PLENTY OF FUN AT THE ROWVILLE DRIVE IN THEATRE
The September 2005 article about the Rowville Drive In Theatre has prompted former Rowville resident Gwen Hayes (nee Gill) to write the following account of her time working at the Drive In during its first year of operation.
From the opening night in July 1956 until at least twelve months later I worked at the Drive In. On week nights I started work there around 6.00 pm as I was working at the SEC office in Dandenong during the day, but on Saturdays I’d be there between 2 and 3 o’clock to help prepare the stock in the cafeteria. The gates opened at about 5.30 pm because we served meals – fantastic they were too - and people ate them while the nips played in the playground. There was a chef employed to oversee the meals: steaks, grills, fish and chips plus salads. All the hot food was prepared outside in a big barbecue area built off the main dining room. My cousin, Graeme McIntyre, and another local, Bob Anderson, did all the cooking. Inside we served the salads, hot and cold drinks, ice creams (which we used to make up), confectionery and cigarettes. The indoor crew included my cousins, Margaret and Dorothy McIntyre, Bob Anderson’s wife, Lou the chef and his wife Joy plus Jack Wilkinson, the cafeteria manager. Stewart Finn, the Drive In manager, looked after all of the outdoor staff and sometimes when things were hectic in the cafeteria he would come in and help. Stewart’s wife Dot worked in the ticket box.
The Projectionists
The projectionists were Keith Harwood and Paul Hayes, my future husband, whom I met at the Drive In. Paul lived in Balwyn at the time and had been a projectionist for a number of years but he thought that it would be better working out at a Drive In rather than inside a theatre. Keith and Paul had to do a “ramp-tramp” after each show, that is, go around to check that all of the speakers had been switched off. While doing this they would sometimes find articles of clothing left on the ramps.
Many a time people drove off after the show with the speaker still hooked to their window and Keith or Paul would have to retrieve the speakers and rewire them back in. Sometimes a speaker would give out during the show so one of them had to replace it there and then.
The Carhops
Bryan Owens was in charge of the “carhops” as they called the guys who ushered the cars into their spots and cleaned the windscreens. Mike Aston and Harry Raymond jnr were the only locals I can recall doing this job. People sometimes tried to get passengers in for free, hiding them in boots of their cars or down behind the seats or under the canopies of utes but the carhops were a wakeup to these tricks and not many got a freebie. There was car service during the first half of the show and the carhops would walk the ramps and anyone wanting something from the cafeteria would turn on a switch on the speaker which showed a red light on the speaker pole. The carhop would take the order, come to the cafeteria to get what was required and return it to the car. So, the occupants did not have to miss any of the show. You don’t get that service now!
When the show was over the carhops ushered the traffic back out onto Stud Road. They sometimes had to go around to wake people to tell them that it was time to go home.
The show went on in all sorts of weather.
After the Drive In had been opened for a few months the owners realized that they needed more space for cars so they moved the ticket box down from Stud Road to close to Bergins Road and relocated the playground to under the screen. The miniature train was removed. The playground was very popular as it gave the nips a chance to get out of the car and stretch their legs. Often the parents would sit out and keep an eye on the kids while still following the movie as there were speakers installed at the playground.
At Christmas time a party was put on along the front of the cafeteria for the children of the Drive In employees.
On most evenings two feature films were shown with shorts and trailers. On Saturdays and public holidays there were two sessions with the cars for the second session positioned into lines to the south of the ramped areas until the cars from the first session had exited. Often on long weekends they had midnight to dawn shows featuring cowboy movies, horror shows or a theme of some kind.
Intermission was a hectic time for us in the cafeteria. We would have drinks and ice creams lined up along the counter for quick service. It would sometimes take us till the end of the show to clean up ready for the next day.
People didn’t seem to mind rainy nights – they just kept their windscreen wipers going. On hot nights people definitely came early as it was cooler out in the open.
Foggy nights were a different matter. One foggy night we were showing “Whispering Smith” and the people listened but could not see the screen. However, they would not go home and still enjoyed the show. As the screen was down in a hollow we often had it fogged in on winter nights. Usually the fog lifted but, if not, people were given free passes to come back to another show.
The Drive In was such a novelty in the early days that both sides of Stud Road would be bumper to bumper with cars stopped while their occupants watched the film.
The work was constant and we were on our feet all the time but we used to have plenty of fun. They were certainly good days.
Gwen Hayes.
First published in the March 2006 edition of the Rowville-Lysterfield Community News.