Skyview Drive-In
1714 Olive Road,
Augusta,
GA
30904
1714 Olive Road,
Augusta,
GA
30904
3 people
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Showing 26 - 50 of 51 comments
O.K.
I gotta get the picture to Robin and hopes she will put it on,but now i see NICK can do it I might send it down his way.
Well we waiting Mike.
I have a picture of this Drive-in taken a few days before closing.I hope to get it on here soon.
OCTOBER 25 1974 sees the Skyview Drive-in Playing day and date with the MODJESKA. on the big drive-in screen is “FOXY BROWN” and “TRUCK TURNER” both rated R.
April 5 1975 NOW SHOWING “LOVE EXORCIST” and “TRADER HORNEE” both rated R.
The Skyview is showing REDD FOXX and PEARL BAILEY in “NORMAN IS THAT YOU” being shipped from the MILLER to the Skyview. Second film is “MIXED COMPANY” both rated PG.
The Skyview,with Augusta’s Largest outdoor screen is playing on June 5 1964 GIDGET GOES TO ROME,and THE MAN THAT SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. There was a big record hop there that night.
June 7 1964 now playing PT 109 and SPENCER’S MOUNTAIN. The following movies played next: ROCK A BYE BABY,DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP.
June 15 1964 and TOM JONES is playing.
June 6 1965 Now showing PSYCHO and THE MAN THAT COULD CHEAT DEATH.
Following these movies were CIRCUS WORLD and TAKE HER SHE’S MINE.
June 3 1966 BIG AD in the paper First Drive-in Showing TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD.
June 10 1972 A horror movie DEAD ARE ALIVE and a western,MONTE WALSH.
July 2 1972 A MUSICAL PAINT YOUR WAGON and CHEYNNE SOCIAL CLUB. the next movies were a bit lower in taste, BEWARE OF THE BLOB and ASTRO ZOMBIES.
JULY 16 1972 A GREAT TRIPLE FEATURE, GOLDFINGER, DR.NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE,bet you a Vodka Martinti shaken,not stirred they didn’t play them in order.
JULY 23 1972 Soft core R rating YOUNG GRADUATES and CINDY AND DONNA. FOUNTAIN OF LOVE.
COMING NEXT NIGHT OF BLOOD MASS and BLOOD OF MUMMY’S TOMB.
August 13 1972 THE GRADUATE and the little known CHARLES BRONSON film RIDER ON THE RAIN.
GOING back to 1953,the summer of 1953 these movies were playing here.
1.BEAST FROM 20.000 FATHOMS {also playing at the cloverleaf drive in]
2.SHE’s WORKING HER WAY THRU COLLEGE
3.PATHFINDER
4.TARGET HONG KONG
5.THE NEVADAN
6.BOWERY BLITZKRIEG
1976 here is CAR WASH playing with BINGOLONG and THE TRAVELING ALL STARS. Rated PG. PRETTY GOOD URBAN DOUBLE FEATURE.
March 31 1972 nice size ad for a Drive-in,DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and second feature is ZIG-ZAG.007 back at the SKYVIEW!
APRIL 22 1977 Now Showing THE BOD SQUAD a sof core R rated flick. Second Feature is the impressive animated HEAVY TRAFFIC that was X rated when released. SKYVIEW has the R rated version or times change and what use to be an X is an R. MIDNIGHT COWBOY would probably be PG 13 today,Shows how our standards have fallen.
NOV. 23 1963 the date says it all.Many Augusta theatres are dark. THE SKYVIEW DRIVE IN is playing ONIONHEAD with Andy Griffith and the second hit is YELLOWSTONE KELLY with Clint Walker.
April 27 1968 this saturday night at SKYVIEW DRIVE IN you have James Coburn in WATERHOLE#3 and second hit Jane Fonda in HURRY SUNDOWN. {SUGGESTED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES} before the rating system.
July 22 1969 now showing. Looking at the ad the first thing that hits you is ELVIS PRESLEY in CHARRO {a serious no nonsense film} and it is the SECOND FEATURE. Top movie is ROCK HUDSON in A FINE PAIR rated M. {they should have kept the M rating instead of GP then PG.}
July 28 1969 now showing FROM NASHVILLE WITH MUSIC and HILLBILLIES IN A HAUNTED HOUSE rated G.
Sept 10 1971 THE SKYVIEW DRIVE IN is playing
VANISHING POINT and second feature THE SWEET RIDE. Open at 7:30 shows at Dusk. Rated PG.
And what is the SKYVIEW playing for the JULY 4th weekeend? atriple feature with SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL P.T.109 and the third feature is PALM SPRINGS WWEKEND. now that is one mixed up triple feature.
This is a column written in the Richmond County News in 1978 by a then 22-year-old reporter – me!
