SoCS: Drive In Movies

June 12, 2021 by JoAnna 33 Comments

When David and I dated in the 70s, our friend Caroline took us to the drive in movies so we could be “alone” in the back seat. We weren’t really alone, because Caroline was in the front seat, but she watched the movie, and we might have watched a little of the movie. Neither one of us drove yet. David was 15, and I was 16 and hadn’t gotten the confidence to get my license yet.

At the Drive In, (why do I capitalize that?) you pulled up to a pole with the metal speaker attached, then you put the speaker in the window and rolled the window up (with a handle) to hold the speaker in place. I saw a lot of movies at the Drive In. It was cheaper than going to the regular indoor movie. Maybe it was hot and buggy in the summer, but I don’t remember that. Sometimes we’d sit on the hood of the car, and sometimes we play on the playground in front of the big screen after the little kids went to bed in their parents’ cars. But it seems like there weren’t a lot family movies at the Drive In by the time I was a teenager. Things could get pretty wild at the Drive In once I was in my twenties. There was a lot of running back and forth between cars.

By the time I was in my late teens, I worked for a movie theatre chain so got in free. By that time David had moved back to Connecticut. Things were very different, less innocent. Not going to go into detail about that. Where’s that thing I saw on FB….

… and those over 60 might just forget.

It would probably be best to stop there as far as my personal adventures at the Drive In Movies. Oooh, but once they had an all night marathon of all the old Planet of the Apes movies. That was cool. it was probably one of the last times I went to the Drive In. I’ve heard they have been revived during the pandemic. It’s a good idea to have options and be able to take kids who could play and fall asleep in the back seat and maybe mom and dad would make out in the front seat. I wonder if my parents did that. Probably not so much since I was a night owl.

I remember going to see The Bird Man of Alcatraz at a Drive In as a kid with my parents in the front seat. It was a memorable movie. That must’ve been at a drive in on a military base in the 60s. Come to think of it, my older sister met her husband at a drive in. He was in the Marine Corps and worked at night as a projectionist at the base drive in movies. But that’s another story.

The Bird Man of Alcatraz was based on the true story of Robert Stroud (played by Burt Lancaster), a prisoner who befriended and studied birds to the point that he became and expert. I hope you can hear all of the video. Some audio has been stopping in the middle.

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Today’s prompt was: “drive.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

For move SoCS posts and rules, visit out wonderful host, Linda Hill at:

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS June 12, 2021 | (lindaghill.com)