Stories from The Past
William Sinclair
My birthday party at the playground at the Moonlite. I counted 6 candles on the cake making the date of the picture in April 1955. I grew up in Abingdon and lived there from 1949-1970. My family frequented the Moonlite and my parents knew Mr. Fields pretty well as a result. As a family, my brother and I loved the playground which was right in front of the screen. There were swings, a slide painted as an elephant, a couple of twirling rides (seen in the pictures) and a concrete shuffleboard court which my Dad enjoyed. There was a bench at the entrance to the playground with a speaker so you could watch the movie there or from your car, of course.
As teenagers in Abingdon, the Moonlite was a place to go and we went there a lot on dates hoping for some romantic vibes. The 19th hole miniature golf course was built on the hill just outside the Moonlite and was very successful for many years. It was unique as many mini golf courses at the time were 18 holes. When you received your putter to play, you also got a colored golf ball. The stand where all the equipment was kept and you picked up your putter and ball also had a series of colored light bulbs. During the evening, the person running the stand would indicate that "The first person to make a hole in one with a (named the color) ball, would get a free round of golf. I don't remember the cost but it probably was under a dollar.
When we were really mischievous teenagers we would sometimes sneak others in with us in the car trunk. There was also a subdivision later above the Moonlite which you could drive to and park and see the movie playing (no sound). I can remember going up there just to see the final scene of Planet of the Apes when Charlton Heston encounters the Statue of Liberty lying in pieces on the ground. The Moonlite was the only place in Abingdon during those years where they would have fireworks on the 4th of July. So many good memories.
MOONLITE MOMENT by William Sinclair
Have you ever had one of those moments in your life where an opportunity arose to do something you couldn't resist? One evening at the Moonlite Drive-in Theater near Abingdon, Virginia was such an opportunity for my Dad. It started very innocently, as Dad and Mom decided to take my brother and I and go see the epic picture playing at the time entitled "The Ten Commandments.” The place was packed, and the line of cars to the theater entrance stretched at least a mile. We were excited because we loved going to the drive-in. The Moonlite was a premiere drive-in with an excellent playground, shuffle board court, and even a 19-hole miniature golf course. The playground was full of swings, seesaws, slides, monkey bars, and other contraptions that went around in circles fast enough to make you really dizzy. Each playground feature was freshly painted in bright colors and some such as the slide depicted an animal such as an elephant. The key was to get there early so us kids could spend several minutes playing prior to the start of the movie at dusk.
We finally made the theater entrance, and my Dad paid the admission price and in we went. Slowly, we trekked up and down rows of speaker poles finally pulling into the middle of the drive-in but fairly close to the concession stand. The door opened and we scrammed to the playground to partake of the fun. Slowly, but surely, the daylight began to fade, and the yellow and green drive-in lights became ever so brighter. The cars kept coming, and the drive-in was full. The movie time approached ever nearer. The sky was almost dark. People started getting impatient. A sign of that impatience began with a single honking horn, then another, then a crescendo of honking horns. I could see my Dad was getting rather impatient especially after he had to come down and drag us kids from our favorite playground to the car to watch the movie.
After several minutes of honking, the frustrated owner of the drive-in made an appeal on the speaker system. "Folks, Folks,” he said, "can I have your attention for just one moment." Slowly, the honking horns were silenced. "Thank you, folks, for your patience, I know you're anxiously awaiting the start of The Ten Commandments but we're trying to get everyone into the drive-in prior to starting." "So Folks, if you could quit honking your horns . . . ” Right then, my Dad, the only car in the drive-in to do so, laid on his horn to such a degree that everyone knew who did it. My Mom was shocked and yelled at my Dad. My Dad, however, had this great look of satisfaction on his face as if he was the cat that had just swallowed the canary. The drive-in owner even chuckled at the precise timing of the honking event and as a result my Dad started a chain reaction of car horns blaring again.
