Summer is Charles Bruss’ season, but hold the sunblock. For Bruss, it’s all about nights under the stars – both kinds.
On most summer nights, you’ll find him parked before the screen at the Keno Family Outdoor Theatre on 91st and Sheridan Road in southern Kenosha. At age 60, it’s the state’s oldest drive-in, the last one in southeastern Wisconsin and one of just 10 left in the state, joining Jefferson’s Highway 18 Outdoor, the Skyway in Fish Creek and Moonlight Outdoor in Shawano. Nationally, 400 are left, down from a peak of 5,000.
Bruss’ mission is to celebrate and save a corner of Americana he first discovered in 1981, at age 9, when his mom took him to Ohio’s Belpre Open Air Theatre. It was a double feature: Take This Job and Shove It and Star Wars. Bruss traces his devotion to Star Wars’ legendary credits rolling off the screen and into the night sky. From that day on, he’s collected newspaper ads, flyers, photos and novelty items, like the barf bags distributed at the showing of the gruesome 1970 horror flick Mark of the Devil. Now a Milwaukee resident, he even worked at Franklin’s 41 Twin for its final two years (it was torn down in 2002).
But the man’s more than a fan. He’s an archivist and historian who maintains a Web site on the subject (drive-inthruwisconsin.com) and is writing a book on Wisconsin drive-ins. It’s not just movies and memorabilia, but a whole world Bruss wants to preserve. It’s the entire Keno audience honking in unison during the intermission snack bar ads, or kids in their PJs walking to the snack bar, or opening night in a snowstorm, with barely a dozen cars in attendance and the screen nearly invisible. And, of course, Hearse Night at the Keno, when Scary Perry and the Hearse Club arrive en masse with a carnival fire-eater on board. You’ll never get that kind of action at an indoor movie.
