Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie Page #2

---

funding from the G.I. Bill, people tended to live in cities

that were often very cramped. So a lot of public investment went into the development

of suburban life. -Now they lived in neighborhoods where kids walked to school

or they went to the P.T.A. You know, very homogeneous,

suburban kind of situations. - Goin' to the drive-in -The drive-in

was really a family event. - Ooh, ah Goin' to the drive-in -We'd get in the back of the car

or the back of a pickup truck. -I got to sit in the back in the seats that fold down

into the floor. I thought that was cool. -I think a lot of it

was convenience. You could take your kids. You can put them

in their jammies. You didn't need

to get a babysitter. -My mom and dad did what I do

with my girls right now. They'd throw us in our pajamas. -Wearing pajamas

to see the movie. -You can throw some pillows

or a sleeping bag in the car. You could all be together. They fall asleep, usually before

the second movie even starts. -Of course, we saw the Disney

movies as little kids. -A lot of times, it wouldn't be a movie

that we'd be interested in, but it was still,

"Ooh, the drive-in!" -As a little kid, you'd look up

at the huge movie screen, and it's bigger

than life itself. -It was a big event

to go to the drive-in. It was an important night. -Anything that catered

to families was a very, very big component

of the drive-in. -The playground was, like, the most important part

of the drive-in experience when I was a kid. -They wanted families

to come in early and to have something

for the kids to do. -It would have been considered

much more safe to just send kids

to the playground nearby and watch the movie. -It was a family thing. They let the kids run around

and play on the playground and the train rides

and everything. It was fun. It was fun. -They could get anything from being, like,

a park playground, which would be

a simpler playground. -Merry-go-rounds, clowns, eventually go-kart tracks,

bumper boats. -How we ever did it then,

I'd never know, because the liability today

would kill you. -The drive-ins

that had miniature golf courses. There are some

that had train rides and other things for kids. It makes the drive-in a whole

entertainment experience. -The Algiers had a fire engine. I think the Wayne had boats. All of the drive-ins

had something. -It was a circus-like atmosphere that you just didn't get

at an indoor theater. -Every drive-in was,

at one point, out on the outskirts. -They were out

in country pastures, several miles outside of town. -Probably the absolute

cheapest land possible. -A lot of the land

that would have been used would have been farmland. -Our little drive-in

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes