At the Drive-In Part 1: The Early Years

1. About the time Memphis's Malco's Summer Twin opened in 1966, Mom and Dad popped their kids into the family car- some 600 miles away in Dayton- and took us to the North Star Dixie Drive-In. Did you ever see a movie at the drive in with your family when you were a kid?

2. That night we saw "The Island of the Blue Dolphins" and "The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!" The socio-political ramifications and the humor of the second film were over my head, and I spent most of it pondering the billboard advertising Coppertone and snoozing. Do you remember the Coppertone girl?

3. Under the big screen was a play area- swings, a slide, and the like. It was beyond belief that there were actually kids playing there. During the movie! In the dark! It never crossed my tiny little mind to ask if we could join the fun. The answer to that question was a foregone conclusion. Would your folks have let you join the other kids in the play area?

4. A few years later, my brother Jake and his girlfriend (the one who looked like Ally McGraw) tossed their younger sisters (three each) into the back of the station wagon and took us off the see a Dusk to Dawn triple feature. "The Love Bug," "The Ugly Dachshund," and "Barbarella." Quite a combination. Two of the littlest girls were forced to hide under a blanket to save on admission. We felt like the cleverest outlaws ever. But I doubt the kid at the ticket booth was fooled or cared. Did you ever sneak anyone into the drive-in?

5. My high school boyfriend took me to the to see M*A*S*H at the drive-in. It was especially poignant. It was my father's war. And where my brother's place in the draft lottery had him posted at the time. The second film, "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask" was an exercise in surviving embarrassment even though much (ok- most) was way over my 16 year old head. Did you ever have a date at the drive-in with that special someone?