An Incident at the Bengies Drive-in-theater
Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2024 6:41 pm
My brother has loved going to drive-in-theaters. We used to go to them on a regular basis when we had a car during the 60s, 70s, and even into the '80s.
That's when the land that drive-ins use became too valuable to "waste" on a facility that is only open nights, and only during good weather. Drive-in-theater owners got lucrative offers from real estate developers to sell their land for condos and office buildings. Probably 90% of the approximately 7,000 drive in theaters closed. A few still remain, one being the Bengies Drive-in-theater.
Originally, going back probably 25 years, I found out my brother missed going to a drive-in, and wanted to go to one again, since we had a car I could use. I looked it up; the nearest drive-ins from Arlington, Virginia were about equidistant from us, one being about 60-70 miles away in Front Royal, Virginia and the other being about 65 miles in the opposite direction in Essex, MD, near Baltimore. So I picked the latter, and discover it's called the Bengie's, and as been continuously operating every summer since before I was born.
So we went there on occasion, maybe every month or two. One time something unusual happened. Now, if you've never visited a drive-in-theater, you queue up in one line (or more, depending on the theater. Bengies has 2 lines, other theaters I've been to only have one) As the car in front of you moves, your car can then move as well. On this particular evening, one customer was a bit impatient, deciding to ignore the lines and pull up in mine about 6-8 cars in front of me, and squeeze in, making him a line jumper. This pissed me off, I wait in line like everyone else, he should too. So I put the car in park, left it running with my brother in it, and ran up to confront this irritating little bastard. He just ignores me. So I run all the way up to the box office (the head of the line) and complain to the two cashiers that someone cut in line. I was just told to go back to my car, I think they said they would take care of it. If they did anything, couldn't, or wouldn't do anything about it, I'm not sure,
It was a good thing I went back, apparently people were honking, because my car was parked in line. I'm not sure why they were so impatient, there was still a line ahead of me, and I was gone on the order of maybe 40-45 seconds. (my brother can't do anything about it, he never learned to drive.) So anyway, I rolled ahead, got to the box office, paid for the tickets, drove on, found a parking space, and tuned the radio to the FM frequency the projection room is broadcasting on, the theater no longer having speakers.
While we were waiting for the movie to start, a man approached us. I'm thinking, "oh shit, the guy who cut in front of us is going to do something." It wasn't. It was one of the other people waiting, who saw what the guy did, and my response, and wanted to shake my hand and thank me for being willing to do something. This was something I never expected.
That's when the land that drive-ins use became too valuable to "waste" on a facility that is only open nights, and only during good weather. Drive-in-theater owners got lucrative offers from real estate developers to sell their land for condos and office buildings. Probably 90% of the approximately 7,000 drive in theaters closed. A few still remain, one being the Bengies Drive-in-theater.
Originally, going back probably 25 years, I found out my brother missed going to a drive-in, and wanted to go to one again, since we had a car I could use. I looked it up; the nearest drive-ins from Arlington, Virginia were about equidistant from us, one being about 60-70 miles away in Front Royal, Virginia and the other being about 65 miles in the opposite direction in Essex, MD, near Baltimore. So I picked the latter, and discover it's called the Bengie's, and as been continuously operating every summer since before I was born.
So we went there on occasion, maybe every month or two. One time something unusual happened. Now, if you've never visited a drive-in-theater, you queue up in one line (or more, depending on the theater. Bengies has 2 lines, other theaters I've been to only have one) As the car in front of you moves, your car can then move as well. On this particular evening, one customer was a bit impatient, deciding to ignore the lines and pull up in mine about 6-8 cars in front of me, and squeeze in, making him a line jumper. This pissed me off, I wait in line like everyone else, he should too. So I put the car in park, left it running with my brother in it, and ran up to confront this irritating little bastard. He just ignores me. So I run all the way up to the box office (the head of the line) and complain to the two cashiers that someone cut in line. I was just told to go back to my car, I think they said they would take care of it. If they did anything, couldn't, or wouldn't do anything about it, I'm not sure,
It was a good thing I went back, apparently people were honking, because my car was parked in line. I'm not sure why they were so impatient, there was still a line ahead of me, and I was gone on the order of maybe 40-45 seconds. (my brother can't do anything about it, he never learned to drive.) So anyway, I rolled ahead, got to the box office, paid for the tickets, drove on, found a parking space, and tuned the radio to the FM frequency the projection room is broadcasting on, the theater no longer having speakers.
While we were waiting for the movie to start, a man approached us. I'm thinking, "oh shit, the guy who cut in front of us is going to do something." It wasn't. It was one of the other people waiting, who saw what the guy did, and my response, and wanted to shake my hand and thank me for being willing to do something. This was something I never expected.