Theatrical trailers were shown with Drive-In Movies. There were also a lot of intermission ads for the concession stand, safety PSAs, etc. Here are some vintage clips from Youtube:
What I remember about going to Drive In movies when I was a kid was that there was a playground (well, some swings, a slide, and a few teeter totters) in the space under the screen. The cars couldn't be too close or you couldn't see the movie, I guess, is why, but as far as my siblings and I were concerned, it didn't matter what they showed before the movie, because we were up there playing in the dark until my oldest sister dutifully led us back to the station wagon.
Which station wagon, btw, my mom had parked backwards. We'd put a mattress in the load bed and drop the tailgate so that the kids could all smush together on our bellies to watch the movie. (Mom had a camp chair she sat in beside the car, so she could hear the speaker.) By the end of the show we little kids were always asleep anyway, so all she had to do was throw a blanket over the lot of us, close the tailgate and drive home. No seatbelts!
If you've never been to a drive in, you may not know how lumpy the parking areas usually were. They angled each row, so that you could see past the cars in front of you. And I forgot to mention that in the sixties, the drive ins I went to were rural enough that you might see (and try to catch) fireflies. I thought that part was better than some of the movies!
You'd show up at the drive-in while it was still light out to get a good place. Ours had a little ticket booth, lit in garish green and red gas discharge tubing. While you were at the booth, your headlights faced away from the parking area, and there was a big sign reminding you to turn them off before you entered. I don't recall the drive-in ever showing newsreels. At the regular theater, thos finally died out around 1968 or so, IIRC. There were always previews, and a public service announcement reminding you that if you forgot to remove the speaker before driving away after the movie and broke it, please bring it to the refreshment stand, and there was no penalty charged. There was a playground, but it didn't see much use
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It sounds fun--there is an operational drive-in theater an hour or so from where I live but somehow I've never made it out there. Next summer I'll have to make an effort to get there.
You're quite welcome. Here's the ad for Pic that they used to show at our drive-in:
The stuff was citronella based, and smelled vaguely like burning lemon peel. I liked the smell, although a lot of people didn't. Contrary to the advertisement, I don't think it actually killed the mosquitos, but it did repel them.
One more detail occurs to me as well. When you arrived, before it was dark enough to show anything on the screen, they'd play music or the local radio station through the speakers. That let you test your speaker in advance. Once it was dark enough to see the screen, they'd show maybe five minutes or so of advertisements for local merchants, etc, before starting the previews.
My drive-in movie memories are a little later than what you're looking for (early 80s) but the most vivid memory I have is sitting on top of the car. It was the only time we were allowed to get up there. My parents would park the car backwards and sit on the trunk, and my brother and I would climb up on the roof to see over their heads. Other people would set up folding lawn chairs in the beds of their pickups, but lots of people who didn't have trucks or convertibles would sit on their cars in the summer to catch the breeze.
The speakers always squawked and hissed, they played cartoons before the movie and at intermission, and the back row (of course) is where you parked to make out and drive-in etiquette dictated that if the car 'was rockin' you did not come knockin'". Working the concession stand was a peculiar hell because you got rushed at once and you tired very quickly of the scent of buttered popcorn and hot dogs, and there was always at least one fight between half-drunk (they sneaked beer and liquor in) teen age boys.
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Theatrical trailers were shown with Drive-In Movies. There were also a lot of intermission ads for the concession stand, safety PSAs, etc. Here are some vintage clips from Youtube:
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Which station wagon, btw, my mom had parked backwards. We'd put a mattress in the load bed and drop the tailgate so that the kids could all smush together on our bellies to watch the movie. (Mom had a camp chair she sat in beside the car, so she could hear the speaker.) By the end of the show we little kids were always asleep anyway, so all she had to do was throw a blanket over the lot of us, close the tailgate and drive home. No seatbelts!
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It sounds fun--there is an operational drive-in theater an hour or so from where I live but somehow I've never made it out there. Next summer I'll have to make an effort to get there.
Reply
The stuff was citronella based, and smelled vaguely like burning lemon peel. I liked the smell, although a lot of people didn't. Contrary to the advertisement, I don't think it actually killed the mosquitos, but it did repel them.
One more detail occurs to me as well. When you arrived, before it was dark enough to show anything on the screen, they'd play music or the local radio station through the speakers. That let you test your speaker in advance. Once it was dark enough to see the screen, they'd show maybe five minutes or so of advertisements for local merchants, etc, before starting the previews.
Reply
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The speakers always squawked and hissed, they played cartoons before the movie and at intermission, and the back row (of course) is where you parked to make out and drive-in etiquette dictated that if the car 'was rockin' you did not come knockin'". Working the concession stand was a peculiar hell because you got rushed at once and you tired very quickly of the scent of buttered popcorn and hot dogs, and there was always at least one fight between half-drunk (they sneaked beer and liquor in) teen age boys.
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