Bengies Drive-In: The Only Picture Show
by Judy Colbert
At one time, there were 40 drive-in theaters in Maryland. Now, Bengies Drive-In Theater in Middle River is the last one standing. It received its name from the community, named Bengies, where it was located, in honor of the 23rd president, Benjamin Harrison (nicknamed Bengie). The theatre generally operates from late March or early April and runs through November. Bengies, which opened on June 6, 1956, is now in their 69th season! “Drive-in movie theaters are no longer ‘passion pits,’” said D. Edward Foley, known as D., the owner of Bengies, and vice president of the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association (UDITOA). “Otherwise, the audience hasn’t changed. Some of our regulars are grandchildren of the patrons from when I took over the theater in 1988.” However, D. has noticed one difference between the generations of customers. Today, many people don’t know how to turn off all of their car lights, including white running lights and the dome light that comes on when a door is opened. Although website directions suggest learning how to do these things prior to visiting or asking any of the employees, they still provide a battery boost to about ten cars per night. He also notes that many people don’t realize they can still visit Bengies in the fall.
“We’re not a summer-only attraction anymore because in-car heaters are available to keep patrons warm during those chilly nights,” D. said. The theater resulted from a partnership of Jack, Hank, and Paul Vogel. Jack was the sole architect for the project and the Vogel Building Company, with Hank at the helm, did the actual construction. When Bengies was constructed, drive-in parking was usually one row of cars and one of driveway. Bengies was built with two rows of cars and one driveway. (Architectural engineer Jack K. Vogal designed and built many drive-ins, including the first one in South America, the Auto-Cine Drive-In in Lima, Peru, around 1954.) Within the following few years, “no one knew how to build them anymore,” Vogel said. However, they could retrieve the Vogel plans for signage, the screen, and even the parking lot to see how it was done. Those plans now reside in the Library of Congress and are available for future builders. According to Vogel, the CinemaScope screen measures 120 ft by 52 ft (6,240 sq. ft.) and is 30 ft off the ground. It is the largest screen of any theatre in the United States. The 16.5-acre waterfront lot has 11.5 acres dedicated to the theater. When it opened, it had a capacity of 1,000 cars.
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