Pilgrimage to Pennsylvania: The Mahoning Drive-In Theater

By Chad Kennerk

On a stretch of quiet Pennsylvania highway, the glow of a towering CinemaScope screen still beckons movie lovers to The Mahoning Drive-In Theater. Since opening in 1949, the theater has remained a sanctuary for film lovers, offering a nostalgic moviegoing experience under the stars—all on 35mm film. That tradition continues today in a space where the magic of celluloid is not a novelty, but a way of life. When the industry made the shift to digital back in 2015, the Mahoning committed itself to preserving the tactile nature of film, eventually becoming a mecca for cinephiles.

For Virgil Cardamone, the theater’s co-leader and programmer, the Mahoning is more than just a place to show movies; it’s a mission to preserve and celebrate the tangible nature of 35mm. The theater’s legacy is deeply intertwined with that of late owner and master projectionist Jeff Mattox, whose vision lives on at every screening. The Mahoning has become a place for fans to gather around shared passions and obsessions through mystery screenings and curated series such as Schlock-O-Rama, Troma-Thon, Chido-Con, Vampyrty, and more. As the Mahoning embarks on another season of mayhem and revelry, Film Masters sat down with Cardamone to reflect on legacy, resilience, and the preservation of drive-in culture.

For anyone out there that might be unfamiliar with the magic of the Mahoning, what makes this drive-in so unique? 

The Mahoning Drive-In Theater is a one-of-a-kind film experience, not only in the drive-in community but in the film community at large. We are the last remaining full-time 35mm drive-in in the world—it's been our claim to fame. The programming certainly is the feather in our cap and draws a lot of people. We're the home of humongous weekend-long festivals. We bring in celebrities on a weekly basis too, but I would say that the fact that we're still running our original 1949 Simplex E-7 projectors every single night is really what has made the Mahoning a film mecca and has drawn this community that has taken the Mahoning to another planet as far as the level of success that we've been able to achieve.

What historical highlights have you discovered about the Mahoning over the years?

We opened up on Friday, April 22nd, 1949. At that time, there was a huge boom for drive-ins in general across the country. The success of early drive-ins and the explosion of Hollywood at that time really gave way to a bunch of drive-ins. We still have that exact same feel from the 1940s. We're an untouched, un-remodeled theater. The only thing that's been touched, which is a nice piece of history, is when CinemaScope became the norm. The wings were added to our squared-off screen and took us to about 110 feet across. A humongous single CinemaScope screen drive-in is incredibly rare. 

Most drive-ins have been renovated, where multiple screens were put in to bank on or to compete with the boom of the multiplex. The Mahoning is very much an untouched piece of history. As Jeff always said, “It's a living museum.” We work very hard to not only preserve the equipment and the experience here but also to preserve the art of projection and the role of a projectionist, which is another huge claim to fame for us. This place is very much steeped in nostalgia because it's a drive-in, but we might be the most nostalgic drive-in in that our programming is always classic and retro, and the format is just the way you would have seen it up until the digital shift in 2015.

Given the 35mm focus, the Mahoning screens retro content that audiences aren’t likely to see elsewhere, at least not on the big screen.

We took our show on the road this off-season and started the Mahoning Road Show, which was all about taking the love of the drive-in culture and the love of 35mm presentation and bringing it to indoor houses that have the ability and are also doing their part to show 35mm—whether it's once a year or once a week. It's been really nice to become mouthpieces for 35mm and the drive-in experience in general. 

With the success of Al Monelli’s At the Drive-in documentary and our podcast, it's been a real gift and calling. I can't help but feel this destined pull every single time that we're out there doing our thing. If there weren't people like us, theaters like us, and places that we go to visit, this would be a dead medium. Converting people into having an understanding of why 35mm preservation and presentation is so important is just as essential as preserving the drive-in culture and patronizing drive-ins.

Film Masters and The Mahoning are very much aligned in that mission of preserving archival film elements and reviving films that have been dormant for decades. The Mahoning has a number of popular ongoing series, along with other special things coming up this summer.

We came in around 2014, myself and Matt McClanahan, who now runs and owns Shankweiler's Drive-In down the road. I was in some bands at the time and had grown up on a stage. We had this idea, ‘Let's make this like a rock concert. Give people an event poster to take home and an event t-shirt. Let’s try to make this more than a night out at the movies. It’s an event.’ Every year it has gotten bigger and bigger with the layers that we add to keep raising our bar. It certainly started with the event merch, which is a humongous part of our business. Every single weekend, you can come and also get an event t-shirt or poster done by incredible local artists. 

We started early on with Zombie-Fest, Camp Blood, and with Exhumed Films. They were, I think, our earliest big events. We were showing double features traditionally, and that took it to triple features, connected throughout the weekend. Quickly off of that was Universal Monster Mash, which has become a humongous pull. Every year we open with a The Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka double feature, which we've been doing for nine years of our 11-year retro run. If something works, we’re really big on bringing it back and allowing it to build. That’s very much the case with our David Lynch event and our Muppets/Henson event. 

