Skylark Drive-In

MichaelKilgore on March 28, 2019 at 7:57 am

The Feb. 2, 1955 issue of The Exhibitor reported that 32-year-old Charlie Jernigan had been charged with murdering his wife in the basement of the Ritz in Woodbury. (He said it was an accident.) “Jernigan, who bought the Ritz about six months ago, also owns the drive-in there.”

The Motion Picture Almanac and Theatre Catalog both placed the Skylark in Woodbury, so that was probably what Jernigan reportedly owned, but I never saw that name in either set of reference books.

The Skylark probably opened in 1950 or 1951. An April 11, 1951 note in The Daily News-Journal of Murfreesboro reported that “Mr. and Mrs. Howard Knox and children have moved to Ekylark(sic) Drive-In Theater on Highway 70.”

The Skylark’s first appearance in the Theatre Catalog was the 1952 edition, capacity 85, owner W. Hamaker. By the 1955-56 edition, the owner had changed to H. B. Hancock.

Its first appearance in the MPA was the 1952-53 edition, capacity 87, no owner info. The next year, the owner was N. B. Hancock, then for 1955 it settled in on H. B. Hancock. That’s how it stayed until 1962, when it fell off the list. The Skylark returned to Woodbury in 1966 with a capacity of 200 and owner Maurice Bush. The Skylark fell off the MPA drive-in list for the last time in 1977.

An aside: As I type, Cinema Treasures associates the Skylark with Readyville, but that’s an unincorporated community. I would prefer to place it with Woodbury, the actual town with which it’s been historically associated.

TomMc11 on September 1, 2017 at 1:39 pm

Directly across the street from what is now West Side Elementary School according to Google Maps. Houses are now on the site.

Mike Rogers on June 17, 2011 at 2:38 pm

Yep.I am working in your state to add more Drive-ins.Sometimes these car capacity can be off.