Family summer tradition

NELIGH, Neb. — Sheri Neesen is terrified of horror flicks.

She never watches them when she can help it. But in her line of work, they can be hard to avoid.

In the summer months, Neesen manages the Starlite Drive-In, one of two drive-in theaters left in Nebraska. With its 40-by-60-foot screen and sound piped through concession-stand speakers and car radios, Neesen usually takes refuge in the ticket booth or the back office.

“I make myself busy,” she said. “I don't even turn on the radio.”

Growing up at movie theaters and drive-ins managed by her parents, Franklin and Connie Johnson, Neesen was petrified by films like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Exorcist.” Pranks by her siblings didn't help.

After those experiences, she never thought she would end up in the theater business.

But now there's nothing she'd rather be doing.

The theaters have always been a family business. Neesen's uncle would buy a theater, then her mother and father would manage it for a few years to get the business going. The first was in Schuyler, Neb., when Neesen was a toddler. When she was around 7 years old, the family moved to a theater in West Point, Neb.

Neesen and her siblings were troublemakers, she said. Occasionally, they would pepper moviegoers with candy from the balcony. For such misdeeds, her father would make the kids clean between theater seats with a toothbrush.

“We were naughty, naughty kids,” she said.

As a teenager, she worked in the theater's concession stands and ticket booth. She remembers her dad's cat-and-mouse pursuit of teenagers trying to sneak in. Occasionally, kids would hide in car trunks or sneak in through the fields behind the theater.

“It was always a big competition to see how many could get away with it and outsmart him,” she said.

In 1976, Neesen went to Northeast Community College then stayed in Norfolk to start a family and work as an accountant. Her parents left the theater business for a while, but after her father retired, they bought the Starlite and the New Moon Theatre in Neligh with her brother.

In 2005, after her father developed Alzheimer's disease, Neesen's brother needed someone to run the theaters. Neesen's kids had grown up and she wanted to help take care of her father, so she and her husband tried managing the theater on weekends and commuting from their home in Norfolk — a 35-mile drive that almost left them in a ditch a few times.

That didn't detract from the rewards of the job.

“My husband really, really liked it,” she said. “He just fell in love with it.”

They moved to Neligh and took over as managers full time. In the winter, Neesen runs the New Moon Theatre and in the summer she runs the drive-in. They also run a video rental store year-round. She usually tries to take a couple of nights off every week, but she's on call 24/7.

Taking over at the theater meant giving up her accounting job. That meant a pay cut, and her husband, Ralph, still commutes about 35 miles to Norfolk for work because they couldn't afford to give up his job.

But the lack of stress at the theaters is worth the lower salary.

“This is more fun,” she said. “ It's more fulfilling. It's just a happy place to be.”

She never understood growing up why her parents were so passionate about the drive-in, but she says she gets it now. Her interest goes beyond just running the business. She's started looking into the history of the theaters, collecting old newspaper clippings and printouts from the Internet. She hopes to put together a display for the New Moon Theatre.

Managing the drive-in came as second nature given her family history, and very little comes as a surprise. She's learned to deal with customers who don't want to follow the rules, often including the ban on grilling at the theater. Last week when a customer's car battery died, she had jumper cables ready to go.

“That happens a lot,” she said.

But in many ways, she's found the drive-in business has changed.

Growing up, she often saw friends from school there while she was working.

“That was all they had for entertainment,” she said.

Today, the Starlite doesn't see much local business. Neligh, a town of just over 1,600, couldn't support the theater on its own, but people come from all over Nebraska. Some even plan their summer travel around the movie schedule, Neesen said. In fact, business at the Starlite far exceeds that of the indoor theater.

On an average weekday, about 75 people come through the gate. Some bring lawn chairs and sit outside, while others stay in their cars. Kids often come in their pajamas, because the double features run into the early morning. Many returning customers come prepared with blankets for cool nights and citronella candles to keep the bugs away.

The theater plays new films, but nostalgia fuels a lot of the business. The theater plays up its 1950s roots with nods like an intermission reel from an original drive-in. It offers helpful hints for moviegoers, including what to do if you accidently disconnect your speaker from the post. Here, the speakers are just for show. Their old intermission reel, the one where the hot dog jumps into a bun, wore out after years of use.

Neesen usually works in the box office selling tickets during the first film, so she often sees the same film over and over during its run, which can range from one week to four or five. She doesn't mind some films — she's still laughing at “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” even two weeks in — because she usually watches in bits and pieces. She thought “Over the Hedge,” an animated family film from 2006, was hilarious. Others, notably the “Shrek” films, got repetitive after 18 showings.

After the second film starts, she'll head back to her office in the projector building to take care of business and help with concession sales. The stand sells theater food like popcorn and candy, but also fare that is distinctly drive-in, like hamburgers, chili cheese fries and chicken tenders.

“It's just good old drive-in food, like it used to be,” she said.

Parents bring their kids to show them what a drive-in is like.

“There's a whole generation who doesn't know what they missed out on,” she said.

And after they show up once, they often become regulars.

Last week, Russ and Stacie Wilken of Norfolk brought their son, Aaron, to see “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “The Proposal.” They first came about 10 years ago, and have tried to come back at least once every year.

“It's something different to do, especially for kids,” Russ said.

Others come to relive the days when drive-ins were more common.

Steve and Jane Johnson of Neligh went last week in their black 1947 Chevy. When they first went to the Starlite in the '60s, they went in Steve's 1946 Chevy.

“When we were in high school, we were here every weekend practically,” Jane said.

While the drive-in might be a novelty today, Neesen said she won't give it up until people stop coming. She doesn't expect that for a long time.

“They're too fun,” she said. “I was always surprised there weren't more.”

Contact the writer:

444-1229, elliot.njus@owh.com