Out of all of the fond memories I have of the years we lived on Beck Drive - and I have a plethora of them, trust me - one of my favorites just has to be going to the drive-in. This was when then drive-in movie theater was in its heyday, although we as 6, 8, & 10 year old kids had no way of knowing that; all we knew was that it was fun, we enjoyed it, and we all looked forward to it. And now, looking back on it as a parent who went through the lean years of raising small children on a very limited budget, I also understand that it was an inexpensive way for the family to go out and have a good time.
At the time, we didn't know about that, nor did we care - we were blessed with the ignorance of the very young, and we were too busy having fun to think about it anyway.
In those days my father was working at the Hygrade's Meat Products plant in Richmond, Virginia, and he worked 6 days a week from 6AM until 6PM. Every now and then he'd come home from work on a Saturday, we'd eat dinner, and then he and my mom would spend the next twenty minutes or so in the kitchen making popcorn. They'd make enough to fill one or two paper grocery bags, after which they'd shake some salt into the bags onto the popcorn, roll the bag closed, and then shake it to distribute the salt. While all this was going on my sisters and I would go change into our pajamas, after which we'd go get the two inflatable rafts we always took to the lake, blow them up, and put them in the back of the Ford Falcon station wagon after my father had folded down the rear seat. My sister Cindy and I would climb into the back on the air matresses, and my sister Dorothy would ride up front between my parents in the front seat. The popcorn would be safely tucked away up front, because if not Cindy and I would have started in on it as soon as we got in the car. Then it was off to the drive-in to see a movie!
Once we got to the drive-in my father would find a place to park the car on those little mounds that ran the width of the lot so the nose of the car was pointed up to the huge screen, then he'd roll his window up just enough to hang the heavy metal speaker on it. The sound quality was bad, tinny and scratchy, but it was better than nothing. We'd get there just about the time it was getting dark, and we'd watch the other cars pull in and set up just as we had. Then the previews would start and the popcorn bags would appear, and shortly after that the movie would start. My sister Dorothy stayed up front with my parents while Cindy and I lay on the air mattresses in the back, watching the movie over the back of the front seat and between the shoulders of my parents and Dorothy.
I can't even begin to guess how many times we did this when I was a kid, but I can tell you how many times Cindy and I actually managed to stay awake through the whole movie.
That would be NONE. Not a single one. I can't recall ever seeing the end of a single movie when we went to the drive-in, but I can recall waking up as the car was moving out of the theater, the outside being dark and the inside of the car being illuminated with the moving shadows caused by the headlights of the cars behind us as they all made their way out. And I don't remember arriving back at the house and going inside but once, so I'm guessing that my father carried my sleeping form into the house most nights.
I also couldn't tell you the movies we saw either, with one exception. I remember very clearly a movie we went to see called "The Glory Guys," and I remember it because it was a cavalry movie set in the old west. I didn't remember squat about the movie's plot, just the title, and somewhere along my travels into adolescence and then adulthood I decided that one day, somehow, I was going to see that movie just for the heck of it.
And about ten years ago I finally had a chance to see it on AMC. I was thrilled to death when I saw it listed on the schedule, and I made it a point to be available to watch it.
It was one of the WORST movies I've ever seen in my entire life! If you were to ask me what were the three worst movies I've ever seen, that one would come in at #3 behind "Laserblast" and "The Thin Red Line." ("Thin Red Line," by the way, is the only movie I've ever gotten up and walked out on.)
But the quality of the movie didn't take away from the experience nor the memories, and those trips to the drive-in remain some of the most pleasant memories of my childhood that I have. And I love my parents to death for giving them to me.
IHC
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