Going Attractions coming to the Midway Drive-In

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Midway Drive-In marqueeAs we edge closer to the 80th anniversary of the drive-in this Thursday, I wanted to be sure to mention the fine article published last week at Syracuse.com. It provides a great roundup of the nine remaining drive-ins in central New York, complete with links, street addresses, and a map that shows where to find them all. I wish more drive-in articles looked like this one.

Anyway, another focus for the article was Going Attractions, the new documentary about the history and current state of drive-ins. On June 7, the first day of the 81st year of drive-ins, director April Wright will be at the Midway Drive-In (Minetto), which plans to show it as part of a triple feature.

As Syracuse.com author Geoff Herbert put it, part of the appeal of the drive-in is that “there’s a lot more comfort inside your own car than in a crowded movie theater. People talking and texting (or making out in the aisle behind you) aren’t nearly as distracting with the windows rolled up and ample space between strangers, plus there’s no need to get out of your seat when someone else has to go to the bathroom or concession stand.” I think he gets it! So head over to Syracuse.com and read it!

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!