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America embraces drive-in nostalgia
The Times (U.K.) ^ | 06/16/03 | Tim Reid

Posted on 06/15/2003 3:57:39 PM PDT by Pokey78


American baby-boomers and their children are rediscovering
the charm of seeing movies on an outdoor screen

UNDER a starry Alabama sky, surrounded by cotton fields, maple trees and the chatter of cicadas, the pick-ups and Chevrolets glow and flicker, lit by the colossal white screen.

Inside the cars parents and children settle in their seats, munching hot dogs. Love-struck teenagers snuggle up; the air fills with the glow of fireflies and smell of buttered popcorn. The lights of the tiny town of Centre, a mile away, are too dim to penetrate this enchanted scene. The movie begins. It could be 1953.

This was Saturday night, however, and across America, from this beautifully restored drive-in cinema in northeastern Alabama to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and the valleys of California, the same nostalgic scene was being played out in hundreds of locations. Despite the country’s enslavement to the internet, the video game and mobile phone, or perhaps because of it, baby-boomers are rediscovering their love of the drive-in movie while a new generation is being captivated.

In 1957, when the Everly Brothers sang Wake Up Little Suzy, about a teenage couple who fall asleep at the drive-in, there were about 5,000 outdoor cinemas in America. By the early 1980s, overgrown and rusting, thousands had shut. As the home video revolution took hold, hundreds made way for shopping centres and car parks. Some estimate that the number of drive-in cinemas had dropped to fewer than 200 by 1985.

Now they are rising into the night sky again. Since 1995, 22 have been built and many more restored.

Jennifer Sherer, of Drive-on-in, Inc, says that there are now nearly 450 outdoor screens in the US. New drive-ins are to be built in Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, California, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio and several other states next year.

“What is significant is that we are seeing new drive-ins being built from scratch, not just the restoration of old ones,” Ms Sherer said.

“I think our lives have got more and more hectic, and drive-ins represent a simpler time for a lot of people. The baby-boomers have a lot of childhood memories with drive-ins, and there is something timeless that is appealing to people of all ages.

“And it is a place where families can spend time together, and those places have become few and far between.”

At Centre’s 411 Drive-In, Emory Johnson is still captivated by the magic of the outdoor screen. After flying 63 escort missions for US bombers across Europe during the Second World War, he left the Air Force and built the drive-in in 1953, just off Highway 411 — then just a two-lane road — in a gently undulating field that was once an apple orchard. Admission was 50 cents.

There is something exhilarating as you first glimpse the screen amid the cornfields. Bolted on to the original oak posts and slatted wooden frames, it rises into the sky in the shadow of the Appalachians’ Lookout Mountain, like an ancient Trojan horse.

It closed in 1983 and remained untouched for nearly 20 years. In July 2001, however, with the help of his sons, Rex and Carl, Mr Johnson restored the snack bar, repaired the 40ft by 65ft screen by replacing the original asbestos with white-painted tin, and reopened.

The 250-car site was filled nearly every night.

Mr Johnson, 80, helped by his wife Sara, grills his home-made burgers. She wraps the hot dogs. Rex and Carl take turns at the ticket booth and projection room.

People come from as far afield as Atlanta, 100 miles away, and Chattanooga in Tennessee. Alcohol is banned; there is never any trouble.

“This last weekend we had to turn ’em away. We had ’em lined up down the road,” Mr Johnson said. “It was much more popular than I thought it would be. People can bring their children — that’s the big draw.

“There are some who like to park out back. I don’t condone what they do, but most 14 and 15-year-olds just like to sit outside on blankets and talk and socialise.”

Recently, Mr Emory said, a couple arrived “and told me they had their first date here in 1957”.

Inside a Dodge pick-up, about to watch 2Fast2Furious, a new release about car races, sit Tony Phillips, his daughter Sumer, 15, and her boyfriend Randy Hutchens, 12.

“I’m out on the date with them,” Mr Phillips said. “I guess we had forgotten about drive-ins. But they’re coming back, for sure. People around here love this one.”

Parked 600ft from the screen, in the shadow of a wood, sit Charles Conkle, 17, and his girlfriend Jessie Nail, 16. ”I like being further away,” Charles said. “We come here all the time.”

Then the moon rose, and the soundtrack crackled to life on the car radio. “Wouldn’t you rather watch a movie here than inside a theatre jammed up against a whole lotta people?” Mr Johnson asked.

It was hard to disagree.

The fluctuating fortunes of a US institution



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Alabama
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1 posted on 06/15/2003 3:57:39 PM PDT by Pokey78
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To: Pokey78
Why did they go away? I NEVER have been to a drive in that wasn't full.

And obviously they were part of cultural times. Look how many movies had drive in movie scenes.
2 posted on 06/15/2003 4:01:04 PM PDT by Calpernia (Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.)
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To: Pokey78
Playing tonight at the Route 66 Drive In Theatre outside of Carthage,Missouri, is The Italian Job and Bruce Almighty. It is five dollars a person and they serve great hotdogs.Off duty lawmen act as security.A great place to take a family or a date. Lots of tail gaters and barbecue grills.
It's great to leap forward into the past.
3 posted on 06/15/2003 4:03:11 PM PDT by em2vn
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To: Calpernia
Why did they go away? I NEVER have been to a drive in that wasn't full.

More money using them as flea markets. Plus the drive-in movie sound is crappy compared to what you get in theaters. I really don't see much of a drive-in revival.

