Throwback Thursday: Let's All Go to the Drive-In

 

I loved going to the movies. I still love everything about the theater. The smell of popcorn. The seats. The darkened room that, as the lights dim, still gives me a little thrill that something larger than life is about to happen. My first movie was probably a Disney. I remember watching Pollyanna and That Darn Cat (both starring Haley Mills). In 1964, Mom took my sister and me to see every movie that was up for an Oscar as best picture. Oh I fell in love with Sidney Poitier.

As much as I still love watching movies in the theater, cars and dating brought much more excitement into our lives. The first theater for the auto-bound was opened by Richard Hollingshead  in Camden, N.J. People paid 25 cents per car as well as per person to see the British comedy Wives Beware under the stars. By 1958, the number of drive-ins peaked at 4,063.

I loved the drive-in. I loved the idea of sitting in my own car, snacking and watching a movie. When I was a teen, my parents would not allow my sister nor I to have a date at the drive-in. I never could figure out why; she never explained. It wasn't until 1966 and Dr. Zhivago.... I actually went to the drive-in (don't tell Mom) three times to see it and never saw the whole movie all the way through.

At school I heard about kids that successfully snuck into the drive-in, so my best friend Cindy and I tried to do just that.  We drove in through the exit...and were promptly stopped by security and sent out. Damn.

When my children's father and I moved to Grants Pass, Oregon in 1970, we were in the monetary range of poor. We had no money to do things that cost money, but once in a while we could go to the drive-in. It was so cool! The babies were in their jammies. The back of the car was down and blankets laid out. The babies slept and we watched the movie. I remember clearly watching Audrey Hepburn and Richard Crenna in Wait Until Dark.  There was one scene where Audrey, who was blind, stuck a knife into the bad guy (Alan Arkin) and then ran upstairs to yell for help out the door. As she was coming back down the stairs, Arkin jumps out of the dark and grabs her. Everyone at that drive-in gasped and screamed from their car. And we all felt and heard us gasp and scream. (I just watched that scene again and gasped loudly when Arkin jumped out. Doug came running in, worried I was having a heart attack or something.)

One of the coolest things about the drive-in was the in-car speakers. They became part of the drive-in in the early 1940s. While it is true the sound wasn't all that great--when you could find a speaker that actually worked--but having it sit on your door and give you movie sounds...it was, well... magic!  

And, if I remember correctly, many drive-ins had play areas for the kids.  I remember swings and sand boxes. Play equipment like slides.

Most of the drive-in theaters were decommissioned and or torn down by the 90s, unless they were used for other things. Drive-in churches. Swap meets. Band concerts. Public markets. The large space accommodates many possibilities. 

Many drive in theaters are still used as park-in theaters. With this year's pandemic, and movie theaters closed, the drive-in theaters are being used well. We can grab a movie and still feel safe. AND we can listen to the movie through our phones or a portable radio. New times tech cool.

So hey! Let's all go to the movies!

And so it goes
peace~~~