Drive-in theater is entertainment icon
Prep your popcorn snack and explore the wonders of outdoor movie watching.
Earlier this summer I learned my oldest great nephew Caden has a college summer job at our local drive-in movie theater. It gave me a chance to find out more about the 70-year-old history this outdoor entertainment destination. The Melody DriveIn near Bass Lake in Knox opened in 1949 and has operated continuously under just two family ownerships during all of these decades.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous writings, there are so few movie drive-in theaters left in the U.S. Today, only 330 drive-in movie theaters are still in business. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this number continues to decrease each month from the impact of the struggling economic climate of 2020. In the heyday of the late 1950s, America had more than 4,000 drive-ins, a true symbol of Americana.
“At the start of the season, the quarantine and strict virus regulations strangely helped us, and many of the drive-ins,” said Fred Heise Jr., 46, who runs the Melody with the help and guidance of his father, Fred Heise Sr., 72, the previous owner.
“People were eager to get out of their house and have something fun for a distraction, coming to the drive-in was one of the few options, and it became a novelty, which really helped business.”
What hasn’t helped business is a shuttered Hollywood and the paused operations of movie studios and film distributors. Without “new run” films, Heise Jr. says his patrons have started to become bored with watching previous runs of “classic films” and “fan favorites.”
“When we did this season’s return showings of movies like ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Jaws’ and the ‘Star Wars’ films, they drew decent crowds,” Heise Jr. said.
“But there are only so many previous popular film blockbusters around. We are staying open through the start of October and were hoping for Disney to finally release ‘Mulan,’ which was supposed to have come out in March. But now, Disney has said it will skip theatrical release a go right to streaming on Disney+ for a home viewing.”
The Melody Drive-In has always been an outdoor movie landmark destination. The only other nearest drive-in movie competitors are Tri-Way DriveIn in Plymouth, with four towering screens, as well as Skyline Drive-In in Logansport, and The 49er Drive-In in Valparaiso.
I still recall my parents taking myself, as well as my older sister Pam, to the Melody Drive-In on Saturday nights in the late 1970s to see double bill movie showings, usually the latest Disney flicks, such as a pairing of
“Herbie (the Love Bug) Rides Again” with “The Apple Dumpling Gang.” I remember from my youth my parents taking a night out to see a 1979 double bill showing of “Norma Rae” starring
Sally Field and “The Rose” starring Bette Midler. In our teen years, I’d join Pam and our farm friend neighbor kids Keith and Julie Spenner to go to the drivein on Saturdays, with one of our double features enjoyed in 1984 being “Romancing the Stone” uniting Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner paired with “Top Secret!” starring Val Kilmer.
The Melody Drive-In opened July 22, 1949, launched as a 500car outdoor theater by original owners G.V. Banta and Richard Hand of Logansport. By 1961, it was Edward Heise who purchased the Melody Drive-in.
“When my father bought the drive-in, he ran it for 10 years and by April 1970, he knew I was 22, just out of the Marines, and he wanted me to take over the operations,” said Fred Sr.
“It really wasn’t my plan, and I was already engaged to marry my wife, Louise. She agreed we should do it and the family business continued.”
Through the 1980s, the traditional aluminum metal speaker boxes that hang from the car windows were the favored mode of outdoor movie sound. For a short window of time in the early ’80s, the Heise Family also gave customers the option of tuning into an AM radio frequency.
“During the time of the AM option, there would be lots of crackling when a storm was coming,” Fred Sr. said.
“By the late 1980s, the option of tuning in to an FM station became available, which we use today as well as having all the old traditional speaker boxes as well.”
A second screen added in 1995 provided twice as much opportunity for business on the 12-acre property. In 2013, the family invested in both a new screen after a tornado, as well as two of the new, and very pricey, film distributor mandated digital film projectors.
When the Heise family first purchased the Melody in 1960, the cost of a ticket was 60 cents. Today, the price range is $4-$9. Some of the other most popular films throughout the decades with Melody Drive-In customers include Disney’s original “The Lion King,” “Grease” and “Smokey and the Bandit,” as well as a film Fred Sr. says he had to show so much in 1978, he tired of hearing it: “Cheech & Chong: Up in Smoke.”
Next month on Sept. 29, Fred Heise Jr. has booked a live, inperson outdoor concert at the drive-in starring the popular Christian singers Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman and Mac Powell. For more information about Melody Drive-In and the concert, visit Facebook or www.melodydrivein.com or www.driveintheatertour.com or call 574 -772-2042.
On July 31, 2019, family matriarch Louise passed away, just before she celebrated her 50 wedding anniversary with Fred. Sr. She faithfully ran the concession stand, which is where my great nephew Caden fires up the grill and deep fryer. What began as a modest menu in 1960 of just coffee, soda, hot dogs, popcorn and candy, has now expanded to include breadsticks, cheeseburgers, Italian beef sandwiches, breaded pork tenderloin, pizzas and much more.
Today’s recipe is courtesy of Popcorn King and Hoosier claimto-fame Orville Redenbacher. His “waist watchin’ crunchy creation” was one of his favorites when watching movies and one of the reasons he told me he stayed so thin. A one-ounce serving is just 126 calories with 8 milligrams of fat and no cholesterol.