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FORUM
After Forty Years
This Drive-in Still Rocks
By Karen Cornwell
Parma Motor-Vu Drive-in, Parma, Idaho
When
television enlered this quiet,
little Idaho community in 1953,
my father. Bill Dobbs, set out to
salvage his devastated movie theatre by
expanding with one of the valley's first
drive-in theatres, the Parma Motor-Vu. 1
was a freshman in high school and, as we
"rocked around the clock" it became a most
exciting time in my life.
Those were good years socially; however,
business-wise, they were not great
years. In 1960, my husband Dave and I
moved to Lewiston, thinking, "Boy, are we
glad we don't have to run that place for the
rest of our lives."
I've lost track of the year Spanish speaking
movies were introduced at the drive-in.
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but it must have been about 1 961 . This was
the real heyday for drive-ins, and the TV
depression was over. Mom and Dad spent
many prosperous years out at the Motor-Vu.
By the mid-70s they felt it was time to
retire. But every time a potential buyer
came around, Dad would run 'em off the
place. It was 1 976 when we entered into an
arrangement to keep the folks semi-retired;
and we've been here ever since.
One very major change that we made
was the conversion to radio sound, thus
eliminating those troublesome speakers.
Then about five years ago we gave up the
old carbon arc system and converted to the
continuous big reel and the "bulb."
The "heyday" continued for several years
after Dave and I took over. Then, the early
1 980s brought that old downward swing as
cable TV and VCR movies arrived. We had
nothing to do but keep going every Friday,
Saturday and Sunday night from April
through October.
Dad passed away in 1 982 and by then we
had moved from Weiser to Caldwell, making
the commute a bit easier. Mom still lives
out there and is our watchdog.
There's been some great times with the
crazy and neat kids we hire. During our
more difficult times the marquee's neon
letters all went out except the "M" and the
"O." Of course the kids started calling it
"The Mo." At first, it didn't seem too cute
to us, since it was a reminder of "hard
times," but it wasn't long before we, too,
were calling it "The Mo". Finally, we had it
fixed and would you believe it all worked
except the "R"? It was then the "Moe Toe
Voo." With the new highway going in, the
marquee has been moved inward. In the
process, it has received a new paint job and
is
in fine repair.
1 regret having not kept a guest book for
the characters who have stopped by as they
travelled cross country. We've had them
camp in front of the screen and use our
restrooms to get ready for bed.
We commemorated those 40 years with
a special celebration. The festivities commenced
Friday, June 25, when we welcomed
the "Greater Idaho Stampede Run,
'93," which was not a bunch of cows. "The
Crusin' Classics" and "The Heap Herders"
are among the many auto clubs which enjoyed
a night of nostalgia at the drive-in. On
June 26 we had a special party, a BBQ,
which started at 6:00 pm and ran until the
movie, 1 953's "Rock Rock Rock," screened
at 10:00 pm. The second feature was another
drive-in classic, "Invasion of the Saucer
Men." Both films also screened
Sunday.
Sponsors, who supported the weekend
and donated prizes were Inland Coca Cola,
Channel 7, J. Weil Foodservice, The Idaho
Statesman, Seely Drug, Capitol Distributing,
Idaho Press Tribune, Channel 2, Parma
Furniture, and the Parma-Nyssa Review.
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