Old Familiar Memories - Photo 32

Drive-in Theater

This was a good way to take a number of kids to the movies. Sometimes they charged by the carload, sometime by the number of people. We always took own food and snacks to cut down the expenses. Some teens took their girlfriends there to make out in the dark.

The drive-in's peak popularity came in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in rural areas, with some 4,000 drive-ins spread across the United States. Among its advantages was the fact that a family with a baby could take care of their child while watching a movie, while teenagers with access to autos found drive-ins ideal for dates. Revenue is more limited than regular theaters since showings can only begin at twilight. There were abortive attempts to create suitable conditions for daylight viewing such as large tent structures, but nothing viable was developed. In the 1950s, the greater privacy afforded to patrons gave drive-ins a reputation as immoral, and they were labeled "passion pits" in the media