Abandoned Mountain Drive Inn ... Even Left the Video Games
Vložit
- čas přidán 28. 04. 2021
- It was June of 1949 and people were all abuzz about an upcoming event that promised to usher in a new era of entertainment
Everywhere local residents turned, it seemed, there were announcements about the impending grand opening of the revolutionary Mountain Drive-In , the county’s first drive in movie theater.
Although the nation’s first modern drive-in theater had opened for business on June 6, 1933 in Camden, New Jersey, Sullivan County was really not that far behind the times. By 1940 there were still only 18 drive-ins in all of America, and by 1942, still fewer than 100. While there were still fewer than 1000 drive-in theaters in the country by the time Mountain Drive-in opened, the boom was underway, and more than 4,000 drive-ins would be constructed throughout the U.S. before the end of the next decade.
The Mountain Drive-In was the brainchild of Dr. Luther F. Grant, a prominent Liberty physician with a flair for the dramatic. Grant formed a corporation called Mountain Drive-In Theater, Inc. and hired D. Fred Hoffmann, a veteran movie house manager from Baltimore, to oversee the operation.
The Mountain Drive- In was originally designed to accommodate about 520 cars and between 250 and 300 walk-ins, who were able to watch from a separate area. A state-of-the-art sound system was installed that provided for a speaker in every car, each with its own volume control. Admission was 60 cents per person, which included ten cents federal tax.
It wasn’t until less than a week before the grand opening that a feature film was decided upon. In fact, one of the last press releases issued by the theater company touting the opening admitted that no film had yet been picked.
“The county’s first drive-in theater, an outdoor arena in which you may sit in your car and view a movie with your own private amplifier, will open on Saturday of next week, it was announced today by D. Fred Hoffmann, who will manage the theater, Just what feature will be shown on opening night Mr. Hoffmann was unable to announce, as arrangements for this are still in process.’
On Thursday, June 16, just two days before the grand opening, the Register ran a large ad announcing that there would actually be “two glorious Technicolor features” shown on opening night. The inaugural film would be “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” with Maria Montez, Jon Hall, and Turhan Bey. And that would be followed by Claude Rains, Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster in “Phantom of the Opera.”
Few if any filmgoers that first evening would ever realize that though it was totally coincidental, it was a tad ironic, that a Jon Hall film would help make history. The handsome leading man who was born Charles Felix Locher had a few years previously spent time at the nearby Loomis Sanatorium recovering from tuberculosis.
After a three day engagement, the initial two films were replaced the following Tuesday by the already nearly seven year old John Wayne movie “Pittsburgh” with Marlene Dietrich and Randolph Scott, as well as the even older Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. adventure, “Green Hell.” The theater’s second weekend would feature Abbott & Costello in the 1942 comedic romp, “Pardon My Sarong.”
It has not been recorded how many people turned out to watch movies “rain or moon” those early days at the Mountain Drive-In, but it was probably substantial, or at least satisfactory. The concept of watching a movie from the privacy of your own vehicle really caught on all over America during the 1950s, and Sullivan County was no exception. While indoor movie theaters were losing favor with the American people-5,000 of them closed down between the years 1948 and 1958-drive-ins were not only becoming more numerous, they were getting bigger, too.
Mountain Drive-In was fairly good sized for a rural area when it opened, but within a few years more and more drive-ins would open that could accommodate thousands, not hundreds of cars. Of course, most of those were in more urban areas, and none were larger than the Troy Drive-In in Detroit, Michigan, which could service up to 3,000 cars. There were two drive-ins on Long Island in the 1950s that could handle 2,500 cars each, one of which covered 28 acres, featuring an indoor viewing area, a full restaurant, a cafeteria and a playground, as well as a shuttle train to ferry customers from one area to the other.
Drive-ins in more rural areas were far less exotic, and were typically built more along the lines of the Mountain or Sullivan County’s only other such venture, the Rock Hill Drive-In, which opened in July of 1950.
