Over the weekend, Cathy and I went to our first movie in a theater since before Parker was born. And we didn't even have to get a babysitter, because we went to the drive-in! There are two drive-ins near Bloomington; Starlight Drive-in off of Old SR37 and Cinema 67 off of SR67 near Spencer. We left for the Starlight after Parker went to sleep and he slept all the way through the first show, Pixar's Cars. There wouldn't have been a better movie for a drive-in, especially considering its theme of car culture, vanishing small towns and lost Americana. It's always a double feature at Starlight. On Friday the second movie was X-Men III: The Last Stand, which I had been wanting to see for a while. Unfortunately, because of Daylight Saving Time, Cars didn't start until 9:30 and X-Men didn't start till 11:30. We left at intermission to get Parker home and in bed.
I remember always going to the drive-in when I was a kid. I remember wearing my pajamas in the car, playing on the rusty old swing set in front of the screen before the movie, the big metal speaker box that you hung from the car door window and always falling asleep before the second movie started. The old Sky-View Drive-in in Lebanon is now a residential subdivision. We saw ET: The Extra-Terrestrial and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back there. I sometimes wonder if people living in those homes are ever digging in their yards and find a long forgotten JuJuBe or Ring Pop.
Drive-ins are a vanishing part of Americana. Get out and enjoy a movie under the stars now while you still can! Hopefully there will still be some around for when Parker is old enough to enjoy them.
Here's some good resources:
- Driveinmovie.com
- Drive-ins.com
- Drive-in Movie Memories
- Drive-in theater at Wikipedia
- Drive-in, an essay by Wes Modes about Starlight Drive-in
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