During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of movie theaters
sprouted up along the edges of small towns in the Midwest – towns that were too
small for “suburbs”. These theaters were usually quite unremarkable utilitarian
structures, in concrete block or pre-fabricated steel. Before the widespread
appearance of cable television in the rural areas, and also before the
appearance of affordable home video, the places served as bunker-like outposts
for mainstream popular cinema. They were all together different than their
ancestral movie houses found in urban areas since the early twentieth century. They were also untethered from the pavement-and-box landscape of the
suburbs.
Big, air-conditioned barns, decorated like the waiting room
of a car dealership, stocked with candy and fountain drinks, providing a rural
community with a connection to the new summer blockbusters imported from Los
Angeles.The
urban movie theaters closed first. Then the outdoor Drive-in theaters. Finally
these rural movie-bunkers succumbed to cable TV and home VHS.
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| Photo: D. Herbert |
