Come As You Are In the Family Car

Lynn's Auto Theater is the second oldest continuously operating drive-in theater in the country, and it is just ten minutes from my house. It was built in 1937, and although it has gone through quite a bit of updating over the years, it's a piece of history and a local treasure. I have to confess, I have never been, but every time I drive by it, I remember my first experience seeing a movie in a drive-in theater.

I was just a kid, and my parents would not take me to theaters. Hollywood was nothing but trash, and nothing they ever produced was ever worth the money, or so they believed. In the 40s and 50s, my parents went to movies every week, when they could afford the tickets, and they loved movies. Hollywood stars were no less "trashy" than they were in the 60s and 70s, but they kept most of their adventures to themselves, and they didn't cuss on in public. You could blow up entire villages on screen or slaughter a field of native Americans, but you better not say "damn" in the process.

Despite their objections to what entertainment had become, my parents would allow me to go with the neighbors to see movies with a G rating. One summer night, Mrs. Knaver who lived down the street loaded her station wagon up with neighbor kids. We piled in, the back seats that faced backwards being prized, and we drove to the drive-in theater in Michigan City to see Herbie the Love Bug. I was so excited, I could hardly contain my jitters and giggles. I could only imagine what watching a movie from the car would be like. I wasn't sure where the sound would come from or if there would be mosquitoes or if I would be given popcorn and soda and what if I had to use the bathroom. Because the other kids had all been to the drive-in before, I pretended like it was no big deal, and I was an old pro at watching movies through a windshield.

We parked next to the audio box stand, and Mrs. Knaver hooked the speaker to the window. We got popcorn and ice cream and candy and soda from the concession stand, and we stretched out to watch Herbie. I had a secret crush on Dean Jones. I had a secret crush on just about everybody in movies.

It didn't take long until we discovered a second screen on the other side of the field. We couldn't hear what was going on up on the giant screen, but it clearly wasn't a G-rated movie. It was The Exorcist, the original green-vomit version with Linda Blair. I saw her head spin, and I saw flies overtake the priest. I saw a giant piece of furniture slide effortlessly across the room. And I was scared. I was scared, but I couldn't look away. So, this is what I'm not supposed to watch. This is what my parents didn't want me to see. They sent me off with the neighbors to watch a thinking car, and I watch a movie about demons and priests. Being Baptists, we thought they were both equally bad.

If I had kept face front to watch Herbie, I might not have remembered that first drive-in experience so clearly. It would have been just another night out with the neighbor kids. So, I'm glad I peeked through the back window instead of the front, and now that I have seen The Exorcist in full, I'm also glad I did not have the audio box in the car for the creepy thing when I was a little girl.

I will make an effort to visit Lynn's Auto Theater and be part of local history.