Route 44 Drive-In
Putnam Pike and I 295,
Smithfield,
RI
02917
Putnam Pike and I 295,
Smithfield,
RI
02917
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The Route 44 Drive-In opened with “the largest screen in southern New England” on August 27th, 1952. Grand opening ad posted.
Did it! (It’s an art project, so I was just able to put the framed photos)
blu_tango would you be interested in posting your pictures on the Sutton Page?
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7800
It seemed similar, but finally I discovered it was a different one, called Sutton motor-in.
Thanks anyway!
d
In looking at your pictures and dates of when the freeway was built I don’t think so. I did you send email on your Blog about the location. Also great pictures!!
Hi, can somebody tell me if this drive in Route 44 is the same as the one in this link: http://reanarose.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/creepy-old-abandoned-drive-in-theater-part-1/ I need to check the name because I’m doing a photos exposition and I don’t remember the exact place of this one! Thanks for the help! d
It sat exactly where the cloverleaf for the Rt 44 and 295 is now.
In the late 50’s it was owned by M. Safner.Stilled parked 400 cars. And no I never worked here.Sounds like a great Drive-In.
I worked in the snack bar at the RT 44 drive-in from 1964 till 1966 while I was in high school(EP). Joseph Jarvis was the manager at the time. Everett McCain and Eddy (klunk) Parker also worked with me during that time. Part of my duties was to clean the trash from the parking area on weekends as well as repairing and testing the speakers and heaters. We were open during the winter weekends during the time I worked at the RT 44. It was a great job, no pressure, and free movies.
I grew up about 3 miles from this site. I remember ther was also a Pet shop (Petland, I believe) adjacent that was also taken for I295.
Gina and Silvana double bill from 1962.
In May of 1968 the Route 44 Drive-In was showing the immortal double bill of Mondo Freudo & The Pleasure Girls.
Hardbop, www.drive-ins.com says it closed in 1968 with the construction of Route 295.
Are you sure that this drive-in was open as late as the early 1970s? We went to the drive-in literally every Friday night from ‘71, '72 & '73 and I don’t remember ever going here, which leads me to believe it was closed by 1971. I also remember when I was a kid driving with my parents in a rural part of Rhode Island and driving by an abandoned drive in. I bet it was this one!
March, 1962: TRIPLE SHOCK-SHOW! “Wayward Wife”…“Girls Marked Danger”…“Outlaw Girl.”
These were really: Gina Lollobrigida in “La provinciale”; Silvana Mangano in “Il brigante Musolino”; Eleonora Rossi-Drago and Silvana Pampanini in “La tratta delle bianche”. These girls were making the rounds not only of U.S. art houses and naughty houses but of drive-ins.
This was a popular place during its not-long life. The newspaper ads all said “STRAIGHT OUT SMITH STREET” so that people from Providence would know how to get there. Smith Street (Rte. 44) leads out to Putnam Pike, where the drive-in was. Because of my life-long interest in Italian films I’ve saved ads of movies that played various theatres, including this drive-in. In 1953 they ran “Bitter Rice,” a hit with siren Silvana Mangano with the clarification “NOW! IN ENGLISH.” In 1958 they ran the rarely-seen “Woman”, i.e. Rossellini’s “Desiderio”…“There’s a girl like her in every town!” It was paired with “Shamed”….“a whole town knew her sin!” I’d love to have seen this double bill here. Both films are completely unfindable now.