In our November issue, I tell the story of the old, and original, Summer Drive-In, which opened in 1948 at the corner of Summer and White Station. I'd tell you more, but I certainly expect you to buy the magazine and read the article, dang it all.
Anyway, I implied that this might have been our city's first drive-in movie theater, though I had always suspected that the Lamar Drive-In actually preceded the one on Summer.
But where was the proof?
Well, I finally found it when, alone in the Lauderdale Mansion Library one night this week, I was looking over a July 3, 1940, edition of the Memphis Press-Scimitar (it's true!) and noticed the tiny ad you see here. Back then, the newspapers would devote an entire page to their movie listings, so this two-inch notice didn't jump right out at me, but there it is — announcing the 1939 film Man of Conquest, described as the "Story of Sam Houston," and starring Richard Dix and Joan Fontaine.
What's interesting — well, to me anyway — is that the ad didn't bother mentioning the actual name of the drive-in, which tells me it was the only such venue in town. And we are left to infer that it is indeed the Lamar by the directions printed at the bottom —"1/2 mile south of city limits on Lamar Avenue." And gosh, look at the prices: 10 cents for children and 30 cents for adults. And — this really makes no sense to me — cars get in free. Gosh, that's pretty generous of them, for a drive-in and all.
The movie posters for Man of Conquest described it as "Adventure Beyond Daring!" So too, do many tales of my own life.
Though drive-ins, then and now, didn't always show the top-rated films, this was a pretty big movie in its day, produced by Republic Pictures and featuring some of its biggest stars. Dix, who had a movie career spanning more than 20 years, was considered a leading man by Hollywood standards, and a quick check of the Internet Movie Database shows that he also starred in a mostly forgotten mystery series as a character known as the Whistler, with such compelling titles as The Whistler, The Mark of the Whistler, The Power of the Whistler, and even The Secret of the Whistler.
Co-star Joan Fontaine, the younger sister of Olivia de Havilland, was a star in her own right, and in fact, the movie ad refers to "Rebecca" but that's not her role in the Sam Houston movie, but the 1940 film that earned her an Oscar nomination.
And since I'm just plagiarizing imdb.com here, I might as well mention that Man of Conquest is also noteworthy because "it was Edith Head's first credit as a costume designer." And it all started with Sam Houston!
Finally, I'll tell you that Man of Conquest must have been a tough film on everyone involved. The director had to be hospitalized, and even replaced when he didn't recover soon enough, and star Richard Dix broke two bones "during the wrestling scene."
Wrestling scene?
