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those who don’t want to leave their rooms, each one offers views of several drive-in screens and is outfitted with high-fidelity radios to pick up the theater’s FM signal. For the lights-down effect, there are dimmer switches beside each bed. “Look at that view,” Handy says, pointing out the bay window at the three screens visiblef rom the Elvis Presley Room. “That view is fit for the King! That’s three times better than the view I’ve had in my box office for 40 years.” Handy won’t reveal exactly how much the Starlight Inn set him back. “It’s still a work in progress,” he says. “Trust me, we haven’t hit the bottom yet.” Clearly, obtaining a business loan for a year-round motel in Chittenden County, where occupancy rates are the highest in Vermont, is f ar easier than getting one to upgrade the pro-
starlightinnvt.com; sunsetdrivein.com
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w hen peter Trapp, owner of the 400-car Fairlee Drive-In, is asked about his plans for converting his single-screen theater to digital, he doesn’t hesitate before answering. “my plans are to go broke,” he says in a deadpan voice. In reality, Fairlee is the first of Vermont’s four drive-ins to make the switch to digital. As of press time, Trapp expected to have his new sound and projection system up and running for the may 16 premiere of the new Godzilla. But, like that massive, rampaging lizard, the digital conversion of the Fairlee was colossally disruptive and costly. In February, Trapp says, he made a down payment on a new digital projector, which promptly got lost in transit. “God knows where it was for a month,” he says, joking, “They flew it in from Belgium and gave it to the same guy who did those s amsonite commercials.” Like many drive-in owners in Vermont and around the country, Trapp launched a Kickstarter campaign last year to raise donations for the digital conversion. h e fell short of his $55,000 goal and hence didn’t collect a dime. (Trapp has since relaunched the campaign with the more modest goal of raising $27,595 — the amount pledged last time — by may 31.) Ultimately, Trapp estimates the conversion will cost him “every bit of $80,000,” which includes equipping his projection booth with new climate and dust controls, and installing new bulbs, lenses and a sound system. As he puts it, “You can just hear the cash register ringing.” Even after the digital upgrade is complete and paid for, Trapp admits, he won’t rest easy. “h ow long does this computer last? That’s your other fear factor,” he says. “You have to keep in the back of your mind that this might only be a five-year solution for us.” Adam Gerhard and Regina Franz are facing an equally daunting battle in their efforts to keep their theater open for another season. They operate the Randall Drive-In, a 140-car theater in Bethel that bills itself as the “world’s smallest drive-in.” Gerhard and Franz don’t even own the land on which their theater stands; they lease it seasonally, making it virtually impossible for them to secure financing for the digital upgrade. Their last Kickstarter campaign fell short of its target. But as of press time, the couple, who live in n ewmarket, n .h ., and drive to Bethel every weekend to show movies, were nearly halfway to their new goal of raising $20,000 by may 27. There have been plenty of dire predictions that digital will doom the nation’s 357 remaining drive-ins. Yet so far the switch hasn’t darkened any of them, according to D. Edward Vogel, administrative secretary for the United Drive-In Theatre o wners Association. Vogel also owns Bengies Drive-In Theatre in Baltimore, md., which boasts the largest drive-in screen in the United s tates. h e explains that, as with all movie-industry innovations — sound in the 1920s, wide-screen projection in the 1930s, Cinemas cope in the 1950s — the big studios have done little to help small-time exhibitors upgrade their equipment to the new industry standard. A few theater owners have been able to recoup some of the cost of their digital conversion through a complicated system of third-party vendors, Vogel notes. Essentially, the studios return to exhibitors a portion of the money they save by not having to print and ship 35mm films. Bengies, which switched to digital last summer at a cost of $86,000, is part of that system. “w ill I ever see all of it?” Vogel asks of the compensation the studios promise. “probably not.” n or will the Randall. As Gerhard points out, those third-party vendors require the installation of “ridiculously expensive” monitoring equipment, making the system impractical for his small, short-seasoned business. “s o the big companies that actually could afford to go digital got all the help,” Gerhard says, “and the small companies that couldn’t, like us, got nothing.” As for the fate of the s t. Albans Drive-In, it remains uncertain following the death last year of longtime owner paul Gamache. Although a family member hinted that the theater is expected to open on memorial Day, Gamache’s son, Anthony, wouldn’t confirm that prediction and declined further comment on the drive-in’s fate.
SEVEN DAYS
jectors at a seasonal drive-in. The Starlight will be open year-round to capitalize on the lack of lodging in the Malletts Bay area. But sooner or later, Handy will have to face the digital dilemma. For now, he says, the plan is to upgrade just one screen by 2015. He’ll do so not only to capitalize on new movie releases, he says, but also to take advantage of special events being offered to digital-capable drive-ins. They include this summer’s Jimmy Buffett concert, which will be simulcast live via satellite to drivein theaters around the country. As f or his three other screens, Handy says he’ll keep showing movies in the traditional 35mm format for as long as distributors keep shipping them to him. “We want to keep nostalgia alive f or as long as we can at the Sunset Drive-In,” Handy adds. “We’re retro and we love it.”m
IS th E curt AIN rISIN g or F All INg o N VErmo Nt’ S Dr IVE-INS?
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Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , stills f rom the movie set, and short bios of both actors. The Tom Cruise Room includes a poster from Jerry Maguire and stills from Cocktail — through no couch for gleefully jumping on. Only the VIP Hollywood Room isn’t named after a specific movie legend or Hollywood couple. The motel’s biggest and priciest lodging ($179 a night on one early June weekend), it does boast a large living room with a wide-screen TV, a beverage bar and an extra-large bathroom — including a whirlpool tub with jets and underwater lights. The inn’s six dormers have digital lights that flick on at night and change color. Handy will soon have a program he can use to sync their flashing to movie soundtracks — “like Close Encounters of the Third Kind ,” he says. All of Handy’s guests receive complimentary admission to the drive-in during their stay. And, f or
Peter Trapp
SEVENDAYSVt.com
VIP Hollywood Room bathroom
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Unlike those of other motels and inns, rooms in the Starlight aren’t numbered but named af ter legends of the silver screen, such as Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Robert Redf ord, Paul Newman, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Audrey Hepburn. On each door hangs a replica of the actor’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Handy even had the sidewalks leading to each room dyed red to resemble a red carpet. Each room holds original movie post ers, photos and bios of the film legends. For example, the Elvis Presley Room f eatures an original f ramed poster f rom the 1958 musical King Creole, a 1975 “Elvis Live” concert poster, a lif e-size cardboard cutout of Presley, an oversize bathtub, a 56-inch television and, natu rally, a king-size bed. Likewise, the Newman and Redf ord Room sports a poster f rom 1969’s Butch