DRIVE-IN MOVIE MEMORIES ON PBS

[gregg75]

This show is from 2003, but I had never seen it.

Looks like they invented many gadgets to make the Drive-In experience better (small
heaters/air conditioning hoses, rain hoods to put over the top of your windshield, mosquito
coils and nets). Some Drive-Ins had gimics to get folks to come in. The only one I recall
are those that had playgrounds for the kids to use before the movie.

All those old snack and Thanks You film clips from back in the day are in the program. They
made just as much money off the food as they from the admission. Some Drive-Ins catered
to teenagers while others were more family oriented or into monster, beach or western movies.

I remember a few Drive-Ins would play Top-40 records on the speakers before the show and
they were often better than the regular radio. I don't ever remember mosquitos being a problem
though. Later Drive-Ins broadcast over the car radio because that was much cheaper. The VCR
really killed the Drive-Ins.

Do you have a Drive-In experience or thought?

 

[landtuna]

I grew up in Tucson and we had about a dozen drive-ins then. Most were single screens and they did a booming business on weekends because of our good weather - even in winter. When my sisters and I were small they'd put us in PJ's before heading off to the movies and usually after the first movie ended and mandatory trip to the snack bar we were fast asleep in the back of our big old 1950's sled. Sometimes my dad would park the car backwards and while they sat outside in lawn chairs we'd watch the movie laying on the package shelf over the rear seat. Later, when we got our Rambler station wagon we'd just drop the tailgate.

It was a great meeting place for teens. When me and most of my friends had motorcycles we'd all go and park in the very front row. It made it lots easier for girls to find us. We would wander from car to car during the movies. I can't remember ever watching one movie from start to finish. Every once in awhile they would have a triple feature for $1 per carload. We'd stuff 4-5 kids in the trunk (remember, this was in the 50's when trunks were BIG) and another 3-4 in the back seat and 3 more in the front and go watch movies for one buck. We had so many kids in the car one time the car high-centered on the parking spot and we all had to pile out and lift it off (to the applause and horn-honking of all the cars behind us).

After I married and had kids we used to go in my Chevy El Camino. I'd put a cooler full of drinks and a bag of snacks in the back along with a couple lawn chairs and sleeping bags for the kids. Wifey and I would climb in the lawn chairs - most comfortable movie chairs in the world. Cheap night out for young married - no babysitters required.

I still remember the smell of the snack bar. No matter which one you went to they all smelled the same. Not unpleasant but sort of a weird smell - the hot dogs I think.

Oh....in the 50's a lot of cars still had spotlights (like cop cars do now). When the people got impatient for the movie to start (or someone just felt like being a jerk) they'd shine the spotlight on the screen and someone else would then play "chase the light". Eventually you'd have 5-6 lights on the screen chasing each other around. They'd usually stop when others tired of the game and began honking. That was a universal signal.....honking. It either meant start or stop depending upon what you were doing at the time.

Then there were the cars in the back rows. Nobody got in and nobody got out and the windows were steamed up. Those were the ones we'd sneak up on and toss cherry bombs underneath. Followed shortly by screaming, the car moving a lot and lots of cussing from the male. ;D

Ah....the memories!

 

[azumanga]

I remember a few Drive-Ins would play Top-40 records on the speakers before the show and
they were often better than the regular radio.

I remember in the early-1980s when our local drive-in played what seemed to be a special top-40 music program sponsored by Coca-Cola before the first feature -- funny thing was that the program came from around 1975 or 1976 or something, as it used the "It's The Real Thing" slogan (the early-1980s was "Have a Coke and a smile").

Later Drive-Ins broadcast over the car radio because that was much cheaper.

No doubt it also enabled some of the units at an apartment complex to see the movies for free. That drive in was like that, with an apartment complex next door with several units having a clear view of the screen. No doubt when they started using FM for sound, all they had to do is look out the window towards the drive-in, tune into the FM frequency, and enjoy the show for free.

The transmitters broadcast at a very low-power, just enough to cover the drive-in and whatever's next door. One night, we left early during the second feature; we tried to listen to the movie on the way home. Once we got on the highway, however, the signal fizzled out.

The VCR really killed the Drive-Ins.

