I am currently working through a series by .In it, we do a project each week based on the prompts sent to us by Kerri.It's a lot of fun and I am having a ball doing these.
This week's prompt is That's Entertainment--
Movies have a way of transporting us to another place or time--where a world of imagination awaits you. The music, the darkness, the box of popcorn, a box of candy and a soda. There's nothing like getting absorbed into a story and forgetting about the cares of the day.
Before the days of the multiplex, going to the theater was a treat. There was only one theater in town and a movie would only be there for a week before moving on to the next town.
Our house had only a black and white TV and it was small.Later, we got a larger black and white TV and then our first color set, but the movies were always in color at the theater.
Our living room contained the Cherry Table.This was a table that had belonged to my grandfather and had drop leaves that hung on hinges nearly to the floor.This allowed a large table to take up little space.It was always in the living room in front of the window with the lamp placed on it--acting much as a sofa table would now.
There was a drawer in the table, originally used for the good silver or placemats, but in the living room it contained a mixture of tubes for the TV's.When a TV would die, dad would pull out all of the tubes and place them in the drawer.Then, when our TV quit working, we would pull out the burned out tube, match it up to one in the drawer, plug it into the back of the TV and continue on with our show.Remember, these were the days when you watched the shows live or you missed them.Period.No VCR, no TiVo, no pause buttons on the DVR, so the quicker we could fix the TV, the less we missed.And there was only ONE TV--in the living room...that we had to SHARE!We were lucky, we lived near a big city so we had 4 stations--the 3 UHF stations and one VHF station.
There wasn't the huge constant release of movies. This was before the days of VCRs, not to mention digital media. Occasionally a movie would come on TV--usually on Sunday night during the Walt Disney family hour which was always on while we were at church!Now, I am going to let you in on a little secret as long as you promise not to tell my mom and dad, okay?From time to time, I would fake being sick so that I could stay home from church to watch the Walt Disney movie!Don't tell, okay????;)I'm SURE mom and dad never figured that out!(LOL--no, of course not!LOL)
Now we can have a Clint Eastwood or John Wayne, or Abbot and Costello or Bourne Legacy weekend and see all the movies about 10 times a year .if we're not already watching them on DVDs, that is.
Movies are still a wonderful escape today.Gman and I just had a Blues Brothers Day when we watched the original and then the Blues Brothers 2000 that we had DVR'd over a free HBO weekend.How funny!And did anyone ever count how many cars those movies demolished!Wow!"We're on a mission from God..."We laughed and laughed!
Seeing movies with a huge audience can enrich the experience that much more. The crowd of laughter, the cheering, the clapping, the sticky floors, the smell of popcorn and candy . . . there's nothing like it!
And I think that's why it's just magic to see a story on a big screen. And no wonder why it's so magical as a child. And I think that it's now something taken for granted--with the sixteen theater mega plexes and the jumbo size everything where you're spending half your life savings to take your family for a night out.You can even choose a theater that serves dinner and drinks while you watch!
Back then it was simple. It was magical.
Of course, I'm speaking from my perspective, but I'm sure there are many of you in my same boat or in an older boat (ha ha).
Today, I was thinking about the first time I went to the Drive-In...
America LOVES it's cars!America loves it movies!Put the two together and in came The Drive-In.
An American Icon, largely extinct now, but still in it's hayday in the 1960's and 1970's as I was growing up.Many had playgrounds just under the screen for kids.
There was nothing like packing blankets, popcorn, sodas, candy and even a picnic and heading out to the drive-in.You went through the ticket booth and paid, often a single price for as many as would fit into the car, and then wound through the aisles to the spot just perfect for you.It could be in the front where you might spread a blanket on the hood of the car, and lay with your back propped up on the windshield which just seemed like the perfect angle.
You might choose the middle to be not too far, not too close.
You might choose in the back so that you could be closer to the restrooms and snack bar.
Once you found the right distance, you pulled up onto the little incline into your space, staying pretty close to the pole on which hung the speakers. The incline tilted your car at an angle so that you could more easily watch the movie from the car.Now, just roll down the car window and hang the speaker from the window to listen to the show.These speakers weren't digital surround sound.These were scratchy and sometimes really hard to hear or make out the actual words.Sometimes, you just couldn't hear anything on your speaker and then you had to move to a different set of speakers to find one that worked.In later years, the drive-ins broadcast over FM radio, so you turned on your car radio, tuned to the appropriate station and listened via your car speakers.But the scratchy speakers and trying to find the one that worked the best were just part of the fun!
You could watch from inside of the car, bring lawn chairs and sit outside of the car or if you had a pickup, back into your space and lay in the back of the truck!
Don't know these people, just showing how fun it can be to huddle in the back of a pickup!
The first time that I recall attending the drive-in was in the early 1970's at the I-70 Drive-In.
The I-70 opened in June 1969 as a single screen drive-in.The back of the screen was toward I-70 so that you couldn't sit outside of the fence and watch the movie from the highway or catch a glimpse as you drove past. In October, 1972, the I-70 added a second screen, the back of which was toward Highway K, far enough down the hill that you had a hard time seeing it from I-70 while driving by and sported the I-70 Drive-In logo and name.With the expansion to the second screen, the I-70 could accommodate 800 cars.
I recall many times while driving past the area either on the I-70 or Highway K side craning my neck to get a glimpse of the movie playing at the moment.
Probably around 1971--The first visit to a drive-in that I can recall was one night when there was a triple feature of Spaghetti westerns featuring this guy named Clint Eastwood.Though I had not ever heard of this actor, my brother Tom and a girl were planning to go and I begged to go along.
In front of my parents.
Who said Yes!Really?Wow!How cool!
Of course, it is only thinking back now that I understand the reasoning behind my being allowed to go with Tom and the girl.And I have to snicker.My parents were crazy like foxes.JNothing like a little sister to keep the teens in line while in the close confines of a car!Bwahahahaha!
At any rate, the I-70 which still only had one screen, was showing a triple feature;
Fist full of dollars
For a Few Dollars More and
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
This made me a lifelong fan of Clint Eastwood and all of his movies.
Between movies, we would see advertisements meant to entice us to head back to the snack bar.
These snack bars weren't plush and wonderful.
Usually a low slung block building, they were pretty bare bones with linoleum floors and counters.
These were just there to provide the basics, house the projectors and the bathrooms were very basic as well.I mean, people were trooping through there in the rain, mud, all weather, dirt and such so they had to be easy to clean...
By the late 1970's, multiplexes began to spring up and later surround sound with very good sound.
By the mid 1980's, the drive-ins were losing their appeal with the public and began to close, losing out to the large indoor theaters with surround sound and comfy seating.
The I-70 closed September 16, 1984.
But what great times we had when we combined our cars and the movies!
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