Latest / Ridiculous History / You Auto-go to the Drive-in, Part Two: Driving In and Out of History

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You Auto-go to the Drive-in, Part Two: Driving In and Out of History · Ridiculous History

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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as
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Speaker 2: always so much for tuning in. Quick housekeeping note, this
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Speaker 2: is part two of the history of drive in theaters.
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Speaker 2: Please listen to part one so you're not lost like
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Speaker 2: I was when I mixed up the VHS tapes of
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Speaker 2: The Godfather from Blockbuster. Big shout out to our super producer,
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Speaker 2: mister Max Williams.
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Speaker 3: Well, heck, why don't we just jump right into the
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Speaker 3: episode already in progress.
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Speaker 4: So halling's worth.
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Speaker 3: You know, we've kind of hinted at some of the
1:00
Speaker 3: I guess flexibility that going to a drive in movie
1:05
Speaker 3: would afford you. Hongsworth promoted those the idea that you
1:10
Speaker 3: could smoke without bothering anybody or violating any fire laws
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Speaker 3: for indoor theaters. Although this at this point, weren't you
1:17
Speaker 3: basically allowed to smoke everywhere?
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Speaker 4: Irrelevant neither here nor there.
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Speaker 3: The point is you could definitely have your own little
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Speaker 3: bubble where you wouldn't be bothering anybody. I like that idea.
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Speaker 3: It certainly makes a lot of sense. This is something
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Speaker 3: I did not even consider. Ben you could talk during
1:33
Speaker 3: the movie. Of course, you know, your own little group.
1:35
Speaker 3: You're not bothering your neighbors. But you could also bring
1:39
Speaker 3: your kids and have them sleep in the back of
1:41
Speaker 3: the car, you know, while you were watching a movie,
1:44
Speaker 3: and you wouldn't have to pay a babysitter, because back
1:46
Speaker 3: in those days, movie night was like date night, and
1:50
Speaker 3: this was a real easy way if your family and
1:53
Speaker 3: you don't want to pony up for a babysitter, that
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Speaker 3: you just bring them along and then have them kind
1:57
Speaker 3: of snooze it in the back.
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Speaker 2: Also helps with the pitch for the price point because
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Speaker 2: you can say, hey, you're saving money on a babysitter, really,
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Speaker 2: so you're not spending that much money. If you are
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Speaker 2: a person who has mobility issues maybe or an elderly
2:13
Speaker 2: person or may have some weight issues, this also gives you.
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Speaker 2: This also frees you from the narrow aisles we discussed earlier,
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Speaker 2: and it gives you a little bit of privacy too,
2:26
Speaker 2: which is great for you.
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Speaker 4: Know, heavy petting, heavy pet.
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Speaker 2: Petting, but it's also great for someone who might, for
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Speaker 2: one reason or another, feel a little uncomfortable in a
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Speaker 2: large crowd, if they feel like people are staring at
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Speaker 2: them and stuff, and.
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Speaker 4: So no doubt. Yeah, there's a lot, lot to like,
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Speaker 4: lot to like in the model.
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Speaker 2: And hollings hollings Head also points out, you know, if
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Speaker 2: you are worried that your baby might be crying or something,
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Speaker 2: you can just kind of roll up the windows. The
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Speaker 2: whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.
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Speaker 2: This is a bit operation. You can see the picture.
3:02
Speaker 2: You can see photographs that Andrea pulled of it. This
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Speaker 2: thing held a little less than four hundred cars, which
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Speaker 2: is still a lot of cars, just not as considering
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Speaker 2: there's multiple people per car right right, and the screen
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Speaker 2: is big. It's thirty feet high, forty feet wide, suspended
3:20
Speaker 2: twelve feet from the ground. It's housed in this larger structure.
3:25
Speaker 2: The field is paved, but it's paved with gravel, and
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Speaker 2: they are the thing with gravels. It generates a lot
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Speaker 2: of dust, right, so they oil the gravel to keep
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Speaker 2: the dust down and reduce the population of mosquitoes. They've
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Speaker 2: got three like six foot square speakers RCA speakers, and
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Speaker 2: it's very loud, so this also helps solve the crying
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Speaker 2: baby situation because it's so loud, the baby'll just be
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Speaker 2: part of the soundtrack. At that point, it does for sure,
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Speaker 2: but again I'm planned this out earlier. Like if you've
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Speaker 2: ever been to a concert where they have like a
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Speaker 2: lawn you know, lawn seats, you will notice they have
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Speaker 2: a second set of speakers that is just for that.
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Speaker 4: It's like extension because if you didn't, there.
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Speaker 3: Is a a audible and the visible disconnect between the
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Speaker 3: sink of like the mouths moving on the screen or
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Speaker 3: by the performers. Because sound literally is vibration carried over air,
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Speaker 3: and there is a delay, there is a lag. So
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Speaker 3: I mentioned that. So that is a problem that they
4:29
Speaker 3: eventually had to address. Another brilliant part of this in
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Speaker 3: terms of like a money making scheme, I guess is
4:38
Speaker 3: you're you're responsible for your own air conditioning, Like I
4:41
Speaker 3: don't know did they did cars have actual like free
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Speaker 3: on powered air conditioning at this point, No, so they
4:48
Speaker 3: would have maybe had just had their own fans. And
4:50
Speaker 3: even at this point, you know, we always hear about
4:53
Speaker 3: movie theaters were a great source of air conditioning, you know,
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Speaker 3: when people would go buy a ticket to the movie
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Speaker 3: theaters just to sit in the air condition in New York.
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Speaker 3: But at this point we're in the thirties and do
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Speaker 3: we have that type of modern air conditioning or refrigeration.
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Speaker 3: I think it was probably around the thirties that that
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Speaker 3: started cars, not quite like indoor in general, just in
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Speaker 3: general indoor.
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Speaker 2: AC I know for cars was in the forties and
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Speaker 2: then the fifties. It started in the forties, I want
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Speaker 2: to say, so I would assume that they had indoor
5:28
Speaker 2: AC unit.
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Speaker 4: They had to.
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Speaker 2: They had indoor AC units for structures before they had
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Speaker 2: the mobile and automobiles. Right, That just mean it was.
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Speaker 4: There was early thirties.
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Speaker 3: The Packard, which I know you talked about on car stuff,
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Speaker 3: was a luxury, mega luxury automobile that had the first
5:46
Speaker 3: semblance of indoor air conditioning.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, but these were, like.
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Speaker 2: The packer crowd was at best a very small portion
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Speaker 2: of one percent, And it wouldn't be until the mid
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Speaker 2: fifties that that, you know, it became more mainstream.
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Speaker 4: So point being, the proprietors.
