1960 Cincinnati, Ohio

Ellen Jackson

Born in 1949

Cincinnati, OH

Interviewed on September 9, 2019

by Cody Lin

It was a drive-in movie theater experience, and it was a family affair. It was a very memorable and meaningful experience – much more than just going with friends, which I did only after I turned 18. As this was in the Midwest, we were only able to go in the summer, and we went about a couple times a month. That was our main entertainment back in the day, and being outside was one of the best parts about it. Since it was outdoors, we would have to wait until around sunset, so we could start to see the projector on the screen more visibly. The fun part, then, was that we got to wear our pajamas, and we would pile pillows and blankets in the car; lots of times we would fall asleep because the movie nights were usually double features, so we would almost always fall asleep before the end of the second film. In the early days, it would just be the four of us (me, my sister, and our parents), but later on, we invited one or two friends on occasion, and we would all squeeze in our station wagon.

So as you drove in, you would find your spot. They had these boxes set up for each parking space that you would attach to your car – this would supply the sound for the films. It also doubled as a microphone too, so you could push a button on it and say your order to the snack shop, and then they would come and bring you your snacks. But I remember we usually brought popcorn, snacks, and soda ourselves, so the cost was at a minimum. The price as a whole was actually also pretty cheap because they charged by the car, which was part of the reason why we went in full group; later on when we got older and could drive ourselves, we still made sure to bring as many friends as we could to fill up the car. For some features, there were even age minimums or sometimes they would charge by person, and we used to sneak kids in the trunk and get in at a much cheaper charge. Before the first movie started, on the occasions when we went early enough, we had the chance to play with other kids and siblings on the play equipment they set up in front of the big screen at the front. When the movie started, we would all go back to our cars sad and wanting to play for longer – we would look forward to the intermission between the double feature when we could play again.

During the movie, it was always kind of a trip to go to the bathroom, which was near the snack bar. I was the oldest and we were all girls, so I would have to take all the younger ones to the bathroom. Sometimes, it would be during the best parts of the movies – they would whisper, “Oh I have to go” and I would groan super audibly. I always envied the boys because they would sometimes just open the doors of the cars and just go, in the darkness, but all of us girls had to go to the actual bathroom all the way by the snack shop. The worst part was that it was all dark, and when we were making our way back, it would be a little scary because we would forget where our car was – we were tripping through, walking through, trying to find our car. And sometimes we would start laughing hysterically because, as you can imagine, there were often people making out in the cars.

Between the shows then, lights would come up halfway so that the cars who were going to leave could leave without interrupting others by turning their headlights on. We would always go play a little bit again and then come back and watch the second feature. Another part of the experience was that sometimes, the volume would fail on the speaker box on the car window. Without the car lights on, we would have to try to find another spot to park at with a speaker that actually worked – that was one of the more inconvenient things we experienced every now and then. But you know, it was cheap entertainment, and we were mainly there to enjoy each other’s company and cuddle together anyways.

Most of the features were in black and white, and they were mostly war movies at this particular time (10 years after WWII), like The Longest Day, but I also remember seeing The Day the World Stood Still and The Greatest Show on Earth. All I remember about the characters was that The Longest Day had a seemingly endless cast, and The Greatest Show on Earth literally had circus animals. Back in the day, it wasn’t really important to me who they were, but more about the action and the drama. Even though The Longest Day was about war, we were eating popcorn at the time, filling our faces, making sure not to spill any, and definitely more interested in that and just hanging out together. There was lots of playful energy amongst ourselves, friendly nudging and tickling and all. It was more a reprieve for the parents, who I’m sure were more invested in the plots. While my dad had fought in the actual war, he didn’t talk much about any experiences in the war. I was still too young to get the seriousness of the action and the full historical context – it was more of just the action for entertainment’s purpose and how attractive the actors were that appealed to me. The movie was definitely serious though, and not funny at all – there was certainly no Colonel Klink character (a reference to the main character of Hogan’s Heroes, “perhaps the funniest show ever made about fictional hilarity in a Nazi P.O.W. prison”). Also, I’m not sure when the ratings systems started, but maybe I was even a little too young for the on-screen soldier deaths and swear words.

Even though the movie was serious, I still remember the experience being really fun as a whole – I loved being outside instead of being enclosed in a movie theater. Usually, we would bring lawn chairs to be able to sit between the cars and view the movie, but I definitely enjoyed it the most when we would sit or lay on top of our car and watch from there. Since it was at night, we’d also be able to see the stars on clear nights. The whole experience of watching a movie outside was what made it entertaining and not just the movie itself.