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Simpson County Roads: 49 Drive-In
By: Andy Baeuerle
Driving towards Magee on Highway 149, you’ll travel through a community known as “Sanatorium,” home to the Mississippi Tuberculosis Sanatorium, the largest TB hospital in the Southeast U.S. from 1916 to 1976. Sanatorium was a sprawling community until the hospital’s closure and the building of 4-lane Highway 49 around the community led to its slow decline. But as you’re driving along and look to the left of the highway through all the brush and trees, you’ll notice an abnormally shaped and very tall metal building. However, this is not just a building. It was the screen for a large drive-in movie theater in Magee.
Opened in October of 1950 by Mrs. Ural Everett, drive-in theaters were hitting their peak in popularity in the United States. Although there were many indoor theaters in Simpson County at the time, a drive-in theater was new to the county and the surrounding area. In the late 1950s, Mrs. Everett turned ownership of the theater over to her son Billy Herbert.
With a large concession stand, a screen supported by two telephone poles, and a 7-acre lot, the 49 Drive-In grew to become one of the largest drive-ins in the Southeast. The lot could hold up to 120 cars, and according to Mr. Everett himself, the drive-in would average 2.5 people a car, meaning a whole lot could accommodate 300 people more or less, depending on how many were in the cars. This could also change based on the number of people that were snuck in through the trunks of cars. Showing movies each night of each week, the drive-in was a big hit for Magee. Mr. Billy Herbert also owned the “Lakeview Drive-In” in Taylorsville. This drive-in did not last quite as long as the 49 Drive-In, but many workers from 49 also worked at Lakeview, serving concessions and running projectors. Mr. Everett also owned a movie theater in Water Valley, MS, as well.
As stated, the drive-in sat on a 7-acre lot, allowing around 120 cars to view movies. However, this lot was different from most drive-ins. Most drive-ins have a projector in the middle of the field for smaller screens. The first screen at 49 was small enough, only made of asbestos siding and two telephone poles. Following a powerful storm in 1958, the old screen was torn down and a new one was built a year later. This new screen was so large that a new projector was needed. The new projector was actually one of the largest of its kind and needed to be placed very far back to be able to cast the full picture. The new projector house was built on top of the concession stand, located nearly 400 feet from the front face of the screen.
Many remnants of the old drive-in are still around today. The land is a residence now, but I got to visit the land and get a few photos. The screen and box office are still visible from the road. The projector and concession stand, however, are on the land and not visible from the road. They are still in excellent shape and hold bits of history still. The old marquee is not visible due to the growing sugar cane. It is still there and is in excellent condition, like it would’ve been when the drive-in closed.
I got to talk to Richard Harper, a man who worked for Mr. Everett. I asked him why the drive-in was closed. It would seem they would’ve grown more popular today, much like many other old trends, such as vinyl records. Mr. Harper told me, “Daylight Savings Time is what ultimately killed the drive-in industry. We would usually start a showing around 7. But after Savings Time, we would start a showing closer to 9, and people wouldn’t want to get out that late in the middle of the week. And on weekends, we would do a double feature. We would start a movie at 9, and it would be 1 the next morning before it ended.”
In June 1989, the 49 Drive-In shut down for good. Due to Daylight Savings Time and the rising interest in indoor theaters, the drive-in industry fell apart. In Mississippi, there were around 70 drive-in theaters in the state in the 1950s. Today, only one survives. The Iuka Drive-In in Iuka still has movie showings and operates Friday nights thru Monday nights. A true marvel was lost, as many generations today will never witness the drive-in. All we have of the 49 Drive-In today is a rusted 64 year-old screen by a highway and the pictures and stories of those before us who worked there or frequented the theater. So the next time you’re heading down Highway 149 (Old 49 to the locals) and you see that tall metal building, just know that served a major part in our parents and grandparents lives, and that it is a remnant of a lost culture.
Quick Story: When you drive by the old screen, you’ll notice a thick patch of sugar cane. There is actually a neat story behind this. Mr. Richard Harper told me the old road to the ticket office went behind the old screen, parallel to 149. Every time a car would turn in, the headlights of that car would shine across the field and in the faces of those waiting for the film to begin or the ones already watching. So Mr. Richard and Mr. Billy Herbert planted that sugar cane to grow thick enough to give some shade for the bright headlights. And still today, it appears this worked efficiently as a sugar cane forest surrounds the marquee and old entrance.