It was a magic moment, very satisfying. The movie finally started and we were enthralled by the majesty of this movie classic. But today, every time that I watch the repeats of "The Ten Commandments" on television, I think about my Dad and the night he had that special moment at the Moonlite.
THE 19 HOLE MINATURE GOLF COURSE by William Sinclair
Trends come and go in your life. It is humorous to look back to goldfish swallowing, Volkswagen Beetle stuffing, hula hoops, and drive-in theaters. With the modern technology of VCRs, the drive-in theater is an endangered species. I loved our local drive-in, the Moonlite Theater. It kept us entertained with birthday parties, family outings, and as a host for mischief during our teenage years.
The Moonlite was unique in that it also offered one of the "trendy" things to do in little Abingdon, Virginia. That trend was miniature golf. It all started with the Carters down on Highway 19 who put together a mini-golf course and later expanded it to include batting cages, a driving range, and even a par three course. I'm not sure where the Carters got the idea but the national chain of "Putt-Putt" had been in existence for a while and their courses were located in the bigger cities such as Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City. here was even a professional Putt-Putt tour. The Putt-Putt courses were all designed the same and were fairly challenging. The Carters started off in Abingdon as the only game in town and their course was very popular. Their course didn't dictate the "sameness" of Putt-Putt. One idea from Putt-Putt was that you chose the color of your golf ball. During your stint on the course, an announcement would come forth, "The next person with a green or yellow ball that gets a hole in one will receive a pass for a free game.” The balls were colored red, blue, yellow, and green, it wasn't hard to figure out. Some people would cheat and rush forward without having obtained a hole in one. Most of the time, the clientele was honest. Times have certainly changed.
The Carter's initial course was dirt (sand) but to conform to the fancier Putt-Putt courses, the Carters had to pour cement and put down that green carpet. We, as kids, jumped at the opportunity to go to Carters. Once in a while, we would also get a bucket of balls and head toward the driving range. We didn't know how to hit the ball properly, but it really didn't matter. The mini-golf course was designed with a series of hazards from water on each side to the famous loop to loop. It really didn't matter what you scored, and it was just a good time. Often, we would get excited and hit the ball a little too hard and it would land near the Carter's home up on the hill.
The place was always packed full of families especially on the weekends. Perhaps this is what caught Mr. Field's eye. Mr. Fields was the owner of the Moonlite drive-in and very well off financially from the drive-in venture. The Moonlite sat upon the top of a hill. On the west side midway up the hill, construction began.
Curiosity about killed the cat and the townsfolk but we soon figured out that the Moonlite was putting in Abingdon's second miniature golf course. What would be the gimmick? How could the Moonlite lure away the loyal fans of Carters? Try a 19-hole miniature golf course - the only one in America! Everyone loved the idea and mini-golf at the Moonlite was soon luring tons of people to partake of the mini-golf craze. Before the movie, we would head to the course and play a round, what better compliment for an evening's fun. was always the best putter in the family. My brother Randy thought he was as good as Arnie Palmer but he was about average. My Dad enjoyed it too. He was probably the best one-armed miniature golfer in America. A game of golf was fairly cheap entertainment, from 50 to 75 cents a game and if you were lucky and got a hole in one on #19 - you won a free game. This was in addition to the color ball’s scheme but the Moonlite upped Carters but having an additional color - orange. So at the Moonlite, the choices of balls were red, yellow, green, blue, and orange. We opted for orange often because it was one of the colors of my Dad's alma mater - Virginia Tech.
Trends come and go. The mini-golf courses at Carters and the Moonlite are gone now just as the trampoline centers and the bomb shelter sales offices. Putt-Putt still exists at several places around the country and you can play mini-golf as close as Kaysville here in Utah today. Whenever I see one of those courses I think about "family fun" and the age of innocence during the late 50s and early 60s. Times have changed. I'm going to play PGA Golf on my computer now . . . which championship course should I play?