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Speaker 3: Of the drive ins were able to save quite a
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Speaker 3: bit on their energy bill.
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Speaker 2: Yes, and they also discovered something that was common in
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Speaker 2: theaters then and now, which is the idea of a
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Speaker 2: captive market. Now, the drive in would let you take
6:18
Speaker 2: your own food in. At this point they were more
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Speaker 2: than happy if you had, you know, a picnic basket.
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Speaker 2: It was just like, yeah, they're just like a bucket
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Speaker 2: of chestnuts. They really didn't care.
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Speaker 4: It's very specific.
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Speaker 2: What they did discover, though, is even if they didn't
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Speaker 2: have a law banning or a policy banning outside food
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Speaker 2: and drink, if they started a concession stand, people would
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Speaker 2: spend money there because it's part.
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Speaker 4: Of the experience.
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Speaker 3: And I do wonder, we don't really have anything about
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Speaker 3: this ben but I imagined it was probably also okay
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Speaker 3: to bring your own boothe ooh.
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Speaker 2: That that might be a sticky subject. I guess drunk
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Speaker 2: driving laws well well established at this point, not because
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Speaker 2: everybody was drunk, but because fewer people were driving. Let's see,
7:15
Speaker 2: prohibition ended in nineteen thirty three, so this would be
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Speaker 2: so alcohol itself was still very verboten. I think by
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Speaker 2: June sixth, nineteen thirty three when the drive in theater opened.
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Speaker 3: So probably a conversation that wouldn't start for a little bit.
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Speaker 3: But you know what, I'm sure people were bringing their
7:36
Speaker 3: little flasks.
7:37
Speaker 4: You know, what's that old line.
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Speaker 2: People will vote for prohibitions so long as they can stagger.
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Speaker 4: To the polls. That's funny.
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Speaker 2: No, Yeah, Unfortunately it's true too because a lot of
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Speaker 2: the members of it's a joke that refers to politicians
7:52
Speaker 2: and members of Congress who would always vote for prohibition
7:56
Speaker 2: but then have their secret stash at their home for
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Speaker 2: their fancy parties. It was somewhat hypocritical, kind of like
8:03
Speaker 2: how the leader of North Korea uh loves Western chocolates.
8:10
Speaker 2: I walked down the street for that one.
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Speaker 3: But I'm yeah, for sure, what like dove, Like, what
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Speaker 3: do you mean Western chocolate? It's just like crappy chocolate
8:16
Speaker 3: like her bars. He looks, yeah, yeah, he loves all
8:20
Speaker 3: the Western treats.
8:21
Speaker 4: Max what she got?
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Speaker 5: So what I got is, actually no, I'm going to
8:24
Speaker 5: reference Boardwalk Empire. I believe in the first episode, Steve
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Speaker 5: Shimmy is like at a prohibition speech talking about like
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Speaker 5: how great prohibition is. He walks out immediately and starts
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Speaker 5: strinking from his flask.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, oh a million percent. Steve Bushimmy from the cinematic
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Speaker 2: masterpiece Vibes.
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Speaker 4: He's done Vibes. He's in a.
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Speaker 3: Minor character though, right, he's not a He's not like
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Speaker 3: a major play. Steve Shimmy does not do minor characters.
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Speaker 4: Steve shut into a wood Shipper. Yeah, wow, spoiler. No,
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Speaker 4: don't know, twenty plus year old movie.
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Speaker 2: I think it's okay. So what we didn't say? Witch movie?
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Speaker 4: No, that's true. Not the math, though you can do
9:01
Speaker 4: the mathough. Who is the co star of Vibes.
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Speaker 2: It's Jeff Goldbloom and Cindy Lauper.
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Speaker 4: Cindy Lauper, Jeff Goldblum.
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Speaker 3: I actually I think I've made this hot take on
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Speaker 3: something I want you to know. The other day I
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Speaker 3: would argue Vibes superior to Ghostbusters.
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Speaker 2: I really appreciate that. I still just being kind to
9:21
Speaker 2: one of my many obsessions.
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Speaker 3: But I am being what they call Koi Koi, like
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Speaker 3: one of this big Asian fish.
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Speaker 2: Dude, I have to send you a picture I saw
9:31
Speaker 2: the most massive I saw Kaiju Koi. Oh jeez, I'll
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Speaker 2: send it to you. But but there's excitement here. People
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Speaker 2: are gassed throughout New Jersey about this, and more and
9:42
Speaker 2: more newspapers are reporting on this, first as an oddity,
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Speaker 2: but then as a possible future of cinema. Sad news,
9:53
Speaker 2: though a bit of a womp womp. The very first
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Speaker 2: park in theater did not last long, we said June sixth,
10:01
Speaker 2: nineteen thirty three was the opening night. By this point
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Speaker 2: they called it. The public called it the drive in Theater,
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Speaker 2: but the actual name was Automobile Movie Theater, and so
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Speaker 2: the public crowd sourced the name they preferred. That's usually
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Speaker 2: how it goes, right, And yeah, it kind of just
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Speaker 2: gets adopted. What And this first theater soldiered on for
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Speaker 2: three years and it closed in nineteen thirty six. A
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Speaker 2: guy bought the concept from Halling's head and moved the
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Speaker 2: location to Union, New Jersey. Halling said loved the idea,
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Speaker 2: the public loved the idea too, but he had really
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Speaker 2: difficult financial challenges with it. He said, look, I can't
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Speaker 2: make money off this. It's a beautiful idea. Everybody loves it,
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Speaker 2: but I just can't turn a profit with it because
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Speaker 2: I have to pay the studios the film rental cost,
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Speaker 2: which I still think is the one of the number
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Speaker 2: one cost of theaters today.
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Speaker 4: Right. I do believe that's right. And Ben will get
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Speaker 4: to this as well.
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Speaker 3: But you remember in stuff they I want you to know,
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Speaker 3: not terribly long ago, we did an episode about them,
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Speaker 3: the Golden Age of Hollywood and how the studios owned
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Speaker 3: all the theaters and they would like trying to squeeze
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Speaker 3: out any competition by charging these exorbitant rental fees. So
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Speaker 3: this was not conducive to, you know, starting a mom
11:30
Speaker 3: and pop kind of business where you were playing the
11:32
Speaker 3: movies because you're paying so much. You know to the
11:34
Speaker 3: studios that it is hard to turn a profit. That's
11:37
Speaker 3: exactly right, and we're going to see how this tide
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Speaker 3: kind of turns in a bit because of some happenstance.
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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, Also to your earlier point, the sound was
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Speaker 2: horrible because of the location of the screen oiling. The
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Speaker 2: gravel did not eliminate insects as well as they had hoped.
