Slobot About Town CXXII:
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Slobot goes to the Drive-In, pt. 03!
Unlike the South 29 Drive-In in Spartanburg, SC the Starlight Six Drive-In in Atlanta, Georgia is still open...
and thriving.
Every year the Starlight marks its birthday with a Drive Invasion, a celebration complete with bands, films and food. |
Headlining the Drive Invasion 2013 was Slobot-fave Man... or Astro-Man?
The evening also featured a performance from the Oblivians and a screening of the films The Last Starfighter, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension and The Thing. |
The Starlight Drive-In has a long history that begins way back in 1949 when it opened with a single screen.
In 1982 it expanded to 4 screens...
and in 1985 it expanded to 6 screens.
The Starlight is remarkable in that it has weathered the vagaries of the drive-in business.
The drive-in business began with one man, New Jersey's Richard Milton Hollingshead, Jr.
Hollingshead invented the drive-in and patented his creation on May 16, 1933. Soon thereafter, on June 06, 1933, he opened the very first drive-in. That drive-in was in Pennsauken, New Jersey and only stayed open for three years. |
Though the first drive-in only lasted three years, the idea caught on in a big way. By the early 1960s there were some 4,000 drive-ins in the United States. |
But there was bound to be a backlash. Some took to labeling drive-ins as immoral passion pits in which teens were free to sow their wild oats. |
Drive-ins began to fade in popularity and in popular regard. Some theaters, like Spartanburg's South 29 Drive-In, began to run pornography in order to bolster flagging sales. |
Yet, through all these ups and downs the Starlight Six has survived, flourished and expanded.
In 2013 the Starlight celebrated its 64th birthday in style.
As the sun set...
the Astro-Men came out to play!
Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard would rock his theremin...
using his lips to manipulate its loop antenna. Coco's cohorts in Man... or Astro-Man? - Avona Nova, Birdstuff and Star Crunch - rocked as hard as ever and all under the stars of a fine summer evening. |
After their prodigious performance Coco and company brought out their Tesla coil for a shocking finale.
After Man... or Astro-Man? came the triple film threat of The Last Starfighter, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension and The Thing. |
While Slobot liked The Last Starfighter...
he LOVED The Thing! The Norris-Thing was terrifying on the big screen! Slobot would like to thank Drew Brooks, Spartanburg Magazine, the Starlight Six Drive-In, Drive Invasion 2013, Man... or Astro-Man?, the Oblivians, Cinematreasures.org and YOU! |