive-in owners had to make – whether to buy digital projection equipment or close down. According to the Times, “The digital projector cost $80,000, what she paid for the place in 2004, but against her husband’s advice, she borrowed the money this year and took the plunge.”

“I’m investing in the town’s future,” Heny said. “So many businesses have closed, the bowling alley and video store. If I let this one go, it wasn’t ever coming back.”

You really need to read the article to get the full history of the place, from it’s beginnings as Paul’s Drive-In, then the Vali Drive-In, and now the American Dream, a name Heny chose when she bought it. “It really is the American dream to be your own boss,” she said. “And there aren’t that many female small-business owners in Wyoming.” So you know what to do. Go read it!