Texans wax nostalgic at the Brazos

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Granbury Opera House Texas plaqueThe San Antonio News-Express had a lovely, nostalgic puff piece about the Brazos Drive-In (Granbury TX) in its Sunday edition. I find it ironic that they had to go out of town to experience the fun of a drive-in movie; one of my favorite memories was of the Mission in San Antonio. I sat there watching the movie with a true Spanish mission’s bell tower off to one side. Between shows, the crowd would erupt with music (from the cars, not the theater sound system). It was great fun, but I digress.

There aren’t any active drive-ins left in San Antonio, but Granbury’s is still thriving. The rest of the article includes some fine photos and a few bits of interesting info. “Two Texas drive-ins show sexually explicit films.” Huh, what?

Someone is filming a documentary at Southington

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Old map of Southington CTAccording to The Record-Journal of Meriden CT, a film crew is going to be filming a documentary in late October at the Southington (CT) Drive-In. More about that film crew in a moment.

The history of the Southington is a great story, especially considering the number of drive-ins that face hostile, not supportive neighbors. I can’t write it better than the RJ did: “The drive-in opened in 1955 and closed in 2002. Two years later, the town purchased the property to preserve the site. In 2010, the Southington Drive-In Committee was formed and worked to re-open the drive-in.”

During the upcoming Halloween Festival at the drive-in, folks from Enormity Pictures will be filming and interviewing for its new TV series, “The American Drive-In.” Sounds like a great show, if it ever makes it to the screen. The article says the producer doesn’t have a commitment to air, or any particular channel to air it. Enormity Pictures has a light footprint on the internet, and its move to crowdsource (pdf) some of the editing on a movie last year leaves me skeptical about its ability to land a big deal. Here’s hoping, I guess.

Highway 21 looking for conversion dollars

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Beaufort SC Seal at Beaufort City HallThe Highway 21 Drive-In (Beaufort SC) is just another of a zillion drive-ins faced with the question of continuing or folding in the face of Hollywood’s 2013 conversion to digital distribution. For the owners of the Highway 21, they say that they’ll raid their retirement fund to keep it running. Though they’d rather not do that.

A fine article in The State, South Carolina’s Homepage, describes how Joe and Bonnie Barth are working to get the cash to buy the new equipment. It includes this month’s best drive-in quote, from Bonnie: “Don’t most men go through a mid-life crisis and build a man cave with a big-screen TV? Mine has to buy 10 acres with an 80-foot screen.”

Go read the rest here.