Fred Lynch retired in 2018 after capturing images for the Southeast Missourian since 1975, in that time moving from black-and-white to color, from film to digital and to video. The blog title is a nod to an earlier era of news photography and the 4x5 Speed Graphic: It's more important to be there for the shot than to worry about technical details.

Star Vue Drive-In Theater aerial

Posted Monday, May 30, 2016, at 12:00 AM

The Star Vue Drive-In Theater opened May 26, 1954 in Cape Girardeau. The site is presently Fountainbleau Lodge. (G.D. Fronabarger photo)

Nov. 10, 1952 Southeast Missourian

Will Build New Drive-In

Announcement was made today by Cape Drive-In Theater Inc. of the purchase of a 19-acre tract of land on the old Hillcrest golf course on Highway 61 as the site for a new 750-car capacity drive-in theater which is expected to open next spring.

The land was purchased from Mrs. M.E. Lesem. Grading operations were to be placed under way today to prepare the site. The contract was been let to the A.T. Utley Construction Co. The entrance to the theater, to bear the name Starvue Drive-in, will be about 100 yards south of the Joe M. Lesem residence, the former golf course club house.

The screen will have its back to the highway. There will be space for 250 cars to pull off the highway before they enter the viewing area, it was stated.

A modern type screen curving inward away from the audience, will be employed for better projection of pictures. A refreshment stand will also be of ultra-modern design.

Officers of the corporation are Carle Milne, president; Wm. O. Hipes, vice president, and Howard Bates, secretary-treasurer. They are operators of the Cape Drive-in on Highway 61 south of the city, which they expect to continue in conjunction with the new business.

Read more history of both drive-in theaters in this previous blog:

Star Vue Drive-In Theater

Comments

View 2 comments or respond

Community discussion is important, and we encourage you to participate as a reader and commenter. Click here to see our Guidelines. We also encourage registered users to let us know if they see something inappropriate on our site. You can do that by clicking "Report Comment" below.

There is some confusion is a new one being built or are they talking about the old one only?

-- Posted by Glambagsandmore on Mon, May 30, 2016, at 6:49 PM
I worked at this drive in during its last 2 years of operations and my mother worked at the old star vue that was down by Harris field, the airport.

-- Posted by Cape4Life on Sat, Jun 4, 2016, at 6:50 PM

Respond to this blog

Posting a comment requires a subscription.