My grandpa was born and raised in a small town in southern Missouri that was between Nevada and Lamar. This town didn't have a movie theater of its own so he would have to drive to Nevada to watch movies, specifically the Trail Drive-In. He said movies played nightly out in the country. It was set up like a typical drive in where you had the speaker that hung in your car to hear the audio. Wednesday's were $1 a carload so he said it was common to have families bring car loads of kids. I asked if it was nice or run down and he said it was pretty state of the art for the time period and it had a nice concession stand in the middle of it.
This is an overview of the drive-in theater that my grandpa
would go to. There are no images of the theater from inside.
This was a perfect segue to talk about his experience at the concession stand. He said he frequented it very often. He also said that something special and different that this specific drive-in did was do ticket raffles. When you bought the ticket to get in the concession stand would draw tickets and if your ticket was drawn you would get a free pass to another showing. When he would go to the concession stand to get snacks his go to snack was a coke and a Baby Ruth candy bar. When he would take my grandma on dates he said she could get whatever she wanted.
Considering he went to a drive in to watch his movies he was mainly there in the evening. He said sometimes they had two shows and the first one would begin at dusk and the second would be done by 11pm, but daylight savings messed everything up and they wouldn't get done until later.
When he would go to the drive-in he said he would park in the middle (row 5 or 6 out of 12). Once he got married and had children they would arrive earlier to the movies so my mom and uncle could play on the playground and "burn some energy".
The drive-in was a staple in my grandparent's dating life. He said when he met my grandma they spent most of their time together and would go on dates to the drive-in at least once a week, mainly on weekends because my grandpa couldn't stay out later than midnight on weekdays.
When asked about his favorite films growing up he said he couldn't recollect any specific ones, but his favorite genres were westerns and detective movies. He also couldn't name which films were the most influential to him and followed up by saying,
Similarly to how his parents treated him with music and radio, there weren't any movies that he specifically was not allowed to watch. He also made the point that there weren't going to be R or XXX (his words, not mine) movies at a drive in because it is very family based.
would go to. There are no images of the theater from inside.
A notice was posted for the drive-in rewarding anyone who
has information about stolen speakers.
Baby Ruth candy bars consist of peanuts, caramel, nougat, and chocolate.
Considering he went to a drive in to watch his movies he was mainly there in the evening. He said sometimes they had two shows and the first one would begin at dusk and the second would be done by 11pm, but daylight savings messed everything up and they wouldn't get done until later.
When he would go to the drive-in he said he would park in the middle (row 5 or 6 out of 12). Once he got married and had children they would arrive earlier to the movies so my mom and uncle could play on the playground and "burn some energy".
The drive-in was a staple in my grandparent's dating life. He said when he met my grandma they spent most of their time together and would go on dates to the drive-in at least once a week, mainly on weekends because my grandpa couldn't stay out later than midnight on weekdays.
When asked about his favorite films growing up he said he couldn't recollect any specific ones, but his favorite genres were westerns and detective movies. He also couldn't name which films were the most influential to him and followed up by saying,
"To me, movies were just for entertainment purposes. I never really sat down, watched a movie and thought that it would have an impact on my life."
Similarly to how his parents treated him with music and radio, there weren't any movies that he specifically was not allowed to watch. He also made the point that there weren't going to be R or XXX (his words, not mine) movies at a drive in because it is very family based.
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