An American ritual, heading on a crash course to extinction; The Drive-In Movie.
It was the acknowledged go-to place for date night – it was the place an entire family could eat dinner, watch two movies along with a slew of cartoons and wind up spending less than going out to eat at a restaurant. It also beat staring at a tiny screen on a black and white television which, in 1954 was still the size of a postage stamp.
During it’s heyday in the 1950s Drive-ins drew sell-out crowds with cars lining up at the entrance in the late afternoon just to make sure to grab an ideal spot. It was the place you headed for date night because a: you both knew what you were getting into and b; you could only remember the first five minutes of the movie before you steamed up the windows.
It was four hours worth of escape for the price of a carload – it was the place many a family unintentionally got started. It was the place embedded in your memory on your list of moments to remember.
It was the cumbersome metal box you hooked up to the drivers side window which added sound to your experience. Stereophonic it wasn’t, but you didn’t care. Before the first movie and before the second movie, at the intermission you got to hear perhaps your favorite disc jockey spinning new releases – adding the bonus of music to your Saturday night.
So consider this; here we are, Saturday night, end of January 1954 – it’s Los Angeles so it’s a coin toss as to whether it’s soggy with rain or doing a Summer-bake preview. Date night and you’ve been waiting for months and the first movie will be coming on in fifteen minutes.
And in the meantime, it’s Gene Norman and KLAC filling your car with Billy Eckstine and June Christy on a Saturday night.
This is your music and it’s your night – even if there is a family of 6 with a screamer in the car right next to you. You’re already on another planet.
Here’s Gene Norman from KLAC for January 30, 1954.