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Speaker 2: Ticket prices were higher still than your average orthodox theater,
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Speaker 2: and this all, all these factors together made it really
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Speaker 2: difficult to turn a profit. So it made sense for
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Speaker 2: Hollingshead to sell this, to sell this concept to someone else.
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Speaker 2: But the idea is still caught on by now. It
12:21
Speaker 2: was ensconced within the zeitgeist of America. And if we
12:25
Speaker 2: fast forward to the post World War two economic boom,
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Speaker 2: we see drive ins are proliferating across the United States.
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Speaker 2: And this is where we get to that kind of
12:36
Speaker 2: golden age of drive ins. And Hollywood culture because by
12:42
Speaker 2: far and away one of the most popular locations for
12:45
Speaker 2: drive ins was the state of California, and.
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Speaker 4: It caught on.
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Speaker 2: So it became so popular that hollings Head patent got
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Speaker 2: overturned in nineteen forty nine, so now anybody could open
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Speaker 2: a drive in theaters wildwide.
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Speaker 3: Curious about that, I mentioned that that was kind of
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Speaker 3: coming but overturned. Why because, I mean, wasn't the someone
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Speaker 3: bought the concept from him when he was having a
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Speaker 3: hard time turning a profit. I would assume that would
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Speaker 3: come with the patent as well. If you bought the concepts,
13:15
Speaker 3: you know, then you would sign that over. But was
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Speaker 3: it because of that lack of novelty that they rethought this?
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Speaker 2: I think maybe there's a way to renew the patent again,
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Speaker 2: another reason we should do an episode on this. But
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Speaker 2: at the time, when you got a patent in the
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Speaker 2: nineteen thirties, you would have a period of seventeen years
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Speaker 2: of exclusivity, after which time your patent would.
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Speaker 3: Expire, unless you're Mickey Mouse, in which case you can
13:46
Speaker 3: just bend the laws of man and nature, you know,
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Speaker 3: to your whims. And that's what allowed Mickey to stay
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Speaker 3: out of the public domain until very very very very recently,
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Speaker 3: literally like I think last year.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's only one version of me too.
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Speaker 3: It's like the steamboat Willie Oldest oldest og version of
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Speaker 3: Mickey Mouse.
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Speaker 2: And so there is this this massive exponential growth of
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Speaker 2: drive in theaters. One of the most famous was the
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Speaker 2: All Weather drive in out in New York State. They
14:17
Speaker 2: have parking spaces for two thy five hundred cars. They
14:20
Speaker 2: had a kid's playground forget, a concession stand, they had
14:23
Speaker 2: a restaurant.
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Speaker 3: A fun night out. You know, the movie's just a
14:29
Speaker 3: part of it at this there really is. And we'll
14:31
Speaker 3: get into some extra little add on features that I
14:33
Speaker 3: had no idea about that Andrea Fountain that are super fascinating.
14:36
Speaker 3: But you know, it makes sense too, by the way, Ben,
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Speaker 3: that California would be kind of ground zero for this
14:41
Speaker 3: stuff because the weather is just always kind of the same,
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Speaker 3: you know, it very rarely rains. It's usually a nice
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Speaker 3: cool seventy two degrees or whatever, you know, ocean breezes
14:51
Speaker 3: and stuff. Similar reason that there is such a issue
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Speaker 3: with unhoused folks, you know, in California, because it's just
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Speaker 3: a great place to be able to sleep outdoors.
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Speaker 4: Not a great place.
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Speaker 3: I mean, it's still a tough life, but much more
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Speaker 3: so than in say New Jersey, you know, or New York,
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Speaker 3: where you never really know what the weather's gonna do.
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Speaker 2: Mm hmm, yeah, similar argument with Hawaii. Right, So, California
15:14
Speaker 2: is the most well known destination for drive ins, but
15:17
Speaker 2: about forty percent of drive ins are located in the Midwest.
15:22
Speaker 2: And that's because there are all these small suburban towns
15:26
Speaker 2: that are popping up as suburbs or exurbs of large cities.
15:31
Speaker 2: And when you have those places pop up on the
15:35
Speaker 2: the outskirts of a metropolis, you're also going to find
15:40
Speaker 2: a lot of cheap land, and that's what you need
15:44
Speaker 2: for a profitable drive in theater.
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Speaker 3: It makes me think of like the parking lot king
15:47
Speaker 3: of you know, insert city here, where it's like, yeah,
15:51
Speaker 3: it's the barrier to entry is just you got to
15:53
Speaker 3: have like kind of like a uniformly shaped plot of
15:57
Speaker 3: land and then you can just it's really to PLoP
16:00
Speaker 3: all this stuff down. You just got to invest in
16:03
Speaker 3: the screen. And then as we also find that the
16:06
Speaker 3: screens ended up being billboards in and of themselves, like
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Speaker 3: they would like to attract people to come to the
16:11
Speaker 3: to the to the drive ins. They would make these
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Speaker 3: elaborate murals on the back ends, the backsides of the screens.
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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, this was great.
16:19
Speaker 2: This is the age of the This is a great
16:23
Speaker 2: time to be a muralist in America. There was a
16:26
Speaker 2: Compton drive in that had a huge Viking ship painted
16:29
Speaker 2: on it. There was in Loma Linda there was this
16:33
Speaker 2: iconic depiction of skiers going down the slopes, and then
16:38
Speaker 2: there's so many other examples and they've become kind of
16:44
Speaker 2: iconic indicators of the time in which they were created.
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Speaker 3: Well, and it's also like there's a really cool Instagram
16:51
Speaker 3: account that I follow. I think it's called like the
16:53
Speaker 3: Neon Signs of Old Hollywood or something like that, and
16:57
Speaker 3: it's just got fabulous vintage photographs, a lot of these
16:59
Speaker 3: incorre raided neon you know, into until where you start
17:02
Speaker 3: they start to almost resemble like the outside of a
17:05
Speaker 3: Vegas casino. But this is just a really cool period
17:08
Speaker 3: in history in Hollywood and Southern California, just really iconic,
17:13
Speaker 3: just feels really classic, And you know, I'm a big fan.
17:16
Speaker 3: The al Monty drive in, you know, featured like sort
17:18
Speaker 3: of like a like a Spanish dancer. I want to say, like,
17:22
Speaker 3: you know, with like a kind of a leg out,
17:25
Speaker 3: you know, were a Flamenco dancer, as Adam Durantz of
17:28
Speaker 3: The Counting Crows with says, show me some of that
17:31
Speaker 3: Spanish dancing and pass me a bottle, mister Jones at
17:34
Speaker 3: the drive in. But yeah, I love this stuff man,
17:36
Speaker 3: and I'm a big I'm a sucker for this period
17:38
Speaker 3: in Hollywood history.
