TRAVELIN' TUESDAY
DRIVE IN THEATERS
Folks love to romanticize about the old drive in movie theaters that were so popular back in the 50's.
Well, I was there, and I'm here to tell you they weren't so hot!
I mean, they were hot, if you lived in the St. Louis area!
Hot, muggy, buggy, and uncomfortable in the heat and humidity of a typical St. Louis summer's night.
However, the price was right!
I was 5 years old in 1955 when we moved within walking distance of two drive in theaters.
The price of admission was a dollar a carload!
That is not a misprint!
That's right folks, a dollar a carload!
That meant you could squeeze in as many people as you wanted into the car and only pay one dollar!
If you were by yourself you paid a dollar, or if you had 18 clowns in the car, you still only paid a dollar!
I guess the drive in owners figured they would make up the difference at the concession stand.
The closest one to my house was the Airway Drive In Theater, that had a giant neon majorette at the entrance that twirled her baton as you entered.
Actual photograph of the real thing!
The Airway had the traditional playground for the kids, a miniature roller coaster (or was that the St. Ann 4 Screen that had the roller coaster?), and wooden seats in front of the screen in case you wanted to get out of your car and enjoy the company of other kids outside.
Now, let's go down St. Charles Rock Road a few blocks to the St. Ann 4 Screen Drive In Theater and see what up!
Now, let's go down St. Charles Rock Road a few blocks to the St. Ann 4 Screen Drive In Theater and see what up!
The Only 4 Screen Drive In Theater In The World!
It used to say this as you drove in..."The Only 4 Screen Drive In Theater In The World!"
After a while they removed that sign...me thinks it was because other drive in theaters started getting 4 screens, too. I don't know.
It used to say this as you drove in..."The Only 4 Screen Drive In Theater In The World!"
After a while they removed that sign...me thinks it was because other drive in theaters started getting 4 screens, too. I don't know.
What was so cool about the 4 screen is that you could watch the movie you paid for on one screen, and then turn your head around and watch another movie, but without the sound.
Although there were 4 screens, they only showed 2 pictures a night. One on two of the screens and another on the other 2 screens.
I liked getting there early, because we would drive up and down the little ramp-like things that raised up the front of the car to see the movie better. It was kind of like a roller coaster ride. (I still can't remember which drive in had the little roller coaster ride.)
They looked like real long speed bumps that went across the whole parking lot where we viewed the classic movies.
On these long bumps were the speaker stands, with the box like speakers hanging on them.
The sound quality from those old beat up speakers was horrible, but not bad compared to the over all sound quality of any speakers back in the 50's.
The speaker hooked on to the partially rolled up window, and I remember them having a warning on the stand, or somewhere, that showed a car pulling away from the speaker stand without removing the speaker from the window; it depicted the window breaking and the speaker lying on the ground with a severed cord.
This next part is so cool!
I had a schoolmate who actually LIVED AT THE AIRWAY DRIVE IN!
Her house was located within the big fenced in area, and right behind the movie screen!
How cool is dat?!
Needless to say, she was the most popular girl at school!
If she invited you to her home, you got to see a free movie, climb up the back of the screen, and be envied by all the other kids!
Alas, she never invited me, but I sure envied the ones that were able to enjoy that awesome privilege! ( The dirty little suck ups!)
Okay, maybe I am a bit nostalgic about the old drive in theaters, but along with the fun was the mosquitoes biting, moths flying in our mouths, sweat soaking our underwear, the unruly kids yelling and screaming in the car next to us (maybe all that noise was coming from our car...I'm not sure), and the cigarette smoke that filled the car from mom and dad's Pall Malls!
I could go on and on and on about drive in movie theaters back in the 50's...the parents putting pajama's on the kids , backing their pickup trucks in the spot, and making a bed in the truck bed for everyone to either watch the movie or sleep, the bad concession stand food...