4 posted on 06/15/2003 4:04:20 PM PDT by PJ-Comix (He Who Laughs Last Was Too Dumb To Figure out the Joke First)
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To: Calpernia
The land became too valuable here so they were bought up and the land developed. Plus, the cities expanded into the country boundaries so that they couldn't remain. We loved the drive-ins. You could dress the little guys in pj's, let them sit on the hood of the car and munch chips. Cheap for a tight budget, too. No baby sitters either. ~sigh~
5 posted on 06/15/2003 4:06:15 PM PDT by OpusatFR (Using pretentious arcane words to buttress your argument means you don't have one)
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To: PJ-Comix
Plus the drive-in movie sound is crappy compared to what you get in theaters.

...in 1956, maybe. Now any rinky-dink drive-in can use a $99 500mW FM stereo transmitter that you tune into from each car, much like the aftermarket add-on CD changers and such that use FM modulators. You can even use your own Walkman in your lawn chair.

6 posted on 06/15/2003 4:14:58 PM PDT by sam_paine
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To: PJ-Comix
You don't have children, do you?

When I was a kid my folks would load us all in the station wagon (five kids) with a cooler and blankets. Sometimes Mom would dress us in our pajamas.

We would go see a double feature and fall asleep before the second one was done. Near the Fourth of July there were also fireworks, no additional charge.

Sometimes (when we weren't in pajamas) we could go to the playground before the show started and play on the equipment. One drive-in in Indianapolis, the Pendleton Pike Drive-In, even had a small roller coaster and merry-go-round.

Wonderful times, and I am glad to see they are undergoing a revival. My son with three children would probably go to one if it were close to our house. I would go too, because you can SMOKE in your car while you watch a movie.

7 posted on 06/15/2003 4:22:34 PM PDT by Miss Marple
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To: PJ-Comix
Also home video. It's easier to put on a tape (or now a DVD).
8 posted on 06/15/2003 4:25:32 PM PDT by The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
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To: Miss Marple
Our family occasionally makes the trek from Tampa to the "Silver Moon Drive-In" in Lakeland to spend a wonderful night under the stars watching a flick or two. The signs say to watch from within one's vehicle, but we always drag out the lawn chairs and ice chest.

For all you Central Floridians out there, I recommend it highly!

9 posted on 06/15/2003 4:47:12 PM PDT by The Duke
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To: The Duke
Any one know of any drive-ins here in Oregon?
10 posted on 06/15/2003 5:03:19 PM PDT by nwrep
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To: Calvert Cliffs Cafe
ping
11 posted on 06/15/2003 5:03:32 PM PDT by shaggy eel
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To: nwrep
Oregon drive-ins. I don't know how curerent this list is.
12 posted on 06/15/2003 5:06:49 PM PDT by The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
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To: Pokey78
the chatter of cicadas

Those aren't cicadas.  They're zippers.
13 posted on 06/15/2003 5:08:21 PM PDT by gcruse (Support home churching.)
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To: gcruse
Those aren't cicadas. They're zippers.

We used to "exchange holidays" with a couple in the UK.

Until about a decade ago there was both a drive-in theatre and a 50's car-hop hambuger joint near us. So we took out friends on a "Typical date for us way back when".

The fellow worked for Barclay's, and was fascinated as to why the drive-ins were disappearing. He offered the suggestions that perhaps real estate prices, etc..etc.etc.

I put a stop to the theorizing:

"The Invention of Panty Hose."

14 posted on 06/15/2003 6:04:11 PM PDT by Gorzaloon (Contents may have settled during shipping, but this tagline contains the stated product weight.)
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To: Gorzaloon
LOL I remember well my first encounter with those puppies. 1964 at the Web Drive-in, Elizabeth City, NC. A few more
dates, though, and she didn't wear them ever again. Sigh.
15 posted on 06/15/2003 6:08:14 PM PDT by gcruse (Support home churching.)
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To: Calpernia
they went away when they went to double screens and there was no "back row" to park and neck in. imo
16 posted on 06/15/2003 6:17:20 PM PDT by cajun-jack
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To: Miss Marple
When I was a kid my folks would load us all in the station wagon (five kids) with a cooler and blankets. Sometimes Mom would dress us in our pajamas.

Same here. I have very fond memories of going to the drive-in with my parents in the station wagon. I'd be in my pajamas in the back and would try to stay up and watch the movies as long as I could. But I never made it to the end. I'd always fall asleep and be rattled in and out of a slumber as the car was on the way back home. Sometimes my parents would just leave me in the car for the night so as not to disturb me. Different times back then. No parent would leave their child in a car overnight these days (or unbuckled for that matter).

I wonder where this drive-in is in northeast Alabama. I'll be down there in a few more days with my youngest son. Maybe we'll check it out.

17 posted on 06/15/2003 6:25:51 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (Back in boot camp! 260 (-40))
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To: Pokey78
I haven't seen or heard of a drive-in existing anywhere in the Chicago area for 10 years. Our last one closed soon after the Fugitive came out. That movie was my only drive-in experience and I was miserable. Hard to see and hear.
18 posted on 06/15/2003 6:25:53 PM PDT by 7 x 77
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To: Pokey78
http://www.driveinmovie.com/mainmenu.htm
19 posted on 06/15/2003 6:31:37 PM PDT by savedbygrace
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To: PJ-Comix
There is a market though. Think about families with young children. We can bring our kids to see a movie in their pajamas. They fall asleep on the way home....we put them to bed.

Also, how popular were drive ins with the 'dating scene'.
20 posted on 06/15/2003 6:39:33 PM PDT by Calpernia (Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.)
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