17:39
Speaker 2: We love this nostalogy. Yeah, agreed. Also, I got radicalized
17:44
Speaker 2: and I didn't get Flamenco until I saw a live
17:47
Speaker 2: Flamenco show.
17:49
Speaker 3: It is the way you sounded just for me. It
17:50
Speaker 3: sound like it was a disease. I never got Flamenco until.
17:54
Speaker 2: I thought it was vaccinated. I thought it was safe.
17:56
Speaker 2: And then they brought out the little clackety clacketty things.
17:59
Speaker 2: It was amazing.
18:00
Speaker 4: They're called castanets.
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Speaker 2: Cast nets. That's right, that's so cool. So drive ins
18:07
Speaker 2: become incredibly popular to see and.
18:10
Speaker 4: Be seen spots. Yeah, twenty years on from.
18:13
Speaker 3: The original kind of concept, you know, there's a real
18:16
Speaker 3: boom for several reasons. The prices have gone down, they've
18:20
Speaker 3: sorted out some of those issues that we were talking
18:22
Speaker 3: about like with the disconnect from the screen. It's the
18:25
Speaker 3: fifties that's really the golden age of drive ins.
18:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, by this point in the fifties and sixties, there
18:38
Speaker 2: are more than four thousand drive ins throughout the US.
18:42
Speaker 2: Most of them are in rural areas due to land costs,
18:45
Speaker 2: and they're a space that you know, they're kind of
18:49
Speaker 2: what we will call the third space, which is very
18:52
Speaker 2: important for communities the third the third space argument is
18:56
Speaker 2: that your first space is your home, and then you
18:58
Speaker 2: have a second space, which is where you go to work.
19:02
Speaker 2: And if you don't have a third space, it's really
19:04
Speaker 2: difficult to build a community. So this is an affordable
19:09
Speaker 2: date night option. The escapism that you mentioned is there
19:12
Speaker 2: you're on a roller coaster the mind, depending what film
19:15
Speaker 2: you see. By nineteen fifty eight, the number of drive
19:19
Speaker 2: in theaters has reached its peak. During this halcyon age,
19:24
Speaker 2: there were four thousand and sixty three recorded drive in
19:28
Speaker 2: theaters in the US alone. They became, you know, the
19:33
Speaker 2: hot date spot, the date night for parents, the family
19:36
Speaker 2: night for children. And there's a great quote from a
19:40
Speaker 2: guy who mentioned earlier our pal cop. He says drive
19:44
Speaker 2: ins started to really take off in the fifties, they
19:46
Speaker 2: offered family entertainment. People could sit in their cars, they
19:49
Speaker 2: could bring their babies, they could smoke the parents, not
19:52
Speaker 2: the babies, you know.
19:54
Speaker 3: But anyway everywhere back in those days, it may cigure
19:57
Speaker 3: it's just for babies.
19:58
Speaker 4: If I'm not mistaken, Yeah, I camel can exactly.
20:01
Speaker 3: It is really comical though, But then we start to
20:04
Speaker 3: see some of these other innovations right where they had
20:07
Speaker 3: these special speakers that you could mount inside your car
20:11
Speaker 3: that would give you your own personal feed of the
20:14
Speaker 3: audio from the movie, and that cut down on the
20:16
Speaker 3: issues with the lag and the delay, and it was
20:19
Speaker 3: just a lot more self contained, right, mm hmm.
20:22
Speaker 2: Yeah it was. And also there is a this is
20:28
Speaker 2: almost like a grassroots movement because the powers that be
20:31
Speaker 2: in Hollywood, the studio executives right who have an iron
20:36
Speaker 2: grip on most of the industry, they think drive ins
20:42
Speaker 2: are a dumb idea, because the c suite folks at
20:45
Speaker 2: Warner and Paramount are saying, why would you go out
20:49
Speaker 2: in a field to watch a movie? What a bunch
20:51
Speaker 2: of hicks. Everybody knows the proper way to experience cinema
20:56
Speaker 2: is in our own, super classy, exclusive thing they kind
21:00
Speaker 2: of mimic European theaters like.
21:02
Speaker 4: The China's Own though, right that we own.
21:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the quiet part.
21:07
Speaker 3: So at first they're not playing ball with these smaller
21:11
Speaker 3: family owned operations. But it gets to a place though
21:16
Speaker 3: where drive ins have kind of, I guess, really captured
21:20
Speaker 3: the zeitgeist of the time, and they're starting to be
21:22
Speaker 3: written about in like, you know, popular music. The Everly
21:25
Speaker 3: Brothers wake Up Little Susie in nineteen fifty seven, Yeah, yeah,
21:28
Speaker 3: tells the story of Susie and her boyfriend waking up
21:31
Speaker 3: late at a drive in. Beach boys, you know, obviously
21:35
Speaker 3: wrote about drive ins. It was just part of that
21:37
Speaker 3: car culture thing in southern California. Elvis Presley loved the
21:41
Speaker 3: drive ins. You started to see all of these like
21:43
Speaker 3: kind of beach movies like Beach Blanket Bingo and Muscle
21:47
Speaker 3: Beach Party, and you know, talking about your Woody, which
21:50
Speaker 3: was a type of station wagon just get our minds
21:53
Speaker 3: out of the gutters folks with those woodpaneled sides kind of.
21:57
Speaker 3: But yeah, this it was so inescapably part of the
22:00
Speaker 3: culture that Hollywood eventually kind of had to acquiesce, but
22:03
Speaker 3: they didn't do it until it was just kind of
22:07
Speaker 3: like undeniable right right.
22:09
Speaker 2: Until the as you would say, as our Powell, Malcolm
22:14
Speaker 2: Gladwell would say, until the tipping point had passed. And
22:19
Speaker 2: so when studio executives were forced to play ball with
22:22
Speaker 2: drive ins, they took advantage of one thing that they
22:27
Speaker 2: knew would work. They would have their stars make personal
22:32
Speaker 2: appearances at drive in venues during the screening of one
22:37
Speaker 2: of their films. So this is where we see things
22:40
Speaker 2: like September thirteenth, nineteen thirty four, when a Columbia Pictures
22:45
Speaker 2: actress named Billy Seward went to LA's first drive in
22:50
Speaker 2: to promote films by Columbia. And also at this point,
22:54
Speaker 2: you know, as we mentioned in our stuff they don't
22:56
Speaker 2: want you in know episode, these studios basically owned the
23:00
Speaker 2: actors and the actresses, and they didn't have the best lives.
23:04
Speaker 3: When you when you talk about the idea of actors
23:06
Speaker 3: being under contract to studios, it was almost like they
23:10
Speaker 3: were in like you said, Ben like indentured servants, where
23:12
Speaker 3: they had certain number of pictures they had to complete.
