“He’s too nervous to kill himself. He wears his seat belt in a drive-in movie.”
When I woke up, there was sun. Now the day is darkening and getting breezy, hints of the rain predicted for the afternoon. My room is dark as I haven’t lit any lamps. I like my house in the unexpected darkness of a soon to be rainy day. For reasons I can’t explain the house is comforting in the darkness and in the quiet. I don’t even hear birds singing. The only sounds come from the rustling of the leaves on the trees hanging over the deck.
I haven’t been to a drive-in movie for years. Wellfleet still has one, but I can’t seem to interest anyone in going. I even promised to do the snacks but had no takers. We were frequent drive-in movie goers when I was a kid. My grandfather had a pass to every E.M.Lowe’s theater including the drive-in, and we used that pass often. Just like every other kid at the drive-in I was wearing my pajamas and my sneakers, no slippers in case I needed to walk to the bathroom. At intermission the playground was filled with kids dressed for bed in their pajamas and robes. The first movie was always one for kids, sometimes a Disney or a dog movie like Lassie. After intermission came the movie for adults. Kids presumably had fallen asleep. The adult movies were seldom recent releases but were a year or two old and would probably be PG-13 rated today. Sometimes I’d see a bit of that movie before I fell asleep, but by the time I was 11 or 12, I’d watch all of it, well most of it anyway as we always left before the end. My father was not one to wait in traffic so we’d get a head start and be the only car leaving so early.
We never bought anything from the concession stand as most things were too expensive. I’d sometimes check out the food and sometimes really want a hot dog, but I knew not to ask. We had plenty of snacks in the car. My favorite was the popcorn. My mother was never shy with the butter. We each had a nickel bar of candy bought at the corner store on our way to the movie. The jug was always filled with something to drink, but my father got annoyed if we wanted some too often as he was the pourer who felt abused by constant asking.
My family didn’t have much money when I was growing up, but I never knew that. We did neat things and the drive-in was always one of my favorites.
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This entry was posted on July 14, 2015 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: leaving the movie early, nickel bar of candy, PG-13, playground, quiet, rain
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July 14, 2015 at 2:32 pm
We’ve had a much better day than predicted here, warm and sunny. It wasn’t like that in the morning though so I decided it was time to mow the lawn. The sun shone through the clouds as soon as I started mowing and the wind we’d had stopped blowing. I don’t know how many biting flies I had on me but there were so many that it didn’t hurt after a while and it doesn’t itch either 🙂
It got even worse now on our latest walk, the flies were just insane so I wasn’t surprised to hear the thunder nearby, now the flies are back to just annoying again 🙂
As You know we don’t have drive in movies here, no one wants to stay up until after midnight to getr it dark enough to see a movie they can see indoors all day long if they so wish 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
July 14, 2015 at 3:03 pm
Christer,
We got about a ten minute rainstorm sometime after one. It didn’t wet too much but it did make the day cooler and less humid. The sun is backed with a good breeze.
The one time I was fly ridden I could have cried so you have al my sympathies.
If we got dark around midnight, we wouldn’t have drive-ins either. I can remember when the previews first started the screen was still in too much light but by the movie time you could see everything perfectly.
Sorry about those flies!!
July 14, 2015 at 2:51 pm
Hi Kat!
Our drive-in was located in Eatontown. I can still remember my Dad driving down Route 35 some nights. I’d look up and see a portion of the movie as we drove by. You could do that.
I went to a theatre recently. They had the big recliner chairs in use. Some may love that, but not me. I’m too short. I love my own recliner, but this chair swallowed me up and my feet were off the floor.
Waving on a rainy, cloudy day here…
Coleen
July 14, 2015 at 3:05 pm
Hi Coleen,
I remember seeing the movie continuing as we were leaving the drive-in. I wish I remembered some of the movies whose endings I missed.
No recliner chairs at my movie theater. It has several screens but regular chairs with a place for your drink.
Waving back from in the sun!!
July 14, 2015 at 3:31 pm
I go to the movies a lot – I don’t remember the last time that I saw an adult movie but the Prince, Mrs MDH and I don’t miss much. We haven’t seen “Minions” yet but probably this week. Last week we saw “Inside Out” liked it but sections were a bit slow.
D-Box Seating, 3D, we worry our way through all the possibilities before we settle in to a nice afternoon at the local Emagine.The Prince and I are gung ho for “Shaun the Sheep” which comes out next month.
The car ride home is full of questions and ratings. We love the show we go together.
July 14, 2015 at 4:06 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I used to go once a week but haven’t much in the last few years. I used to see all the Academy nominees but now I get to see them long after the fact On Demand.
A friend and I used to go together but she’s no available any more for matinees. I do miss our jaunts.
July 14, 2015 at 4:23 pm
Kat, it is extremely rare that I see Academy nominees. When we were traveling to China regularly we would drop by Oscars in Shanghai and pick up the nominated films. They were perfect quality and clearly marked as “screeners”
Minions might be this evening – we are planning
July 14, 2015 at 4:31 pm
MDH,
I keep telling myself I’ll see that movie or this one, but then I just don’t go. I never mind going by myself though I do miss the chats about the film afterwards.
July 14, 2015 at 5:11 pm
Talking about the movie is so much fun – we always want to see what the Prince liked or didn’t like.
