Dear Editor,

I read with interest the story by Chris Reber in Monday’s Times News about the Mahoning Drive-In marquee. My name is Mary Jane (Shirar) Hanson and my father William “Bill” Shirar supervised the building of the Mahoning Drive-In in the late 1940s. Following Dad’s return home from serving in WW II as a B-29 pilot, my parents — Loretta and Bill Shirar — went into business with Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Humphries, a dentist in Lehighton, and Ren Becker and his wife, owners of Becker Building Supplies in Tamaqua at that time.

In addition to the Drive-In theater, the corporation owned the Mahoning Valley Floral Company and the Mahoning Valley Driving Range — both were located on property just south of the theater. The latter two operations no longer exist. My parents managed all three businesses and I have vivid memories of my mother meeting frequently with an agent from Allentown to book all the movies and my dad who supervised the day-to-day operations and worked as well at the drive-in, the greenhouses and the driving range.

I remember as a child going with Dad to change the letters on the marquee every three to four days to advertise the current movie. They used big, heavy plastic red and blue letters that clipped on the marquee sign to spell out the name of the movies. I also remember Dad climbing to the top of the movie screen — yes the top — to change the lights that were across the top of the screen when they burned out. These lights would come on at the end of the movies and during intermission so that folks in their cars could see to walk to the concession stand or depart the parking area.

Additionally, Dad was a licensed theater operator and sometimes ran the big projectors used at that time to show the movies.

It was an art and a skill running the projectors, as the timing had to be perfect so that the audience would not know when one reel of film ran out and another began. The movies in those days would come on several reels of film.

The Drive-In theater was very successful in those years and Dad served as a consultant for the construction of at least three other theaters in the region — as well as one in Puerto Rico. The Drive-In was sold in the early 1960s.

Thank you for printing the article. My brother Bill and I are so happy that the theater continues and the marquee will be rebuilt. We see this as a wonderful living testament to our parents and their hard work.

Mary Jane Hanson

Lehighton