Tag Theaters

Drive-In Theaters and the Batteries That Died There

Michael Leave a comment

I was reading the movie listings in the paper and noticed that drive-ins are making a comeback. At least here they are. Sort of. A quick check of the papers and Internet reveals there are about a dozen drive-in theaters within 20 miles of where I live. When I was a just a kid, there were 40 within 10 miles, but that was a different time.

Drive-ins were, still are, an experience. IMAX theaters notwithstanding, drive-in screens are huge! They have to be to be seen from the last row. Drive-in concession stands are cool! Oh sure, you can get burgers and pizza at some of the bigger indoor theaters now but for years, the only real food at the movies was at the concrete bomb shelter that doubled as the drive-in concession stand. And you still only find the more carnival like snacks like cotton candy, snow cones, and funnel cakes at the outdoor theaters.  Drive-ins are anything but boring! You can talk, text, chomp, snuggle, kiss, sing along with the soundtrack, and play “what movie did we see her in last year?” all that you want to without antagonizing those sitting behind you.

As much as it sounds like I have a real vested interest in them, I never went to many drive-ins.  Even though I grew up within a mile of two theaters, we weren’t big drive-in people. I could have walked to them but that would be a whole different post. By the time I was old enough to drive to them, drive-ins were starting on their decline. Indoor theaters were by and large still single screens and got all of the first run movies. The outdoor venues were home to last year’s big, and not so big, hits. In efforts to make them seem more “hi tech” (for those days), sound was piped over a radio frequency replacing the old speaker boxes that you hung on your window. That meant leaving your car in the “accessory” mode risking a dead battery, particularly in the kind of cars we were apt to be driving. If you were in the back row where nobody behind you would be poisoned by your exhaust fumes, you could leave your car running but then risk running out of gas before the double feature ended. Girls never believed you didn’t plan in that way.

Today some of those old relics of outdoor fun are being refurbished and re-opened. They will never approach their peak of the late fifties when over 4,000 drive-in theaters played to families across the USA.  Now there are just over 400 theaters with 600-some screens showing movies in America.

The only problem I see with drive-ins is that they don’t start the movie until dusk. In the summer months, that’s past my bedtime!

Now, that’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

No Friends in Close Places

Michael Leave a comment

About a week ago we went to the movies. We hadn’t been there for a while, there was a movie playing that we wanted to see, and it was showing at a time we were able to see it. We got there in time for the coming attractions (we’re never sure why but we almost always do) and thus had plenty of time to pick out some good seats. So we thought.

There were already quite a few taken, or to put it another way, there weren’t all that many left to choose from. But choose we did and over the half hour that the upcoming trailers took we watched as many couples filed their way past us and the remaining two inside seats on our row. All of those many couples found other seats for them to park their seats and we breathed that sigh of relief that we could leave our popcorn and soft drinks and jackets as they were. Until the opening credits of the movie. That’s when the two old ladies ambled up the aisle, squinted in the darkness, pointed beyond us and started moving in. They weren’t even going to wait for us to make passage room for them. The movie was starting and they wanted to sit down!

Things like that happen. We’re usually ok with them when they do. It wasn’t until these two worked their bulks past us and plopped into the seats next to She that we realized they weren’t just a couple of old ladies. They were a couple of old ladies wearing old lady perfume. Now this was a somewhat quirky movie which means it required just a little thought to keep all of the characters and subplots tied together. That’s where the popcorn comes in. Popcorn ties thoughts, but that’s a post for a different day. One thing popcorn does not do is provide a fragrance free zone safe from old lady perfume. So for two hours and some-odd minutes we lost bits and pieces of the movie because our brains were too intent on a) figuring out why these two old ladies would venture out drenched in old lady perfume knowing they would be in close quarters; and b) what was that scent anyway? It even drove us out before we could read the entire closing credit crawl which often times is the best part of the movie, particularly quirky ones, particularly when one is distracted by old lady perfume.

For a few dollars more we could have had the reserved seating in this theater. We rarely do because there is rarely a need. We’ve discovered the need. A quick glance behind us revealed many seats were available in the high rollers section. So that did it for us. Next time and every time, that’s where our seats will be seated.

Although we couldn’t confirm it, we’ve been wondering if perhaps the two old ladies might have been working for the theater, creating the demand for those seats while the supply was amply available. Probably not. Even in a big corporation like the one running those screens we just couldn’t see how the local manager would be able to justify that much old lady perfume when the end of the month bills came in. Nor find a couple of old ladies to sit through two-plus hours of a quirky movie. Old ladies don’t do quirk. They do musings. Probably about perfume.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?