In its History page in 2006 (via the Wayback Machine at Archive.org), it said the 5 was “Owned and operated by Premier Operating since the early 70’s”.
The 1972-76 IMPA listed “The 5” (cap. 505) and Daylight (500) for Oakville. And isn’t Daylight the worst drive-in name ever? But I digress.
Going backward, the 1969 IMPA listed the Daylight (400) and Oakville (also 400) for Oakville. That Oakville DI listed goes back to 1959.
Dug up an Oakville Drive-In ad (June 27, 1957) that says it was “2 miles east of the Ford plant, between Q.E. and Dundas Hwys.” Dundas is Highway 5, and The 5 is about two miles west of the Ford plant (which opened in 1953 and hasn’t moved), a direct shot on Halton Regional Rd 13 between QE and 5. (Two miles east of the Ford plant is Lake Ontario.)
A theory that fits all this data: The Oakville opened in the mid to late 1950s, then was bought by Premier in the very early 70s. Premier, with a history of name-changing, might have changed it to The 5 shortly after acquiring it.
Two online sources put the opening date around 1964-65, but that would mean it took the IMPA over five years to notice. Got any better data?
Box Office magazine from June 18, 1955 reported the Scenic was alive and in a five-theater dogfight for the Hamilton audience. “The Clappison, Hamilton, and Scenic” offered $1 carload pricing M-Th “while the two FPC units, the Skyway and Mohawk,” did it M-W.
A short article in The Hamilton Spectator adds just a little help. “Only one (Hamilton area drive-in) remains: the Starlite, on Green Mountain Road in Stoney Creek. It opened in 1955 and was originally named the Scenic Drive-In.”
Thanks for the Happy Baby note. The video’s available on YouTube.
The 1959 IMPA shows the Scenic in Hamilton, owned by A. Rosenberg (who also owned a few others), capacity 500.
The 1963 IMPA shows it owned by Joe Dydzak (his family appears to have owned a few others), capacity 400.
I find the 1969 IMPA very confusing. The Scenic (cap. 400) is still in Hamilton, but so is the Starlite (748). Meanwhile, Stoney Creek had added a Starlite (642) of its own.
In the 1972 IMPA, the Scenic is gone, but the Starlite (capacity 642) remains in Stoney Creek.
Several Niagara This Week stories list Steve Forrest as the current (as of 2016) manager / projectionist of the Can-View. Forrest or his company bought it from Cineplex Odeon in 2001 or 2002, depending on the story.
Also, one of the Can-View’s screens was hit by a tornado on the afternoon of May 20, 1996, while the movie Twister was on the marquee. This birthed a Snopes-refuted urban legend that the tornado hit while that movie was playing, even during its climactic drive-in scene.
From Niagara This Week: The Can-View, a four-screen complex located off Highway 406 at Regional Road 20, was built in 1983 not long after the Dain City drive-in was shuttered. Its four screens and space for up to 2,000 cars make it one of the biggest outdoor theatres in the country.
Its Facebook page says “The Mustang drive-in was built in 1953 purchased by Premier operating in 1973 and twined in 1976. … Screen #1 the "Twilight” has capacity of 525 cars and Screen #2 “Skyview” has a capacity of 305 cars."
CinemaTour says the Mustang “AKA: Sunset Drive-In” was built in 1950.
My 1959-63 Motion Picture Almanacs don’t show the Sunset in London, but in Belmont about 4 miles away, capacity 500, owner or booker W. C. Manning. It wasn’t listed in the 1953-54 MPA, which doesn’t prove anything. The MPAs listed as the Sunset in Belmont through at least 1976.
The International Motion Picture Almanacs referred to it as the Grand Bend Drive-In through at least 1963. The 1969-76 editions listed it as the Starlite, capacity 300, before the Canadian drive-ins were dropped from the “I"MPA books.
BTW, the Ford can’t hold 3000 cars any more. From the current aerial view on Google Maps, you can see the separate, four-field area (with a chemical plant(?) in between) is now becoming overgrown. The Henry Ford wrote that the Ford-Wyoming could handle 3000 at its peak with all nine screens, prompting those “largest drive-in in the world” claims.
“Gusting winds toppled the screen at Starview Drive-In Theater” on December 15, 1971 according to the Norwalk Reflector’s story the next day. I’d guess that’s the off-season disaster date and not early 1972.
Rick Myers Jr., 17, Monroeville, said he was replacing fencing along the west side of the theater when he heard the screen “creaking.”
