Comments from arne

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arne
arne commented about Skyview Outdoor Drive-In on Dec 27, 2008 at 6:20 am

I was looking through a book about Route 66, called just Along Route 66, came upon a page dedicated to the Skyview, and found my way to this listing for the theater. You can see a vintage photo of the Skyview here:
http://www.agilitynut.com/driveins/ok.html

I’ll add some data from the entry on the Skyview in the Route 66 book-it’s by Quinta Scott.
Sam Kapriolotis, a Greek immigrant, was briefly raised in New York City around 1900, then his dad and brother went back to Greece. Sam stayed, adopted the new last name of Caporal, after his favorite cigarette brand, made his way west to Oklahoma City, and opened a movie theater in 1916. 32 years later, in 1948, he and his three sons built the Skyview. Architect David Baldwin designed the structure, made of reinforced concrete and built using slip-form construction. The screen tower was formed in six days, with five windows on each of the eight rows. The Caporals put lights behind the quatrefoil-shaped windows to light them up like golden stars at night.