July 14, 2015 at 5:24 pm
MDH,
I took my nephews when they were young, but that was so very long ago. I do miss having little ones around-they are all in Colorado.
July 14, 2015 at 5:35 pm
Hi Kat,
I remember the going to the drive-in in my pi’s and falling asleep in the back of the station wagon. So much more fun than having to fall asleep in my bed. 🙂
I do remember that my parents always stayed to the end of the movie and we sat around in the traffic waiting to get out of the place. Possibly the idea of spending money and not seeing the end of the movie was more important than having to sit in the traffic.
In my teens, I had a friend who lived near a drive-in. We could see the movie from her bedroom window. There was no sound, though. Sometimes that made it better.
Today started out sunny then looked like it was going to do something wet and noisy. Nothing happened, though. Back to sunny again. I did some laundry and sat out in the yard with the dogs for awhile. Nothing much else, though.
Enjoy the day.
July 14, 2015 at 7:31 pm
Hi Caryn,
We had rain for just a short while then the sun came back out but some clouds hung around the rest of the afternoon. It 9has gotten a bit cooler now that the sun is down.
We didn’t spend money so I guess my dad didn’t mind we never saw the ends of the movies. I hated it.
Did you make up your own conversations for the movies? We turn the volume off and do that sometimes.
I put the laundry away, actually 3 laundries. I just kept adding to the laundry basket but finally had to bring it upstairs when I was down to a pair of underwear.
Have a great evening!!
July 15, 2015 at 9:29 am
Sometimes we made up dialogue. Usually we were just trying to figure out what was going on.
I finally got around to putting my winter clothes away. I kept piling stuff into one of those giant vacuum bags to the point that it was too heavy for me to lift. Sucking the air out of it probably won’t lighten it up. I gave up on it for the moment. Too hot.
July 15, 2015 at 11:32 am
I’m thinking you’ll need those winter clothes sooner than you think!
My clothes in a bin knocked me down the stairs so be careful!
July 14, 2015 at 7:05 pm
When I was a kid we never went to the drive in because my father hated sitting in the car to watch a movie or to eat. He didn’t like drive in restaurants either. When I was in college my roommate and I would double date at the drive in but we didn’t watch the movie. 🙂
The last movie I saw in a drive in theater was Barberalla with Jane Fonda. I didn’t have a date so I watched the flick. I am not a fan of drive in movies because the sound from the little speaker was terrible and the tint of windshield changes the look of the film. Drive in movies were really an excuse to go to the submarine races.
July 14, 2015 at 7:35 pm
Bob,
The back row was always filled with cars with steamed windows. When I was young, I wondered why they weren’t watching the movie.
We went quite a bit as a family and my friends and I went when I was in high school. Later we went to the Dennis drive-in, now gone. We brought drinks already mixed in a thermos, cheese, crackers and other goodies-adult movie watching foods.
Now you listen through your radio, but I haven’t been in so long I can’t tell you how it sounds compared to the speakers.
July 14, 2015 at 8:38 pm
I wonder how many late era baby boomers were conceived in the drive in movie. 🙂 In Dallas one of the last drive in theaters tried to survive by showing X rated films. Most of the screen area was shielded by rows of trees. Imagine the action in the back seats in that drive in.
Honda USA is trying to save as many drive in movie theaters as they can by donating the digital projectors that are now required to show movies. Today movies are sent to theaters via the Internet and the theater has to have a digital projector. Most of the drive in movies are still using 35mm film projectors which are becoming obsolete and they can’t afford to buy the new equipment. I think the few drive in theaters left are going the way of the dinosaurs. An iPad with a cellular connection can play a movie anywhere at anytime. I am sitting in my hotel room right now watching Netflix because all the TV stations except CNN World, Bloomberg Business and ESPN are in Portuguese here in São Paulo. Indoor movie theaters may soon just price themselves out of business. I understand that a few movie producers and directors want to continue to make movies and distribute them on 35mm film. However, the economics of digital will probably make that cost prohibited. Most folks probably could care less how the image was transmitted and my kids have probably never seen a movie in a theater projected from film.
July 14, 2015 at 8:50 pm
Bob,
I figure they could show a blank screen and no one would even notice.
I had read about the change over and the cost of buying a digital projector. A few drive-ins here in Massachusetts went out of business because they couldn’t afford to upgrade. The drive-in on the Cape has a flea market every weekend which I think helps them to remain solvent. They also show first run movies, and it is far cheaper for a family to go to the drive-in than an indoor movie as tickets are, as you mentioned, too expensive and they may prove themselves out of business.
My movies on the deck are great fun.
July 15, 2015 at 12:34 am
I vaguely recall my parents taking me to a drive-in. In college, it was a great place for a summer date. Two couples and a cooler of beer and we were good to go for a pittance. I remember several Doris Day movies, and, to be honest, they were fun. “2001 Space Odyssey” was disappointing. My last drive-in movie was “Woodstock”. Many smoke-filled cars! I wonder why?? All the drive-ins are gone around here.
July 15, 2015 at 12:39 am
Jay,
I also remember those smoke filled cars and a back row with people sitting on lawn chairs while smoke circled their heads.
I loved my small drive-in. You took a dirt road in, and the rows were few. It was even cozy. Land, though, became too important, and they sold off the property. I miss it still!