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Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Sunday night at the Mahoning was dedicated to one of my favorite comedies ever made; the 1989 Weird Al Yankovic classic UHF.
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Sunday night at the Mahoning was dedicated to one of my favorite comedies ever made; the 1989 Weird Al Yankovic classic UHF.
The special concession item of the night was the snack that George Newman makes for his best friend Bob to cheer him up after he got the both of them fired from Big Edna's Burger World. The Twinkie Wiener Sandwich is a Twinkie that's sliced down the middle like a hot dog bun, then stuffed with a hot dog and topped with Easy Cheese.
Everyone was welcome to come up and spin the Wheel Of Fish to win a little plastic fish.
You could, of course, trade in your fish for the Mystery Box. What was inside the mystery box? Nothing... absolutely nothing!
The cherry on top of this awesome sundae was a group of guys sitting outside of the car parked behind her who would scream in unison "Stooopid! You're so Stooopid!" every time someone chose the box. It echoed across the lot and made us laugh every single time. Angie and I were sitting three rows away just relaxing in our chairs, listening to Vince's DJ set of Weird Al classics, and talking with Tom and Jackson when we'd hear the chorus indicating that yet another Wheel Of Fish contestant chose the Mystery Box.
I won a little grey fish with blue eyes.
An introduction to the film by Weird Al Yankovic was played on the big screen right before the start of the film, which was pretty damn cool!
Finally, we got to see the comedy classic UHF on the big screen. It had to be projected from the digital booth because no known copies of the film on 35mm are known to exist, but for as cool as watching movies on 35mm is, I don't think that this being a digital presentation really mattered all that much to anyone in attendance. The lot was packed full of Weird Al fans and everyone had a great time.
This was our second time seeing UHF at the drive-in as it was screened on August 2nd, 2021 at the We Saved The Mahoning event that celebrated the fact that the solar farm that had threatened to replace the drive-in had pulled out as a result of fan protests. That was a special night for obvious reasons, but since all of the movies that were shown at that event were secret features, the fans in attendance weren't specifically there for Weird Al or UHF. This time was different. In fact, with the exception of the screenings of The Room and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this movie had more fan interaction than anything else I've seen at the Mahoning. The audience erupted in cheers several times during the movie and called back some of its lines, the loudest of which was Gedde Watanabe shouting "Stooopid... you're so stooopid!" at the Wheel Of Fish contestant. I think they might have heard us at the Wal-Mart down the street for that line. The whole night was an incredible experience, and I hope they do it again sometime in the future.
