Derby Drive-In
Route 66,
McLean,
TX
79057
Route 66,
McLean,
TX
79057
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The reason they called this drive-in the Derby was revealed in a March 6, 1952 “explanation” on the front page of the McLean News. Howard Horne convinced the McLean Jaycees that the town needed a memorable (he didn’t use the word) gimmick.
“(I)f everyone in McLean, or at least a large number of local citizens, wore derbies - not for just a short-timie fad, but from now on - the derby would become the identification mark for someone from McLean, regardless of where that person might be.” The idea was that tourists would stop in town, “ask questions (and) spend a little money.”
I don’t believe McLean became “the Derby City” for long; a search in the McLean News found that phrase used only in that edition. But it stayed a topic just long enough for the civic-minded theater owner to adopt it as the name of his new little drive-in.
One benefit of paying for a kid’s college tuition – getting a login to search multiple years of Boxoffice …
July 16, 1962: Amos Page … left his mother in charge of the Derby Drive-In at McLean.
July 10, 1967: “On the outskirts of (McLean) was a sign which read: "McLean, Tex., the Uplift City.” We found out why … Amos Page … was instrumental in helping bring the bra factory to McLean. … His mother has charge of the drive-in at McLean and Amos makes visits now and then to check on the theatre. It’s open only three or four months each year."
May 4, 1970: “The Derby Drive-In has been reopened for the season under the new management of Bob Phillips, who leased the theatre from owner Mrs. Madge Page.”
Sept. 25, 1972: “Bob Phillips, Derby Drive-In, McLean, Tex., has been transferred to Velma (OK)”
June 11, 1973: “We called on Mike Williams, who recently leased the Derby Drive-In at McLean, Tex. … This is Mike’s first venture in the movie business and, with the intriguing ideas he has for operating the drive-in, we feel he will be very successful.”
July 23, 1973: “In Oklahoma City on film business were Mr. and Mrs. Mike Williams, Derby Drive-In, McLean, Tex. The Derby represents their first venture in exhibition and they say they’re really enjoying operation of the drive-in. They plan to keep the airer open later into the season that it has been operated in the past.”
But that last note came after the Derby’s final ad in the McLean News, and it was the latest result I could find in my search of Boxoffice. I wonder what happened to the Williamses and the Derby that summer and fall.
After spending a lot of time with back issues of the McLean News, I feel confident in saying that this drive-in was always known as the Derby. Its final ad in that newspaper was July 19, 1973.
A few years later, the Cowboy Drive-In restaurant opened in a different part of McLean, which might have confused some drive-in historians here.
I used to unwittingly drive past this theatre on my way to the TX panhandle from Oklahoma City, back when I serviced projection equipment in the early 90s. For the longest time, I thought the old, deteriorating booth and concession building was a chicken coop, until one trip when I realized it was a drive-in!
The rickety building was so small amongst the tall weeds, and there was no screen tower remaining. No ramps or speaker poles were visible, either (judging from the old aerial photo, it looks as though they may have used a central speaker system, since I don’t see any poles).
Also, one thing that kept me from recognizing this as a theatre for so long was the booth portholes were placed the opposite of standard practice – like this: .° .° Looking from the outside, there was a low small port, then a large high port to its right… and repeat for the second projector. Which later led me to believe this may have been a 16mm drive-in (with left-hand threading projectors). If 35mm, the projector would have to be on a riser to warrant such low observation portholes. Or, maybe they were just cut wrong from the start?
One day, I stopped to have a look inside. I got about halfway to the building and heard a rattlesnake, so I decided to retreat and come back in the winter. By then, however, the building had been demolished (what timing!) I did get some VHS footage of the building, and if I ever get another player, I’ll search for it and take a screen shot.
The Pampa Daily News reported that the Derby opened on Sept. 11, 1952. “The new drive-in is located about 1 mile east of town on highway 66. (Amos) Page will continue to operated his downtown show the same as in the past.”
Billboard wrote on Oct. 4, 1952 that “Amos Page has opened the 125-car capacity Derby Drive-In Theater at McLean, Tex.” In August 1953, Billboard added that McLean is where Page “also operates the Avalon Theater.”
Despite those mentions, the Derby didn’t show up in the Motion Picture Almanac until the 1955 edition.
Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list mentions:
As of this typing, I can just make out the suggestion of ramps covered in green along old Route 66, now the north outer road to I-40. Historic Aerials shows it clearly in 1962 but obliterated by 1996. The 1978 topo map still included it. As Kenmore discovered, it’s very difficult to come up with an address that Google Maps likes, but the coordinates are 35.227036, -100.576634.
Because the street the property is next to is unnamed, I could not get any Google address that was close. The property is on the east side of town where I-40/Route 66 and I-40 Business merge.
It’s on the north side of the road, just to the west of a farm and Co 29. It was not a large drive-in, perhaps 100 cars or so. But today it is gone save for the faint remnants of the ramps.