“I looked up and saw the tower (screen) shaking and I thought the wind wall (fence) was going to be blown over,” he said.
As the screen started to fall, “I ran as fast as I could.” Myers, a theater employee since March, was securing the theater for the winter off-season at the time.
The Lima News: The Grand Opening was scheduled for Saturday, June 11, 1949.
The Lima News: “A heavy windstorm” blew down the screen on Jan. 22, 1952. “Robert Hipp, manager,” said the damages were $12k-15k.
The Lima News: In June 1958, Robert Hipp filed charges against two 19-year-olds for burglarizing the Hi-Road.
The Marion Star: In June 1961, “Merle E. Horst, manager of the Kenton Theatre and Hi Road Drive In Theatre” corrected an odd story of someone claiming to be with the theatres filming a city council meeting.
An ad for the Hi Road Flea Market (at the Hi Road Drive-In) appears in several June 1977 issues of The Courier of Findlay OH. But not a movie listings ad.
The Greenville Daily Advocate, Oct. 13, 1984: “Attorney’s (sic) and realtors have filed notices with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dayton listing fees they wish to charge D.F. John and Diane Tabor, owners of … the Hi-Road Drive-In of Kenton” and nine other area theatres.
The Hi Road apparently began advertising in The Marion Star in August 1998.
rdoitmiller et al, back in the day, when a drive-in was doing really well, sometimes its owners would buy a chunk of adjoining land to expand. That might well be what happened at the Hi-Road.
Data dump from my Theatre Catalogs and Motion Picture Almanacs.
Although the Theatre Catalog and Motion Picture Almanacs had switched to calling it the Skyline Drive-In by 1952, its newspaper ads kept the Cruise In name going until 1970.
Here’s a nice YouTube video the Skyline produced in 2014:
The South’s history page says it opened in 1950. Then again, it says it was twinned in 1987, but the 1984 Motion Picture Almanac already showed it with two screens. Here’s the data dump from my Theatre Catalogs and Motion Picture Almanacs:
1949-50 TC: not listed
1952 TC: Milton Yassenoff, capacity 550.
1953-54 MPA: Milton Yassenoff, 700.
1955-56 TC: Milton Yassenoff, 750.
1959-63 MPA: Milton Yassenoff, 700.
1969-76 MPA: not listed (but I saw a 1969 newspaper that still showed the South)
The Bel-Air Facebook page says the place opened in 1952, and I believe it! For some reason, the oldest reference books kept wanting to place it in Osgood, almost 4 miles away, instead of Versailles, less than half that distance. Here’s my data dump from the Theatre Catalogs and Motion Picture Almanacs:
TC 1952: Bel Air D. I. in Versailles. Exec: Paul Kelly. Cap. 250.
Also, note that these days, the Melody 49 always claims Brookville as its host city. The 1969-76 IMPAs put it in Dayton(!). The 1982-88 IMPAs put it in Englewood.
The Melody 49, located at 7606 Pleasant Plains Road, Brookville, opened with a bang on July 1, 1966. With space for 1,100 cars on its 18 acres, the cost of the year round theater was estimated to run $500,000 by Ralph T. Sharp, Inc., the general contractor for the project. A 75’ x 130’ Cinemiracle picture screen, installed by the M. E. Renfro Screen Tower Company, was chosen so that both 35 and 70 mm movies could be shown. Circle-R electric car heaters were provided during the winter to adventurous movie goers.
Melody 49 began their gala opening with a giant fireworks display, followed by three hit movies, including the incredible undersea adventure ‘Around the World Under the Sea’ starring Lloyd Bridges.
Michael Chakeres, then vice-president and general manager of Chakeres Theaters, Inc. stated that the new theater would “have first run and subsequent run family-type shows similar to Southland 75 (Drive-In). This is a fast growing area and will serve Brookville, Englewood, Trotwood and other communities.”
In 1982 Melody 49 switched to a sound process with operated through a special cable installed above the drive-in parking area. The movie soundtrack was transmitted through the cable, which broadcasted over an AM frequency that could be picked up by the patron’s car radio. In 1998 this was replaced by an FM frequency.
The theater changed it name to the Melody 49 Twin in 1987 after a second motion picture screen was added. Taken from Southland 75 after it closed, the smaller screen was set up at the back of the lot and could accommodate approximately 200 cars.
… Melody 49 was the second all-medallion theater in Ohio, meaning that everything was electrically operated, including the heating and air-conditioning.
