Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie Page #3

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all night long. -You never felt like

you were completely isolated, but you didn't feel like

in a regular movie theater, where everyone could see

what you were doing. You had that aspect of privacy

that was always a really nice feature

of the drive-in. -But then you also had

the larger experience of being out of your car

and almost part of this -- you know, for two hours,

this is your neighborhood. -You can have a meal

at a drive-in theater. They showed two movies. People will be there

for a long period of time. Between films,

you have an intermission, so people can go

to the snack bar. That's the source

of most of their income. -A lot of people don't realize that that's the business

of the drive-in, is actually the food and the atmosphere

and the experience, and not the tickets. -Drive-in theaters

probably would not have survived if was not

for the concession stand. -Soon as the credits

hit the screen, we turn the lights on,

and that lights the way for people to get

to the snack bar. -That's where the lifeblood

of the place really is, is the people

going to the snack bar. -We figured, if we're gonna have them there

as a captive audience, we've got to provide not

only food but good food. -Most drive-ins have hot dogs,

french fries. -Pizza, pizza!

Everybody loves pizza. -Shrimp dinners,

chicken dinners, barbecue sandwiches. -Soda -- pepsi, sprite, orange,

root beer, and grape. -Some sort of ice cream. -Grilled cheese, barbecued beef, all the way up

to the chilly dilly pickle. -Chocolate-covered dill pickles. -They're very, very happy to run

a trailer up on the screen to help entice the audience

to go buy refreshments. -Hurry, hurry, hurry. Step right over

to our refreshment center for the most extravagant array

of refreshment goodies ever assembled under one roof. -Intermission became the time to sell your popcorn,

your candy, your pizza, whatever. [ Spanish music plays ] -The countdown clock, which counts down

the intermission time, so you know

how much time you have to get your food

and get back to your car and not miss any of the movie. -This camera behind me is an

Oxberry master animation camera, which we have since

computerized, and we have shot

many, many drive-in trailers -- the "Let's All Go to the Lobby," the famous

dancing hot-dog trailer -- on this camera. - Let's all go to the lobby Let's all go to the lobby -Whenever you see

a drive-in clip in a movie or whatever

that everybody has, that's the most popular. - Sandy [ "Alone at a Drive-in Movie"

plays ] In "Grease," in particular, it's actually shown

on a 35-millimeter projector during the live production. -Oh, Sandy. -Motion-picture film production

came down in cost, and it was more advantageous to actually shoot 35-millimeter

in black and white. -And the luscious treasure of your favorite ice cream

as you like it. -And then eventually it led

to color in the '50s. -They're kind of quirky,

kitschy. -Cigarettes. Get the kind you prefer,

and enjoy them thoroughly. -And a lot of drive-ins

still show them. - Let's all go to the lobby To get ourselves a treat -The Remco Movieland drive-in

theatre is straight ahead! It looks terrific, Timmy. -Drive right in and park. Turn the film knob, and see

six exciting film features. -This Remco Movieland

drive-in theatre has everything! Its own giant screen... -Projection booth... -Marquee that changes... -Ticket window... -And six beautiful cars. -Remember, every boy

wants a Remco toy. -And so do girls. -People just started to love

the idea of going to a drive-in. -There was only a few shows

in town, literally. - ...Out of sight Ooh, ah We're goin' to the drive-in Ooh, ah Goin' to the drive-in You're cruisin'

for a bruisin' Even tryin' to sneak in That old man Jenkins

sure gets under my skin [ Singing indistinctly ] Call the cops,

have them throw away the key Ooh, ah Goin' to the drive-in Ooh, ah We're goin' to the drive-in [ Guitar solo ] -Once they knew they could draw

off of large populations, drive-ins got bigger and bigger. - At the end of the night,

we get a starry streak We all watched the movie,

and we thought it was great The movie was a thriller,

yeah, a really good fright... -The 41 Twin in Milwaukee was one of the largest drive-ins

in the country. It held about 2,000 cars. It was quite rare. A double screen, and you could actually drive

right through the screen tower. -Maybe it's just something about car culture

in the U.S. and Hollywood, and these things kind of jelled, and it was just

a very American thing. There are a couple spots around

the globe that have drive-ins, but it just wasn't

quite the same car culture in other countries. - Ooh, ah Goin' to the drive-in -Once they started

springing up everywhere, it got to the point

where a lot of drive-in theaters were competing

against each other. Sometimes they were

only separated by a few miles. -The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

area -- at one time,

there was bout seven drive-ins within a 10-mile radius. -The Milwaukee area had

the 15 Outdoor, the 59 Outdoor, the Franko 100,

the 41 Twin, the Starlite drive-in. -Within driving distance

at one time, there had to be

12 or 15 drive-ins, and they were all successful. It wasn't just one or two.

They were all successful. -By 1958, there was almost

5,000 drive-ins in the country. [ Mid-tempo music plays ] - Would you like

to go out with me? There's a movie

that I'm dying to see It's a sensation

that's sweeping the nation It's gonna be bigger

than a radio station Put a speaker

onto the driver's window That's the way

we will hear the show Have you ever heard

of such a crazy thing? Watching a movie

at a drive-in show Come with me,

and I'll take you there We'll have more fun

than at the old state fair We don't even need

to drive too far And when we get there,

we'll just stay in the car [ Instrumental solo ] -Another aspect of drive-ins

that never really took off was the autoscope drive-in. It was basically a central concession stand

with a projection room, and it would beam the movie up

into a series of mirrors, and it would reflect off

to individual screens that were usually like 3'x5'. And you'd actually pull

your car up in front of it. It was almost like pulling up

in front of a mini TV screen. Wisconsin had one

autoscope drive-in up in Marinette. It wasn't around very long. Trying to show

a movie in the fog with that kind of a theater -- they said it basically looked

like a giant U.F.O. had landed. -People just aren't

really used to the idea of how much traffic and how much noise

the drive-in actually generates. -People backed up for miles

in both directions, trying to get

into a 300-car drive-in. -My parents had

a big Pontiac Grand Ville, and it had a large trunk. -Sneaking into a drive-in

is almost a rite of passage. -We would go

up to the Baptist church, and we would throw the folks

in the back of the trunk. -We were the ones that invented

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