Sceen Auto Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on March 9, 2025 at 5:48 pm

Any site claiming to be serious about film and theatrical history would never suggest that there were “XXX rated” films. There is - and was - no such rating. Period. To provide some info that you won’t find in the entry above, feel free to read on or not as the case may be. (This data is provided only by me and not the contributor listed above; please don’t cream skim from here unless attributed as this theater’s story is an interesting one in its entirety but not when factoids are separated from the bigger picture.)

Steve Paluch started the Hi-Vue Drive-In without controversy on April 5, 1956. Two years later, Paluch would take over the town’s hardtop venue, the Durand Theatre, as well. The Durand Theatre ceases operation on June 27, 1965 with the Hi-Vue departing likely - although not known - following the 1962 season following a wind storm that had damaged the property. This should have been the end of the story as small town cinemas such as these - Durand’s population not fluctuating much between 3k and 3,500 folks - were dying - or had died a decade earlier - nationwide. But things were only getting started in Durand Cinema History.

The Hi-Vue was taken over by Durand resident Harry V. Mohney, he - the most prolific figure in the history of adult drive-in theaters. (Oddly, this a fact that is overlooked in the entry above by the contributor.) Of course, Mohney is better known for his Déjà Vu company which operated some 132 strip clubs in 41 U.S. States. He’s also known for fighting off a specious charge by the Michigan Department of Revenue as they tried everything to take away his business and money. And he’s also known for fighting First Amendment cases brought by various agencies. But where did this all begin? Look no further than the once sleepy Hi-Vue Drive-In here in Durand.

Mohney’s first job was as a projectionist job at Battle Creek’s Eastown Theatre - an aging hardtop theater that was transformed by Floyd G. Bloss to a porno chic theater. Eastown projectionist O.E. Anderson died and Mohney would be hired as the projectionist. Bloss sued the Battle Creek Enquirer for not agreeing to run advertisements for the Eastown. Bloss and Mohney became partners in 1966 but lost their case. New operators rebranded the Eastown as the Eastown Cinema showing more respectable art films beginning in January of 1967. This also could have been the end of the story, but Mohney returned home to Durand buying the moribund Hi-Vue ozoner while taken on the Michigan Theatre in Saginaw.

Relabeling the venue as the Sceen Auto Theatre, Mohney showed porno chic era films for mature audiences beginning on July 28, 1967 with Libertad Leblanc in “Love Hunger” and Nélida Lobato in “Scream of The Butterfly.” The theater was a major hit in just one season of operation - tens of thousands of dollars poured in between Mohney’s ozoner and his Michigan Theatre. Not surprisingly, legal charges began to pile up agains Mohney’s newly-formed American Amusement Co., the predecessor of Deja Vu. In Saginaw, alone, three different attempts were made hoping to dissuade Mohney from showing films at the Michigan Theatre: one, challenging his license to operate; another, on whether the films were obscene; and, a third, on whether city taxes should have been reported and paid on coin-operated machine revenues. Instead of dissuading Mohney, he started taking his profits and picking up theaters around the state of Michigan.

In Lapeer, Michigan, Mohney took on the Sunset Drive-In Theatre. He set something of a record for being arrested twice in the first week of that venue’s operation and being jailed both times. He then was arrested for failing to have a fence around the theater to protect stray eyeballs from catching a glimpse of the film. He built a fence around the ozoner and was sued because the fence was then deemed to be a safety violation. Then, a Citizens for Decency Committee picketed the theater with the police arresting the projectionist so that films couldn’t be shown. When Judge John Norman A. Baguley ruled that no unrated, no X, and no R rated films could be played in Lapeer, the films were seized making their return to the distributor impossible. To say that the first six months at the venue were litigious is an understatement. Then a felony case was brought in Corunna, Michigan so it was a lot of lawyering up for American Amusement.

Cases bounded. Mohney would be found guilty of obscenity by a jury in 1973 on selling obscene materials. Most defendants would pay a fine or seek a settlement; Mohney appealed even with the Miller v. California interpretation firmly in hand. Years later, that “smut” case was overturned. A 1977 interstate transportation charge associated with “Deep Throat” and “Swing High” was lost at a jury trial and overturned later. 45 indictments of transporting obscene material in 1980 was lost at a jury trial in Florida and all 45 indictments were thrown out on reversal later. Oh, and the Justice Baguley ruling that the Sunset couldn’t even show “R” rated films - also overturned - especially when a “safer” fence was built.

Meanwhile, the uber-successful Sceen Auto Theatre which was renamed as the Sceen Drive-In Theatre in 1969 - began really toying with their ad copy. For “Diary of a Bed,” the Sceen advertised the film as a “XXXXX” film with the disclaimer, “If you would be disturbed by very explicit scenes of full disclosure of the private side of married life, please do not see this film.” The “XXXXX” label was in retaliation for competing venues that used “XX,” “XXX,” and had upped to “XXXX” in order to provide self-labeled “strength” to films not rated by the MPAA classification system. (The MPAA only reached a strength level of “X” which later became NC-17.) Every other designation of adult film was simply a non-rated MPAA film. When Gerard Damiano’s “Deep Throat” played at the Sceen beginning in 1973, traffic jams abounded and farmers - or the farmers' kids - climbed grain elevators and got on rooftops for free looks. It played ten weeks from May 2, 1973 to August 21, 1973.

In the home video era, the Sceen added adult videotapes to its mix. Private Drive-In booths, a mini-movie arcade and other elements were on the property. The most important element on the property, however, was the Modern Bookkeeping Co. that kept the adult entrepreneur’s books. That’s what the Michigan Department of Revenue attacked trying once and for all to end the Sceen and its progeny. Oddly, the Michigan Revenue squad did not charge any wrong doing other than the taxes on coins collected from coin-op machines. Not surprisingly, a jury found him guilty. Again, most would pay the fine or seek a settlement; not Mohney who likely felt this was simply a bullying tactic. After multiple appeals and citing that the coin-op revenue required a cut with a coin collector - and citing that skimming of coins led to reduced taxes going to the state and that the state had failed to provide the defense with due diligence -Mohney would win that case on appeal some 11 years later.

However, in that period, the Sceen left the scene on September 30, 1989. It was referred to as the “Durand Dirties” by radio station WOAP, a desultory nickname that stuck but was - obviously - never, ever the operating name of this theater. Meanwhile, American Amusement Co. had morphed into the notorious Deja Vu operation with locations in over 40 states. Durand was on the map as a major hub of adult entertainment and its founder, Harry V. Mohney, graced the front page of the local newspaper as “The Smut King.” It had started right on the grounds of the Sceen Auto Theatre in Durand. BTW: the Sceen became a golfing range which in the 2020s was known as The Tee Box Driving Range. Somehow, you just couldn’t ask for a much better name.

davidcoppock on November 6, 2022 at 7:53 am

Opened on 5th April 1956.

palilunas on August 13, 2013 at 1:30 pm

I’m researching the history of Michigan drive-in theaters and would be very interested in hearing from anyone who remembers the Hi-Vue/Sceen theater. If you were or are a resident of Durand, a former patron of the theater, or an ex-employee who would like to share your stories, please contact me.

Dr. Peter Alilunas
University of Michigan

alilunas@umich.edu