The three lane snack bar, designed by architect R. J. McNutt, was built to be capable of serving 2,000 patrons in 30 minutes. Since most refreshments were bought during the ten minute intermission, quick service was of the utmost importance. Automatic food warmers were installed to ensure that the snacks remained hot and delicious.
From its Facebook page: The Starlite Drive-In opened in 1947. At that time a World War II Veteran Jerry Jackson from Williamburg, Ohio was the builder and owner until about 1968.
From me: The Starlite was listed under Mount Holly in the 1948-49 Theatre Catalog, plus following editions, all with Jerome Jackson. The 1953-63 MPAs call him Jerry Jackson, also in Mount Holly.
After a while, the MPAs moved the Starlite. I can’t find it in the 1969-82 editions, which had too many Starlite/Starlights to quickly pick through. In 1984-88 it was in Batavia, address 2255 Ohio Pike, owned by Holiday Amuse.
My sources are more confused than usual, possibly due to the cross-ownership between the Holiday’s owners and the owners of other drive-ins in Hamilton. Here are my notes from the Theatre Catalog and Motion Picture Almanac.
TC 1948-49: Hamilton Outdoor, Louis Aldt, 350
TC 1949-50: Hamilton Outdoor, L. E. Ott, 400
TC 1952: Outdoor DI, Marc Cummings and Ben Cohen, 400
MP 1953-54: Hamilton Outdoor, Theater Owners Corp., 350
TC 1955-56: Holiday Auto DI, Ben Cohen, 400
MP 1959: Hamilton Outdoor, L. Olt, 350
MP 1963: Hamilton Outdoor, L. Olt, 350 -and- Holiday Auto, 350
MP 1969-76: Holiday, 350
MP 1982: Holiday Auto, Holiday Amu., 485
MP 1984-88: Holiday Auto, Holiday Amuse. (which also owned the Colonial and Valley in Hamilton)
First Built and Opened in the summer of 1961 or 1962, the brain Child of Lawrence County Owners, George W. Webb and Theodore G. Stigall, the Holiday Drive-In Theater is located halfway between Mitchell and Orleans Indiana on SR 37. The Holiday Drive-In Theater can hold up to 325 cars with a single screen that measures 68 feet wide by 40 feet tall. Steve L Wilson of Paoli had worked for and with his Mentor, Robert Limeberry in 1983, 2003 & 2004 and ultimately purchased The Holiday Drive In from the Estate of Robert Limeberry during the Winter of 2005.
Robert had been the past owner of 22 years starting in 1983. While Steve is the Third Owner of the theater, he is the very first owner to own the 9.5 acres of which the theater sits upon. He purchased the land from the Estate of Elinor Gardner Jones, of Paoli, the first week of January 2008. Elinor was the daughter of original land owner, Lowell A. & Jamie L Troth of Orleans Indiana. With this purchase, Mr. Wilson hopes to bring greater changes and enhancements over the coming years that were not possible under a land leased situation.
In its History page in 2006 (via the Wayback Machine at Archive.org), it said the 5 was “Owned and operated by Premier Operating since the early 70’s”.
The 1972-76 IMPA listed “The 5” (cap. 505) and Daylight (500) for Oakville. And isn’t Daylight the worst drive-in name ever? But I digress.
Going backward, the 1969 IMPA listed the Daylight (400) and Oakville (also 400) for Oakville. That Oakville DI listed goes back to 1959.
Dug up an Oakville Drive-In ad (June 27, 1957) that says it was “2 miles east of the Ford plant, between Q.E. and Dundas Hwys.” Dundas is Highway 5, and The 5 is about two miles west of the Ford plant (which opened in 1953 and hasn’t moved), a direct shot on Halton Regional Rd 13 between QE and 5. (Two miles east of the Ford plant is Lake Ontario.)
A theory that fits all this data: The Oakville opened in the mid to late 1950s, then was bought by Premier in the very early 70s. Premier, with a history of name-changing, might have changed it to The 5 shortly after acquiring it.
Two online sources put the opening date around 1964-65, but that would mean it took the IMPA over five years to notice. Got any better data?
Box Office magazine from June 18, 1955 reported the Scenic was alive and in a five-theater dogfight for the Hamilton audience. “The Clappison, Hamilton, and Scenic” offered $1 carload pricing M-Th “while the two FPC units, the Skyway and Mohawk,” did it M-W.
A short article in The Hamilton Spectator adds just a little help. “Only one (Hamilton area drive-in) remains: the Starlite, on Green Mountain Road in Stoney Creek. It opened in 1955 and was originally named the Scenic Drive-In.”
Thanks for the Happy Baby note. The video’s available on YouTube.
