In a Goggle Earth flyover as recent as 2014 the Illiana can be seen as heavily overgrown from decades of apparent abandonment, though you can clearly see where the ramps were. It appears that the concession stand & booth are gone, but the original block building used as the screen is still standing. Incidentally, this “screen” barely accommodated a 1.5:1 aspect ratio so for any 2.35:1 shows the audience lost nearly half of the picture, though no one ever seemed to complain. Located where it was, well outside the city, the Illiana “got away” with many of the more racier films (for that era). The only time the Illiana was ever (temporarily) shut down was in the summer of 1969 for showing Russ Meyer’s VIXEN, after it had been playing to a nightly sellout crowd and held-over for the beginning of a 4th week (film seized, projectionist & mgr both arrested & taken to the Vermilion County jail, along with theater owner Jack Butler). According to local folklore this action was said to be in response to weeks of continuing local clergy outcry. Charges were eventually dropped, but the film was never returned.
I cannot provide the dates of startup and shutdown of the Skyway Drive-in, but as originally built it was designed to accommodate up to approx 1700 cars. I worked there as part time (weekend) projectionist off and on from 1965 to approx. 1972, then moved up to the Dixie D/I North of town until 1977. The Skyway got new “Pots” air-driven platters somewhere around 1970~71 time frame but after successfully testing them, never deployed them as they still had the old Carbon Arc lamps. Jack Butler (theater owner) bought modern, state-of-the-art POTS Air-driven platter film handling systems for all three of his Danville drive-ins (Skyway, Dixie & Illiana) but the Dixie was the only one that ever got new 6KW Optical Radiation Corp (ORC) Xenon lamphouses and went to full automation with homebrew, relay-logic controllers. Like all of Mr. Butler’s Drive-Ins, the Skyway ran IPC Super Simplex heads retrofitted with fast intermittent sprockets & RCA sound heads. The Skyway also used Super Panatar anamorphic adapters for Cinemascope/Panavision presentations along with a ¼ KW Altec amplifier pumping sound to the ramps. For several years in the late ‘60s and early '70s Mr.Butler resided in a small home at the Northeast rear corner of the Skyway property. He later purchased a more luxurious home in the 1700 block of N. Logan Ave. on Danville’s more affluent “north end”.
In a Goggle Earth flyover as recent as 2014 the Illiana can be seen as heavily overgrown from decades of apparent abandonment, though you can clearly see where the ramps were. It appears that the concession stand & booth are gone, but the original block building used as the screen is still standing. Incidentally, this “screen” barely accommodated a 1.5:1 aspect ratio so for any 2.35:1 shows the audience lost nearly half of the picture, though no one ever seemed to complain. Located where it was, well outside the city, the Illiana “got away” with many of the more racier films (for that era). The only time the Illiana was ever (temporarily) shut down was in the summer of 1969 for showing Russ Meyer’s VIXEN, after it had been playing to a nightly sellout crowd and held-over for the beginning of a 4th week (film seized, projectionist & mgr both arrested & taken to the Vermilion County jail, along with theater owner Jack Butler). According to local folklore this action was said to be in response to weeks of continuing local clergy outcry. Charges were eventually dropped, but the film was never returned.
I cannot provide the dates of startup and shutdown of the Skyway Drive-in, but as originally built it was designed to accommodate up to approx 1700 cars. I worked there as part time (weekend) projectionist off and on from 1965 to approx. 1972, then moved up to the Dixie D/I North of town until 1977. The Skyway got new “Pots” air-driven platters somewhere around 1970~71 time frame but after successfully testing them, never deployed them as they still had the old Carbon Arc lamps. Jack Butler (theater owner) bought modern, state-of-the-art POTS Air-driven platter film handling systems for all three of his Danville drive-ins (Skyway, Dixie & Illiana) but the Dixie was the only one that ever got new 6KW Optical Radiation Corp (ORC) Xenon lamphouses and went to full automation with homebrew, relay-logic controllers. Like all of Mr. Butler’s Drive-Ins, the Skyway ran IPC Super Simplex heads retrofitted with fast intermittent sprockets & RCA sound heads. The Skyway also used Super Panatar anamorphic adapters for Cinemascope/Panavision presentations along with a ¼ KW Altec amplifier pumping sound to the ramps. For several years in the late ‘60s and early '70s Mr.Butler resided in a small home at the Northeast rear corner of the Skyway property. He later purchased a more luxurious home in the 1700 block of N. Logan Ave. on Danville’s more affluent “north end”.