On Ron’s Golden Oldies this week…
This week featuring the history of the DRIVE-IN theatres on the program this Thursday 27 October Noon – 4pm streaming Live on Northside Radio FM99.3 Sydney’s leading Community Radio Station.
Australia’s first drive-in was the Skyline which opened in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood on 18 February 1954 showing the musical comedy On the Riviera starring Danny Kaye. On the first night there was traffic chaos as 2,000 cars competed for the 600 spaces. After paying at the entrance you drove into the parking area and pulled up next to one of the many posts in rows all over the site. This post housed a pair of speakers with volume control which you’d attach to your car window. During the 1950s, drive-in theatres began popping up all over Sydney. The Skyline drive-ins at Frenchs Forest and Dundas were Sydney’s first. They opened simultaneously on Wednesday 24 October 1956, with Frenchs Forest screening 3 Ring Circus starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin….and Dundas screening The Racers. Drive-ins were especially popular with courting couples and those on first dates, providing much more privacy than the cinema. For families it was a fairly inexpensive night out. The kids would come out in their pyjamas and would pile into the back seat on a mountain of pillows and blankets while parents didn’t have to go to the effort of dressing up. Cars full of teenagers would smuggle in a few extra friends for free by hiding them in the boot.
Ron will play some of the Drive In hits during the show, along with many more of the early pioneers.
Tune in, (or stream via northsideradio.com.au/audio-player) this Thursday, noon to 4pm right here on Northside Radio text your jukebox requests to Ron on 0418 246812