MOVIE NIGHT MEMORIES
Patrons share fond recollections of the Norwich-New London Drive-in theater
— Kevin Gallerani’s first memories of the long-closed Norwich-New London Drive-in was getting there before the movie began with his parents so he could play on the Jungle Gym bars, and “this thing that spun around in circles while you hung on for dear life.”
“All the while my parents where probably having a cocktail watching us,” he said.
Now, 69, the Uncasville resident remembered seeing movies such as the unrated 1966 classic “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” during which his parents made him go to sleep in the back of the beach wagon.
As a teenager he recalls going to see “American Graffiti.”
“I had a ‘64 Chevelle,” he said. “We were all gearheads then, and paid entry for my date and I and in the trunk we had a keg of beer and four other people.”
“We all did it to save money,” he said.
As word has spread recently about work being done on the Route 32 drive-in site, The Day asked readers to share their favorite memories.
Gallerani was among those who contacted The Day to talk about their memories of true love, drinking, deception, classic cars and films — and what made the drive-in such a meaningful place to those who grew up in the region.
Future not clear
About a month ago, former auctioneer Sammy Piotrkowski of Mystic
purchased the 24.9-acre drive-in, which has not operated for decades, for $750,000.
While some have expressed hope for the return of the drive-in, he said Friday he has no plans of reviving it. But thinks he’s found a gem in the property, which he called “one of the nicest contiguous pieces of real estate in southeastern Connecticut, and maybe the whole state.”
“This thing was abandoned,“Piotrkowski said Friday as he stood on a wide open patch of dirt, 100 feet from the sole remaining screen. He said he plans to clean up the land before deciding what to do with it.
“I just thought this would be a nice project to work on,” he added.
Over the past week, backhoes, front loaders, wood chippers and steamrollers have all been clearing overgrown vegetation and trees.
Crews are also weatherproofing one of two remaining buildings on the site, a large white structure marked with graffiti. The other features that remain are one of two former screens and a yellow ticket booth.
Piotrkowski said he is open to developing the property, even running a drive-in if someone offered enough money.
Drive-in memories
Sue Sweet of Waterford recalls jumping into the back of trucks and heading to meet boys at the drive-in, including one night when she split a gallon of Boone’s Farm Wine with a St. Bernard boy.
“I passed out and it was 3 a.m. When I arrived home, I greeted mom at the door with a flashlight. Dad was out looking for me. No cellphones. I remember Mom asking if I had been drinking,” the 68-year old Sweet said
“I answered ‘Mom, what do you think?” she added.
Sweet said she ended up being grounded for a month and only allowed to go to church or the Beit Brothers Supermarket. Meanwhile her mother had her paint the fence, cut the lawn, take care of the family’s horses, and dust the house.
“No phone calls in or out. No more Johnnie,” she added.
Her 70-year-old brother Donald, who now lives in Chattanooga, Tenn., said their parents took them to see movies there in the early 1960s. When he got a little older, he started making his own memories there, free from parents’ supervision.
“It was a great hangout spot,” he said. “It was a great place to take dates. It enhanced my childhood and left me and my old friends lots of good memories.”
He said it was common for one his friends to pay to get into the theater, and then the others would sneak in and find the car so they could all watch together.
“Sometimes we would get caught and tossed out only to find a different way in. It reminded me of the intro to ‘The Flintstones,’ when the big cat was put outside of Fred’s house, only to jump right back in through the window,” he said.
Linda Theodoru, 68, of Norwich also remembered sneaking friends in by hiding them in the trunk of her car and seeing “Star Wars” at the drive in when it premiered in 1977.
“I could not imagine these days seeing a movie like that with a sound system that consisted of a small speaker you hung on your window,” she said.
Joy Merrill, 74, of Waterford, said her house had a strict “no drive-ins rule.” But that didn’t stop her. “One Sunday morning after going to the movies on a date the night before, my mother asked me what I had seen,” she recalled.
Merrill said she had told her mother the name of the movie and described the highlights.
“A long silence followed. And then, without referring to the movie listings in the newspaper, she said that was only playing at the Norwich-New London Drive-In,” Merrill said.
Finding true love
A few locals turned movie dates into lasting love.
Michael Wheeler, 67, of Mystic, said that on July 1, 1977, he took his then-girlfriend Karen, now 64, there on their first date to see “Star Wars.”
“My parents owned the Point Spa in Groton Long Point, so we made ourselves a couple of grinders and drove up to the drive-in. We were the second car in line for the movie that night,” he said.
“We both became great ‘Star Wars’ fans. That girlfriend and I will be celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary this coming May,” he said, adding they now have three children and seven grandchildren.
New London resident Frank Francisconi also remembered going on a first date there with his future wife, JoAnn, on Valentine’s Day 1969 to see “The Detective” starring Frank Sinatra.
“We were 17-year-old seniors at St. Bernard High School,” Francisconi said. “I picked her up in my family’s white, 1960 Ford Starliner, with a garish red interior and an AM radio that worked when it felt like it.”
Six years later, they got married and have been together for 55 years. For that, he thanked Sinatra and the theater, despite the movie being “just OK.”
“I’m sure that Jo and I went to the Norwich-New London Drive-In many times after that, but I can’t remember any other movie we saw there,” he said.