United States Patent # 1,909,537 was issued on May 16, 1933. The drive-in theater was thus established and reached its peak in the late 1950's and early 1960's, along with the post WWII automobile boom. My first recollection of seeing a movie on the big screen was at a drive-in with my parents sitting in the front seat of the car. I don't know the year, but I know it was Cloverleaf Drive-in at the bottom of the Granger Road hill in Valley View, Ohio. I could not tell you the name of the movie or the names of the actors or the plot of the movie.
I don't recall much of the movie because I was hiding behind the seat scared out of my wits. And the image was seared into the synapses of my brain because I can still see the body impaled by wooden stakes at the bottom of the pit. The image has haunted me for all of my life, but I have been able to suppress that image enough so that I don't have horrific nightmares about deep pits and wooden stakes.
Then, my entire life changed when I was channel surfing a couple weeks back. TCM. The body, the stakes, the nightmares: The Black Room.
The Horror.
I turned it off.
Too late.
Posted by Bill at November 20, 2011 08:27 PM
All my life I've wanted to see a movie at a drive in. Recently we've had drive in Macdonalds, KFC and now I can collect my groceries "drive" (as we say in France. No sign of Drive In Movies just yet.
Posted by: Anji at November 21, 2011 04:57 AM