by Scott Wheeler/Publisher VT’s Northland Journal
In February 1950, the Derby Road was still largely farm fields when a group of men began working in a snow covered field along the Derby Road about a quarter of a mile from Derby’s Main Street. What they were building would give birth to thousands of lifelong memories. They were building what would become the Derby-Port Drive-In Theatre. It was located about where Poulin Lumber, Sears, and the car wash are today.
Constructing the Derby-Port Drive-In Theatre
A team of men built the massive movie screen using locally cut, de-limbed logs as the vertical supports that the rest of the frame was built on. Once the frame was completed the panels used to build the screen were secured into place. Come spring, a local contractor was hired to grade the lot.
What's In a Name?
Now what to name the establishment? Although the theater was located in Derby, with Newport located just down the road, so they decided to call it the Derby-Port Drive-In Theatre as a way to encompass both communities in the title.
“We started in February and opened on May 26, 1950,” the now late Don McNally, a vaudevillian performer and drive-in pioneer with Vermont roots, said in an interview recorded leading up to his death on October 21, 1990, by his friend, Duncan Kilmartin. Although the drive-in was the brainchild of a group of men, and there were a number of co-owners, including Mr. McNally, it is Mr. McNally and his beloved wife, Irene, who operated the drive-in, and owned it, for most of the theater’s 35 years of existence.
The First Movie Shown at the Derby-Port Drive-In Theatre
Don never forgot the first movie shown at the drive-in. Since Newport was a railroad community at the time, and many area residents were employed by the railroad, he figured Northwest Passage, a movie staring Randolph Scott, was a fitting film. The movie played May 26 and May 27 to overflow crowds. The admission price was 40 cents for adults and children under 12 were free.
Moviegoers didn’t just come from the Newport–Derby area. They came from villages from near and far and from the farm country in between. They also flocked from Quebec, some from as far away as Montreal. It became one of the most, if not the most, popular summertime activity for the young, old and everybody in between.
Entire families came, young children often in their pajamas. Young couples and sometimes not so young came on dates. Most people came at least an hour early, not necessarily just to get their favorite spot, but also to buy food at the snack bar, or to hang out with friends. Children made a direct path to the playground located directly in front of the massive screen.
Miniature Golf Course
To add to an evening of fun at the drive-in, or a few years, the McNallys operated a miniature golf course next to the drive-in (in the direction of Main Street). The Puttin’ Fun course opened in 1959, according to Mr. McNally
“I always fought to keep admission prices and snack bar and popcorn prices low so that people could afford to come see the movies and enjoy the food,” McNally said. “Perhaps that stemmed from living through the Depression. I would always bend over backward to give the other fellow an even break so they could afford pleasure for their families. In 1980 admission to the Derby-Port Drive-In was still only $1.50 for adults, the lowest price in the United States.”
The Cost of Admission
Although the cost of attending the drive-in was minimal, there were plenty of people who went to practically any means to get in for free. Since children 12 and under got in for free, it was amazing how many youngsters stopped aging at 12 years old. Many people insisted year after year that their child, some of them well into their teens, was only 12 years old.
On the opposite end of the age scale, adults 65 years and older were also admitted for free. Some 50-something-year-olds aged a bit at the gate so they could get in for free. Seldom if ever was the age of any of the people, who said they were 12 or younger, or 65 and over, ever questioned. McNally figured if they could live with themselves, who was he to ask?
Sneaking in Without Paying
Some people, particularly teenagers, went to extraordinary measures to get in without paying. Some were left off on a road that ran in back of the theater property to sneak up over the bank. Meanwhile, the driver of the car paid to get into the theater where they’d meet up with their friends who had come up over the bank—that is, if Don or his roving patrol didn’t catch them.
Others stuffed themselves in the trunks of vehicles and rode through the entrance with the driver paying his or her own way while the passengers in the trunk got in for free.
Amorous Antics and Foggy Car Windows
McNally was known to show up at a parked car at all the right times, or wrong times, depending on how one looked at it, just to see if everybody was watching the movie. One sign he looked for were steamed-up windows, a sure sign that the occupants were not watching the movie.
Many young lovers who got a bit carried away with romance and forgot the movie they’d gone to watch, were brought back to reality by the sound of Don’s flashlight rapping on the window, or worse yet, its beam shining in. Other times he would stand on their bumper and shake the car, letting the couple know that he was there.
The Beginning of the End of an Era
By the late 1970s, McNally and his partners began to see the writing on the wall. There were fewer movies he was willing to show at his theater, and television had taken a toll on the movie industry. He felt he and his partners had two choices—lessen the restrictions on movies they showed or get out of the business.
In early 1985, the men decided to tear down the Derby-Port. They divided the property and sold it all, and the screen that had shown thousands of films since it was built in 1950 came tumbling down on Monday, May 13, 1985. An end of an era had come to the Derby Road and the entire region.
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Vermont’s Northland Journal is a monthly magazine dedicated to sharing and preserving the history of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, often through the words of people who lived it. It is delivered to subscribers in almost all 50 states. Also, we are always looking for new advertisers to help us keep our 22-plus year mission alive.
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Scott Wheeler/Publisher Vermont’s Northland Journal
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