“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, the first movie ever shown at the Mountain Drive-In
Music by
Atmosphere - Sad Piano Music by NAOYA.S: / naoya-sakamata. .
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: goo.gl/NkGhTg
I was a projectionist in the 80’s for ten years, the large disk thing in the booth is a platter system. You got the reels for a movie in carrying cans which held 3 reels of film. There were normally 6 reels per movie. Pre-1970’s/1980’s most projectionists had to have two projectors per film and when one reel was finished they would seamlessly turn on the next projector and set up the first projector for the next reel. The platter system ended all that because now you could simply wind all the reels of the film together connecting each reel with tape and put the whole movie on one platter. Then all you had to do was turn it on and the whole film played through only having to use one projector. The film left one platter, went through the projector and wound back around onto one of the other of the three large platters.
The platter system had three levels on it for two reasons. The first was if you were playing an overly long film with an intermission you would use two of the platters for the entire film. You would show the first part set up on the top platter and run it too the bottom one. Then during intermission you would thread the second half on the middle platter through the projector and and run it back to the empty top platter. Second reason is a drive-in usually showed a double feature of two short films. You could put two full films on two platters and run them the way I described earlier alternating between full and empty platters.
I saw someone mention in this thread about the projector having a carbon arc lamp on it but I think that might be wrong. By the time the platter system came out carbon arc projector lamps were pretty much obsolete. Carbon arcs were harder to work with. The light came from two pieces of carbon rod that created a lighted area that burned in between the two rods that could not touch together or they would fuse together. So a projectionist wouid have to constantly monitor the lamp. Too close and the rods would fuse and out goes the light or too far apart and out goes the light. I didn’t see any big wheel knobs on those lamps which is what the projectionist turned to adjust the rod distance. Pretty much as soon as high powered electric bulbs were invented most theaters switched to bulb powered lamps making carbon arcs obsolete. Considering there was cassette deck in that booth carbon arc lamps were long obsolete by that time … even in the boonies. That booth looked like a 1980’s -1990’s projection booth (upgraded still using and housing some much older equipment) and most likely would have a had a bulb Xenon lamp. You were right, the duct work leading out of the top of the projector was to vent the heat (and smoke for carbon arc lamps) from the booth. Those things got quite hot and no venting wouid have had you sweating in the booth in a short time. All projector lamps had to be vented, even carbon arcs, by law I believe.
Oh and the left over film wrapped around the platter’s inner wheel? It was called “leader” film. It was just clear or old film that you taped to the beginning of the actual movie film and that is the part that was threaded into the projector and back out and wound around the platter that the film would run to. You needed several feet of it to thread through the projector back to the take up platter that the movie would be rewound to. The cassette deck in there played the music that the audience heard before the movie started or heard at intermission. You could also record messages and play them telling the audience what you had at the concession stand to buy. Most of a theaters profit came from concession food and drinks they sold so they wanted to get you out of your car or theater seat during intermission and buying something.
Everything in that booth is pretty much obsolete these days, although if you found an old 35mm film you could definitely still use it. I don’t think theaters even use film anymore. They are blu-Ray discs or something like that. They don’t even need a projectionist anymore. Even the manager of the theater can turn a dvd player on. Well that’s all this old projectionist has. It was cool to see all that old stuff again. Best job I ever had although it didn’t pay squat. The theater was alway a magical feeling place. Getting ready for the show and entertaining people. Plus I got to see every single movie in the 80’s as many times as we showed it … and get paid for it. Gold to a movie buff like myself. 😀
Wow that was alot to take in...You definitely know your movie stuff....Thank you for all the knowledge on the film and equipment...I will pin this so it pops up as a first comment...It was Definitely very cool to see....We still have a huge 2 screen drive in where I'm from called the Circle Drive in Dickson City pa and have flea markets on Sat and sundays...Thanks again
Thank you for this video. We use to go to the drive inns all the time in Jersey. My father had a station wagon and we would bring blankets and pillows and usually fall asleep in the back. Great memories!
