Portrait of a Contemporary Drive-In Movie Theater Audience.

Personal interviews were conducted with drive-in theatre patrons in an attempt to paint an empirical portrait of a contemporary drive-in movie theatre audience. A total of 607 patrons of one Rochester, New York, drive-in were interviewed by trained college undergraduates using a prepared 33-item questionnaire consisting of open- and close-ended questions. Analysis of a question about frequency of attendance was used to divide the sample into 366 "occasional" drive-in goers (once a month or less) and 236 "frequent" attenders (twice a month or more). Further analysis produced among others, the following results: (1) there was no significant difference by attendance group as to type of film attended; (2) opposite sex friends were the most common companions of respondents; (3)"occasionals" were more likely to be employed in white collar and professional jobs and to be college students, while "frequents" were more likely to be unemployed or homemakers; (4) the mean response for education was "completed high school," with occasionals reporting a significantly higher level of education than frequents; (5) 89% of the sample was white, while only 8% was black; and (6) including attendance at "walk-in" theatres, the respondents were indeed heavy movie-goers, particularly the frequents. The results also indicate a decline in the use of drive-ins and their concession stands, not an encouraging sign for the drive-in movie industry. (JL)