In terms of first-run features, so did advances at indoor theaters, such as stereo sound and multiplexes.

Of course, increases in property values and insurance rates also played a role in the drive-in's demise.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

There's still a two-screen drive-in in my hometown of Springfield, IL where FM transmitters are used for sound--but one of them late last summer (near the end of their usually weekends-only season in late September) apparently had good reach on a car radio (at least 1 mile). It was to the point that I originally thought, "Another one of those pirate stations--that is actually playing interesting music." Apparently they were either in between features or rained out (that was the weather at the time I caught the signal), so the entertainment consisted of the original version of "Love is Strange" followed by something from Cher (which I only caught snippets of before losing the signal).

I will have to check when the theater opens again--and see what happens when I drive nearby and start scanning the FM dial.

 

[davect]

I only went to a drive-in about 3 or 4 times before most of them closed up shop in the northeast. The last movie I saw at a drive in was "St. Elmo's Fire".

 

[arnoldevns]

This was a great show on PBS. Really enjoyed seeing it.
I'm 41 and I've never been to a drive-in movie. There are three drive-in theaters within a reasonable driving distance of my house. I really need to go with the family one night this summer.

 

[RicoGregg]

I LOVED drive-in theaters! When I was much younger, I got to work at one in San Diego between radio gigs. I loved the murals that some had painted on their fronts. The Tri-City Drive-In in San Bernardino had a classic mural painted in the 40s of people skiing. When the land was sold, and plans made to demolish it, attempts were made at saving the mural. Unfortunately, those attempts were unsuccessful. You can see it online in its cyber afterlife.

At the drive-in I worked at, motorcycles were not permitted. Working the ticket booth, I had to turn them away several times. I don't know why, it was their policy. Also prohibited very vehemently was people coming out of trunks. We had people on the lookout for those, and when caught, they were made to either pay up for the extras or leave.

At the late, great Baseline Drive-In, also in San Bernardino, you could park just east of the theater lot with a full view of the screen, and be able to listen to the movie on your radio. On weekends especially, cars used to be lined up and down that particular street for a free flick. People in the houses across the street used to sit outside with their radios also taking in the movie.

Landtuna mentioned the glorious car name of Rambler. God love 'em, some of the ugliest cars ever made, but you couldn't hurt them with a nuclear blast. A former girlfriend of mine had bought a six-year old '63 Rambler Classic, and was still driving it in the early 90s. A Rambler wagon was for sale in my neighborhood recently, still running good, for $5K, and if I had had the money, I would have thought about it at least. Living in L.A. and it's indigenous car culture, I still see Ramblers on the roads here.

 

[mbayus]

When I was young, in the early 1960s, when muy family and I would go to the drive-in, I would be sent in to our house first upon our return, because I would not need the lights, as I am blind. I would turn on all the lights for the rest of my family, and then they would come in. I would turn the TV on and tune to WXYZ, channel 7, because that would be the only station that was still on, but I would be disappointed when it to would go off.

 

[flashback]

i really loved going to the drive-in.there was a certain quality to the movies that seemed made for the drive-in.now major studios use the drive-in movie concepts or they are made to be direct-to video.unfortunatly most direct-to-video movies don`t try to make themselves look that good.espically since video was used more then film.at least if a movie was made for a big screen for the most part the filmmakers tried to make the movies look better .

last time i went to the drive-in was when escape from la came out .i saw it and jackie chan`s movie supercop.it was the first time in decades i went.it was a fitting drive-in double feature.

now if double features were in indoor theaters again like they were when i was a kid.oh well.

 

[wrsg915fm]

We live about 30 miles up from the Jungle Drive-In theater, a few miles north of Parkersburg, West Virginia (an area that once hosted a ton of drive-ins). They have a playground, FM signal for music and movie audio, and a great snack bar. We wanted our daughters to have the 'drive-in' experience. I'm not sure if it will open this year, as the operators are getting up in years.

A couple of years ago, while getting ready for the first movie, a carload of one of my daughter's friends came in. They all got together, and we took a GREAT picture of them 'hamming it up' in front of the screen!

Our high school station, WRSG, has the 'drive-in divas/dudes feature during their operating season. We don't get compensated for it in any way; we just want people to know that they're still available. It's still a reasonably-A cheap night out, with great memories!

