Plymouth, Indiana is the home of the famous Blueberry Festival, where thousands of people converge on the little town in northern Indiana. The Rees theatre has seen its share of ups and downs. After a long rest, the Rees Theatre is getting new breath, with the remodeling that has been taking place. It seems like the whole town is getting involved in its restoration.
While the theatre was in limbo, years ago, I painted this as a token to the town. While traveling from one show to another for years, I chose interesting places that the townsfolk could identify with when they viewed the paintings. The Rees Theatre was one of those iconic places.
The Drive-in Theatres dwindled in numbers, as developers bought up the properties, I tried to capture the images of a few of those theatres. One of the few remaining theatres in Indiana, is the Tri-way in Plymouth, Indiana. It has 3 screens so they can show several movies at once, to bring in larger crowds.
This painting was done at a time before the recent remodeling a few years ago, which included the neon sign. I personally like the older sign, which I captured in the painting. There are a number of the cars you may have seen during the outdoor theatre era.
As you drove to the parking spot, the ground was raised in the front for easy visibility to see the movie. The pole next to the car held the speakers, which could be removed and placed inside the car, complete with volume control. Most people hung it on the window and then rolled it up as far as they could. The biggest problem was the failure to put the speaker back on the pedestal before leaving at the end of the movie, ripping the cord and taking the speaker with them. Many memories were made at the outdoor theatres. They had the concession stand in a building, which also housed the movie projector. Some even had playgrounds below the screen, for the parents to entertain their children before the start of the movie, although I never saw anyone use them.
