ANSWER: Drive-ins that have closed often have clock trailers lying about, however, with extremely rare exceptions, they are usually in the same shape as yours. Many are 20 - 30 years old and they've simply been run to pieces. The flow of new trailers into many drive-in theatres stopped sometime in the 70s.

It's pointless for an operating drive-in to pursue used clock trailers as it only delays the inevitable. Aging film stocks, when placed into grind service, rapidly deteriorate and quickly become just as shoddy as the film being replaced. If that weren't bad enough, yet another classic reel will have been trashed in the process. Your theatre will eventually need a new intermission film.

Most of the films in my collection were aquired in the 70s, when many of them were less than 10 years old. Thus, they were spared 20 years of projection. However, they are not for sale for the same reason...they are intact, and as such, they are rare.

No, the only answer to your dilemma is the owner of the theatre will simply have to shell out the $550 for a new 10-minute clock from Filmack or Cinema Concepts.

When you spread this expense over the several years of use that you will get, and consider the income-generating potential the trailers have, it is an extremely profitable investment that actually pays for itself. There's no reason for a drive-in not to have a decent intermission clock. (And trailer prices won't be going down, either, so now's the time.)

Maybe one way to get the owner's attention is to stop running the clock altogether and watch concession sales drop. If the film's prone to falling apart during projection, I sure wouldn't put my reputation as a projectionist on it!

Filmack still offers brand new prints of many of their classic clocks. Only today, you get a print that's on good stock and is Photo-Garded, which resists scratching, wear and tear. It's a very good buy.

The drive-in I operated this year had one such film. I ran it on both the carbon arc and xenon machines, too. The print was several years old but, due to the Photo-Garding, it is as scratch-free and colorful as the day it was bought.

QUESTION: I am interested in your collection of clocks. Do you happen to have a version on 16mm film?

ANSWER: Sorry, there's no such animal. Since you can nearly count the number of drive-ins that ran 16mm on one hand, intermission clocks were not commercially produced in that format. Of course, you could always have a 16mm reduction print made, but that would cost thousands!

QUESTION: I have a large number of in-car speakers that I am interested in selling. Would you, or would you know of anyone, that would be interested in purchasing them?

ANSWER: If you are selling them for a fair price, I will keep you in mind. By fair price, I mean $5 for a complete and working speaker and certainly no more than $10 for one in outstanding condition. However, please know that I do not usually get into this sort of thing with people outside the business. It's an all too common occurance for someone to be selling drive-in speakers for $50 apiece, when a brand new one from the manufacturer goes for less than $20.

QUESTION: Can you give me the name and address of the manufacturer where I can buy a new drive-in speaker?

ANSWER: Sorry, they only sell to theatres in bulk. Offer to buy one from your local drive-in. They're usually agreeable to this as they figure they could just as easily lose it to theft. You're nice enough to offer to pay for it.