Thursday, June 30, 2016

Jellystone Drive-In

Airport Drive-In, Richmond, Virginia, 1983.

Do you long for the days when you could load the crew in the back of the station wagon and haul everyone out to the drive-in theater on a warm summer evening?  Maybe you were the person that attached speakers on both sides of the car, kind of a poor man's stereo; never mind the sign at the gate said: "ONE SPEAKER PER VEHICLE, PLEASE." Nobody cared if the kids made a mess in the back seat, it was only popcorn crumbs and spilled soda.  They were great family adventures---as long as the kids watched the movie, instead of the action in the car next door!  If any of this warms your heart---or you've forgotten how hard it really is to get dried soda out of auto upholstery; then the Jellystoners have something you're gonna love.

Opening scene from Always.

The latest addition to Brother Baker's arsenal of cool and unusual stuff is a media projector that can be linked to various devices, such as the Jellystone Air Park DVD Player.  The Jellystoners, and five of their beneficiaries (Brother Baker's crew) gathered last Friday evening to test it out.  I have to say, the projection quality was excellent---as was the audio, thanks to a pair of thrift store speakers that were stacked on top of a couple of old (new) cylinder boxes.  Who needs a movie screen when there's a hangar wall right outside the door?

On the Big Screen was Always, a 1989 film about aerial fire-fighting, starring Richard Dreyfus, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman.  The movie was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, and is a remake of the 1943 romantic drama, A Guy Named Joe, starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne.  In Brother Baker's words: "the film has clever writing, humor, a romantic interest, and general appeal to all audiences."  It also has great flying---and in my opinion, one of the best opening scenes of any aviation film, ever!

Stay tuned for news of our next screening.  When a date is selected I'll add a link to the web version of Jellystone Air Park.