Thursday, July 13, 2006
The Drive-In Movie Theatre Gap
Harper's Magazine used to an amusing feature in which they'd put together incongruous but pointed statistics. Maybe they still do -- I haven't read it in years.
One that I still remember, from the early 1980s, was called "The Drive-In Movie Theatre Gap," listing the 20 nations with the most drive-in theatres. The U.S. topped the list, of course, with something like 2000 drive-ins. Second was Canada, with something like 200. Can you guess which country was third?
It was Australia -- with 30 or so. It makes sense: a successful capitalist economy with large driving distances was likely to have more drive-ins. The Soviet Union actually had drive-in theatres too, apparently, but only a half dozen or so.
Drive-in movies are vanishing from the scene, for reasons that escape me. Maybe movie-goers simply demand better sound than you could get from those clunky drive-in squawk boxes that hooked over your window. Maybe there's some weird thing about the economics of it -- higher overhead relative to indoor theatres. It's not like we've gotten over cars in this country. For whatever reason, our drive-in theatres are vanishing: they are converted into flea markets, or paved over, or just abandoned.
Saratoga Springs has a thriving drive-in theatre, and a couple of weeks ago, B and I took in a first run double feature, Click with Adam Sandler, and The Break-Up, with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston. The two light, watchable comedies were perfect drive-in fare, but neither of them could top the vintage advertizements for the snack bar that aired for 20 minutes during intermission. Those ads, specially created for drive-in theatres and dating from the 50s, 60s and 70s -- many of them cartoons -- were worth the price of admission by themselves.
Drive-in sound technology has improved: the old speakers are replaced with a radio broadcast that you tune into on your car radio. (And the snack bar offers free jump starts if that happens to kill you battery.)
But a new technical problem is the profusion of SUVs. Parking behind one is like sitting in an indoor theatre behind a really tall guy wearing a hat. Supposedly, the SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks were all supposed to park in the left half of the theatre lot, but that segregation policy wasn't enforced, and we ended up behind a pickup-truck camper shell that blocked out a wide rectangle at the bottom edge of the screen.
Still, it was a great time. The beautiful anticipation of watching coming attraction trailers against a darkening sunset sky can't be matched by indoor theatres. I hope drive-ins make a comeback.
One that I still remember, from the early 1980s, was called "The Drive-In Movie Theatre Gap," listing the 20 nations with the most drive-in theatres. The U.S. topped the list, of course, with something like 2000 drive-ins. Second was Canada, with something like 200. Can you guess which country was third?
It was Australia -- with 30 or so. It makes sense: a successful capitalist economy with large driving distances was likely to have more drive-ins. The Soviet Union actually had drive-in theatres too, apparently, but only a half dozen or so.
Drive-in movies are vanishing from the scene, for reasons that escape me. Maybe movie-goers simply demand better sound than you could get from those clunky drive-in squawk boxes that hooked over your window. Maybe there's some weird thing about the economics of it -- higher overhead relative to indoor theatres. It's not like we've gotten over cars in this country. For whatever reason, our drive-in theatres are vanishing: they are converted into flea markets, or paved over, or just abandoned.
Saratoga Springs has a thriving drive-in theatre, and a couple of weeks ago, B and I took in a first run double feature, Click with Adam Sandler, and The Break-Up, with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston. The two light, watchable comedies were perfect drive-in fare, but neither of them could top the vintage advertizements for the snack bar that aired for 20 minutes during intermission. Those ads, specially created for drive-in theatres and dating from the 50s, 60s and 70s -- many of them cartoons -- were worth the price of admission by themselves.
Drive-in sound technology has improved: the old speakers are replaced with a radio broadcast that you tune into on your car radio. (And the snack bar offers free jump starts if that happens to kill you battery.)
But a new technical problem is the profusion of SUVs. Parking behind one is like sitting in an indoor theatre behind a really tall guy wearing a hat. Supposedly, the SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks were all supposed to park in the left half of the theatre lot, but that segregation policy wasn't enforced, and we ended up behind a pickup-truck camper shell that blocked out a wide rectangle at the bottom edge of the screen.
Still, it was a great time. The beautiful anticipation of watching coming attraction trailers against a darkening sunset sky can't be matched by indoor theatres. I hope drive-ins make a comeback.
Comments:
<< Home
"A successful capitalist economy with large driving distances was likely to have more drive-ins."
Add to this "conditional on weather." Drive-ins are essentially non-existent in Alaska, Sweden, and other similar latitudes where it's just too light in the summer and too cold in the winter.
Add to this "conditional on weather." Drive-ins are essentially non-existent in Alaska, Sweden, and other similar latitudes where it's just too light in the summer and too cold in the winter.
right up there with drive-in movies were the outdoors-on-the-lawn movies of the catskills, with the movie played against the side of a barn (yielding some interesting special effects where barn features -- like the door -- would be visible behind the picture). a blanket beneath you and wrapped around you against the night airs- snacks from home, the starry night unobstructed by a car roof, and the periodic sound of a parent shhshing a kid -- oh, how i dream of movies in the mountains.
tzwuqfa = teased coiffure -- an old 1950s hairdo for women
tzwuqfa = teased coiffure -- an old 1950s hairdo for women
# posted by 
: 8:26 AM, July 13, 2006
: 8:26 AM, July 13, 2006
When I was a kid, I saw The Godfather and The Poseiden Adventure as a double feature at a drive-in with my parents. I couldn't watch The Godfather because it scared me. It was 1972 and I was only 8 years old. My parents weren't exactly the coddling and overprotective types when it came to movie selection.
When I was a kid, I saw The Godfather and The Poseiden Adventure as a double feature at a drive-in with my parents. I couldn't watch The Godfather because it scared me. It was 1972 and I was only 8 years old. My parents weren't exactly the coddling and overprotective types when it came to movie selection.
Hi Oscar,
Your post reminds me of what I miss most about Vermont. We used to go all the time to the Sunset Drive-in in Colchester. 4 screens, each playing a double feature. The parking was on grass and the sound came through our car stereo, which was by far the best sound system we owned. An added bonus was that we could bring our infant daughter, who would sleep in the car seat.
dbp
Your post reminds me of what I miss most about Vermont. We used to go all the time to the Sunset Drive-in in Colchester. 4 screens, each playing a double feature. The parking was on grass and the sound came through our car stereo, which was by far the best sound system we owned. An added bonus was that we could bring our infant daughter, who would sleep in the car seat.
dbp
Ive only had the opportunity to go to a drive-in movie theater once in my life .. it was when I was a kid, and it was to see E.T. at a place whose name now escapes me and that has probably been torn down by now in Seaford, Del., .. it was a singular experience, and one I wish more people would have the pleasure of getting
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