The 1959 IMPA shows the Scenic in Hamilton, owned by A. Rosenberg (who also owned a few others), capacity 500.
The 1963 IMPA shows it owned by Joe Dydzak (his family appears to have owned a few others), capacity 400.
I find the 1969 IMPA very confusing. The Scenic (cap. 400) is still in Hamilton, but so is the Starlite (748). Meanwhile, Stoney Creek had added a Starlite (642) of its own.
In the 1972 IMPA, the Scenic is gone, but the Starlite (capacity 642) remains in Stoney Creek.
Several Niagara This Week stories list Steve Forrest as the current (as of 2016) manager / projectionist of the Can-View. Forrest or his company bought it from Cineplex Odeon in 2001 or 2002, depending on the story.
Also, one of the Can-View’s screens was hit by a tornado on the afternoon of May 20, 1996, while the movie Twister was on the marquee. This birthed a Snopes-refuted urban legend that the tornado hit while that movie was playing, even during its climactic drive-in scene.
From Niagara This Week: The Can-View, a four-screen complex located off Highway 406 at Regional Road 20, was built in 1983 not long after the Dain City drive-in was shuttered. Its four screens and space for up to 2,000 cars make it one of the biggest outdoor theatres in the country.
Its Facebook page says “The Mustang drive-in was built in 1953 purchased by Premier operating in 1973 and twined in 1976. … Screen #1 the "Twilight” has capacity of 525 cars and Screen #2 “Skyview” has a capacity of 305 cars."
CinemaTour says the Mustang “AKA: Sunset Drive-In” was built in 1950.
My 1959-63 Motion Picture Almanacs don’t show the Sunset in London, but in Belmont about 4 miles away, capacity 500, owner or booker W. C. Manning. It wasn’t listed in the 1953-54 MPA, which doesn’t prove anything. The MPAs listed as the Sunset in Belmont through at least 1976.
The International Motion Picture Almanacs referred to it as the Grand Bend Drive-In through at least 1963. The 1969-76 editions listed it as the Starlite, capacity 300, before the Canadian drive-ins were dropped from the “I"MPA books.
BTW, the Ford can’t hold 3000 cars any more. From the current aerial view on Google Maps, you can see the separate, four-field area (with a chemical plant(?) in between) is now becoming overgrown. The Henry Ford wrote that the Ford-Wyoming could handle 3000 at its peak with all nine screens, prompting those “largest drive-in in the world” claims.
Screen evolution clues from the Detroit Free Press back issues:
July 1982: apparently still one screen
1983-85: “Ford Wyoming 1-2-3” three screens
July 11, 1986: “The Ford Wyoming started with one screen, now has four, and (manager Ed) Szurek says he wished he had room for five more.”
July 1987: “Ford Wyoming 4” four screens
July 1988-90: 5 screens
July 1991-94: 8 screens; 6-8 listed as “2 blocks N of Ford Road”
July 1995: 9 screens; 6-9 listed as “2 blocks N of Ford Road”
Not a lot of meat here, but this is the data dump for the Ford Wyoming in my Theatre Catalogs and Motion Picture Almanacs.
1952 TC: Exec: John Wafhen, and Mutual Ths., capacity 750.
1953-63 MPA: Mutual Theatres, 750.
1955-56 TC: C. W. Clark, and Cooperative Ct., 750.
1969-76 MPA: 750.
1982 MPA: H. Clark, 1000.
1984-88 MPA: Schafer.
Data dump on the Parkside from my Theatre Catalogs and Motion Picture Almanacs. Note that every source listed it in Toledo.
TC 1949-50: Exec: J. Dempsey, capacity 800.
TC 1952-56: J. Dempsey and Cooperative Ths. of Ohio, 622.
MPA 1953-59: Coop. Theatres, Ohio, 500.
MPA 1963: J. Armstrong, 500.
MPA 1969-76: 500.
MPA 1982: Armstrong, 500. (If the second screen was up, it didn’t notice)
MPA 1984-88: “Parkside 1 & 2”, Armstrong.
Nov. 5, 1949: The Star View’s ad promised free gas “when below 50” and free comic books!
Sandusky Register Star News, March 19, 1952: Ernest Plitz returns as manager after being recalled for 18 months on Naval service.
Sandusky Register Star News, Sept. 10, 1955: Gordon Evans succeeds Plitz as manager. Plitz left to manage a drive-in chain in Florida.
