SILVER SCREEN GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

Wes Neal celebrates 50 years at drive-in

By Kelly McEniry
Kansas City Star Magazine
September 14th, 2003


From the bay window of his office, Wes Neal surveys his land with the mien of a farmer. In Neal's field of dreams, hundreds of small, gray boxes attached to poles form terraces in the brown dirt and gravel.

It's not the cotton fields of his youth, but this tidy plot at 1051 Merriam Lane in Kansas City, Kan., makes the soft-spoken proprietor proud. He slips his calloused hands intohis pockets and clears his throat before breaking his stoic gaze.

"I do a lot of preventive maintenance, which most people don't do," explains Neal, owner of the Boulevard Drive-In Theatre. "I don't wait for something to break down."

Every day this spry 75-year old man inspects each of the 600 speakers, the boxes on poles that have always defined the classic drive-in experience. A stickler for detail, Neal tests the sound quality, tinkers with connections and makes repairs.

If that seems like an investment of time, consider this: Neal is clocking his 50th year at the venerable outdoor theater this season.

Neal grew up in Arkansas and in the Bootheel of Missouri before moving to Kansas City in 1948. He first worked as a ramp boy in 1954, directing traffic in and out of the theater lot. Over the years he assumed more responsibilities and eventually was promoted to manager. In 1986, he leased the Boulevard after he retired from his day job at a pharmaceutical company. He bought the Boulevard 10 years ago.

Opened in 1950, the Boulevard is the oldest continuously operated movie theater in the Kansas City area. Neal admits he rarely watches movies, but he recalls the heyday of the Boulevard like a statistician.

"A typical summer's night we'd get 300 to 400 cars for a weeknight," Neal says, his raspy voice muted and measured. "Friday and Saturday night, we had 600 speakers, and we would put 700 to 1,000 cars in here by stacking cars however we could get them in."

According to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association, the peak of drive-in mania was 4,063 locations in 1958. Now there are more than 400 operational drive-ins in the United States. In the Kansas City area, there are three: the Boulevard; the Twin, with two screens in Independence; and the I-70, a four-screen venue near the Truman Sports Complex.

Recent figures indicate the number of drive-ins has stabilized. UDITOA cites 40 re-openings and 16 newly built drive-ins in the last decade-and notes the new Moscow Drive-In in Russia and the Beijing Motor Cinema in China as evidence that drive-ins have maintained their appeal.

At the Boulevard, Neal offers a balance of nostalgia and modern technology. He shows vintage intermission shorts but also offers digital sound through the theater's speakers and transmitted by FM radio into patrons' cars. His was the first digital drive-in in the world.

"He is one of the dinosaurs of the drive-in industry-one of the very successful ones, who has, as a matter of fact, evolved," says John Shipp, owner of Cinema Consultants, a film-buying and marketing company that does the booking for the Boulevard.

In fact, Neal's decision after the 1998 season to upgrade his audio and visual equipment raised the bar for drive-in presentation. Projectionist Bob Foster, who is responsible for the installations, says there is a noticeable difference, especially with the digital sound.

"There's much better separation between the right and left channels," says Foster, who also uses the sound system to play pre-show music. While a car's FM stereo is really the way to appreciate this distinction, the true aural surprise streams from the old mono pole speakers, which are thought of as tinny and inadequate.

"With the digital sound, the field speakers sound so much better," says Neal, who has seen attendance swell since the equipment upgrades. "The speakers don't rattle, they don't distort, they're not mushy."

Neal says that's just the half of it. Patrons regularly comment on the picture quality, too.

"A lot of repeat customers tell me that our picture's just as bright as the inside houses," he says, referring to his "custom-built projector lenses."

Criticism of the Boulevard is often hypothetical: Some like the charm of the single screen; others say additional screens would bring them back more often; few think the intermittent trains that pass nearby are distracting-most find them charming and unique.

Of course there's the issue of flooding. Turkey Creek, which snakes around the south border of the drive-in, often threatens the drive-in's bowl-shaped property. During a torrential downpour in 1993, an employee of Neal's nearly drowned after getting trapped in the snack bar.

"The popcorn oil and the fry grease had all come to the top of the water." Neal recounts colorfully: "The firemen couldn't get a hold of her to pull her out-she was like a greased pig. One of them had to go down underwater to get under her and push her up into the boat."

But Neal comes prepared for the occasional flood. On Labor Day weekend he was squeegeeing the concession stand floor after 10 inches of rain soaked the theater property. On that Sunday night, he had one car-just one-on a night he usually would have 400 cars or so.

In addition to being flood-prone, the Boulevard can be tricky to find. Nestled in an industrial area dotted with modest homes and businesses the Boulevard is cradled by the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway and Interstate 35 to the south and defined by Merriam Lane to the north.

A prominent red and yellow neon marquee points out the entrance on Merriam Lane. Clusters of overhanging trees and lush evergreens line the driveway that curves around to the ticket booth, while dense foliage surrounds the drive-in itself, keeping the intimate urban locale hidden from most vantages.

Ed McLain, manager of Quick's BBQ on Merriam Lane, thinks the 39-year-old restaurant and 53-year-old drive-in often bring in new business for each other, especially when people know about one place and discover the other just down the road.

Before the shows and during intermissions, children scurry to the playground in front, underneath the screen. Back in the rows, parents relax in lawn chairs set up beside their cars, or sit on the tailgates of pickup trucks.

Angel and Randal Shultz of Wyandotte County say Neal offers a safe and relaxing choice of night-time entertainment.

"He makes you feel at home," Angel says. "We don't go out all that much," Randal adds, "but when we do, this is one of our favorite places to go."

About the Boulevard


The Boulevard's snack bar and projection booth were submerged in 12 feet of water after a storm on Oct. 4, 1998.

According to Sarah Pierce, a Quick's BBQ waitress of 32 years, Wes Neal eats lunch nearly every day at the restaurant: "Beef on bun, plain, with fries."

The first movie to screen at the Boulevard was "Lady Takes a Sailor," starring Dennis Morgan and Jane Wyman.

When it first opened, the Boulevard boasted a kiddie train, pony rides, a petting zoo with sheep and monkeys, baby-bottle-warming services and fare refunds for patrons who rode the bus and streetcar.

Neal has a monorail prototype from the 1970s stored in a shed on the drive-in grounds.

The Boulevard takes its name from the original address: 1800 Southwest Blvd.

Photos:



Owner Wes Neal props himself against one of the speaker poles and watches as the drive-in begins to fill for the night.


Neal uses his trusty Ford tractor to grade and fill the low spots on the theater grounds.


"Everyone wants to show up at the last minute," Neal says as he splits a line of cars into three lanes as they approach the box office.


Every day Neal makes sure all the speakers are working. His thick leather belt holds speakers that he repairs in his shop behind the snack bar.




Labor Day weekend found Neal doing battle with the overflow from nearby Turkey Creek. "These are my flood shoes," he says, peeling one of the soles back to the heel. The drive-in closes when the weather turns cold, and opens when it warms up”usually before spring.