Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie Page #7

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only separated by a few miles. -The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

area -- at one time,

there was bout seven drive-ins within a 10-mile radius. -The Milwaukee area had

the 15 Outdoor, the 59 Outdoor, the Franko 100,

the 41 Twin, the Starlite drive-in. -Within driving distance

at one time, there had to be

12 or 15 drive-ins, and they were all successful. It wasn't just one or two.

They were all successful. -By 1958, there was almost

5,000 drive-ins in the country. [ Mid-tempo music plays ] - Would you like

to go out with me? There's a movie

that I'm dying to see It's a sensation

that's sweeping the nation It's gonna be bigger

than a radio station Put a speaker

onto the driver's window That's the way

we will hear the show Have you ever heard

of such a crazy thing? Watching a movie

at a drive-in show Come with me,

and I'll take you there We'll have more fun

than at the old state fair We don't even need

to drive too far And when we get there,

we'll just stay in the car [ Instrumental solo ] -Another aspect of drive-ins

that never really took off was the autoscope drive-in. It was basically a central concession stand

with a projection room, and it would beam the movie up

into a series of mirrors, and it would reflect off

to individual screens that were usually like 3'x5'. And you'd actually pull

your car up in front of it. It was almost like pulling up

in front of a mini TV screen. Wisconsin had one

autoscope drive-in up in Marinette. It wasn't around very long. Trying to show

a movie in the fog with that kind of a theater -- they said it basically looked

like a giant U.F.O. had landed. -People just aren't

really used to the idea of how much traffic and how much noise

the drive-in actually generates. -People backed up for miles

in both directions, trying to get

into a 300-car drive-in. -My parents had

a big Pontiac Grand Ville, and it had a large trunk. -Sneaking into a drive-in

is almost a rite of passage. -We would go

up to the Baptist church, and we would throw the folks

in the back of the trunk. -We were the ones that invented

sneaking them into the trunk. These kids think

they just figured that out. -A lot of people

do sneak in the trunk. To this day, they still do it. -Of course that's not true, but people invented it

way before us, but we thought we invented it. -And I always asked, what was the first movie

playing? And that was a clue to the folks

in the back of the trunk to be quiet. -And the car is like this. You know,

it was like at an angle. -And we did this for years

and never got caught. -As much as

you're not supposed to do it, it's makes for great memories. -Hey! Look out! I feel like a meatball in here.

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