The American Drive-In Movie Theatre

The American Drive-In Movie Theatre
by Don Sanders, Susan Sanders

The American Drive-In Movie Theatre
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Book Summary Information

Author: Don Sanders, Susan Sanders
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-09
ISBN: 0760304254
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Motorbooks International

Book Reviews of The American Drive-In Movie Theatre

Book Review: The drive-in theatre is the quintessential american icon
Summary: 5 Stars

Don and Susan Sanders book captures the spirit of another twentieth century icon that is fast disappearing. Two generations in the US and Australia grew up in the back seat of the family car at the drive-in. The snack bar and playground were just as important as the movies themselves. The American Drive-in movie theatre is beautifully illustrated with images that take us all back to a more innocent time - our childhood.

As a former drive-in projectionist it is very satisfying that a place we all called home is being recognised before it vanishes forever. In Australia each major city has only a few drive-ins left. Let them remain as a link to our past and bring joy to the faces of a new generation in the back seat.

David Kilderry Melbourne, Australia

Summary of The American Drive-In Movie Theatre

Few vanishing American venues can evoke as many nostalgic memories as drive-in movie theaters. Before malls and video arcades, drive-ins were the place for carloads of American teenagers, the place for young families needing a break from the house on a summer night, and the place for hot rodders to revel in and admire the hottest cars.

Once common across the country but now numbering fewer than 1,000, American drive-in movie theaters are remembered in loving detail in this new book. Loaded with archival black and white, 150 color photographs and wonderful memorabilia, this book covers the architecture of drive-in theaters, the automobiles that filled their lots, and highlights the spectacular advertising and promotional events that attracted families.

Most of all, it is full of memories of the unique automobile culture that made the American drive-in movie theater such a memorable place for so many people.


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.

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