23:15
Speaker 3: They were contractually obligated to do these press tours and
23:19
Speaker 3: these press appearances. And you know, I would I would
23:22
Speaker 3: argue that maybe today actors have a little bit more
23:25
Speaker 3: power or they recognize their power versus these Golden era
23:30
Speaker 3: type deals where the studio really wielded almost all of
23:33
Speaker 3: the power because they had such an iron fisted grasp
23:36
Speaker 3: over you know, everything from the theaters to to the
23:40
Speaker 3: the scripts, to the intellectual property and all of it.
23:43
Speaker 3: So actors were really beholden and they would usually be
23:45
Speaker 3: under contract to a single studio for like their entire
23:48
Speaker 3: career or off exactly.
23:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it could be a really tough life.
23:54
Speaker 4: You know.
23:54
Speaker 2: There was sure you'd get public attention and fame, but
23:57
Speaker 2: you also aren't really your own person in many respects.
24:00
Speaker 2: It's probably the closest analogue to that situation today is
24:05
Speaker 2: to look at jpop and K pop stars, you know
24:09
Speaker 2: what I mean, who are not even allowed to publicize
24:11
Speaker 2: romantic relationships in some cases.
24:14
Speaker 3: Or the romantic relationships would be like arranged practically, you
24:19
Speaker 3: know what I mean, Yeah, like you gotta we need
24:22
Speaker 3: this union of our houses almost right, Like it's pretty
24:25
Speaker 3: pretty sketchy, yeah yeah.
24:27
Speaker 2: And so a lot of stars follow Columbia's earlier example
24:32
Speaker 2: and they say, these outdoor appearances are a way for
24:35
Speaker 2: us to press, the flesh, appeal to new audiences, get
24:38
Speaker 2: people excited, and eventually all theater companies started to include
24:45
Speaker 2: drive ins in their screen counts. Right, so it became
24:50
Speaker 2: an expected and normalized aspect of a studio's business. If
24:55
Speaker 2: you go to Pacific Theaters out in La you see
24:58
Speaker 2: they started as a exclusively as a drive in theater company,
25:02
Speaker 2: and they eventually owned more than one hundred and ten locations.
25:07
Speaker 2: There was a great interview with Michael Foreman, who was
25:10
Speaker 2: president of Pacific, and he started talking about the grassroots
25:16
Speaker 2: thing we mentioned, right, like, now these new up and comers,
25:20
Speaker 2: these upstarts can actually swing above their weight glass and
25:24
Speaker 2: buck with the studios.
25:26
Speaker 3: So Michael Foreman, who is the president of the once
25:28
Speaker 3: again family owned Pacific Drive In, had this to say
25:32
Speaker 3: about when the whole situation kind of became undeniable because
25:36
Speaker 3: of the geography of it all. He said, since we
25:39
Speaker 3: were actually located in Hollywood, the studios could not ignore us.
25:43
Speaker 3: We were able to get first run product, and we
25:45
Speaker 3: utilized movie stars to promote the outdoor venue. We hosted
25:49
Speaker 3: huge premiere parties for drive in showings. One evening, I
25:52
Speaker 3: will never forget a very young raquel welch hubba hubbah,
25:55
Speaker 3: that's me. Appeared for the grand opening of our Fountain
25:58
Speaker 3: Valley location Edwards Theaters, which is another chain, a smaller chain. Again,
26:03
Speaker 3: all of these were like kind of mom and pop,
26:05
Speaker 3: but the boom happened and it allowed them to really spread.
26:08
Speaker 3: They jumped on this bandwagon as well, and the company
26:12
Speaker 3: selected the nineteen fifties absolute smash comedy duo Lewis and Martin.
26:18
Speaker 3: Some of that stuff really holds up, by the way,
26:20
Speaker 3: Jerry Lewis being the kooky guy, Dean Martin kind of
26:22
Speaker 3: being the suave straight man. They appeared alongside a noted
26:28
Speaker 3: Southern California architect named Jay Arthur Drillsma in order to
26:34
Speaker 3: introduce the press to some of their new outdoor locations.
26:38
Speaker 2: Yes, branded advertising, and so with this marriage of entertainment
26:45
Speaker 2: and high fin ads we see we see a quick
26:51
Speaker 2: evolution not just in the location of films or where
26:56
Speaker 2: these films are viewed, but in the kind of films
26:59
Speaker 2: that are created. Because in a indoor theater, the film
27:04
Speaker 2: itself is entirely the focus of the experience. In an
27:09
Speaker 2: outdoor theater and a drive in people are finding the
27:12
Speaker 2: film sometimes becomes just a piece of the Stultz. Right,
27:17
Speaker 2: it even becomes a background. Right, you're there to make
27:19
Speaker 2: out Netflix and Chill was way before Netflix.
27:23
Speaker 4: Well, it's funny.
27:23
Speaker 3: I think I briefly mentioned that Elvis was a big
27:26
Speaker 3: fan of of the drive ins and he started started
27:29
Speaker 3: starring in these let's just call him kind of puff
27:32
Speaker 3: piece type films.
27:34
Speaker 4: Dumb dude, that's right.
27:36
Speaker 3: Because it didn't matter if you if you missed a
27:38
Speaker 3: little bit of it going to grab you know, some
27:41
Speaker 3: some popcorn and a soda pop from the concessions. It
27:45
Speaker 3: didn't matter because there really wasn't a much plot to
27:48
Speaker 3: speak of in movies like Blue Hawaii and Fun in Acapulco.
27:52
Speaker 3: If the names aren't enough of a giveaway, there Mami
27:55
Speaker 3: van Doren, another big Hollywood actor name of the time.
28:00
Speaker 4: I have this to say.
28:01
Speaker 3: I often attended drive ins around Hollywood, many times with
28:04
Speaker 3: my mother in the front seat. We were there to
28:06
Speaker 3: critique one of my films. At the drive in. No
28:09
Speaker 3: one would know I was watching my own work.
28:12
Speaker 2: Right, y, you could be anonymous, and that anonymity is
28:17
Speaker 2: a huge deal, as we in the world of podcasting
28:20
Speaker 2: can tell you. Kidding, but the idea is really appealing.
28:23
Speaker 2: You're a Gary Cooper, you're a Clark Gable. You will
28:27
Speaker 2: get mobbed by fans if you go to the deli
28:31
Speaker 2: or you go anywhere in public. You can't move like
28:34
Speaker 2: a civilian at this point unless you are in the
28:38
Speaker 2: drive in theater. And that's where we see people going
28:42
Speaker 2: to a lot of drive ins in Hollywood. They were
28:44
Speaker 2: one of the best places to encounter a celebrity. Though
28:48
Speaker 2: you might not know that that was who was in
28:51
Speaker 2: the car next to you. We also know that there
28:54
Speaker 2: were people like Roy Rogers who leaned into it and
28:58
Speaker 2: made their own drive in movie clubs. The Roy Rogers
29:02
Speaker 2: Writers Club grew to two million members at its peak.
