William Alexander took it over in 2008, ran a failed online fundraiser in 2014, then bought the digital projector anyway. He was still cited as the owner in a June 2017 article.
Phew! Here’s the best I could find for the Midland, a July 25, 2008 article in the Midland Mirror, retrieved via The Internet Archive. It verified room for 400 cars.
Babcock brothers Dave and Paul bought Midland’s Odeon Theatre (later to become the Roxy) along with the drive-in in 1982. They already owned the Penetanguishene’s Pen Theatre, purchased in 1972 and expanded to the Pen Twin in 1979.
… In August it will be three years since Paul’s death and two years since Dave died doing what he loved – working at the drive-in. When Paul and Dave passed away the drive-in went to the brothers’ wives Teresa and Heather. They asked Dave’s children Mark and Stacey and their spouses to lend a hand with the operation.
… “We updated the sound this year,” Gord (Cox, Stacey’s husband) said. “The digital sound is now as good as your car stereo quality. We boosted our FM receiver and you can pick up the drive-in at the angels in Penetang.”
There’s a fresh Google Street View closeup from October 2016. It shows that between December 2003 and now, they added a second message board to the screen tower.
The Owen Sound Sun Times reported in 2012 that it was sold to a neighbor who mainly wanted the adjoining land, but who was going to lease the drive-in for five years to the previous owner.
The marquee has been improved, as seen in this 2016 YouTube video
In a 2014 article, the Waterloo Region Record cleared up the connection between the Guelph Drive-In and the Jem/Mustang. There wasn’t one.
“(T)he Guelph Drive-In Theatre … operated for more than 10 years on the north side of Speedvale, just east of Stevenson Street. It was cleared by owner A.I. (Al) Rosenberg of Kitchener in about 1958 to make way for a shopping plaza”.
… “(Rosenberg) also invested in several drive-in theatres, including the Parkway Drive-In in south Kitchener and the Sunset Drive-In outside Preston.”
… “The closing of the Guelph Drive-In created a business opportunity elsewhere. In 1959 Charles Jemmett built the JEM Drive-In on land south of Highway 7 to the east of Guelph.”
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.
Here’s what my Motion Picture Almanacs tell me:
1953-54: Mushola (sic) Drive-In, owner Mushola Drive-In, no capacity number.
1959-63: Muskoka, owner Muskoka D-I Theas. Ltd., 300.
1969: Muskoka, 300.
1972-76: not listed.
William Alexander took it over in 2008, ran a failed online fundraiser in 2014, then bought the digital projector anyway. He was still cited as the owner in a June 2017 article.
Phew! Here’s the best I could find for the Midland, a July 25, 2008 article in the Midland Mirror, retrieved via The Internet Archive. It verified room for 400 cars.
Babcock brothers Dave and Paul bought Midland’s Odeon Theatre (later to become the Roxy) along with the drive-in in 1982. They already owned the Penetanguishene’s Pen Theatre, purchased in 1972 and expanded to the Pen Twin in 1979.
… In August it will be three years since Paul’s death and two years since Dave died doing what he loved – working at the drive-in. When Paul and Dave passed away the drive-in went to the brothers’ wives Teresa and Heather. They asked Dave’s children Mark and Stacey and their spouses to lend a hand with the operation.
… “We updated the sound this year,” Gord (Cox, Stacey’s husband) said. “The digital sound is now as good as your car stereo quality. We boosted our FM receiver and you can pick up the drive-in at the angels in Penetang.”
For much more, click that link at the top.
There’s a fresh Google Street View closeup from October 2016. It shows that between December 2003 and now, they added a second message board to the screen tower.
The Midland appears to have been around for quite a while. Here’s the Motion Picture Almanac data.
1953-54: Theatre Amuse., capacity 300.
1959: Thea. Amuse. Co., 300.
1963: Regional, 300.
1969: 300.
1972-76: 404.
After going dark for the entire 2016 season, it’s back with digital projection.
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/08/23/prides-corner-aglow-again-as-drive-ins-back-in-business/
A TripAdvisor photo shows “Since 1950” written on the wall there.
A very brief data dump from the Motion Picture Almanacs:
1953-63: owner Waite & Warwick Ltd., capacity 300.
1969-76: 300.
The Owen Sound Sun Times reported in 2012 that it was sold to a neighbor who mainly wanted the adjoining land, but who was going to lease the drive-in for five years to the previous owner.
The marquee has been improved, as seen in this 2016 YouTube video
In a 2014 article, the Waterloo Region Record cleared up the connection between the Guelph Drive-In and the Jem/Mustang. There wasn’t one.
“(T)he Guelph Drive-In Theatre … operated for more than 10 years on the north side of Speedvale, just east of Stevenson Street. It was cleared by owner A.I. (Al) Rosenberg of Kitchener in about 1958 to make way for a shopping plaza”.
… “(Rosenberg) also invested in several drive-in theatres, including the Parkway Drive-In in south Kitchener and the Sunset Drive-In outside Preston.”
… “The closing of the Guelph Drive-In created a business opportunity elsewhere. In 1959 Charles Jemmett built the JEM Drive-In on land south of Highway 7 to the east of Guelph.”
The Motion Picture Almanac data dump for Guelph drive-ins:
1953-54: Guelph, capacity 400, owner J. A. Campbell.
1959-63: Guelph, 400, A. Rosenberg.
1969: Jem, 400.
1972-76: Mustang, 400.
When The Docks opened in 2001, owned by Jerry Sprackman, it showed movies seven days a week. Now it’s just weekends.
For an update on its complicated, muddy ownership timeline, read this January 30, 2017 article in the Toronto Star.
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