Thanks for checking it out Albert
Walked to the Drive in as a kid and we snuck in to see Night of the living dead ( original black n white version). Walking back home in the dark was TERRIFYING!!! Loved the drive in.
Lol . I heard alot of people did that
Cool video! Surprised at all the stuff left behind. Brought back memories of my high school days sneaking into the drive-in. I didn't have a car. We used to walk in through a hole in the fence. The owner was cool. He never called the cops.
Lol too funny
Thank you so much for sharing
Thanks for watching..Check out my many abandoned places
I am old enough to remember going to a drive in theater and actually working in one, in Kingman, AZ back in the day. Great improvement on the audio, by the way. You never wanted to eat the hotdogs because they were left over from days ago and had already turned brown from cooking too long on the weeny roller, we used to dip them into some red liquid to turn them pink again and people thought they were fresh!! And yesterdays popcorn was always mixed in with the fresh stuff, it was awful!
Omg the tricks of the trade...so basicly don't eat till half way thru...
Thank you for taking me back to my happier days.......I can almost smell the fresh popped corn!!
Thanks for watching Sheryl
I've only been to 2 drive-ins twice in my life and I'm 50 and both times I had an absolute blast. I went to one in Florida for the first time in my life when I was in high school and a couple of years later I went to one in aurora Missouri.The one in Florida was a drive in and a flea market place as well. @the 12:00 mark those are platters where the projectionist would put the film cause back then the reels of film were huge and weighed in over a hundred pounds if not more and I believe one platter was for feeding into projector and the other was the take up platter reel.
We had a Drive in theatre here last Summer w the Pandemic.
I hope they do it again
I had never been.
Through the radio thank God
Bro it's awesome you are making these videos I'm the guy that bought that Sega off of you a while back. That tmnt cabinet would be worth a ton right now if it wasn't destroyed !
Whats up thanks for watching...have a ton of videos just like it on my channel
Loved the paper with an advert for the band The Good Rats, Tasty!
Enjoyed!
Thanks for watching..Check out my other videos...Have tons
OMG I miss the mountain drive in.Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching Gina if your from that area you will see many videos of abandoned places up there. Please subscribe if your new
Great place & area. That drive in is classic old school. Loved seeing it again. Nice showcase.
Thanks marlo c...watch out for the hornets next lol
Film movies came on 2,3 or 4 reels that the projectionist would splice together onto those large aluminum "platters" from which the film would go through the projector. When the drive in was ready to send the film back the projectionist would cut them apart and put them back into the canisters they came in.
Good to know Thank you.....Guess you worked in the drive ins at some point..Thanks for watching
Thanks for the awesome explore Mike. This brings back old memories. Always enjoy your epic adventures. 😃👍
Thanks Jdexploresfan
Man I miss going to the Drive in
We have 1 right by us....plus one of the best flea markets sunday mornings
@@GoodDayforDecay we had one 15 minutes away from where I live but they ended up selling it to build an unneeded strip mall that is no longer in business go figure
Such a shame that so many Drive In Movie Theaters have gone away and left like this one to rot away! Scary thing is that indoor Movie Theaters will most likely have the same fate with current events as they are! Nice job Mike capturing what is left of this one!
Thanks mike
The town I live in used to have a drive in, lots of fun, now all gone, not one sign of it ever being there......Sad.
@@rdaw33 there is still a few in our area
Stuns me that old equipment is not sold off.
Happens alot in most abandoned places I'm in they leave everything behind
I cannot believe this place is still up! 10 years ago I visited this place and ended up getting arrested after visiting another site. I found a piece of leader film on the ground in the projector room and (against better judgement) took it. Which is why the cops gave us a hard time (all charges dropped to misdemeanor trespassing).
06:32 Now that is sad. Those were still in perfect condition when I was there in 2011.
11:35 Yup! I had a piece of that.
A shame the arcade games just deteriorated over the years...No vandalism just pure decay
@@GoodDayforDecay Oh ok. It looked like they had been smashed but thinking back you did show that roof a lot lower than when I was there. lol
Loved the way you put this video together Mike. All the old clips and then the old postings at the end. Awesome!
