It may be the ultimate Throwback. An era that was finished now lives—not in huge numbers, but the industry is breathing. It’s not The End just yet. The MGM Lion roars; the Columbia Beacon shines; that Warner Brothers “WB” is coming at you.
The first reel is ready at the Drive-In theater.
“I was mentored by my grandfather,” Ryan Smith told me one balmy summer night. R. A. “Skeet” Noret was skilled in farming, real estate, and oil and gas but also opened a drive-in in La Mesa in 1948.
“My dream started in the summer 2002,” Smith recalled, as he was discussing “eating a char-burger under the stars, waiting on aliens to invade. It was a moment that changed my life, and I began a journey to build a drive-in.
“I had a romanticized experience in my mind—the ‘50s highlighted in movies.”
Law School was the loser in Smith’s version of “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.” His first drive-in opened in August 2003 in Lubbock, and the structure known as “Stars & Stripes” grabbed a sibling in April of this year in New Braunfels.
I visited with Smith, but the three-screen Stars wasn’t exactly how I remembered drive-ins in their heyday decades ago. The concession “stand” was more like a concession restaurant—chicken, burgers, pizza, corn dogs and milk shakes were behind the counter. “Yes, you can bring your own food,” says Smith, who seemed about as neighborly and friendly as the “Mr. Smith” who went to Washington.
What was familiar? The playing of: My Prayer, So Fine, All I Have to do is Dream, and La Bamba—coming out of speakers set up (apparently) by angels in the lobby. I wasn’t 15 again, but the music was—and is—for eternity.
Newsreel
DriveinMovie.com tells us Claude Caver of Comanche came up with a prequel to the drive-ins in 1921.
The first official outdoor picture show in Texas was in Galveston, 1934, about a year after the first pair in the nation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The peak? The 1950s—nearly 400 in Texas, 4,000 nationwide. This morning? The 400 or so may be nationwide, while 10-12 in our state.
In the “old days,” some folks called the theaters “Passion Pits.” I can’t remember why.
Today’s Show
“Grandparents bring grandkids,” Smith advised. “In a station wagon.” That was, you might say, the father of a SUV I guess. Also in the audience: “Teens, college students, tourists—fun to see a wide variety.
“Business is great. People love being together as a family.”
Indeed. There they were: mom, dad, and two kids in the back of a truck watching a movie. “I saw it on the internet,” said a relaxed parent, Jason Bullard, whose family lives in the Houston area.
“It’s awesome,” the host of a Wendy’s advised me when I told her where my entertainment venue was for the evening.
Stars & Stripes shows double features for $8. “People appreciate getting a fair deal,” noted Ryan Smith. “People respect that.”
Colorado resident Michelle Perez, visiting in San Antonio, declared on Facebook: “Wish we had a drive-in like this.”
Sarah Lynn McClenon wrote, “Atmosphere is perfect.”
Magdalena Throckmorton: “Brings back childhood memories.”
But not these: it’s all run by digital, of course, and you get the sound from your radio. The speakers are not involved in this rerun.
“We don’t give up anything to indoor theaters,” Smith insisted.
Down on the Farm
There’s farming in the front and back of the triple screens. Corn and wheat. “Herefords on one side,” Smith adds, “Black Angus on the other.” Modern-day cameo roles.
Between farm and screens is a playground for youngsters—well-populated before twilight and darkness introduce the moving pictures.
The living past
Ryan Smith called the 1950s a “Golden Era, a simpler time, a sense of community—{something} people are clamoring for now. This resonated with me. Since I never experienced it as a youth, I’m much more excited about it when I experience it in a drive-in.”
Some customers “will say they say they saw their first drive-in movie at Stars & Stripes. It will always be a part of them.”
