The Lorain Drive-in movie theater has been the subject of many posts on this blog. It's become kind of a symbol to me of Lorain in the 1960s. My family only went there a few times (we saw most of our movies at Amherst Theater) but it still looms large in my memory.
I remember that whenever we came home late at night from Cedar Point on the old 6&2, we always went by the drive-in. My siblings and I would be watching to see if we could get a glimpse of what was showing on the big screen.
Anyway, seventy years ago this month, Lorain Drive-in had a great promotion: a Dusk to Dawn program with five features, followed by coffee and donuts for all who stayed until the end. Here's the ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on September 1, 1956.
The films are a real grab bag. The night started off with a Western, Apache Ambush, at 8:50.
I'd never heard of Bill Williams. But Richard Jaeckel –who was in The Dirty Dozen as Sgt. Bowren, one of the three soldiers who survived the mission (along with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson) is always great.
Hit No. 2 (as the ad says) was a war film, Three Stripes in the Sun, at 10:30. Hey, Dick York – the original Darrin on Bewitched – is in the cast.
The third film that night (which started at midnight) was a film noir crime film,
Over-Exposed with
Cleo Moore.
I just remembered the lovely Cleo Moore because of a role she had in a Joe McDoakes comedy,
So You're Having In-Law Trouble. She played a "kissin' cousin" of Joe's who did a little too much kissing, much to his wife Alice's annoyance.
Hit No. 4 at 1:30 was
The Long Gray Line with Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara and directed by John Ford.
Somehow it just doesn't seem right to see Maureen O'Hara with anyone other than John Wayne in a John Ford film.
The last movie shown that night as part of the package was
Count Three and Pray, a Western with Van Heflin and Joanne Woodward.
I was never a big Van Heflin fan (although he was great in the original
3:10 to Yuma). Oddly enough, over the weekend I happened to fall asleep early on Saturday night, and woke up around 1:00 a.m. After brushing my teeth, I turned on the TV and guess what was on? You guessed it:
Count Three and Pray! What I saw of it was really good, it even had Nancy Kulp (Miss Hathaway on
The Beverly Hillbillies) in it.
Unfortunately, I eventually had to go to bed and miss the ending. So no coffee and donuts for me.
I loved the drive -in as a child, both the Lorain and the Tower, because it was such an adventure, so much more than going to see a movie. Staying up late, being out of the house way after dark, the almost mystical place that was the drive -in itself, the food, and the movies.
ReplyDeleteStrange to think that my last time at a drive -in was half a lifetime ago, August of '91, the Auto-Rama, watching TERMINATOR 2 and POINT BREAK with a couple of friends, both of whom have passed on.
I wonder if anyone actually got to the coffee and doughnuts part, other than the cook and projectionist.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget "Swamp Women" with Marie Windsor and Beverly Garland.Two of the hottest B movie actresses of the "50's.Marie played in alot of film noirs and Beverly played in quite a few sci-fi flicks.And here they are together in one glorious movie.They both should've been nominated for an Oscar and won.Why what is a young horndog boy of the mid "50's to do?
ReplyDeleteBoth of those beautiful starlets have turned up on "Tales of Wells Fargo" episodes, and Marie Windsor was on at least one "Maverick"! Hard to believe Bev Garland ended up on "My Three Sons!" She seemed so prim and proper on that show when I watched it as a kid.
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