Under the Stars

      More Letters From Paradise
          Under the Stars
Come and remember with me warm summer nights. You hear the sound of footsteps outside the window of your car. Someone is heading for the concession stand. You can smell popcorn and cigarette smoke. Some few cars were arriving late and looking for a parking place. Fat speakers hung from  short steel posts, on the top of each graded hill. You were on a date, or maybe just a car full of friends. Cars had larger trunks back then, and two people could be admitted  for free, if not caught.

Adults with children dressed in their p.j.'s were frequently seen. After the movies, Mom and Dad had only to carry them into the house and put them in their beds.

It was important to place your car just so, that the screen in the distance could be seen to the best advantage. Some people brought lawn chairs and placed them in front of their car. While others were seated on chairs in the rear of a pick up truck.

It was a quiet private world inside your car. The only sound came from the bulky speaker hanging on the window. Popcorn and sodas could be purchased from the low cement block projection building located in the center of the drive in. Or, you could bring your own. I remember once when I was a junior in high school,that I dated a girl who was a junior in college. She brought along a cooler filled with "Tom Collins." I  have forgotten her name, as I am sure she has forgotten mine.

In Michigan it didn't get really dark until about nine. But the screen was often filled with ads before the main feature. I can't remember seeing any block-busters. But then, sometimes it wasn't the movie you were interested in anyway. Most of the time it was a double feature, and the movies got out real late. Cops were often on had to direct traffic as the cars left the theater.

As summer moved into fall, some drive in theaters had heaters located beside the speakers on the post. The warm air entered car by way of the window, just as the speaker did. It worked pretty well, but you were probably snuggled up anyway in order to keep warm.  

After graduating from high school, everyone went their separate ways, and I never again went to a drive in. They are all gone now, except a few that became drive in churches. Young people today will have missed that special time at the drive in movies.  I'm sure that you remember.

     Aloha
     Grant