Marvin Cox's drive-in theater in south Provo on U.S. 89 is rightly named the Pioneer Drive-in, because he truly is the state's pioneer of outdoor movie theaters.
In the early 1940s, Cox worked in an airplane manufacturing plant in Oregon. He got the idea for a drive-in theater and moved to Utah and opened the Pioneer Drive-in in 1947 with a 30-by-40-foot screen."When I opened this place it was the first (drive-in theater) in the state and one of the first in the country," Cox said. "I think there was a small one in California before mine."
Originally, sound at drive-in theaters was provided by large speakers on top of centrally located poles. Cox, always looking for ways to improve the drive-in experience, invented a car window speaker that is now common at most drive-ins.
For many years his customers were greeted with a free windshield wash. Later, he built a playground for children near the screen, and he hired car hops to provide food service to movie viewers. He met his wife Jeanine when she came to work for him as a car hop. Their family of five children has run the business since.
"We used to pack this place every night," Cox said. "We'd just hang a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers sign up on the marquis and in they came from all over the county."When 3-D movies and cinemascope came along, Cox increased the size of his screen to 55 feet by 110 feet. In 1975, he added another screen and introduced radio-tuned sound. About 10 years ago, he started holding swap meets at his drive-in on Saturday mornings.
"We've been successful because we've kept up with every change in the business," he said.
At one time drive-in theaters dotted the state from one end to the other, mostly along U.S. 89. However, the drive-in theater business is not as healthy as it once was. Utah now has fewer than 10 outdoor movie theaters. Many people who once attended drive-ins now stay at home and watch rented video movies. Daylight savings time makes it difficult for families with young children to attend late movies.
"Drive-ins will fade away because of the law of economics," Cox said. "It's not that people will lose the desire, it's just getting too difficult to make money in the business."
Cox places much of the blame for the decline in drive-in theaters on movie companies. Cox once changed movies about every four days, now movie companies require him to run movies for more than a month before changing. They also prefer releasing first-run movies to indoor theaters.
The main reason drive-ins will fade away, however, is because property is just too valuable to tie up in a four-month-a-year business. Many drive-in owners are finding more profitable ways to use their land. Recently, a drive-in in Brigham City was razed to make way for a new apartment complex.
"You can no longer justify the expense of the land for the return you get in the business," Cox said.
Cox himself plans to get out of the business in the next few years. He hopes someone will purchase the theater and keep it open, but he may sell the property for another use. Hopefully, something will happen soon to make the drive-in business more attractive to investors, he said.
"People will miss drive-ins; it's an experience that every generation should enjoy, and it's an atmosphere that you can't replace. This is a place where you can bring the family or a group of friends and you can all laugh and laugh hard. You can't do that in a movie house, and it's not the same when you do it in front of a TV at home."
This article is one of a weekly series on the people, places and issues along Utah's U.S. 89.
Outdoor movies
Drive-ins on U.S. 89:
-Harrisville, Weber County
-North Star Drive-In, Provo
-Pioneer Drive-in, Springville
-Art City Drive-In, Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete County
-Basin Drive-in