Road Runner

My favorite all time cartoon the "Road Runner," always made me laugh. Just the thought of those comical characters today warms me during this continuing bleak winter we are experiencing. About the only place I ever got to see this particular cartoon was at the drive-in movies with my folks. The memories of those hot nights makes me feel better as I suffer through at least another week of this "Arctic Nightmare." I heard from many people last week about the yellow bowl, and the popcorn we cooked as kids. Several told me their own popcorn and bowl stories from their youth. It is gratifying to know that these stories on occasion help take us back to a place where we feel better. It was after talking to some of you about popcorn stories, that the idea for this tale occurred to me.

You see, when I was little, we used to go to the drive-in movies just about every weekend. Just like the movie theaters of today, the food and beverage treats were a big part of the experience at the movies. The exception back then was that many of us did not buy our treats, we took them.

My parents grew up during the "Great Depression." They worked hard and provided well for us, but they were like many of your parents, thrifty to the extreme. You never wasted money or anything else around them.

If I had a nickel for every time I was told to turn off a light switch when I left a room, I would not need a retirement package today. "We can't afford that," was a phrase that we "baby boomers" knew and understood.

So it was with treats for the drive-in movies. Why would you pay good hard earned money for popcorn and a coke, when you could make a grocery sack full and take it with you? We never gave it a thought, that was just the way you did things. I doubt if you could get away with that these days. You would probably be asked to leave if you tried to bring in your own treats.

My two favorite parts of the evening at the drive-in were the cartoons at the beginning, and the playground we used during the intermission. By the way, for you very young readers who have no idea of what an intermission was, you have not lived long enough.

Bugs Bunny, The Road Runner, Tom and Jerry, Daffy Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Woody Woodpecker, Mickey Mouse, Chip and Dale, Speedy Gonzales, and Tweety Bird, are just a short list of the cartoons I remember from those drive-in days. I was totally tuned in to the cartoons, because the features were often a little too adult for me to understand.

You could hear people laughing in the warm muggy open air of those summer evenings. When the coyote would buy some new gadget from "Acme," it would never work right. He would somehow get blown up. Goofy would go from one near disaster to another and never even know what happened. What a way to start a night.

Once the cartoons were over, the first feature began.

All we kids could do was anxiously wait for what seemed like forever for it to end so we could go to the playground. Since there were "Double Features" back then there was a break between shows called intermission.

The drive-in had a merry-go-round, a set of swings, and of course a slide. Once intermission began, every kid furiously ran as fast as possible over the parking ramps to get to the playground. During the intermission, the drive-in showed these advertisements for the foods they were selling in the snack bar. On the screen they looked so great, but as I would find out later in life, most of the movie food was awful with the exception of their popcorn.

There was also a clock on the screen that was animated. It would show how much time was left in the intermission before the show started again. About three minutes before the end, they flashed the lights in the play area, and we kids had to return to our folks cars.

Once the show began again, they would play the trailers for the movies of the next week. Even today, I like the trailers almost as much as I do the features. As a youngster, I often never saw the end of the second feature. Since the shows did not start until dark, the last movie was really late, and I fell asleep most nights. One minute I was watching a movie eating popcorn, and the next minute, it was morning and I was home. Is there anything harder to carry than a dead-to-the-world sleeping child? Saturday night at the drive-in movies was just a part of our lives. We all loved it and the memories are wonderful, especially on a cold winters night like this one. What I wouldn't give to return to just one of those movies and see the Coyote as he falls over the cliff out of sight, until finally there is just a brief puff of smoke. Close your eyes, dream of a warm summer night at the drive-in, and things will seem a little better.