The drive-in movie theatre is an archetypal symbol of old-fashioned America.
Featured in popular films from Grease to Twister, the magic of parking at the cinema is now an almost forgotten pleasure.
LIFE.com has issued a stylish collection of images.
Life through a lens: A woman in a fifties-style dress stands next to a parked car in the middle of the road, looking up at a looming sign marking out the movie theatre
Reaching for God: A woman stretches her arm out of the window towards a car speaker at a drive-in church in Massachusetts
In the moment: This stylised image looks like one from a film itself, with a detective checking cars to make sure teenagers are behaving
The series is entitled 'LIFE at the Movies: In Praise of Sitting in the Dark With Strangers'.
It's not just for cars: Horseback riders in cowboy garb take up position beside speaker posts in 1949
Snacks and smooches: Left, a couple embrace as they watch the second feature, while children who came for the first sleep out of sight on the back seat. Right, a carhop with a torch around her neck carries food and drink
Mesmerised: A family stare at a film in fascination, particularly the children, who get in for free
An aerial shot from 1961 shows 550 cars lining up for the opening of Scandinavia's first drive-in cinema, just outside Copenhagen.
Not only cars pulled up in front of the big screen, cowboys on horseback are seen taking position beside speaker posts in a 1949 photo.
Theatre of dreams: Customers arrive by car at a fly-in drive-in theater - which accommodated planes as well as cars
A slice of American pie: Around 550 cars attend the opening night of the first drive-in cinema in Scandinavia, just outside Copenhagen
Stars in their eyes: A drive-in sign advertising River Of No Return, starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe, in 1954 New York
Another image shows a 'fly-in drive-in' theater - which accommodated planes as well as cars.
Another image shows rows of drivers and passengers watching The Ten Commandments at a Salt Lake movie theatre in 1958.
They show as much about the movies as they do of movie audiences of the day.
Fourth wall: Actors Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon looks as if they are welcoming the viewers to join them in this screening of Beach Blanket Bingo
Self-referential: Vehicles pack out a drive-in theatre while the characters on screen stand beside their own new car
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