Cinema Under the Stars

Long before there were megaplexes with surround sound and $5 Junior Mints, the drive-in theater seduced Americans with a scratchy-speakered, B-movie charm of its own. Elizabeth McKeon and Linda Everett’s Cinema Under the Stars is a loving tribute to the golden age of outdoor cinema. It tracks the industry from its primitive beginnings (a plain white bedsheet hung between two trees) through its heyday in the ’50s (when Ferris wheels, miniature golf, and motel rooms were part of the package) and its eventual decline (fewer than 800 theaters are still in operation). The book is also packed with fascinating bits, including a profile of the company behind the slyly suggestive hot-dog-and-bun ads that run to this day. A- </p