Drive-In Theater. Fun nostalgic site on Drive-In Theaters
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase Drive-In Theater? Is it the memory of sitting in the back seat in your pajamas as a little kid watching a movie or sitting in the back seat as a teen and not watching the movie? Perhaps both.
I’m often surprised how many people I encounter that are in their late forties or early fifties that have never been to a drive-in. They were once ubiquitous throughout the U.S. and, I thought, a Summer time tradition for most. For the first several years of my life I didn’t know you could actually watch a movie siting in a theater as opposed to the family sedan or station wagon.
I can’t state unequivocally what movie I first saw at the drive-in, but I think it was The Absent Minded Professor starring Fred MacMurray. 
I would have to say that 90% of the time we went to see a Disney film. Usually there were two features plus some cartoons before the main feature. Though the movies were quite memorable, it was the total experience that has, with the passage of time, grown into something quite legendary.
There were two drive-in theaters in close proximity to my family, but we always went to the Plainville Drive-In two towns over. They had a small ferris wheel that you could ride for free before the show began. It was okay, but the pre-show event that most excited us as kids was the old fashioned fire engine. They had this antique fire engine outfitted with bench seating along either side upon which sat assorted youngsters. The engine would then drive around the perimeter of the parking area with the siren blaring. What kid didn’t love a fire engine? Seriously, I’m daring you to find, even today, a child that doesn’t love fire engines. I’ll wait.
As with all drive-ins there was a central building which housed the projection equipment, snack bar and rest rooms. I always wanted one of those hot dogs that the intermission commercial made look so tempting, but alas, with a family of five, my parents made a batch of kool-aid and packed some snacks. Heck, we always had hot dogs at home, but they weren’t cooked on that keen spinning grill, nor did they dance their way into the buns as the commercial suggested. Going to the restrooms was quite an experience and not an enjoyable one. You could hear the whir of the projector as you approached the men’s room and it seemed to have an ominous tone as it welcomed you to the abyss that was the public bathroom. The urinal was one large connected trough with no dividers or privacy. I was not a fan. Needless to say, I got good at “holding it in”!
You could spend hours listing the shortcomings of five children crammed into the back of a station wagon with pillows and blankets trying to watch a movie or I could spend one second explaining what the experience truly was– Magical!
As we grew, the trips to the drive-in became very infrequent. It was probably too difficult to fit us into the back of the car and there were so many more activities to occupy our time. I also think they may have run out of Disney films that my parents felt were appropriate for the five of us. I recall that the second feature of a double bill was somewhat geared towards an older audience in anticipation that the kids would fall asleep after their movie finished. I saw my first naked woman on screen during the movie “Hawaii”. I was too young to appreciate it, but I’m sure my parents were embarrassed based upon the way they kept urging my brother and I to go to sleep.
End of an Era
By the time I had reached my teens, the trips to the drive-in had ended. I mostly saw movies at the local theater which I could walk to with my friend and once my brother got his license we would occasionally go to the large multiplex several miles away. The last family trip to the drive-in, oddly enough, came after a long hiatus. My memory is not quite as vivid as I would have hoped, but I believe I had just graduated high school and for some strange reason my father decided to go to the drive-in. I can’t recall which combination of my family went. I know it wasn’t everyone and the Chevy station wagon had been replaced by a Chrylser Newport. I was even more surprised that the movie was Star Wars which I had seen over a year prior with my brother and a date. As uncool as it was to have your brother on a date with you, it paled by comparison to the epic uncoolness of an 18 year old going to the drive-in with his family.
Little did I know then, how significant that trip was. It signaled the end of the unified family experience. My brother went to college, we had a family business to run and my siblings each had friends and activities that took precedent. No more drive-in, no more family vacations and barely ever a family dinner. Wow, who’da thunk that grimy asphalt theater was a metaphor for familial bliss? And you thought it was just a place to make out.
The awesomeness that was the drive-in movie!
We went to the Plainville theater all the time but I don’t remember any of the rides or the fire engine. I was probably too young. Plus my mom was neurotically overprotective (which was ironic for so many reasons) so she probably wouldn’t let us go on those things. My memory of that time period is fuzzy at best. I was told I was on some swings before a drive in movie and went too high and fell off and hit my chin on a rock and had to be taken to the hospital for stitches. I have absolutely no recollection of that but I wonder if the Plainville drive in had swings. We too saw disney movies – most notably for me ones starring Dick Van Dyke or Kurt Russell. One thing I do distinctly remember is the novelty of wearing pajamas in the “way back” of the station wagon and having pillows and blankets and falling asleep before the “grown up” movies began, although we always tried to stay awake to be able to listen. I don’t remember ever being successful.