Rig Drive-In
Route 66 and Oil Company Road,
Davenport,
OK
74026
Route 66 and Oil Company Road,
Davenport,
OK
74026
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Boxoffice, April 18, 1953: “DAVENPORT - A new open-air theatre is going up one mile east of here on Highway 66. It is being built by J. E. Stribling jr. who has operated theatres in Davenport and Stroud for many years. The new drive-in will be named the Rig, which is an ideal name because you can sit in your car and see no less than ten mammoth oil rigs near the theatre site. One feature, not seen in many drive-ins, it the method of surfacing ramps and drives. Stribling is using roofing tabs - short ends trimmed from asphalt shingles - which are made in the nearby city of Stroud by the Fry Roofing Co. Those roofing tabs are free for the hauling and should make a very find, durable surface for a drive-in. There will be 200 speakers to start. An extra large screen is being installed and the concession stand is of the cafeteria style, housed in a room measuring 16x16 feet. The first ramp is only 90 feet from the screen, somewhat closer than most drive-ins. Water is obtained from an 85-foot well. The theatre will be ready to open about June 1.”
From the August 12, 1953 issue of The Exhibitor: “J. E. Stribling, Gem, Davenport, Okla., opened his new Rig Drive-In, Davenport.”
I just uploaded a grainy third-generation image of the Rig’s screen tower. If it was originally taken in March 1955 as its source described, then it’s possible that the Rig opened earlier.
Thanks to Joe Vogel for the citation. Here’s the full one-paragraph story from Boxoffice, Aug. 13, 1962, under the Oklahoma City column:
Another little town, Davenport, a few miles east of Chandler, has lost its theatres. Joe E. Stribling and wife, who have operated the Gem Theatre and Rig Drive-In there for years, called it quits and closed both. The drive-in is being dismantled and the equipment stored in the Gem. They have a fine set of CinemaScope lenses and about 50 Simplex speakers, all for sale at a very reasonable price. Stribling was a manager for Griffith Amusement Co. and its successor, Video Independent, for many years, then entered exhibition on his own at the Ritz in Stroud, also in the Chandler area. For several years he has had a job with the telephone company which keeps him out of town during the week, while his wife is busy teaching piano. They admit they have not had time to look after the theatres properly. That and a decline in business caused them to call it quits.
The Motion Picture Almanac series whiffed completely on the Rig. Another reason to believe that there were more drive-ins than any single source ever listed.
I could find a few hints elsewhere. It was listed in the 1955 Film Daily Year Book and the 1955-56 Theatre Catalog (capacity 200, owner J. E. Stribling).
An ad in the May 5, 1957 Daily Oklahoman included the Rig as one of the theatres to show The Buster Keaton Story.
Excellent find Joe Vogel and SiliconSam… This one was unknown to me. .
Wesley Horton AIDA
This links showss that nothing remains of the former Rig Drive-In Theatre.
Property is once again a ranch.
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/66
O.K.
Yep, still barely visible……..
H E R E
The Rig Drive-in was dismantled in 1962, according to Boxoffice Magazine of August 13 that year. The owner, Joe Stribling, cited a decline in business, as well as a lack of time to look after the theaters, for his decision to close the Rig Drive-In and Davenport’s only other theater, the Gem.