Movie Under the Stars
America living, working and playing on wheels created a demand for a place of Amusement where the family could go as a group in one automobile with no parking worries and remain in the car and thus be Entertained.
Opening-night souvenir program, Leawood Drive-in.
And what was this place of “Amusement?” The drive-in movie theater, of course. Two Johnson County drive-ins owned by the Dickinson Theatre chain appealed to the family market by promising wholesome entertain and modern facilities.
“The Beautiful Shawnee Drive-in” opened in 1949. Located “three miles west of the Cloverleaf on Highway 10” (between Quivira and Pflumm on the south side of Shawnee Mission Parkway), the theater stood on high ground to catch the cool evening breezes. Patrons derived a sense of security from the fenced grounds and from the presence of a resident care-taker who lived in an apartment in the movie-screen building. A convenient snack bar provided treats and parents could keep an eye on their children from patio seating by the playground. Window-mounted speakers provided individually controlled audio for each carload of moviegoers.
A second Dickinson drive-in boasted similar amenities. The Leawood Drive-In opened in 1953 at 120th and State Line and was proclaimed to be the “largest drive-in theatre west of Chicago and the finest in the United States.” On the back side of the screen, facing the road, was a “colonial” façade complete with impressive two-story columns. The proprietors bragged about the “ultra-modern screen tower” and “landscaping and beautification designed by specialists.”
In keeping with the grand setting was a higher admission price than in Shawnee—75 cents apiece, rather than 60 cents, with free admission for children at both locations. Leawood patrons were reminded that taking the whole family to the drive-in “Costs less than a sitter!” and was really better for the children, as “they are right beside you on the seat of your car…under your supervision better than at home.” To further appeal to the young family, the snack bar provided, free, a “scientific and sanitary bottle warmer” for baby’s formula.
Despite their modern family image, these theaters eventually gave way to progress. Looking back on the 1979 closing of the Leawood drive-in, The Kansas City Star noted “the neighbors were happy to see the drive-in go out of business. They preferred to see residential development.”
Commercial buildings now occupy the site of the Shawnee theater. Today most families spend their movie money at air-conditioned megaplexes.
--ALBUM vol. 16, no. 4 (fall 2003)