“Gusting winds toppled the screen at Starview Drive-In Theater” on December 15, 1971 according to the Norwalk Reflector’s story the next day. I’d guess that’s the off-season disaster date and not early 1972.
Rick Myers Jr., 17, Monroeville, said he was replacing fencing along the west side of the theater when he heard the screen “creaking.”
“I looked up and saw the tower (screen) shaking and I thought the wind wall (fence) was going to be blown over,” he said.
As the screen started to fall, “I ran as fast as I could.” Myers, a theater employee since March, was securing the theater for the winter off-season at the time.
Newspaper notes:
The Lima News: The Grand Opening was scheduled for Saturday, June 11, 1949.
The Lima News: “A heavy windstorm” blew down the screen on Jan. 22, 1952. “Robert Hipp, manager,” said the damages were $12k-15k.
The Lima News: In June 1958, Robert Hipp filed charges against two 19-year-olds for burglarizing the Hi-Road.
The Marion Star: In June 1961, “Merle E. Horst, manager of the Kenton Theatre and Hi Road Drive In Theatre” corrected an odd story of someone claiming to be with the theatres filming a city council meeting.
An ad for the Hi Road Flea Market (at the Hi Road Drive-In) appears in several June 1977 issues of The Courier of Findlay OH. But not a movie listings ad.
The Greenville Daily Advocate, Oct. 13, 1984: “Attorney’s (sic) and realtors have filed notices with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dayton listing fees they wish to charge D.F. John and Diane Tabor, owners of … the Hi-Road Drive-In of Kenton” and nine other area theatres.
The Hi Road apparently began advertising in The Marion Star in August 1998.
rdoitmiller et al, back in the day, when a drive-in was doing really well, sometimes its owners would buy a chunk of adjoining land to expand. That might well be what happened at the Hi-Road.
Data dump from my Theatre Catalogs and Motion Picture Almanacs.
1949-50 TC: Bob Hipp, capacity 325
1952 TC: Robert W. Kipp (sic), 325
1953-54 MPA: Ohio Theatre Service Corp., 325
1955-56 TC: Robert W. Hipp, 400
1959 MPA: Ohio Theatre Service Corp., 325
1963 MPA: General Theatres, 325
1969-76 MPA: 325
1982-88 MPA: not listed
Although the Theatre Catalog and Motion Picture Almanacs had switched to calling it the Skyline Drive-In by 1952, its newspaper ads kept the Cruise In name going until 1970.
Here’s a nice YouTube video the Skyline produced in 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4eViP2UQRo
The South’s history page says it opened in 1950. Then again, it says it was twinned in 1987, but the 1984 Motion Picture Almanac already showed it with two screens. Here’s the data dump from my Theatre Catalogs and Motion Picture Almanacs:
1949-50 TC: not listed
1952 TC: Milton Yassenoff, capacity 550.
1953-54 MPA: Milton Yassenoff, 700.
1955-56 TC: Milton Yassenoff, 750.
1959-63 MPA: Milton Yassenoff, 700.
1969-76 MPA: not listed (but I saw a 1969 newspaper that still showed the South)
1982 MPA: Rainbow Ent., 750.
1984-88 MPA: Rainbow Ent., two screens.
The Bel-Air Facebook page says the place opened in 1952, and I believe it! For some reason, the oldest reference books kept wanting to place it in Osgood, almost 4 miles away, instead of Versailles, less than half that distance. Here’s my data dump from the Theatre Catalogs and Motion Picture Almanacs:
TC 1952: Bel Air D. I. in Versailles. Exec: Paul Kelly. Cap. 250.
MPA 1953-54: Bellaire in Osgood. Carl Rief, 250.
TC 1955-56: Bel Air in Osgood. Paul Kelly, 250.
MPA 1959: Bellaire in Osgood. Carl Rief, 250.
MPA 1963: Bellaire in Osgood. Russell Kelly, 250.
MPA 1969-76: Bel-Air in Versailles, 300.
MPA 1982: Bel Air in Versailles, J. Holokan, 300.
MPA 1984: Bel Air in Versailles, Chorpenning.
MPA 1986-88: not listed.
That previous passage appears to come from Dayton History Books Online.
Also, note that these days, the Melody 49 always claims Brookville as its host city. The 1969-76 IMPAs put it in Dayton(!). The 1982-88 IMPAs put it in Englewood.
