Drive-in theaters are as American as the proverbial baseball and apple pie.
Many Americans of a certain age, like me, have wonderful memories of loading into the family station wagon and heading to the drive-in. We sat on folding chairs, dropped tail gates, or blankets on the ground and gleefully ate buckets of buttery popcorn as the cartoon hot dogs and dancing cups of soda invited us to the snack counter.
We shivered with delight as Herbie the Love Bug zipped or John Wayne galloped across the towering screens. I can still remember the odd echo and delay of the movie dialogue coming from a dozen speakers all around our car. There was a special thrill knowing we would all be up way past our bedtime — even if we often fell asleep in the back seat with our cousins before the movie ended.
Surry County had several drive-ins through much of the 20th century. The first was the Mount Airy Drive-In on West Lebanon Street across from Veterans Park. Ellis Forest was a partner in the Winston-Salem Drive-in opened in 1946. A year later he sold his share and moved his family to Mount Airy where he and a friend Lester “Leck” Davis opened the theater on March 12, 1948.
No admission was charged the first night and, even though the weather was horrible, cars were backed up to Main Street waiting to get in. They watched a Three Stooges short, a cartoon, and a Western called “The Michigan Kid.” Cars had to be pulled out of the mud by a team of mules that night but it didn’t keep people away. When the box office opened the next night they charged $1 a car and the 150-car lot was filled.
Jim “Ish” Forest, Ellis’ son, sold bottles of Coke, Pepsi, Grape and Orange Aid, walking the rows calling out “Drinks! Get your ice-cold Drinks!” Customers flashed their headlights to call him over, he popped the cap off, poured the drink, and collected 5 cents each. At the end of the day he made half a penny for each.
The concept of a drive-in movie theater was around in the early 1910s but the films were silent. Richard M. Hollingshead, of Camden, New Jersey, worked out the logistics of projection, sound, and finances in 1932. He was granted a patent for his idea in 1933 and drive-ins started popping up across the nation. Australia is the only other country where they were common though they have been novelty attractions in other countries.
The two local men opened a second theater on August 11, 1950, called the Bright Leaf with a lot large enough to hold 300 cars. Located on Boone’s Hill on the Winston-Salem Highway south of town. Just a few years later the state bought the site to expand Route 52 and the Bright Leaf was moved to the site most local residents remember just north of West Pine Street.
Don Davis, Leck’s son, became the manager of the new location when it opened. He used gimmicks to attract attention such as giving free watermelons to the first 20 cars or having a drawing for a free pony. Live music was often performed between shows apparently including Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.
Forest sold his share of the business to Davis in 1957.
Young Davis lived and breathed the theater, apparently, keeping up with the industry and trying to stay ahead of trends.
In 1955 he invested in a CinemaScope screen and made other improvements in the concession stand, restrooms and “moonlite lighting” on the lot. Both theaters operated seven days a week but on holiday weekends, they screened movies from dusk to dawn.
Like many drive-ins, they played second-run movies. A notable exception was the 1977 release “Star Wars.”
But the age of drive-ins was on the decline by then with many bowing to economic pressures caused by suburban development and a desire for the air conditioning of indoor theaters.
Mount Airy Drive-in closed in spring of 1981 after a violent storm ripped giant holes in the screen and damaged the fence surrounding the drive-in. The Bright Leaf remained in operation until Don Davis died in 2005. Former employees continued the business for another five years until the property was sold in 2010.
Given the current restrictions on entertainment wouldn’t it be nice to load into the mini van and head to the socially-distanced drive-in these days?
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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