Store

American Drive-in Movie Theater (Motorbooks Classic)

Don & Susan Sanders

List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $16.47
You save: $8.48 (34 %)
Used Price: $8.95
Publisher: MBI
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars

Product Details

Product Description:

The drive-in movie theater brought together two distinct American institutions: cars and movies. Since the earliest drive-ins of the 1930s, these entertainment complexes have been an integral part of American culture. Their appeal stretched to people from all corners of the country, offering a place for social gathering and various amusements. Take a ride down memory lane in this entertaining look at every aspect of the drive-in movie theater: the architecture, the marquees, the cars, the food, and much more. Black-and-white and color photos, along with period ads and other memorabilia, provide a highly illustrated tour from the origins of the drive-in, through its heyday in the 1950s, its decline, and its subsequent revival.

Amazon.com: Tracing the history, geography, and ideology of the American drive-in movie theater, authors Don and Susan Sanders present a densely illustrated look at American culture at its most shallow, sensual, and delightful. Noting the need of the newly created class of motorized, moneyed teenagers of the 1940s and '50s to find a dark and private place for their pubescent pastimes, the Sanders place the origin of this outdoor entertainment form in the birth of popular culture. The sections on the amusement park-style rides, refreshments, and attractions that were used to lure the bored and their cash to this form of voyeurism are especially delightful (the "Mono-Rocket" ride and the new high-speed food dispensers provide intriguing images of capitalist inventiveness). In spite of its Pollyanna-ish tone, The American Drive-In Movie Theater works as both a celebration and an insightful analysis of this passing phase of pre-couch potato folly.

Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: MBI
ISBN: 0760317070
Dimensions: 9.9 x 9.9 x 0.5 inches
Weight: 1.65 pounds
View the complete item listing at Amazon.com

Customers who shopped for this item also bought:

Customer Reviews

Great Book: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; I found the history of the drive-in very interesting in this publication. It would make a great gift for any friend or family member interested in this type of history.
A passion for passion pits: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; Although the drive-in theater didn't start in Hawaii, it may be that the outdoor movie did.
In "The American Drive-in Movie Theatre," Texas drive-in buffs Don and Susan Sanders have a photograph of a sizable crowd watching films projected against the outside wall of a building next to Sacred Hearts Convent School in Honolulu in 1906 -- about a year after the silent movie came to America.
It took a surprisingly long time to marry the outdoor movie and the automobile. In 1933, Richard Hollingshead Jr., the "father of the drive-in theater," opened the Camden Drive-In in New Jersey.
Although cars and movies seem as natural a combination as milk and cookies, it wasn't so easy for the pioneers. The Sanderses say the studios never liked "ozoners" and refused to make first-run, or even good second-run, films available.
And getting sound to the customers was a problem that took years to solve. When the problem eventually was put in the hands of a professional engineer, at RCA in 1941, a workable solution was simple.
But drive-in entrepreneurs were not engineers, nor were they the kind of people who turned to engineers for help.
They tinkered. The results were weird and wonderful -- and likely to annoy the neighbors. One solution was a giant speaker that broadcast the sound over the lot, and much farther.
Cold nights cut into business, too, but every problem was an opportunity to the drive-in operator: In Anchorage, the Billiken Drive-In offered 18-hour, seven-feature admissions in the wintertime.
The 1945-55 decade was the peak for drive-ins. The nation had more than 5,000 of them, though they never caught on much overseas.
From 1955 on, the Sanderses say, television and other changes started to suck the family trade away, leaving the field to teen-agers and Samuel Z. Arkoff's American International Pictures for another half decade or so.
Since then, drive-ins have steadily declined. There are about 500 left, mostly in rural areas. They require too much land to be affordable in cities.
Some individual theaters are doing well, and drive-in societies seek to preserve and protect them.
The Sanderses have traveled to more than 40 states to interview drive-in people and take pictures, and they have ransacked archives for illustrations.
They came up with enough material not only for this charming bit of nostalgia, but for another volume, "Drive-In Movie Memories."
Interesting Info: Avg. Customer Rating: 4 Stars; Being a huge fan of drive-ins, I really looked forward to reading this book. The only criticism I have is the sequence of the actual chapter text of the book, and the information inserts that the author has throughout. It is very "chopped" up. Reading the chapter, then turning the page to find there is information pertaining to something else on the next page. The chapter text starts a couple of pages later in some cases, breaking up the continuity. Other than this, it makes for a very interesting read for those who enjoy nostalgia and want to be transported back to a more simpler and fun time.
Great Gift -- Great Book!: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; The best book of its kind, bar none. Photos are excellent, and it is obvious that the authors really know and love their subject. Anyone who has ever spent an evening at the drive-in would love the memories this book evokes. Anyone who never had the opportunity to participate in the golden age of drive-in movies can experience it vicariously through The American Drive-In Movie Theatre. I've given several copies as gifts -- Everyone loves a Drive-In !
Back to the Belknap: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; Don and Susan Sanders have captured the essence of the drive-in movie theatre and packed all of the magic into a really great book. I flipped hamburgers at the now defunct Belknap Drive-in when I was in high school and turning the pages of this time-machine brought back many memories. Forget about multiplex cinemas and theater complexes at the mall. The American Drive-In movie theatre lives!

Remote Cart: The items in your shopping cart will be added remotely to Amazon.com shopping system.

Checking Out: When you are done, Amazon.com will preceed your order.

Other products: By using the search box you can access products from the entire Amazon.com catalog.