We connected with Joel Hodgson, who's the creator of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), and put on a Mystery Science Theater fan event. We locked in year number two with Joel, and we're also bringing out Jonah Ray, who's the host of the new Mystery Science Theater revival. It's really become this home for fan events and a space to gather with like-minded fans, whether it's Hitchcock, Rocky Horror, Muppets, or the Coen Brothers. Every single weekend has become an event in some sense. There are a ton, but those are just a few that are certainly returning this year.

You have also partnered with Severin Films and with the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) — where many of Film Masters’ restorations can be booked via DCP.

Something Weird and AGFA are a push this year. We have made such a wave in the film community that it allowed us to do this road show, which means we're connecting with more and more people and making more friends. Our favorite thing is to bring in an entity and shine a light on them or let them take over and do their thing on the lot. Our biggest event every year is called VHS-Fest, which is crazy for a 35mm drive-in. Our biggest event is showing VHS tapes on a massive screen, but it’s a cultural movement, like the Mahoning itself. People travel across the country to be with their people, to shop for VHS, get their rarities, and fill their hearts with this nostalgia. It goes down the line with all these partnerships. 

We are huge physical media fans, so being able to partner with Severin, who have put out so many “Mahoning” titles and things that we play. That was a no-brainer. We've had a partnership with AGFA for a couple of years, and they connected us to Something Weird, which for such a physical media videostore nerd like myself, is like bringing gods onto the lot. That's bigger than some of these gigantic guests that we've gotten. The fact that we have Lisa and the whole team coming out is really special. I think that's what’s most exciting about what the Mahoning does with its programming, because you never know what you're going to see on the lot. You never know who's going to send us an introduction to a movie. Every single night it seems like there is some crazy level of support going on. We're blessed in that way.

Of course concessions are synonymous with the drive-in experience. What are some of your specialties—things you’ve had in previous seasons that are coming back and unique items in the queue for this season?

Just like the merchandise, the secret to our success has been themed food items that are such a draw. It's as much of a draw for people sometimes as the movies. You can come and watch zombie movies, but isn't it better while eating a zombie burger or something themed? Every single night we will try to theme something to the movies. We had our ‘Hitchcock Till You Drop!’ and The Birds was in there, so we did a Tippi Chickie Sandwich, a little nod to actress Tippi Hedren. We're playing Coen Brothers, so you know we're going to have a faux White Russian in a custom Mahoning cup. 

That’s another added aspect to the fandom. ‘Momma-Beth’ Muller, our concession manager, has taken this thing to another level. We started with offering specials for years, but now it has become an art form and something that people really do look forward to when they get here, which is great. The biggest sell for me as the owner now is that this is such a familial business. People come to get to see us as well as the movies. They know us by name because of the podcast, the documentary, and the fact that they’re here so often. That's really my heart and passion—the community aspect of this. 

When I go on the road, it’s clear that every single town had a drive-in at one point, and it was an essential escape for people. Now that there is nothing that we all do together, it's really important that we try to preserve these community spaces and safe places where people can go and escape the madness of the world. Showing movies is amazing, but giving people that in this day and age is maybe the greatest unexpected gift. We feel very lucky to have that. Our community is what keeps us sane here.

Fans and movie lovers that don’t have that kind of space in their communities need to make their pilgrimage out to you.

We're a mecca. We go out to these conventions that are fairly close and promote the theater. People are like, “I've been following you for 10 years. I'm going to get there one day.” I'm like, “You're an hour away!” It's one of those things where ‘that event’ is going to capture you, ‘that guest’ is coming to visit, and it's going to be like, ‘Okay, I'm making this happen.’ It’s really great that it continues to grow every single year. This kind of wave that the pandemic brought on for drive-ins has subsided for a lot of them, but it's been this progressive growth for us. We feel so lucky, in this industry, to be an example that people can point to and say that the culture is alive and well.

The Mahoning is a great example of ways to build and maintain the drive-in culture and how to do that successfully.

It’s the punk rock mentality where people always say, “Are you worried about somebody recreating what you do?” I'm like, “It would be the dumbest business move for anybody.” It makes no sense on a financial level to ship prints across the country. What goes into running physical film is crazy, but the reason we've been able to do it is because of this gradual growth and this ability to have these key things fall into place that I look at as very much destined to our story. 

There are so many things that happened along the way on this roller coaster. At one point, we were almost bought out by a solar panel farm. It's really endless, but I think it really does show the love and passion that we have and that people have for the place. It continues to just balloon every year. I feel very lucky. It's a wonderful little niche community that seems to grow every single year. It's been a ride, but we're feeling really good. We're hoping that the future continues to be bright.