29:06
Speaker 2: A lot of people launched their careers in these sort
29:10
Speaker 2: of as we would say, lightweight drive in movies where
29:14
Speaker 2: the plot wasn't as important as spectacle. Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood,
29:20
Speaker 2: Michael Landon. They came from this age of drive in theaters,
29:25
Speaker 2: and drive in theaters were mostly known for B movies,
29:30
Speaker 2: but some of them had had the more intellectual fair right,
29:34
Speaker 2: I would say.
29:35
Speaker 3: I suppose so, but it did kind of evolve or
29:38
Speaker 3: devolve into even being like more on the racy side,
29:42
Speaker 3: you know, like adult entertainment type vibes. Because you started
29:46
Speaker 3: to stop seeing as many first run drive ins, it
29:51
Speaker 3: became much more of a you.
29:53
Speaker 4: Know, specialty kind of thing.
29:56
Speaker 3: Let's just say, slasher films, for example, exploit Haitian films
30:00
Speaker 3: even you know, and that's sort of where it is today.
30:05
Speaker 3: In a lot of ways, it does feel like this
30:06
Speaker 3: nostalgia play where while the you know, the theater here
30:10
Speaker 3: in Atlanta does show first run films, they'll do these
30:14
Speaker 3: kind of events that are more like geared towards nostalgia
30:18
Speaker 3: of it all.
30:18
Speaker 4: And that's you know, everybody loves the.
30:20
Speaker 3: Idea of going to see Maybe not everybody, but if
30:22
Speaker 3: you're into horror, going to see like a good double
30:25
Speaker 3: feature slasher movie.
30:27
Speaker 2: You know, double features are still a big thing. And we're,
30:30
Speaker 2: as we'll see, we in Atlanta are immensely fortunate to
30:35
Speaker 2: have a drive in theater. Because you might be saying, hey, Ben, hey,
30:40
Speaker 2: Nol and Max, I get that drive in theaters were
30:44
Speaker 2: such a big deal. But if what you're telling me
30:46
Speaker 2: is true, why isn't there a drive in theater in
30:50
Speaker 2: my town? This is where we see that some of
30:59
Speaker 2: this same things that made drive ins appealing to audiences
31:04
Speaker 2: and as a business ultimately led to the downfall of
31:08
Speaker 2: the industry. Because we talked about how drive in theaters
31:12
Speaker 2: in post World War two were very successful because the
31:16
Speaker 2: land was cheap. What happens when the land is no
31:20
Speaker 2: longer cheap, Well.
31:23
Speaker 3: It's harder to get, it's more sought after, and it's
31:26
Speaker 3: definitely the bottom line starts to become a little bit
31:31
Speaker 3: less tenable for these types of businesses.
31:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go to d Vogel, owner of Benji's drive In,
31:39
Speaker 2: which is located near Baltimore, Maryland, and said, look, Vogel said,
31:44
Speaker 2: a lot of drive ins folded because the price of
31:47
Speaker 2: land started going up. People were incentivized to move to
31:51
Speaker 2: these suburbs and these exurbs. And as more people moved
31:55
Speaker 2: in and more stuff got developed, the land became expensive.
31:59
Speaker 2: What used to be the outskirts of town next to
32:01
Speaker 2: a farm was suddenly not as cheap to your point there,
32:05
Speaker 2: Nol and people would build on the outskirts. The town
32:08
Speaker 2: would grow, and then a lot of these drive ins,
32:11
Speaker 2: like said earlier, mom and pop businesses, and sometimes the
32:14
Speaker 2: kids just wouldn't want to continue the family business. So
32:18
Speaker 2: drive ins began to decline. Across the country. You needed
32:23
Speaker 2: like fifteen acres of land to have an effective drive in,
32:27
Speaker 2: So it became more profitable for these drive in owners
32:33
Speaker 2: to sell their land to real estate developers who wanted
32:37
Speaker 2: to make a mall or one of those sort of
32:39
Speaker 2: you know, live, laugh, love mixed use complexes. That's the
32:44
Speaker 2: right phrase, mixed.
32:45
Speaker 4: Use complex Oh yeah, no, it certainly is.
32:48
Speaker 2: And then we haven't really mentioned it yet, but there
32:53
Speaker 2: is another big disadvantage for drive in movie theaters.
32:58
Speaker 4: They only work at night, for sure, And you know
33:02
Speaker 4: that obviously. We mentioned that.
33:03
Speaker 3: One of the reasons southern California was such a hotbed
33:06
Speaker 3: of drive in is because of the pretty predictable and
33:09
Speaker 3: continuously quite nice weather. But during the seventies oil crisis,
33:14
Speaker 3: people started to have to downsize their car in order
33:16
Speaker 3: to save money on the increasingly expensive cost of gas.
33:22
Speaker 3: So watching a movie in the drive in with your
33:25
Speaker 3: you know, ac blasting started to seem a little more luxurious,
33:31
Speaker 3: kind of, you know, And and then you also, it's
33:34
Speaker 3: like a video killed the radio star video also kind
33:36
Speaker 3: of killed the drive in. VCRs made it a lot
33:39
Speaker 3: more appealing to stay at home and watch the movies
33:42
Speaker 3: with your family without having to pay you know, that
33:46
Speaker 3: inflated cost of going to the drive in. Not to mention,
33:49
Speaker 3: you're burning gas if you're sitting there right in the
33:51
Speaker 3: ac So it made sense to make up for that
33:54
Speaker 3: lost revenue. Drive in started losing that family friendly atmosphere
33:58
Speaker 3: and began to head more towards what we were talking
34:02
Speaker 3: about a moment ago, even involving X rated content. So
34:07
Speaker 3: that's when the drive in became a little more of
34:09
Speaker 3: a niche thing. I just don't know how I would
34:12
Speaker 3: feel man about watching an X rated film in a
34:20
Speaker 3: car in a field with a bunch of other cars.
34:23
Speaker 3: What's the walk to concessions?
34:25
Speaker 4: Like there?
34:26
Speaker 3: Not to be crass, but it seems preferable to watching
34:29
Speaker 3: it in a brick and mortar, sit down theater. True,
34:33
Speaker 3: I think some of the same options, some of the
34:36
Speaker 3: same rules of privacy would apply in this situation as
34:40
Speaker 3: well or the benefits. Right, So, yeah, you do start
34:44
Speaker 3: to see the drive in becoming a little more on
34:47
Speaker 3: the trashy side, a little CD.
34:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, you know, the indoor theaters have this
34:54
Speaker 2: huge profit advantage because they can show a film five
34:57
Speaker 2: or six times a day, right, And people started trying
35:02
Speaker 2: these alternative solutions right to keep the theaters afloat. Like
35:07
Speaker 2: you said, they change the content that we're showing, that
35:10
Speaker 2: they're showing. In many cases, they start opening extra screens
35:16
Speaker 2: like our drive in theater has what uh starlight has
35:21
Speaker 2: what to four screens?
35:23
Speaker 1: Do?
35:24
Speaker 4: I think more than they have two?
35:26
Speaker 2: But they do double features. That's that's right. Yeah, Max
35:30
Speaker 2: jumped in and then jumped off.
35:32
Speaker 4: Jumped in for a nod.
35:34
Speaker 5: I was jumping into confirm that, and then guess confirmed
35:38
Speaker 5: it yourself.
35:38
Speaker 2: So I'm like, goodbye, okay, Max with the facts though
35:40
Speaker 2: it's been Hey, Max was always with the facts.
35:45
Speaker 4: That seeking in the phone and peaceful in knowledge. It's
35:51
Speaker 4: just for you right now.
35:54
Speaker 3: The So that leaves us, you know, in today's world
36:00
Speaker 3: obviously in the movie theaters in general, because the pandemic
36:03
Speaker 3: have seen some real struggles and it seems only just
36:06
Speaker 3: now are kind of coming back to a degree, you know,
36:09
Speaker 3: where people are you know, getting their butts back in
36:11
Speaker 3: the seats. We have some kind of interesting gimmicks, even
36:15
Speaker 3: like in you know, we've got IMAX obviously the big
36:18
Speaker 3: three D spectacles are My preference is the IMAX when
36:21
Speaker 3: it's not three D and it's just a big, massive screen.
36:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, you have these four D movie things.
36:27
Speaker 3: Have you seen this ben where the seats move around
36:30
Speaker 3: like a crappy roller coaster and sprints you with like
36:33
Speaker 3: air and.
36:35
Speaker 4: Water.
36:35
Speaker 2: It's I think it's important to experience that because it
36:39
Speaker 2: comes back from the days. It harkens back to the
36:42
Speaker 2: days of shock cinema, you know, where like ooh, the
36:45
Speaker 2: vibratraud and things like that, And it also reminds us
36:48
Speaker 2: a little bit of you know, universal studio rides, right,
36:52
Speaker 2: which are always kind of cool. I don't know if
36:55
Speaker 2: I need it for a film.
36:56
Speaker 3: I've only been to one screening of a film that
36:59
Speaker 3: you used this, and I did not realize that's what
37:02
Speaker 3: I was buying. And it was an anime. It was
37:04
Speaker 3: this Demon Slayer film, you know, like a like a feature,
37:08
Speaker 3: and it didn't make any sense. The chairs were moving
37:12
Speaker 3: around for no good reason. But I heard that like
37:15
Speaker 3: they've gotten a little bit better and that most recent
37:17
Speaker 3: Twisters reboot apparently the forty experience was a lot of
37:21
Speaker 3: fun for something like that, which I could see.
37:23
Speaker 2: It has to jibe with the content of the film,
37:25
Speaker 2: Like three D film makes sense for blockbuster science fiction
37:32
Speaker 2: more so than French art house cinema, right, although now
37:35
Speaker 2: that we're describing this, I'm wondering what the romance or
37:39
Speaker 2: the sex scenes would be like you know what I mean,
37:42
Speaker 2: how do the seats move in that case?
37:45
Speaker 4: Yes?
37:45
Speaker 2: Story, yeah, right.
37:47
Speaker 4: No, it's true.
37:48
Speaker 3: But I guess the reason I bring that up is
37:51
Speaker 3: it largely feels like, you know, I went and saw
37:53
Speaker 3: a thirty five millimeter projection of long Legs the other day.
37:57
Speaker 3: And yes, thirty five millimeter is objectively less pristine than
38:02
Speaker 3: the digital you know, high super super high four K projectors.
38:07
Speaker 4: But there's something cool and nostalgic about it.
38:09
Speaker 3: And like, now, if you go to you know, cities
38:11
Speaker 3: like New York or LA, you'll have like places in
38:13
Speaker 3: New York like the Nighthawk, which is a just a classic,
38:17
Speaker 3: you know, old school type theater that will show regularly.
38:20
Speaker 3: They'll program things in thirty five millimeters. So to me,
38:23
Speaker 3: the drive in sort of is filling that same role
38:25
Speaker 3: where it has this like vintage kind of nostalgic quality
38:30
Speaker 3: to it, and you're going there to see interestingly programmed material,
38:34
Speaker 3: you know, and usually in an analog format.
38:40
Speaker 2: And now we see the proliferation of indoor multiplex and
38:46
Speaker 2: megaplex outfits, you know, your huge regals, AMCs and whatnot.
38:52
Speaker 2: And the reason that they have so many screens now
38:56
Speaker 2: is because it's not unusual to be loved by anyone. Kidding.
39:00
Speaker 2: It's not unusual for big studios and distributors to tell
39:04
Speaker 2: the you know, the regal or the landmarks of the
39:07
Speaker 2: of the area that hey, you have to show a
39:10
Speaker 2: film for an entire month. And that's tricky for them
39:13
Speaker 2: because most people who are going to see a film
39:16
Speaker 2: in the theater are going to see it in the
39:17
Speaker 2: first week or so, right, and now they have a
39:21
Speaker 2: sunk cost, they've lost a screen for a month. The
39:25
Speaker 2: solution is to have multiple screens. They're always showing something new.
39:30
Speaker 2: And this is this is where we're at now because
39:34
Speaker 2: of the different you know, well, the story of streaming
39:38
Speaker 2: and video on demand at home, that's a story for
39:41
Speaker 2: another day, right, but we can't. Yeah, we can say
39:45
Speaker 2: to your point, nostalgia is a heck of a drug.
39:48
Speaker 2: And even though drive ins are not as popular as
39:50
Speaker 2: they used to be, even though there are folks who
39:53
Speaker 2: are going to tell you that they'll be long gone
39:55
Speaker 2: within the next ten years or so, they're still drive
39:59
Speaker 2: ins everywhere, and a lot of times like I I
40:03
Speaker 2: love going to a drive in when the weather is nice,
40:07
Speaker 2: you know, summer is turning into fall, or a good
40:10
Speaker 2: time to watch a Halloween film. You can cook out
40:13
Speaker 2: at some of them. That's so, that's right.
