Snack bars, neon, summer
As noted by Wired, the drive-in theater had its 75th birthday this past week, a lifespan that seems appropriate in its stages. Launched in 1933, the drive-in blossomed during its teen, post-war years and peaked around 1958 at the tender age of 25, with over 4000 in operation nationally. Still a big deal during the 1960′s, real estate prices and newer tech eroded the drive-in industry during the 1970′s and it flat-out cratered during the 80′s. There are now fewer than 500 remaining, scattered across the country, but things have stabilized a bit – even a new one or two out there – and the drive-in theater isn’t dead just yet. At this point, the drive-in might manage to outlive the internal combustion autos that made it possible.
It occurs to me that a solid number of Americans today – particularly those under 30 – have possibly never been to a drive-in movie. This is sad in a way, given the casually idyllic imprint those outings had on me. It’s nostalgia sure, but maybe a bit more — I have nostalgia for vinyl records too, but wouldn’t exactly wish them on any unsuspecting 18-year old today.
Among the movies I saw as new releases at a drive-in theater:
True Grit, (1969, John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn. With four kids, the drive-in would have been my parents’ lone opportunity to see this Oscar winner)
Animal House (1978, the most regularly quoted and imitated movie of the teenage years, at least until Caddyshack)
Caddyshack (1980)
Titanic (1997. Yep, that Titanic, thanks to the ever-surviving Cottage View in the southeast metro)
I vaguely remember being hauled to see The Cincinnati Kid (1965, Steve McQueen), which would have been the first drive-in movie I attended. But I saw that one in the same manner my daughter “saw” Titanic: sound asleep in the back seat, oblivious to the carnage.
Oh, there were bad ones too. Really bad ones. Zapped, (1982) with Scott Baio and Willie Aames – just dreadfully sucky, but we had to have known it going in. American Gigolo (1980), with Richard Gere – to this day I can’t take him seriously, and I’ve even transferred loathing toward Pretty Woman, just out of spite.
Of course, plenty of those drive-in outings over the years had little to do with the feature; a good part of the allure has always been the setting, not the screen.
Wired has nice post and a small gallery on the drive-in’s 75th.
