Sunrise Drive-In

lostmemories;
The in car speaker was not invented until the 1940s. Chances are they either had speakers next to the cars, or, as you mentioned before, two speakers by the screen. A little drive in trivia;

THE IN CAR DRIVE IN SPEAKER WAS INVENTED FOR TWO REASONS, SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION AND NOISE POLLUTION. WHEN THEY HAD TWO SPEAKERS BY THE SCREEN THEY PLAYED SO LOUD THAT PEOPLE IN COMMUNITIES SURROUNDING DRIVE INS COMPLAINED OF THE NOISE. LIGHT TRAVELS FASTER THEN SOUND. THE QUESTION IS ALWAYS ASKED “IF A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST IS THERE A SOUND?” IF YOU WERE IN THE FRONT OF THE DRIVE IN THE THUMP WOULD COME AS THE TRUNK FELL, BUT IN THE BACK YOU WOULD HEAR THE THUMP LATER THEN SEEING THE TRUNK HIT THE GROUND. IN CAR SPEAKERS WERE DESIGNED TO MAKE SOUND TRAVEL AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

I FIGURED THAT LITTLE PIECE OF TRIVIA COULD BE FOR EVERYONE.

I have so many wonderful memories of the Sunrise Drive In Theatre from the 1960s and early 1970s. I used to go there with my dad, mom, brother and friends. Children under 12 got in free. Their was a playground under the screen, a huge fast food stand (that sold Burgers, Franks, chicken, french fries—long before there was McDonalds or Burger King in our area.)The popcorn was great! Their was a baby REAL CLOTH diapper service (no such thing as pampers!)and they also sold baby bottles of regular milk! I remember the projectionist used to make annoucements! They gave out placemat flyers with all the neighborhood information on it(like you would get in a dinner!!!). Amoung the milestone features I saw there were, MCHALES NAVY JOINS THE AIRFORCE, MUNSTER GO HOME, HURRY SUNDOWN, MRS BROWN YOU;VE GOT A LOVELY DAUGHTER (HERMANS HERMITS), TICK TICK TICK, HARPER, PROMISE HER ANYTHING (warren beatty), THE SILCENCERS, THE WRECKING CREW, THE AMBUSHERS (ALL DEAN MARTIN). It was an experience to watch a movie in your car. Bring back the Sunrise Drive In!!!

Is there anyone out there who remembers when the drive in first opened? When drive ins first started they had huge speakers by the screen instead of those little inside speakers. (By the time the sound got to the back of the drive in it was out of synchronization because light travels faster than sound so the in car speaker was invented to help it keep up). Was the Sunrise like that?

You’ll get a pretty good view of this theater in the 1974 film, “The Lords of Flatbush”. Actually, you’ll the side neon side that faced Sunrise Highway.

Before the giant curved screen, the Sunrise Drive-In of course had a smallish flat standard-ratio screen, the reverse side of the gaudy neon wall that faced the Sunrise Highway. In the late 40s, its film fare was pretty dreary: third-runs and second-rate revivals, largely because RKO and Loew’s cornered the market on first-run showings. After months of questioning my carless parents about what a “drive-in movie” might be, I was taken by a car-owing aunt and uncle. The feature was “The Prairie,” a film so minor that it’s not even listed in Leonard Maltin’s admirably inclusive guide. After a scene about a dustbowl storm, I fell asleep, but woke up toward the end when flood-lights above the screen flashed on and off to alert patrons keen on leaving before the picture was over so as to beat the traffic rush. Some time later, my father borrowed his brother’s car and took me there to see “Pitfall,” a film-noir already many, many months (perhaps even a year) past its first-run (release date: 25 August ‘48; so likely I’m referring to the following summer). The Sunrise had a mate, the Whitestone Drive-In, on the Bronx side of the bridge it was named after (the site today of a giant multiplex). Newspapers carried their ads in tandem. The Sunrise received its films a week after they played at the Whitestone. The Sunrise (but not the Whitestone) closed during the winter months, a nod (I suppose) to its rural location outside of the city limits and to the chill factor on Lawn Guyland. The great post-war development of LI had just begun, and Valley Stream seemed barely a spot on the map. In later years (and after the Whitestone was torn down), the Sunrise edged up to first-run films and stayed open year-round. Have LI folk developed into a hardier stock, or has increased body-heat made the place warmer?

Robert;
I just thought,they don’t have a picture of the theater on this site, maybe you should send a frame of the film to them. I don’t have any photos. They could use a picture.

I used the term gaudy neon with affection. I went to this theatre since I was a toddler. When I found out they were going to close it I took ektachrome super-8 film of the marquee.