First...What is it? It is a pair of speakers on a post. They have cords on them that connect to the post. There is also a hook on the back of each speaker. You would go to a drive-in movie and pull your car up next to a speaker. You roll your window part way down, take the speaker out of its holder, hang the speaker on your partially rolled down window and set the volume. Then you watched the movie and heard the sound right in your car.
Drive-in movies were the best. They all seemed to have a play ground at the base of that huge white screen. While everyone was arriving and picking their parking spots between rows of these speakers, your parents would take you up to the play ground to play on all that lovely (but probably unsafe by today's standards) playground equipment. Then, when the cartoon before the movie came on, you knew it was time to head back to your car to watch the cartoons and then the movie.
If there was money in your pockets, you might go to the concession stand located in the center of all those cars. You could get everything you do at the theater concession stand today from food to eat to candy and popcorn and drinks.
I don't remember what movies we watched at the drive-in when I was a kid but I clearly remember the fun of being all bunched together in our car watching the movie.
The thing I commented to Katelyn about on her Facebook post was that these speakers should also have the mosquito repellant it was mandatory to purchase. These were little coil shaped things that you lit with a match. Then they very, very, very slowly burned down and as they burned the mosquitos would stay away. Very important feature for being outdoors on a summer evening with the windows down in your car.
I then thought back to our own little family unit. Claude had a big Ford truck at one point. He bought it used. It was a pale yellow color with brown on it too. The previous owner had taken a sheet of metal the size of a full bed and placed it in the back of the truck on the top of the sides near the cab. Then they put a camper shell on top. They also put a full boot in the window on the back of the cab of the truck through the camper shell window. This allowed our little children to climb easily from the front to the back of the truck. There was a full size mattress on that metal allowing the kids to stretch out on their tummies and watch the movie through the boot. Claude and I could each sit on one side of the front seat. Then when the kids fell asleep, they were already on a bed. Claude purchased plywood and carpet scraps. He made a floor for the portion of the bed of the truck between the full bed on the metal frame and the door out the back of the camper shell. This gave a carpeted floor space for the kids to play on. When we went camping all our camping gear went under the full bed, the kids played on the carpeted floor or the bed and through the boot to the cab of the truck. It was such a fun vehicle for our family. No...there were NO carseats for kids. There were not even seat belts. Once again, unsafe by today's standards but we never felt unsafe. We just had tons of fun and built lots of memories in the truck. It was perfect for going to the drive-in.
Our habit was to drive-thru Burger King or McDonald's and get a bag of 15 little hamburgers and a bunch of french fries. This was much less expensive than the concession stand. We would get to the drive-in, the kids would play, the cartoons would start and we would hurry back to our truck for burgers and fries for dinner and cartoons and a movie for entertainment. So much fun and the price was just right.
Thank you for the memories with your Facebook post Miss Katelyn. I highly recommend taking your family to a drive-in movie if you can find one close to you. I know there is still at least one about an hour from us. If you can't do that, just enjoy those new inventions like watching what you DVR'd while eating those frozen buffalo wings you can pop in the microwave today. The important part is to build the good memories to last a lifetime.
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