GOLDEN AGE OF MOVIE-GOING RECALLED BY FORMER DRIVE-IN THEATRE OWNER

Gwen N. Winningham remembers the golden age of drive-in theaters with personal fondness. For nearly 20 years, she owned the Jackson Park View Drive In theater.

The Jackson theater was one of a handful in the area that treated moviegoers to a double feature seen on a big screen and heard through crackling speakers. It was the golden age of movie-going, Winningham says.

The last local drive-in theater still operating was the StarVue Theater on highway 61 North. When the late Howard Bates opened it in 1954, the theater had a capacity of 714 automobiles and the screen was 44 feet high and 86 feet wide, the biggest in Missouri at the time.

The theater was sold to Kerasotes, which took over operation Aug. 1, 1969. It closed Oct. 1, 1983. The property is now home to Fountainbleau Nursing Home. Bates also owned the Cape Drive-In on Highway 61 South, now the location of Harris Truck and Tractor Sales.

Montgomery Drive-In at Blomeyer, the junction of highways 25, 77 and 74, advertised $1.50 admission for a carload in 1968. Also operating for years was the Delta Drive-In north of Sikeston and across from Scott County Central Schools.

Following the nationwide trend, no local drive-in theaters are operating today.

Winningham bought the Jackson theater in 1955 after its founder died. The theater closed in 1973 so Jackson could get a federal grant to build its municipal swimming pool on the theater property.

When drive-in theaters were in their heyday, it was a different time, she said.

"Families would bring their blankets and sit outside. It was a family place," she said.

The concession stand sold popcorn for a dime and hamburgers for a quarter.

"We wouldn't show X pictures or R pictures," Winningham said. "It was a family place. People could bring their children.

"The best night we ever had was Elvis Presley's `Blue Hawaii,'" Winningham recalled. "Cars were backed up all the way to Main Street."

A big playground in front of the screen gave children a diversion while waiting for the picture to start, at dusk. A practice tee for golfers was also popular.

"We had lots of people here on dates too," she said. "Naturally there was some hanky panky going on, but it was all done with finesse." In other words, they were discreet.

"There wasn't any ugliness, no rough behavior. We didn't allow any swearing," she said. "You could bring your child and not be afraid."

By the early 1970s, Winningham said, television began to show movies and the quality was improving.

"The timing was right. The city needed the land for the swimming pool just at the time TV was becoming a competitor," she said.

Winningham, who owns the Brookside Motel, said, "The secret of anything is to enjoy what you're doing. It doesn't matter what you are doing mowing, sweeping or showing a movie you've got to like it."