I'd have to say that Grease is my all time favorite movie.
It's the nostalgia, music and characters. And because of the cast involved & how they brought to play to the big screen, it harkens back to the golden age of movie making. I have fond memories of seeing Grease for the first time, a Saturday matinee at the Garden Valley Cinema. Fast forward 30 years, another chance to see Grease at the drive-in. I've been lucky enough to see it at the Hillcrest in B.C. in 2001 and again last year for the 'Grand Closing' at the Starlite in Roseburg, Oregon. The idea of showing classic films at the 99W has been tossed about but Brian would say it wasn't worth it. no one would show up. So I was surprised to hear he was going try something in September, after peak season. We set a date, Sept. 12-14 weekend with Grease and Tropic Thunder, a Paramount package deal. We had a few things in our favor. The weather, turned out to be in the mid 80's, the Grease poster in the snack bar is pretty popular and maybe just maybe we get about 150 cars or so.
I came up before the Labor Day weekend to help decorate. Put some posters up and made a new collage of pictures of the cast reunion this past July. Friday finally came round and I got there early to take pictures and help out a little. 240 cars that night, couldn't believe it. And we were competing against high school football. Most theaters see a decline this time of year and this felt like we were still in the middle of summer. I knew Saturday would be better but no way a sell-out. The first car in line showed up at 4:30, 90 minutes before gates opened. Turned out to be a casual sell out, almost 300 cars. There were some classic cars out both nights, a few folks were dressed up, everybody was having a good time. It has opened to door to more films next year, which I think will be just as successful. A lot of requests for movies as well.
Grease was held over for a 2nd week, since the weather was a lot cooler, the
attendance dropped. Typical of a fall crowd. And then Brian moved it over to the Cameo downtown. Speaking of revival cinema: the Capitol in San Jose has a Customer Appreciation Night with free films. Although this last event had the best of 2008, they have screened Wizard of Oz, Grease and other classics.
Sat. 4/26We toured The Hermitage ( Andrew Jackson's estate) then headed back to Knoxville about 3pm. I had a vague idea of a drive-in at Maryville. But since we took a dinner break and lost an hour coming back east. I wasn't real confident that we could get there by showtime. Dad pushed thru and managed to get there at 8pm.
