Prompt 70: What caused the virtual disappearance of drive-in theatres?
The Drive-in.
When I was a small boy we used to go the drive-in frequently as a family. We were a family of four, and went in our green Volkswagen beetle, and later, a yellow Ford Escort. It was during the 70's and the drive-in was very popular. It was filled with cars and people even during weeknights. When a new blockbuster was showing, the queue in front of the gate was always very long.
Before the previews people used to honk their car horns, and flash their headlights on the screen, in anticipation of the entertainment to come. One could take in your own food and liquor, and vendors came around to the cars with popcorn, crisps and cold drinks. Ablution facilities and a kiosk were situated at the back of the drive-in. Getting out of the theater after the second show always caused a big traffic jam.
The drive-ins we used to go to near Pretoria were Wonderboom, Lynnwood, Fountains and Swartkops. We went to Swartkops and Fountains Drive-ins the most because they were the closest to our home. They were all well kept and run in those days. Once my father took my brother and myself to the drive-in. You paid per person, and to avoid paying for the two of us, he hid us in the boot of the car. It worked well, and it was quite an adventure, and a learning experience for us two boys.
During my teens in the 1980's, and my early twenties during the 1990's, we still went to the drive-in often. Either as a small group, or just two or three of us lads. We never got into a fight at the drive-in, or saw anyone else fighting, in all the years that we went there. In the mid-1990's they closed down for good. They are still there, but are now abandoned and neglected. The tarmac surfaces of the parking areas are disintegrating, and the speaker poles have long since been stripped of their speakers. The screens stand unused in the sun and weather.
The reason for their disappearance is probably mainly the revolution in television and video at home. In those days, television was still in an early stage in South Africa, and video recorders only became popular in the 1980's. Since the 1990's satellite television has become very popular in this country.
Their disappearance is a shame. It was a pleasant and social way of watching motion pictures. They are now only a memory of a bygone era.
The End.
Copyright ' JP Brown ' 25/09/2006.
