DRIVE-IN THEATERS

DRIVE-IN THEATERS

by Fred M. Allen

I wish I had taken my camera the night Joy and I took our four children, ages 11, 9, 7 and 5, to the drive-in theater, not in America, but in Lusaka, Zambia. It was in our first year there as missionaries. Good films were shown on the drive-in theater at that time and numerous families loved to go there for entertainment and family fun.  

We were assigned a three-seat Peugeot 404 Station Wagon by our Mission. This was a French-made vehicle which was very popular in Zambia at that time. Our particular vehicle had a long luggage rack on top which served our purposes very well. As we were preparing to go to see a drive-in movie as a family, I attached a large piece of plywood to the rack, then I placed a mattress there and SHAZAM, we were ready to go. Once we reached the drive-in, we helped all our kids climb upon the top where they all got comfortable lying there on their elbows and facing the large screen. The speakers were blasting throughout the area because many were sitting on chairs outside since the nights were so comfortable there. Then what did Joy and I do? Well, your imagination may go wild here, but suffice it to say we really enjoyed the evening. Oh yes, we also watched the movie – at times!

Drive-in movie theaters are disappearing fast in America. I checked the Internet and only 348 are known to exist today compared to thousands in the 50’s and 60’s. Even the one in Lusaka did not continue many years, so I suppose we can say that drive-in theaters are virtually a thing of the past. I used to take my dates there for a wonderful evening of entertainment; and we also saw a movie!

While reminiscing about drive-in theaters, my thoughts go back to the place where Joy and I had our first kiss. Yes, in the front seat of my car; or where I proposed marriage to her; yes, in the front seat of my car. And where was our first date? To see Audie Murphy in the movie, “To Hell and Back.” (Pardon my language!)  In recent years we no longer went to drive-in theaters. In fact, we hardly went to any movies at all when so many of them were unacceptable for Christians to see. We have gone to a theater only once (to see a Christian movie) since 1994 when we walked out after viewing the movie for only a short time when the vulgarity was so repulsive to us. Also, the availability of videos of movies enabled us to be more selective of what we saw, and we were able to enjoy them in the comfort of our home rather than in a car seat or on a luggage rack on top of a car.

  We often refer to “the good ole days” as something we miss. I suppose drive-in movies would fall into this category because they served a worthwhile purpose for a time; but I suppose we have to admit that not everything in the good ole days really needs to be continued if something better has come along. Maybe so, but I can still see in my memory our four precious children having a time of their young lives on that mattress on top of our car and watching movies at the drive-in theater; then I can still say, “Those were the good ole days.”