OMG that day was so hot... I remember wiping myself down with baby wipes after every place we visited 😂
It was Very hot but was a fun explore...Yeah I couldn't resist using all the old clips
Wow Mike this video took me back to when I was a young mom and we used to take the kids to the drive in here in Ontario Canada. There used to be a small play area for the kids to play before the movie would start so they could wear off some of that energy and be ready to sit still and watch the movie. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
Thanks for watching Cynthia
Thanks for another great video. Beeee safe. 👍👊😎
Thanks Rick
Great video Mike! It's sad to see drive-ins closed up!
Thanks Angie
Just think of all the memories from all the people who went there all those years!......Thanks for the great video.....
Thanks for watching
I'm glad vandals and scrappers haven't done even more damage than I see.
@@rdaw33 only thing left is the metal frames from the screens unfortunately
Man I'm old I remember those so well,lots of fun times.
Please unhook speaker from window before moving vehicle.
Never went to one with radio connection.
All that equipment , couldn't they sell or donate it such a waste.
I remember putting the speaker in the window lol
Allways wondered what a projection room looked like.
Thanks! 👍👍
I never saw one...I didn't realize those huge round reels is what the movies were on and winded them lol
Cool exploration Mike. I use to sneak into a local drive in (back fence) on bicycles, me and a couple buddies would do that twice a month, till I got my driver's license. Lots of fun times then. Thanks for sharing this and enduring the bees and heat. 👍
Thanks frank
@12:24 This is a carbon arc style projector which was another reason for the exhaust pipe so the projectionist wouldn't get sick from the smoke and fumes. And those 2 newer ones use Xenon lamps which were more efficient than carbon arc projectors.
thanks man someone knows his projectors.. Thanks for watching
I like all the vintage ads you put in the video! Seems like eons ago...
I grew up in Erie; I think there were about 3 drive-ins. The one closest to my house is now a subdivision. One by the peninsula is still there. I forget where the other one was. I never went to the drive-in; I'm sad that I didn't get the opportunity. Maybe with COVID there will be a resurgence in drive-ins!
Thank you Kara...Couldn't resist using all the old ads...There is still a few active ones by us...
Very much enjoyed this, into nostalgia. Grew up in Wilkes Barre. Remember WB Drivein which was in the vicinity of Sam's/ Kohl's WB Twp. My favorite was Comerford which is Walmart in Pittston. There were a few others in Wyoming Valley. Keep up the good work
Thanks mark.
We still have two drive in theatres and a seasonal pop up drive in theatre. Unfortunately my favorite one in Lewisville closed down. Enjoyed your video, Mike!
Thanks Sylvia..We have a few by us still open
98° Recently 😲
Yes I have had that happen trying to film my cousins outdoor Wedding. 85 at 10am in NH
This was filmed last year...I have a stock pile of videos lol
@@GoodDayforDecay phew I was worried you had 90+ in April
That ninja turtle game is a classic
A shame it was shot
I'm amazed, so much foliage growing through the asphalt.
It's been closed appx 2 decades now..
Hi Mike, Laurie
Hi Edith! 👋💕
They still have the original amplifiers there for the speaker system that was used before they switched over to the broadcast system that would go to your cars stereo. Those older speaker systems were a PITA to service and there were also issues with people driving off with the speakers still attached to their vehicles. If the wires shorted out when they drove off, sometimes it would blow out the amplifier and they would have a very expensive repair bill! This was the main reason they switched over to the broadcast system.
Good to know...Thanks Truckguy
@@GoodDayforDecay No problem, If you know who wallieb26 is on here, he loves exploring places like this. Maybe you and him could do a video together
@@Truckguy1970 I reached out a while back I never heard back...ive colabed with a few youtubers in my videos
@@GoodDayforDecay He'll probably get back to you eventually. He gets a lot of messages
They are carbon arc projectors