![]() ![]() And all of that eating and ordering food interfered with the film by the time everyone figured out who had which burger and what happened to their fries and drink, the movie could be half way over. On the downside, if you were one of the children stuck in the backseat (as I was), it wasn't much of a view, even in the much larger and more upright automobiles of the era. It was dinner and a movie at the same time, at economical prices. Those with larger families were a prime target, drawing the family away from television with the promises of larger screens with color, not black-and-white, images as well as comfortable seats (varying with the age of your car, of course), and plenty of food. In most drive-ins, children were admitted free or the admission charge was simply per car. But in the early days it was clear that the original intention of the drive-in owners was for family style entertainment: mom, dad, and the baby-boom children. Popular culture tends to look back upon the golden age of the drive-ins in the 1950s and 1960s as somewhat seedy places catering to the amorous pursuits of teenagers. In drive-ins in colder climes, they even had individual hanging heaters similar in style to the speakers. You could also control the volume of your individual speaker and, presumably, the talking and noise of those in the car with you. In addition, with individual speakers hanging inside your car window, sound was better than at many older theaters. At the drive-in, you could eat all you wanted in the comfort of your own car. The Appalachian Theatre in Boone, for example, had a soda shop outside of the theater entrance and patrons were encouraged to consume food and drink in the shop itself before or after the film. ![]() At many movie theaters in traditional buildings-called "hard tops" in the business to distinguish them from drive-ins-drinking and eating would have been done outside of the seating space for the film. Drive-ins were also located on the outskirts of towns where the city lights would not interfere with the projected image on the screen and where, coincidentally, the traffic was lighter than downtown.Ī less obvious advantage of the drive-ins was concessions. But at the drive-in, your seats were in your car-your parking space became the theater. As more and more people moved out of cities and small towns into the suburbs, using their cars to commute to and from work and shopping, theater goers were faced with longer drives to see a show and fewer parking spaces once they arrived in town. There were obvious and not so obvious reasons for the popularity of the drive-ins. Suburban and rural drive-in theaters were a natural extension of the car-crazy culture that fueled the 1950s. The old theatre has been forgotten in time but somehow still seems preserved.Ĭinema Treasures: cinematreasures.Although drive-in movie theaters had their beginnings in the 1930s, it was in the post-World War II era when they truly flourished. If you are interested in seeing the drive-in’s forgotten remains you can visit The Out Seers on YouTube. Sky-Vue is no more, but even though the historic theatre met a sad end, it will live on in the minds of many as a reminder of happiness and of the classic American experience. Sadly, a fire broke out in the iconic concession stand in 2015, and was abandoned soon after. Lucky for those boys, Sky-Vue had to have been a nice stop on the way to music history. And he had a big projection room there that he – and he had a little stage on top of it, and he’d bring in guys like Hall Nicks and Buddy Holly, and they would have them come down and play at the Sky-Vue between the movies, you know, and I would share bills with one of them.” Before huge record labels and concert venues, country musicians depended on any publicity they could get back then. It’s one of the last ones that hadn’t been closed down. Skeet Noret had this old drive-in called the Sky-Vue – and, in fact, it’s still operating. Walser said, “There was a drive-in theater in Lamesa, Texas. In the interview, he describes something unimaginable to those who weren’t around for the simpler times. NPR’s Fresh Air had a 1994 interview with western swing vocalist Don Walser. “Skeet” Noret wasn’t just great a making great sandwiches.
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