Holy Toledo --- What a Show Town!
The Miracle Mile Was Paradise For Drive-Inners
Knew a girl in college that grew up in Toledo,
but wasn't aware of what a showman's Mecca it was until years' later coming
across ads like this one for fabled Miracle Mile Drive-In, which had to be
that town or anywhere's best bargain for entertainment during the 50's. It's one
thing to have a playground, but a Ferris wheel and Merry-Go-Round? And what was
the "Miracle Wheel"? I'm not sure we had even monkey bars at the
Starlight, or a per se playground, for that matter. Live acts at a drive-in could
be problematic. How do you address stage performing to folks seated in a
thousand cars? (the Miracle Mile had eventual capacity for 1,870) "Music
At Its Zaniest" was supplied in this instance by Sanderson and Nanon, who
must have been a local act, if not amateurs, because I couldn't find reference
to them anyplace. Checked record, however, of our outdoor venues for in-person
spots, most notable of which was Tim Holt showing up to the Starlight in 1954 for
meet and greet. Tim had close friends in nearby Statesville and may have done the app as a
favor to one, as he'd quit westerns by then (Statesville Theatre Corp. owned
the Starlight). Back to the Miracle Mile: They had a screen that was 120 foot
wide ... now that's some serious wide. The place had opened in 11/54 with
Cinemascope a keynote (Broken Lance the initial attraction). There was a
cafeteria that for all I know served Rib Eye steak. I'd expect as much for a
site so luxurious as this. The Miracle Mile is gone now, torn down in the late
80's, replaced with a shopping center now empty. What survives are memories
of those who went regular in its heyday, plus fab ads that routinely ran in The
Toledo Blade. I wish I had the entire run of them.
"Drawing" the newspaper ads was always my favorite task of running theaters. Whoever did it for the Miracle Mile was a genius. PLEASE...give us more of them.
ReplyDelete"Sanderson and Nanon" were a hillbilly novelty act: husband-and-wife performers Everett and Nanon Sanderson. They had been members of the Weaver Brothers & Elviry stage revue in the late 1930s. Everett's specialty was playing more than one musical instrument simultaneously, and Nanon was a singer and dancer.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Scott. This is great info that had eluded me.
ReplyDeleteEverett and Nanon are my parents. They were not a hillbilly Act. My dad was in vaudeville before he met my mother Nanon who was among the last to be glorified by Ziegfeld in 1932 she was in the Ziegfeld follies as a pony (dancer). They did a musical comedy act - nothing to do with hillbillies just because they toured with WB&E.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for this info, Marianne. It's always great to hear from someone with family show biz connections.
ReplyDelete