“Another Gone”
Another fad of the 1950s is slowly slipping away from Augusta. And like many 50s fads it stayed as long as it was supported. The Skyview Drive-In Theatre which for over twenty-five years had shown everything from Humphrey Bogart movies to the latest R-rated soft-core sex film will close come the end of July leaving Augusta with two drive-in theatres.
When I heard Georgia Theatres was closing the Skyview, I called a good friend who was the projectionist at the Skyview for a number of years, Wave Ballard. I hate to see any theatre in Augusta close especially ones such as the Modjeska and Skyview. Wave talked about “the good old days” of movies when the Skyview would sell out two shows a night with close to a thousand cars on the lot. He laughed about the time the police would have to direct traffic on Olive Road when the Skyview was doing great. Business did drop off in the mid- 50s when television hit.
The Skyview’s days have been numbered for quite awhile, and with more and more neighborhood cinemas poppping up, the film product did become hard to acquire. The grade B film product flooded the Skyview keeping the family trade away by the hundreds. The grade B film consists usually of soft-core sex and hard-core violence that pulled the beer drinking rednecks to the drive-in to steal the little red speakers. Economics and vandalism certainly hurried the Skyview’s closing.
It’s hard to run any theatre when only six or seven cars show up for a movie. Chances are they won’t buy anything from the inflated concession stand. Next door to the Skyview is public housing which houses more than a few young vandals who have thrown rocks at cars and are constantly breaking in the concession stand. Pity the poor Skyview, she never really stood a chance with the progressive 70s. Teenagers today don’t go to the drive-in to drink beer because most Augusta bars allow 16-17 year olds to drink. And you don’t need to go there to neck, you can do that in your climate-controlled house.
Like the popular drive-in eating establishments of the 50s, a very popular theatre of the 50s and 60s will close. The movie? You can bet it will be something cheap and dirty, an R-rated flick. I mean why not show the type of film that led to the closing?
END
For the record: in my column a picture was added after I wrote this. And on the Skyview Marquee? The last film to play there? “Let’s Make A Dirty Movie” and “Teasers”. Need I really write more?
I can’t believe there is nothing on THE BIG-MO. I GUESS I WILL TRY AND GET SOMETHING OFF ON IT. IT’S ANOTHER AIKEN COUNTY DRIVE-IN. MAN, THEY HAD ALMOST AS MANY AS AUGUSTA!
PS
If you go to Google Earth. Then Augusta, Ga. Then put in “Olive Road” you can find the site where the Skyview Drive In Theatre used to be. There is a very large Church on the site now however if you look close behind the Church Buildings you can still see outlines of the automobile ramps on the ground.
Thanks,
Ray Hutto
Mike, I think you are right about the little Train at the Skyview.
You know, Monetta SC’s Big Mo Drive in Theatre has a little Train in front of the Concession and Projection Booth at Screen 1.
Thanks, Ray
RAY, i was real young but didn’t they have a little train set up in front of the screen.I ENJOYED THE SKYVIEW, WHEN IT CLOSED DOWN THE UNION TRANSFERRED WAVE BALLARD TO COLUNBIA SQ. THEY WERE REALLY HAVING TROUBLE WITH VANDALS AND HE WAS GLAD TO MOVE OUT TO MARTINEZ,GA.
My Friend ,Herb (Emory) Howell,and I used to sneek in the Skyview drive-In when we were 14 and 15 years old. we would go all the way around the Theatre to the rear and go under the rear fence…
One night they were showing Horror shows like the Mummy, Frakenstein etc. Those shows didn’t bother us or me until after walking home I got to Emory’s house and had to walk about 8 more blocks alone. I wound up running the last 4 blocks, it was very dark, no Moon out…
On another night we sneeked in as usual and they were showing Jailhouse Rock. We always sat up front on the swings or Merry-Go-Round. Some guy came up and asked to see our ticket stubs. We said they were in the Car. So he said let’s go find the stubs. We walked like going to a Car but then admitted we slipped in. He took us to the Manager who was in the Box Office. He wanted our home ph numbers to call our Dad’s. We pleaded “you don’t have to call them we will just simply leave and NEVER slip in again”, so he let us go.
It was a very beautiful Drive-In Theatre. My friend Paul Renew was Projectionist for years there. He said when they brought in and erected the Cinemascope Screen (it was erected in front of the original Screen) it was the advertised as “The Widest Scope Screen East of The Missisippi. I think he said it was 75 ft across.
My Dad later obtained a "Golden Pass” from the Mamager for Electric Motor Work He did on Projectors.
Great days,
Ray Hutto
Boxoffice Magazine announced the start of construction on the Skyview Drive-In at Augusta in its issue of April 2, 1949. It was located on Olive Road near Milledgeville Road. The architect was Barney Dunbar. The August 13, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that the Skyview Drive-In had recently opened.
The Skyview was built by Harold M. Boardman, a local automobile dealer, and originally managed by his son Donald. Not long after opening, the Skyview got a visit from Boxoffice columnist Harry Hart, who wrote about the operation in his column in the October 1, 1949 issue: