| I was thinking about the old drive-in theatres in Savannah. One was
the Victory Drive-In Theatre and the other was the Highway 80 Drive-In.
We would usually go to the one on Victory Drive just because it was a little
closer to home.
Quite often they would show a double feature. I remember going to see some of the old Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movies, and it seems that we would see quite a few of the "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" movies. I think we may have seen a few of the Disney Movies, also. Cinderella and Snow White for sure. |
(c. 1950) Max's Mom, Miriam (left) with her sister, Max's Aunt Mitzie. |
The movies would be shown at the drive-in's only AFTER they had been shown downtown at the Savannah, Lucas or Weis Theatres. You know, I think that when I was a little girl there may have also been a Roxy Theatre downtown. It was a bit older and was closed in the fifties.
Granddaddy and Grandmomma would laugh so hard at the old Martin and Lewis films. Actually, we all would. It was so much fun. We really loved the Jekyll and Hyde movies, your Mom and me. They would scare our socks off. Barely into the movie we would be sitting on top of Granddaddy and Grandmomma for protection. Seems that we also saw a lot of Cowboy-and-Indian movies as well as quite a few musicals.
You would pull into a parking space next to a steel post that would have a speaker on it. Once you were parked, you would pull the speaker into the car and it would hang onto the window. You could adjust the volume yourself.
In the winter it was so much fun because we would take our blankets with us and wrap up in them. In the summer not only was it hot as a firecracker but the mosquitos and gnats would drive you to total distraction. Gracious, they were the biggest pain. I guess we didn't mind too much.
We went fairly often on week-end nights. Grandmomma would light this "coil thing". It would produce this little trail of smoke that was supposed to repel the mosquitos and gnats. Sometimes she would light two of them. They would sit up on the dashboard in the car.
Until 1953 we always had a Mercury; then in 1953 Granddaddy bought an Oldsmobile. That's the car that your Mom and I learned to drive in. We called it "the tank". It seemed so heavy to us for some reason. Granddaddy always loved the color green. Really his favorite; Grandmomma loved it, too.
I remember that I used to think that the cars were so roomy on the inside because there was always plenty of room to stretch out if you wanted to go to sleep. Sometimes those double features ran a little long for us children. Even Granddad would fall asleep because he had to get up so early every morning to open the plant.
The car's interior was always made of cloth, usually about the same color as the exterior. Sometimes it would have a design, maybe a stripe in with the mostly solid pattern. You know there were no seat belts in the cars until the very late fifties (I think) or very early sixties and then there were only the lap belts. One thing that I remember about the 53 olds was that you could take the key out of the ignition while the car was running. Don't know why I remember that. Here's another thing that I remember that doesn't have a thing to do with the drive-ins, and that is that Grandma and Papa never took their keys out of their car�always left them in the ignition, doors unlocked and windows open. Wonder if they still do that. Your Dad did the same thing.
The backs of the seats were so high that if I watched from the back I would have to sit on pillows or something. When I would sit up front between Grandma and Granddad I could sit on the arm rest that you could pull out from the back of the seat. Grandma learned to drive when I was about 7-8 years old. I believe we had that Oldsmobile then. The driving instructor would come to the house on Washington Ave., and they would go out for her lessons.
Of course, I'll have to tell you that one of my most favorite things was to go to the concession stand. They had Snow Cones, Max. That was just about my favorite---Grape Snow Cones. They had great fountain Coca-Cola's, and I believe they would have French Fries, Hamburgers and Hot Dogs. They had plenty of candy and popcorn as well. You know, Grandmomma used to pop corn for us on the stove and it was really delicious, but I'll have to tell you that I did like the popcorn at the theatre just a little better. They would drizzle a little butter on theirs.
Oh my gosh, Max: I really did love Malted Milk Balls, Milk Duds, M&M's and Baby Ruth Candy Bars. Milky Ways weren't bad either. Can't think of the name of this one other candy but it was a round chocolate disk with little white candy sprinkles on top. (How in the world did I make it through with no cavities? A miracle for sure.)
I think it was about 30 cents for adults and maybe 15 for children. If you were under a certain age you could get in for free. I'm thinking it may have been a few pennies more if they were showing a double feature, not sure about that. I'm sure we could have quite a night of fun for three dollars or less. This would have been through the mid- to late-fifties.
Sometimes we would take a girlfriend or two along. It really was great fun. I really loved when your Mom's girlfriends would come along with us, whether to the movies, out to dinner or just over to spend the night. They always included me in their plans or would invite me to go along with them. It was that way all through their high school years and even after that. They were just terrific.
I just remembered, Max, that sometimes when the weather was really beautiful we would sit out on the hood of the car, under the stars. Gosh, I really just loved that.
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"Aunt Mitzie's Savannah"