Movies At The Trail Memories, by Richard Carpenter
Indoor movie theaters have been in decline for several years. The recent virus and the subsequent social distancing practices, have brought the theater business to a near shutdown status. As is often the case, history provides us with a familiar solution. In my youth Nevada had the Trail Drive-In outdoor movie theater, and when we watched movies from our cars we were definitely practicing social distancing.
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For my fellow senior citizens, this story will likely refresh your memories of that grand old drive-in. If you are from a later generation I think you have sadly missed one of the greatest entertainment activities of all time.
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My first memories of the Trail Drive-In range back six decades plus, when we still lived on our farm near Sheldon. We often mane the trip up what was then 71 highway. I always knew we were getting close when we crossed the narrow two lane overpass south of town.
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My parents were of the generation that had been raised during the Great Depression, so we frugally packed our own refreshments. This included ice, soda pop, and a grocery sack filled with popcorn. My father always raised a small patch of popcorn, so it was a regular snack item in our home.
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As a small kid I was greatly impressed with the playground equipment in front of the huge outdoor movie screen. I can still remember running up and down the grass ramps toward the playground. There was always time for kids to play there before the movie started, and also during intermissions between double features. There was a big clock they would put up on the screen with the number of minutes left for us to play before we had to go back to our family cars.
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Those double features were always a bit much for me when I was little. Most of the time I fell asleep soon after the 2nd movie started. That probably made me miss the most important movie of the night, because the 2nd feature was generally the most recent movie release.
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By time my teenage years arrived, the Trail Drive-In had become a regular stop for young people. We usually managed to go to the movies twice a week. On Sunday through Wednesday, they only had one feature film. Thursday through Saturday they changed formats to double features.
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It was one of our gathering places to see our friends. That was a period when we spent hours in our cars just cruising. From the White Grill parking lot to the Drive-In our cars were our refuge.
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Cars were also part of a legendary teenage sneak attack. You just weren't considered cool unless you had been one of several teens who sneaked into the drive-in in the trunk of a car or covered by blankets in the floorboard of another. Looking back now, I often wonder if the owners were actually fooled by our antics.
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Food was another great memory of those drive-in days. There was one item that was beloved by our locals. It was the famous "Trail Burger." This was actually nothing much more than a bun with something similar to a sloppy joe mixture, but it had a distinctive BBQ flavoring.
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Another favorite part of an evening at the drive-in for me and many others was the cartoon. Some that I loved the most included, Foghorn Leghorn, The Roadrunner, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Pluto, and many more. In the summer with everyone's windows down, you could hear laughter echoing in the night air.
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Your location on the lot was important depending upon your age and needs. Families tended to park in the front half of the lot. This allowed them to be closer to the afore mentioned playground.
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The middle rows were mixed with a variety of people, but the back couple of rows were prized by the younger teen/adult set. These rows had some famous names attached to them based on the activities that often occurred there.
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Some common names for the area included "passion pit and zipper row!" Teens and young adults often found this to be a place for close encounters with the opposite sex.
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In my era we had a phrase that described the practice as "making out." This included some passionate kissing and groping. More than one romance traced its beginning to embraces in the passion pit.
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This was in the time when movies were still displayed via projectors with real film. In today's world of digital movies, film is a thing of the past. Many a night in those old days, the film would break and the operator would have to splice it back together. As we waited for the movie to begin again, countless patrons would honk their horns as if that was going to speed things up.
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I wish we had a drive-in theater again. While I have many movie channels now to watch at home, it just doesn't compare to the experience of actually going to an outdoor movie.
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If we had a drive-in movie theater now, I suspect it would be full every night because of this pandemic. You wouldn't have to worry about how close you were to anyone else when you were able to stay in your car and watch the movie.
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I will close with one vivid memory from that time. It was the evening after school let out my junior year. Several of my classmates had gathered in those back rows. There were so many emotions at play. We were glad that school was out, and that we were now the senior class for the next year. We were with our friends and in a few cases, that special person we wanted to see.
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If I close my eyes I can once more see cartoon with Mutley the dog as he laughs hee hee hee as he hides and waits with club in hand!~!!!!!!
Memories...I remember the last day of school as a teenager we would get our 50 cents deposit back for our lockers (after removing everything and it was clean) and head to the Trail Drive Inn evening! When we were a little younger, Mom & Dad worked in the evenings so Marty had to take me and my 2 little brother's with him. He sat us in the chairs in front of the Concession Stand and then would go back and forth to his car and friends checking on us. We could watch the movie and play in the play area before movies. I remember you could buy a huge dill pickle probably 10 cents, I loved those pickles! We loved the cartoons! Wonderful memories!
Kaye Brittingham
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