Post by cottonpicker on Aug 21, 2011 9:40:12 GMT -5
MY FIRST DRIVE-IN MOVIE
Larry D. Davis
I was visiting my grandparents on their cotton farm located about five or six miles out
of Carter, OK when I was about 10 years old. Carter was one of those small “cotton
towns” with a population of about 300 and fully 10% of them were related to me in some
way or other--- on Mom’s or Dad’s side of the family.
The Carter Cotton Gin was the economic center of town and Della’s Variety Store and
Carl Denton’s Barber shop were tied for first place as the gossip center. Carl Denton was
my Dad’s cousin and his shop was humorously known as “Carl’s Clip Joint”. Other
businesses in town were the Carter National Bank, Charley Ramsay’s Sinclair gas station,
the “City Café” and Denby’s Drug Store. Old Doc Denby had been a pioneer medical
doctor who in the earlier days drove a horse and buggy to make rural calls or deliver
babies with my paternal grandma alongside to serve as his “nurse” and “midwife”.
Grandma told me about being particularly busy during the flu epidemic of 1917. The
town had one outdated fire truck and one night watchman and that was about all except
for three or four conservative protestant churches.
Della, the “queen of gossip” was a short little wisp of a lady weighing no more than
100 pounds with her hair done up on top in a bun, always wearing a long gingham dress
and a pair of old fashioned eyeglasses perched about half-way down her angular nose
with two black beady eyes always peering over them. I wondered why she bothered
wearing them at all. Most of the merchandise in Della’s Variety Store was ancient, dusty
and left over from more prosperous times. Carter had already reached and was past it’s
zenith as far as commerce was concerned. I remember seeing “Gene Autry Songbooks”
dating from the 1930’s still in their rack. She wasted nothing and kept everything!!
This particular weekend was very special since Carter was to open a Drive-In
Movie (which we called a “picture show”) on Saturday night and the admission had
been set at $1.00 per carload. Saturday finally rolled around after a hard workweek and
farmers from all around came for this spectacle of entertainment. Mother’s younger
brother-- my Uncle James, two or three of my cousins and I piled into his green 1937
Chevrolet and away we went to Carter. He pulled in to the empty lot facing the east side
of the Carter National Bank which was brick and had been freshly painted white. This
was to serve as the movie screen. The “sound system” was a single oversized speaker set
in the middle of the lot, turned to full volume and I wondered if it would be sufficient for
all to hear. As it finally turned out, it really didn’t matter after all. The premiere movie,
“Oklahoma Annie”, featured Judy Canova who was a moderately successful southern
comedienne with a pronounced and genuine southern accent which resonated well with
the Carter audience. She wore her hair in pigtails, sported blue jeans and a checkered
shirt and her country bumpkin persona went over quite well during the 1930’s and 40’s
but would be way too corny for today’s level of sophistication.
At dusk the show began and, as the action started, we realized that the soundtrack was
not synchronized with the action on screen. The actors’ lips would form the words then
after a slight delay the sound would follow while subsequent words were already being
formed on screen. We were at once astonished and disappointed and we thought, what a
terrible excuse for a drive-in movie!! Needless to say, we didn’t stay for the entire
movie. We and many others were leaving the lot on our way home and after the
disappointment wore off, we all laughed about the whole silly adventure but not at the
movie itself. Needless to say, the fledgling Drive-In was a short-lived enterprise. We
never returned and soon the screen was darkened forever. Weeds reclaimed the parking
lot and Judy Canova never made an encore at the Carter Drive-In picture show.
©2009LarryD.Davis
Larry D. Davis
I was visiting my grandparents on their cotton farm located about five or six miles out
of Carter, OK when I was about 10 years old. Carter was one of those small “cotton
towns” with a population of about 300 and fully 10% of them were related to me in some
way or other--- on Mom’s or Dad’s side of the family.
The Carter Cotton Gin was the economic center of town and Della’s Variety Store and
Carl Denton’s Barber shop were tied for first place as the gossip center. Carl Denton was
my Dad’s cousin and his shop was humorously known as “Carl’s Clip Joint”. Other
businesses in town were the Carter National Bank, Charley Ramsay’s Sinclair gas station,
the “City Café” and Denby’s Drug Store. Old Doc Denby had been a pioneer medical
doctor who in the earlier days drove a horse and buggy to make rural calls or deliver
babies with my paternal grandma alongside to serve as his “nurse” and “midwife”.
Grandma told me about being particularly busy during the flu epidemic of 1917. The
town had one outdated fire truck and one night watchman and that was about all except
for three or four conservative protestant churches.
Della, the “queen of gossip” was a short little wisp of a lady weighing no more than
100 pounds with her hair done up on top in a bun, always wearing a long gingham dress
and a pair of old fashioned eyeglasses perched about half-way down her angular nose
with two black beady eyes always peering over them. I wondered why she bothered
wearing them at all. Most of the merchandise in Della’s Variety Store was ancient, dusty
and left over from more prosperous times. Carter had already reached and was past it’s
zenith as far as commerce was concerned. I remember seeing “Gene Autry Songbooks”
dating from the 1930’s still in their rack. She wasted nothing and kept everything!!
This particular weekend was very special since Carter was to open a Drive-In
Movie (which we called a “picture show”) on Saturday night and the admission had
been set at $1.00 per carload. Saturday finally rolled around after a hard workweek and
farmers from all around came for this spectacle of entertainment. Mother’s younger
brother-- my Uncle James, two or three of my cousins and I piled into his green 1937
Chevrolet and away we went to Carter. He pulled in to the empty lot facing the east side
of the Carter National Bank which was brick and had been freshly painted white. This
was to serve as the movie screen. The “sound system” was a single oversized speaker set
in the middle of the lot, turned to full volume and I wondered if it would be sufficient for
all to hear. As it finally turned out, it really didn’t matter after all. The premiere movie,
“Oklahoma Annie”, featured Judy Canova who was a moderately successful southern
comedienne with a pronounced and genuine southern accent which resonated well with
the Carter audience. She wore her hair in pigtails, sported blue jeans and a checkered
shirt and her country bumpkin persona went over quite well during the 1930’s and 40’s
but would be way too corny for today’s level of sophistication.
At dusk the show began and, as the action started, we realized that the soundtrack was
not synchronized with the action on screen. The actors’ lips would form the words then
after a slight delay the sound would follow while subsequent words were already being
formed on screen. We were at once astonished and disappointed and we thought, what a
terrible excuse for a drive-in movie!! Needless to say, we didn’t stay for the entire
movie. We and many others were leaving the lot on our way home and after the
disappointment wore off, we all laughed about the whole silly adventure but not at the
movie itself. Needless to say, the fledgling Drive-In was a short-lived enterprise. We
never returned and soon the screen was darkened forever. Weeds reclaimed the parking
lot and Judy Canova never made an encore at the Carter Drive-In picture show.
©2009LarryD.Davis