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MEMBER NEWS BY DAVID BINET, DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP, NATO<br />
DOUBLE FEATURE<br />
UNDER THE STARSHINE<br />
NATO STAFF HITS THE ROAD<br />
TO VISIT MEMBER LOCATIONS<br />
Family Drive-In Theatre<br />
Stephens City, Va.<br />
www.thefamilydriveintheatre.com<br />
James Kopp, President<br />
›› The distant voice on the other end of the<br />
phone crackled. That happens when one calls<br />
from the deck of a cruise ship in the Panama<br />
Canal. Jim Kopp, owner and president of the<br />
Family Drive-In, called me to provide some<br />
details for my late-season visit to his outdoor<br />
cinema. He was taking a much-deserved<br />
vacation but still found the time to contact me.<br />
“How much do you think it costs a cruise ship to<br />
sail through the Panama Canal?” No idea, Jim.<br />
“It’s over $400,000! Isn’t that wild?”<br />
The Family Drive-In Theatre, founded in 1954, is located<br />
near the intersection of I-81 and I-66, nestled in the Shenandoah<br />
Valley of Virginia. The sunsets are majestic as the Blue Ridge<br />
Mountains eventually provide shade to the drive-in. Our visit<br />
took place in mid-November, so the sunset occurred earlier than<br />
in summer (around 5 p.m.). Most drive-ins this far north close<br />
down before November, but the Family Drive-In stayed open<br />
until mid-December. There was a good crowd during our visit,<br />
despite the cold weather—close to 30 degrees Fahrenheit at<br />
showtime. God bless the heating system of the modern car.<br />
Ron Graham, an affable cinephile, greeted us upon our arrival.<br />
Ron serves as the drive-in manager, and he was in charge<br />
while Jim was cruising the Caribbean. We received a tour of<br />
the booth and, more importantly, made a trip to the concession<br />
stand. With its alluring aroma of popcorn and carnival<br />
treats, this is the place to be before and in-between features. It<br />
is American cinema heaven. If you order a burger, you can visit<br />
the fresh condiment stand (lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles,<br />
etc.) like you are at a friend’s summer cookout. Ron also<br />
strongly recommended the funnel fries, and we obviously took<br />
his advice. They were incredible, as was the entire experience at<br />
the Family Drive-In.<br />
Following our visit, Jim Kopp was gracious enough to share<br />
some background about his drive-in journey.<br />
What attracted you to the cinema industry and how did<br />
you get your start?<br />
I grew up near Pittsburgh, and my family would make<br />
regular visits to drive-ins in that area—there were 35 operating<br />
drive-in theaters in the area back then. It was a favorite<br />
entertainment option for my family, and my brother and sister<br />
loved it. We had our favorites: Fairgrounds, South Park, Colonial,<br />
Mt. Lebanon Twin, Rt. 19, and Greentree, just to name a<br />
few. (A quick story: My brother and I tried to run away to the<br />
drive-in one night in our metal pedal cars. When we found<br />
out we could not go to the movies—my parents said go ahead,<br />
but they knew we would not go far—we simply turned around<br />
at the end of the driveway.) Later in life, I moved to northern<br />
Virginia and visited the Super 29 Drive-In, which was one of<br />
two outdoor cinemas in the Fairfax, Virginia, area. In fact, the<br />
Super 29 ranks as my all-time favorite drive-in! I hated to see<br />
it go when Costco bought the property and tore it down. All<br />
the drive-ins in the D.C. area seemed to disappear during the<br />
1984–87 period. I therefore decided to photograph and collect<br />
drive-in artifacts, just to document these disappearing theaters.<br />
I wanted to catalog as many theaters before they totally<br />
disappeared. I would take mini-trips to seek out new ones that<br />
I had not visited. When the internet started, I sent pictures and<br />
information to various websites trying to list operating driveins.<br />
I worked as a logistics manager and administrative officer at<br />
the Library of Congress until September 2006, and the Library<br />
knew of my deep passion for drive-ins. I would get inquiries<br />
at work from the media and those seeking information on<br />
drive-ins and would answer them. Therefore, I guess that I was<br />
the resident expert! I got to work on a segment for the NBC<br />
“Today” show and contributed substantially to the Smithsonian<br />
Magazine on an article they wrote several years ago. (One<br />
interesting side note: during the 75th and 80th anniversaries of<br />
the American drive-in, I convinced two major game shows to<br />
include a special segment on the drive-in. “The Price Is Right”<br />
did a final “showcase” in honor of the drive-in by giving away<br />
a convertible and urging folks to attend a drive-in during that<br />
year (2008). “Jeopardy!” included a category in honor of the<br />
80th anniversary (2013) entitled “At the Drive-In.”) So getting<br />
16 / FEBRUARY <strong>2020</strong>
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