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Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday\/Saturday on <\/em>C-U Blogfidential<\/span><\/strong> and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.<\/em><\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!<\/strong><\/p>\n 8\/1: Jed Brian (actor, GRIM REAPER 3, Moonlight Films, Linton, IN) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said<\/strong><\/p>\n The Report<\/strong> is on hiatus until August or September. Thank you for your readership, CUvians and Agents!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Screens in the Scene<\/strong><\/p>\n On the occasion of the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in<\/strong>\u2019s remarkable twin milestones \u2013 July 9<\/strong>, they marked 70 years in business, and June 16<\/strong>, they reached 35 years since reopening under the watch of Michael Harroun<\/strong> and John Talbert<\/strong> \u2013 we\u2019re going theater crazy in this week\u2019s Calendar<\/strong>. Given the Harroun family\u2019s durability through the thick and the thin facing the drive-in circuit in modern times, as well as the understandable and perennial pleas for their customer base to support local businesses, we decided to look around using Google<\/strong> to see if there were any additional venues in MICRO-FILM Country<\/strong> that made sense to add to our weekly listings. Now, we are four stronger for it! Brand-new are the Clintonia Eagle Theater<\/strong><\/a><\/span> in Clinton<\/strong>, one of three small-town locations in the Illinois<\/strong>-based chain, and the Crescent Cinemas<\/strong><\/a><\/span> in Pontiac<\/strong>, a century-old independent house in a downtown city block. Returning is the VIP Lincoln Grand 6<\/strong><\/a><\/span> in Lincoln<\/strong>, which we had previously included as it weathered ownership changes and money issues, and arriving on the scene despite our previous conviction that all<\/em> multiplexes booked alike \u2013 to a degree, that is still accurate but not<\/em> absolute \u2013 is the Bloomington<\/strong> branch of Marcus Theatres<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n Never returning, sadly, are the Harvest Moon\u2019s fellow hardtops in the area that are faintly remembered after many years. This includes Champaign-Urbana<\/strong>\u2019s two members of the field: the Twin City Drive-in<\/strong> on Market Street<\/strong><\/span><\/a> north of Champaign, closed in 1981, and the Family\/Widescreen Drive-in<\/span><\/strong> on Route 45<\/strong><\/span><\/a> north of Urbana, closed in 1985. We honor them today with a handful of vintage ad mats from the local papers that had been plucked from obscurity by Ye Ed<\/strong> while researching this and that for C-U Blogfidential<\/span><\/strong>. Enjoy, remember when, and be sure to visit the Harvest Moon in Gibson City<\/strong> before the season ends<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n p.s.<\/em> Central Illinois native, actress, model, and stunt driver Cody Renee Cameron<\/strong> is apparently having a good time in her working relationship with Charles Band<\/strong> and Full Moon Features<\/strong>. She and Full Moon veteran Robin Sydney<\/strong> star in their fourth go-round as \u201cBarbie and Kendra,\u201d fun-and-sun ladies who have misadventures involving vintage genre films that have been overdubbed to comedic effect, in the brand-new BARBIE & KENDRA CRASH JOE BOB\u2019S DRIVE-IN JAMBOREE<\/strong>. Debuting on Tubi<\/strong><\/a><\/span> and DVD this month<\/a><\/span>, the flick will appeal to those who love good-natured and retro\/grade silliness and jokes in their viewing diet as well as the presence of B-movie champions Joe Bob Briggs<\/strong> and Diana Prince<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n p.s.2<\/em> The older film repurposed in BARBIE & KENDRA<\/strong> for giggles is RUBY<\/strong>, released hot on the heels of the derided EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC<\/strong> with their shared elements of supernatural possession. Starring Piper Laurie<\/strong>, just a year after her horrifying turn in CARRIE<\/strong>, and directed by Curtis Harrington<\/strong>, an old Hollywood<\/strong> stylist, this offering from Dimension Pictures<\/strong> set partly at a 1950s drive-in owned by the title character isn\u2019t well remembered today. If it sounds like it might belong in a double- or triple-bill on a comfortable night at the local ozoner, your hunch is earned; RUBY<\/strong> received a one-week run in town when it opened at the Twin City on Thursday, September 15, 1977<\/strong>. Its co-feature, as you\u2019ll see from the first Daily Illini<\/span><\/strong> ad pictured below, was the more obscure MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH<\/strong>; both have been revived in high definition in recent times by VCI Entertainment<\/strong><\/a><\/span> and Synapse Films<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, respectively.<\/p>\n
\n8\/1: Cara Maurizi (actress, SWEET DREAMING, Consumer Grade Film Co., Chicago, IL)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n