All-niters! These days it probably means a party at a frat house or maybe a bunch of kids hanging loose just to watch the sun come up; of course they probably do other things while awaiting the morn. In the day, it meant flicks all night long at the local drive-in theatre; usually horror-type movies starring the likes of Vincent Price or Boris Karloff. It also meant that if you and your sweetie were of age, you could spend the night in the back seat of a car making whoopee! A lot of times, under-age kids would try this and end up being severely punished when they tried to slip into their homes at all hours of the night. My first foray into escorting an under-eighteen-year-old girl turned out very badly. She was 16 and I was 18, and she enthusiastically agreed to accompany me to see a midnight showing of a Jane Mansfield titty flick. Although Ms Mansfield's breasts were enormous and extremely pretty, the movie was so bad we left half-way through. My date happened to be a "nice" girl, and I was shy to the nth degree, so neither of us broached the subject of climbing into the back seat and doing the horizontal boogie. Do you know how difficult it is for a shy boy to get laid? When we got back to her house, the kitchen light was on and she told me that I would have to go in with her, because she knew she was going to catch more hell than she wanted to bear alone. I went in and we both caught more hell than I wanted, for sure. Anyway, I was banned from her life with no time off for good behavior. She was an only child and had her father entwined through her fingers; I picked her up at 7:00pm the next Saturday night.
The drive-in theatre is probably an American invention, and every town with a population of more than a hundred people seemed to have at least one of them during 50's and 60's. There were three in or near Johnson City when I was small. At the corner of E. Oakland and N. Roan St. stood the Tri-Cities Drive-in (I think that was the name), and over near where dear Alice lives was the King Springs theatre, and just past it on Rio Vista hill was the Twin-Cities drive-in. These three had at least one thing in common; we parked our car in a wooden stall which gave us much privacy from the sides. The loud speaker was built into the driver's side wall, therefore the car window had to be at least partially down in order to hear the movie soundtrack. By the late 60's, all three of these theatres had closed as more modern ones with in-car speakers and much better facilities were built. The Skyline theatre was of this type, and was built in the 50's. A little later, the Family theatre was constructed a bit closer to town.
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The theatre in the photo is in Elizabethton and isn't in very good shape. Hopefully it will re-open in April as it has for so many years, and who knows, maybe I will get a chance to to coo and woo in the back seat, but you can bet your sweet bippy it won't be with a 16 year-old no matter how much she begs.
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Have a great day!
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The drive-in theatre is probably an American invention, and every town with a population of more than a hundred people seemed to have at least one of them during 50's and 60's. There were three in or near Johnson City when I was small. At the corner of E. Oakland and N. Roan St. stood the Tri-Cities Drive-in (I think that was the name), and over near where dear Alice lives was the King Springs theatre, and just past it on Rio Vista hill was the Twin-Cities drive-in. These three had at least one thing in common; we parked our car in a wooden stall which gave us much privacy from the sides. The loud speaker was built into the driver's side wall, therefore the car window had to be at least partially down in order to hear the movie soundtrack. By the late 60's, all three of these theatres had closed as more modern ones with in-car speakers and much better facilities were built. The Skyline theatre was of this type, and was built in the 50's. A little later, the Family theatre was constructed a bit closer to town.
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The theatre in the photo is in Elizabethton and isn't in very good shape. Hopefully it will re-open in April as it has for so many years, and who knows, maybe I will get a chance to to coo and woo in the back seat, but you can bet your sweet bippy it won't be with a 16 year-old no matter how much she begs.
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Have a great day!
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4 comments:
oh fun stories about the drive-ins. We had one in my small town, the Brooksville Drive-In and when I was a teen in the 80s we would go from time to time. It was a bunch of fun with a crowd but not good for whoopie as many guys would run around outside the cars and "watch." The middle of an orange grove and 4-wheel-drive worked much better for privacy.
I liked your story of an early date. I'm thinking that 16 y/o boys don't have much trouble with that nowadays. Even my 19 y/o says that the majority of girls can be pretty slutty.
Its dance night...something to look forward to.
Yeah, the social part was getting out of hand when I quit going to those movies. It was a crowd moving from car to car.
I see girls and guys now doing stuff that would have gotten blushes from 60's love children.
I suppose dancing is not only practice but also continuously learning.
Thanks, Tammy.
It is too bad that the drive-in experience is something that kids today are going to miss.
I remember going and it was girls and partying and general fun all around. The one I went to closed years ago and is now a shopping center.
I love that sign. It is a monster of a sign.
It was common in my day at some of our drive-ins to load the trunk of the car with your buds and their Buds and only pay for yourself and your girl. The entry lane curved around and had a high fence on both sides where you could stop and let the trunk people out. They would then ease into the main area and the party would start.
Thanks, Mark.
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