A Night At The Drive In

“But what was it LIKE?” said Robin.

“What?” I asked.

“The idea of a DRIVE IN MOVIE,” he said. “What, did you drive into the building or something?”

The other kids laughed, and I got thoughtful. “No,” I said. “For one thing, most of the establishment was OUTDOORS. Sort of like a Sonic Drive In, except all the cars were pointed the same direction.”

The kids goggled. “They showed the movie OUTDOORS? What kept people from just walking up to the place and watching the movie for FREE?”*

“Nothing,” I replied. “But the drive in that I used to go to when I was a pup was five miles outside of town... and there was nowhere to park except INSIDE the fence. And if you parked OUTSIDE the fence, they’d call the cops and arrest you for trespassing. Or you could pay five bucks a carload, and drive in and park.”

“Five bucks?” said Tommy. “So why didn’t you just jam fifteen people into the car and everybody would pay five bucks altogether?”

“We did,” I grinned. “And we could get six more people in the trunk if we were feeling especially broke. And then when we were inside, we’d let ‘em out and we’d sit on the hood or the roof or some of us would go sit on the bleachers in the back of the place, near the concession stand. And there was a playground there where kids could play if they were bored with the movie.”

The fourth graders stared at me like I was describing life on Mars.

“How big was the screen?” asked Jalayne.

“About the size of one of the long walls in the gym,” I said. The kids whistled; the school gym is quite large.

“And you just sat in your car and watched the movie?” said Daisy. “How could you hear it? Did they have big speakers or something?”

“No,” I said. “They did have a speaker near the bleachers. But for those of us who sat in our cars, they had these little posts with little speakers on them, one near each parking spot. You’d park, you’d reach out and get the speaker, and it had a little coily wire keeping it connected to the sound system. And you’d put the speaker in the car with you, and turn it up so everyone could hear.”

“What if someone forgot, and drove off with the speaker?”

I grinned. “That did happen sometimes. In later years, they got rid of the little speakers, and they just put the soundtrack over the RADIO, and you’d turn your car radio to the right channel, and you could hear the movie just fine. In stereo, even!”

“You said they had a concession stand. Did they serve food?” asked George.

“Sure,” I said. “Sodas, popcorn, candy, chili dogs, pizza--”

“THEY SERVED PIZZA AT A MOVIE?” said about five kids at once.

“Well, they did at the drive in,” I said. “It wasn’t GREAT pizza -- about like what they have at 7-11, nowadays -- but yeah, they served all sorts of things. There was this one drive in out in West Texas, used to serve pita pockets full of chili and pimiento cheese... oh, and I was at a drive-in in Carlsbad, New Mexico that had hot dogs, pizza, hamburgers, and Chinese food, fried rice and egg rolls....”

The fourth graders stared at me like I was describing life on Venus.

“And you just sat in your car and ate the food and watched the movie?”

“Yup.”

“Like at Sonic Drive In, but with a movie.”

“Yup,” I said, thinking about how there used to be lots of dine-in-your-car restaurants, but Sonic is the only survivor today. I said nothing of this, though.

“How did they show movies during the day?” said Keesha.

“They didn’t,” I said. “You could pull in and park, but the show didn’t start till it got dark. Movies under the stars.”

“What kind of movies did they show?” asked Kevin.

“Same kind you’d see in the theater,” I said. “I saw the first Star Wars movie in a drive in, but it had been out for a couple of years already, and I’d already seen it by then. But I saw Dumbo there, The Rescuers, Dirty Harry, The Godfather.... oh, and did I mention that most of these movies were double features? You’d get to see TWO movies. They’d show cartoons or ads between the movies, so you could go to the bathroom, or get more refreshments....”

The fourth graders stared at me like I was describing life on the moon.

And it pains me to think that someday, I’ll have to tell a different story... about how there used to be these huge buildings with several theaters, and you would get soda and popcorn and go sit in a well upholstered seat in a big dark room to see a movie on a screen as big as the side of your house....

....before the Plague Time.