From the Melody 49 Facebook page About section:
The Melody 49, located at 7606 Pleasant Plains Road, Brookville, opened with a bang on July 1, 1966. With space for 1,100 cars on its 18 acres, the cost of the year round theater was estimated to run $500,000 by Ralph T. Sharp, Inc., the general contractor for the project. A 75’ x 130’ Cinemiracle picture screen, installed by the M. E. Renfro Screen Tower Company, was chosen so that both 35 and 70 mm movies could be shown. Circle-R electric car heaters were provided during the winter to adventurous movie goers.
Melody 49 began their gala opening with a giant fireworks display, followed by three hit movies, including the incredible undersea adventure ‘Around the World Under the Sea’ starring Lloyd Bridges.
Michael Chakeres, then vice-president and general manager of Chakeres Theaters, Inc. stated that the new theater would “have first run and subsequent run family-type shows similar to Southland 75 (Drive-In). This is a fast growing area and will serve Brookville, Englewood, Trotwood and other communities.”
In 1982 Melody 49 switched to a sound process with operated through a special cable installed above the drive-in parking area. The movie soundtrack was transmitted through the cable, which broadcasted over an AM frequency that could be picked up by the patron’s car radio. In 1998 this was replaced by an FM frequency.
The theater changed it name to the Melody 49 Twin in 1987 after a second motion picture screen was added. Taken from Southland 75 after it closed, the smaller screen was set up at the back of the lot and could accommodate approximately 200 cars.
… Melody 49 was the second all-medallion theater in Ohio, meaning that everything was electrically operated, including the heating and air-conditioning.
The three lane snack bar, designed by architect R. J. McNutt, was built to be capable of serving 2,000 patrons in 30 minutes. Since most refreshments were bought during the ten minute intermission, quick service was of the utmost importance. Automatic food warmers were installed to ensure that the snacks remained hot and delicious.
From its Facebook page: The Starlite Drive-In opened in 1947. At that time a World War II Veteran Jerry Jackson from Williamburg, Ohio was the builder and owner until about 1968.
From me: The Starlite was listed under Mount Holly in the 1948-49 Theatre Catalog, plus following editions, all with Jerome Jackson. The 1953-63 MPAs call him Jerry Jackson, also in Mount Holly.
After a while, the MPAs moved the Starlite. I can’t find it in the 1969-82 editions, which had too many Starlite/Starlights to quickly pick through. In 1984-88 it was in Batavia, address 2255 Ohio Pike, owned by Holiday Amuse.
My sources are more confused than usual, possibly due to the cross-ownership between the Holiday’s owners and the owners of other drive-ins in Hamilton. Here are my notes from the Theatre Catalog and Motion Picture Almanac.
TC 1948-49: Hamilton Outdoor, Louis Aldt, 350
TC 1949-50: Hamilton Outdoor, L. E. Ott, 400
TC 1952: Outdoor DI, Marc Cummings and Ben Cohen, 400
MP 1953-54: Hamilton Outdoor, Theater Owners Corp., 350
TC 1955-56: Holiday Auto DI, Ben Cohen, 400
MP 1959: Hamilton Outdoor, L. Olt, 350
MP 1963: Hamilton Outdoor, L. Olt, 350 -and- Holiday Auto, 350
MP 1969-76: Holiday, 350
MP 1982: Holiday Auto, Holiday Amu., 485
MP 1984-88: Holiday Auto, Holiday Amuse. (which also owned the Colonial and Valley in Hamilton)
From its Picture Gallery page:
First Built and Opened in the summer of 1961 or 1962, the brain Child of Lawrence County Owners, George W. Webb and Theodore G. Stigall, the Holiday Drive-In Theater is located halfway between Mitchell and Orleans Indiana on SR 37. The Holiday Drive-In Theater can hold up to 325 cars with a single screen that measures 68 feet wide by 40 feet tall. Steve L Wilson of Paoli had worked for and with his Mentor, Robert Limeberry in 1983, 2003 & 2004 and ultimately purchased The Holiday Drive In from the Estate of Robert Limeberry during the Winter of 2005.
Robert had been the past owner of 22 years starting in 1983. While Steve is the Third Owner of the theater, he is the very first owner to own the 9.5 acres of which the theater sits upon. He purchased the land from the Estate of Elinor Gardner Jones, of Paoli, the first week of January 2008. Elinor was the daughter of original land owner, Lowell A. & Jamie L Troth of Orleans Indiana. With this purchase, Mr. Wilson hopes to bring greater changes and enhancements over the coming years that were not possible under a land leased situation.
Nice drone video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMH0CTNs8JI
IMPA data:
1963, owner Geo. Webb, capacity 200
1969-76, 200
1982, G. Webb, 200
1984, G. Webb
1986-88, Limberry