6/18/2008 by Richard Thomas

(Photo: Paul and Marlys Javener operate the new Stardust Drive-In.)

Once considered a relic of the past, drive-in movies are on their way back, at least in Chetek.

On May 22, the new Stardust Drive-In Theater opened with a double feature of "Grease" and the new Indiana Jones film.

“People are tired of being alone with the TV or computer,” said Stardust owner Paul Javener. “They want to be with other people.”

So far Stardust has been doing well despite the excessively rainy weather, Javener said.

Even with high gas prices, he’s confident the venture will succeed. “During the Great Depression people gave up, in this order, food, clothing, and going to the movies,” he joked. “They had to do something.”

An evening at the Stardust is a relatively inexpensive destination. People start showing up at 6 p.m., eat dinner from the concession stand, play in the recreation areas, then settle in for two family-friendly movies for the price of one. (Children ages 5-12 pay only $3, and ages four and under get in free.) Patrons may bring their own lawn chairs or use the reclining benches near the front of the screen. Or they can stay in their cars (smoking allowed). The movie’s soundtrack is transmitted on portable or car radios.

Stardust’s first customer on May 22 was Charles Bruss, who runs the Web site www.drive-inthruwisconsin.com and is compiling a book on Wisconsin drive-ins. Bruss said promotion is Javener’s biggest challenge. “When I tell people about this new drive-in they’re first surprised to hear that it exists, and their next questions is, ‘Where’s Chetek?’” (15 miles south of Rice Lake on U.S. 53). He said it is essential today for such theaters to have Web sites.

There are 10 drive-in theaters in Wisconsin; three have opened since 2000, and an older one has reopened. Another opened in Wausau in 1999 but closed in 2002, though not due to lack of business, Bruss said.

Stardust is the furthest north in the state. The nearest is Gemini Drive-in in Eau Claire. Northern Minnesota’s only drive-ins are in Brainerd and Warren.

At the outdoor theater industry’s peak Wisconsin had 60 drive-ins and Minnesota had 80. Walker, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Eveleth, Littlefork, International Falls, Pine City, Duluth, Superior, Ashland, Rice Lake and Hayward all had drive-ins (as did Ironwood, MI).

Javener earned his living as owner and designer of cable television systems, ironically, one of the many reasons for drive-ins’ decline. Ten years ago, he began to think about building the drive-in.

Finding a location was the hardest part, he said. The real estate had to be reasonably priced, in a relatively quiet area yet not too remote for people to reach. It also had to be on sandy ground, avoiding swampy mosquito-laden areas.

He found a spot of land amid a stand of 25 to 30 year-old red pines and cleared out nearly 300 trees. The Stardust can accommodate 250 cars.

He also built his own house on the site. All this construction occurred while he continued to run his business as a cable and fiber optic consultant, and the workload was not something he would recommend to anyone else. “You don’t want to build a drive-in in your front yard in your spare time,” he said.

He contracted members from the New Auburn Amish community to build the screen in barn-raising fashion, though their religion forbids them to watch any of the movies. The process took three weeks due to heavy rains, and the builders were transported daily to the site by van, which they can ride but can’t drive. He commended them for being “fearless” of heights on the tall screen.

Over the winter of 2007-2008 family members built the concession stand. “When you drop a screwdriver in 20 below weather it cracks,” he said.

Stardust is a family operation, with Javener’s wife Marlys as vice president, bookkeeper and concessions cook. Javener said nearly all drive-ins operating today are family-owned. “It’s not really that profitable unless you’re willing to do the work yourself,” he said. He also noted mom-and-pop owners are free to become “very creative and imaginative” in management decisions.

Then there’s the difficulty of getting first-run films despite the discount tickets. Javener gets movies through a co-op booking agent (“It’s otherwise impossible to set up yourself,” he said) and often has to provide a hefty down payment. Whatever profit he makes usually comes from the concessions rather than the movie.

In their earlier years most drive-ins provided playgrounds, but eventually removed them as outdoor theaters became oriented for teenagers and adults and insurance rates went up. Stardust is geared towards families and avoids high insurance rates by providing a low-risk play area. “We have better luck if we put in things that don’t move on their own,” Janever said. Instead of swings and teeter-totters there are tractor tires, a sandbox, a volleyball court, an open area for football and Frisbee, and a large purple chalk board intended for kids but which has proven popular with adults.

Drive-ins: A brief history

The year 2008 is the 75th anniversary of the drive-in, as the first one opened June 6, 1933 in Camden, NJ. By 1942, as the United States entered World War II in earnest, drive-ins still were a novelty with just 100 operating. Many closed temporarily during the war due to gas rationing.

During the baby boom that followed the war, the popularity of drive-ins exploded as former servicemen sought activities for their families.

Between 1948 and 1958 the number nationwide ballooned from 1,000 to 5,000. They also grew in size, putting up multiple screens with capacity for as many as 3,000 cars. Some became sprawling complexes with restaurants, amusement parks, other amenities, and crowd-drawing gimmicks. A Milwaukee drive-in, for example, featured a “man buried alive” for three days.

“The drive-in theater of the late 1940s and early 1950s was the greatest entertainment there ever was or will be,” wrote Don and Susan Sanders in their 1997 book "The American Drive-In Movie Theatre." “Where else could you go and see a movie, see the stars, have dinner cooked for you, ride a pony, have your laundry done, show off your new Chevy, or ride in the trunk and feel you accomplished something by sneaking in?”

The phenomenon caused thousands of indoor theaters to close. In fact, movie studios and distributors disliked drive-ins because of their cheaper admission rates. They often charged drive-ins exorbitant prices for high-quality first-run films. In response, drive-ins often ran dated and low-grade films.

Smaller studios such as American International Pictures saw an opportunity and produced films exclusively for drive-ins and “grindhouses,” decaying movie palaces that showed double or triple-features of grade-B movies.

As baby boomers grew so did the orientation of the films, shifting from family-friendly to teen-targeted exploitation flicks. Quality dropped as filmmakers noticed audiences were more likely to be wrestling in back seats than watching the screen. In the 1950s drive-ins were derisively dubbed “passion pits.”

Renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese got his start in the cheap-film industry and recalls this conversation with producer Roger Corman: “‘The first reel has to be good because people coming to the drive-in have to hear what’s going on. Forget the rest of the film until you get to the last reel, because they just want to know how it turned out.’ And (Corman) said it with a straight face.”

With bad movies and boomers going off to rock concerts, college, or war, attendance steadily dropped through the 1960s and 70s. To make ends meet, owners hosted swap meets, flea markets and church services during the day and showed pornographic films at night. Urban sprawl spawned higher real estate prices and shopping malls, and owners found it more profitable to sell the land.

The advent of VCRs and cable television in the 1980s nearly killed off the industry with more than 2,500 theaters closing during this era. Many still can be found sprouting weeds and trees.

Drive-ins kept closing in the 1990s but at a much slower pace, and some new ones started opening. Since 2000 their numbers have remained relatively stable, and 35 new theaters have been built so far during the decade. Today there are 390 nationwide. Distributors have come around to allow first-run films at drive-ins, though with conditions such as longer runs and a second feature from the same studio.

“In previous decades drive-ins were thought of as teen hang-outs...one of the few places teens could be alone in those days,” says Jennifer Janisch, chief executive of Drive-On-In, Inc. “Today drive-in theater owners are finding success by catering to families with movies like Shrek, Spy Kids, and Harry Potter. Drive-ins appeal to families with affordable concessions, double feature admission pricing, and a ‘come as you are’ atmosphere. These things enable families to spend quality time together, in a world where simple pleasures have become harder and harder to find.”

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