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I haven't seen this in any of the materials that have now been released, but there was one used that invited cars with spotlights (remember those?) to shine them on the screen. There was an animated sound film shown and called something like, "The Funny Family". Animated cartoon characters would move around the screen and those with spotlights on their vehicles were supposed to follow them. Maybe doing it that once allowed those with spotlighnts to get it out of their system and not do it during the other parts of the show.

 

[easttxtv]

I didn't know this was on. I would have liked to have seen it. My only drive-in connections from the original days of drive-ins were from 'drive-bys', as I was too young for most movies other than kid stuff and my dad was too cheap to take us. He'd rather wait till the movies came on TV, I guess. There was a 3-screen in Plano, north of Dallas. Every night that we went into town to eat dinner with my grandparents, the drive-in would be going with whatever was playing. It was so different to me, as I was raised on TV (my dad fixed TV sets for a living after retiring as a radio field engineer with Collins Radio) and my folks never took me to see any movies while they were together. The Plano Drive-In is sadly long gone, but <on topic warning!> if you watch the 1980-1981 season premiere ep of Dallas, look to the right in the scene where the DPS (TX' state police) helicopter (which looks strangely the same as the Southfork Ranch helicopter, hmmm) is trying to get Bobby and Pam's attention while they're on a freeway to tell them that J.R.'s been shot and they need to get back to Dallas. The north screen can be seen and I think (IIRR) a bit of the southwest screen also. Another drive-by, but only in the daytime, was the late Gemini Theater in north Dallas. It was owned by local radio station legend Gordon McLendon. There were 2 screens there and lots of decorative lighting and outdoor bric-a-brac. Never got to enjoy a movie there either prior to its demise.

Now a family off I-45 between Dallas and Ennis have carved a multi-screen drive-in from scratch at a former cow pasture; the theater is called the Galaxy and apparently has been a success. When I'm able to get a car again, I'll try to go check out the Galaxy.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

In an attempt to keep some drive-in movies going during cold-weather months, an in-car heater was put into operation. It worked much like the speakers in that it had a coiled wire and was kept on a stand. After pulling into the parking spot, you placed the heater in your vehilce and turned it on. Around the mid-1960's, there was a report of a patron being electrocuted by one of the heaters in a drive-in just northeast of Cincinnati. I never heard anything further about it such as a lawsuit, etc. and it was suggested the patron may have been trying to steal the heater much like some took the speakers. It's my understanding that those heating devices ran off of 220 volts so cutting into that cable was much different than for a speaker.

 

[landtuna]

Going to a drive-in in winter in colder sections of the country must have been an exercise in survivability. And it wasn't too kind to people in the NW either. When I moved to Portland in '68 we went to a drive-in and they had ads for something called a "drizzle shield". It was a plastic tarp with suction cups on one end and sticks with suction cups on the other. You stuck the stick end on your fenders and the other to the top of the car and the drizzle would not interfere with your viewing enjoyment.

Ingenious!

 

[DToTheJ]

I was expecting at least one reference to the show "Matinee At The Bijou" in this thread. Drat.

 

[RicoGregg]

This thread is more entertaining than "Matinee at the Bijou".

 

[azumanga]

Though of course, "Matinee at the Bijou" dealt with an indoor theater experience of the 1930s and 1940s, seen on PBS long before TCM and even the original AMC -- it featured a cartoon, a newsreel, a trailer, a serial and a film.

 

[Ultimajock]

...of course, there *is* a certain picture that pops up on TCM and IFC every blue moon or so, called Targets -- Peter Bogdanovich's first directing credit, and Boris Karloff's last quality movie. Basically, Bogdanovich took the August 1966 Austin clock tower sniping -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman -- and transposed it to the real-life Reseda Drive-In Theater in Reseda, California, where Karloff's character happens to be making a personal appearance at the premiere of his latest movie. (Clips of The Terror were seen as said movie-within-the-movie.) Good motion picture; it even has one of The Real Don Steele's Fractious Friday Sign-Offs from KHJ on the sniper's car radio and the audio to a Joey Bishop Show (the talk show, not the sitcom) throughout another sequence...