40:15
Speaker 3: And also they'll use them as sites for like I
40:17
Speaker 3: was saying, the one here in Atlanta, they'll have like
40:20
Speaker 3: you know, festivals even sometimes or like flea markets or
40:23
Speaker 3: even vintage car shows. They really do kind of cater
40:28
Speaker 3: to that vintage, kind of classic nostalgia vibe. And I
40:32
Speaker 3: think that's great and I love seeing, you know, communities
40:35
Speaker 3: rally around these types of places. And if you go
40:36
Speaker 3: out to southern California, that's probably still where you're gonna
40:39
Speaker 3: see the most of these, like per Capita that still
40:42
Speaker 3: have that quality, you know, that that old school look
40:44
Speaker 3: because they've restored them and a lot of people like
40:47
Speaker 3: really cherish that part of California's history and they put
40:50
Speaker 3: a lot of time and effort into keeping them alive.
40:53
Speaker 2: And you can be the change yourself, folks, if you
40:57
Speaker 2: have a nice backyard and the weather's feeling, then why
41:01
Speaker 2: not have some friends over and have a little movie
41:03
Speaker 2: night of your own. Here in Japan, they do something
41:08
Speaker 2: like that because there is such a paucity of space.
41:11
Speaker 3: Ben, you really kind of inspired me or this episode two.
41:14
Speaker 3: Thanks to Andrea for inspired me. I recently got a
41:17
Speaker 3: really cool little projector. It's like a little cube and
41:20
Speaker 3: it has really good built in sound, like a little soundbar.
41:23
Speaker 3: And I have a projector screen for my studio in
41:25
Speaker 3: my basement. But when the weather gets nice this fall,
41:28
Speaker 3: I really want to start doing some backyard like screenings.
41:31
Speaker 4: It's on the side of the house.
41:32
Speaker 3: My house is totally white on the side, and I
41:34
Speaker 3: think it would totally work.
41:35
Speaker 4: This thing.
41:36
Speaker 3: It's it's four K and you pull it back far
41:39
Speaker 3: and off, you can make a massively huge image. So
41:41
Speaker 3: I'm really excited for the hellscape of summer to subside
41:45
Speaker 3: and make way for you know, some cool spooky fall vibe.
41:49
Speaker 3: Maybe we'll watch some like Friday the thirteenth or night
41:51
Speaker 3: Mare on Elm Street or you know, Evil.
41:53
Speaker 4: Dead or something. I'd love it if you and Max
41:55
Speaker 4: could come.
41:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and let's check that out. Yeah, because really
42:00
Speaker 2: the power is yours. It's a very easy thing to do,
42:03
Speaker 2: especially if you have people sitting and not everybody is
42:07
Speaker 2: driving their car through the backyard.
42:09
Speaker 4: Ala all and.
42:10
Speaker 2: Said here in Japan, there is a Japanese solution to this.
42:17
Speaker 2: They have large portable screens that they roll out at
42:21
Speaker 2: night in empty parking lots. So during the day this
42:25
Speaker 2: is like business parking or parking for the mall, and
42:28
Speaker 2: it turns into a movie theater at night and that
42:32
Speaker 2: multi use thing, just like we see in Starlight Theater.
42:35
Speaker 2: That's one of the reasons a lot of these places
42:38
Speaker 2: are able to get by because you have the land already.
42:42
Speaker 2: It reminds me of another thing. It's a problem with
42:44
Speaker 2: urban planning in Atlanta. One of the most profitable pieces
42:51
Speaker 2: of real estate in downtown Atlanta parking lots. Like the
42:55
Speaker 2: people who own the parking lots, they don't want to
42:58
Speaker 2: sell them to have a use full building because they
43:01
Speaker 2: make so much money.
43:02
Speaker 3: Nickel and Die mean you really really annoying. And there's
43:06
Speaker 3: also a lot of illegal kind of seizure of property
43:10
Speaker 3: involving those where yeah, you know, boot your car, but
43:12
Speaker 3: it's not the police that's booting your car. It's some
43:15
Speaker 3: kind of third party company that goes around and does that,
43:18
Speaker 3: and then they literally hold your car hostage until they
43:20
Speaker 3: come around to you with like a iPad that they
43:24
Speaker 3: scan your card and make you pay to get.
43:26
Speaker 4: Your Justica back, which is.
43:27
Speaker 2: Just because a guy is an Orange vest and is
43:30
Speaker 2: asking you for money doesn't mean they work at the
43:32
Speaker 2: parking lot. This is We're getting real Atlanta at the
43:36
Speaker 2: end here.
43:37
Speaker 4: Sorry pro tip, y'all.
43:38
Speaker 2: A lot of stuff is coming up that we have
43:40
Speaker 2: talked about.
43:41
Speaker 4: But man, huge things.
43:42
Speaker 3: Once again to research associate Extraordinary for this very first
43:47
Speaker 3: inaugural Ridiculous History episode on Drive Ins.
43:50
Speaker 4: Andrea was it TBD?
43:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're getting a we're gonna hear back from from
43:57
Speaker 2: Andrea for a cool nickname suggestion, asked her for her
44:02
Speaker 2: code name. She will she will update us in the interim.
44:06
Speaker 2: We can't wait to introduce you to her further. Folks,
44:09
Speaker 2: please check out her work on our sister show, Ridiculous Crime.
44:13
Speaker 2: Big big thanks to super producer mister Max Williams. Big
44:17
Speaker 2: thanks to our own B movie star Jonathan Strickland aka
44:22
Speaker 2: the Quist. Oh that's a weird one because it feels nice,
44:25
Speaker 2: but also it somehow feels really mean.
44:28
Speaker 3: You know, that's us, if anything, that's us in a
44:30
Speaker 3: nutshell you nice but and also simultaneously, no, that's not sure.
44:33
Speaker 4: We're sweethearts and.
44:34
Speaker 3: We love Jonathan Strickland, the Quiztor, despite maintaining this facade
44:38
Speaker 3: of nemesis.
44:40
Speaker 2: Oh no, Max hates him, dude.
44:42
Speaker 4: Yeah that's true. Max is also a monster.
44:45
Speaker 1: A big big thanks of course, Alex Williams who composed
44:47
Speaker 1: our track, big big thanks to Christopher hasiotis Ve's Jeff
44:52
Speaker 1: Coat of on.
44:53
Speaker 4: Theme, and of course Ben how about you. Thanks to you,
44:58
Speaker 4: my guy, for podcasting from.
45:01
Speaker 3: God Knows where I'm cross the wild world of sports,
45:06
Speaker 3: and thanks to you know, see you.
45:08
Speaker 4: Next time, folks.
45:16
Speaker 3: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
45:20
Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows