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News Article: Oak Drive-In Opens - The Oak Drive-In Theatre, 13 1/2 Mile road and Coolidge highway, will have it's grand opening
tonight. Two shows, the first beginning at 6:30 p.m., will be shown nightly. The opening program is the Technicolor production. "Take Me
Out to the Ball Game," starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. (Detroit News 10/19/49)
Update: On February 10th, 1974, the Oak Drive-In was involved in a early Saturday morning radio promotion by long-time
Detroit DJ Dick Purtan. The stunt was concocted to bring attention to the hazards of kids walking to school in the dark due to
daylight-savings time in Michigan. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 which was signed into Public Law in April 1966, by President
Johnson, created Daylight Saving Time to begin on the last Sunday of April and to end on the last Sunday of October. During
the Arab-Israeli War in October 1973, Middle East members of OPEC issued an embargo against the sale of crude oil to
Israel's Western allies. In the United States, gasoline became scarce and prices jumped 40 percent, crimping the American
economy. Following the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, Congress put most of the nation on extended Daylight Saving Time for two
years in hopes of saving additional energy. This experiment worked, but Congress did not continue the experiment in 1975
because of opposition -- mostly from the farming states. In 1974, Daylight Saving Time lasted ten months and lasted for
eight months in 1975, rather than the normal six months (then, May to October). The U.S. Department of Transportation -- which
has jurisdiction over Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. -- studied the results of the experiment. It concluded: Daylight Saving
Time saves lives and prevents traffic injuries. The earlier Daylight Saving Time allowed more people to travel home from work
and school in daylight, which is much safer than darkness. And while there is an increase in the morning hazard for those going to
school and work, it is more than compensated by the evening decrease. Even so, there was significant opposition to the very dark
mornings and the increase morning accidents under DST in the months of November through February.
Update: National Spotlight - Setting An Important Standard In the 1970s, several Detroit-area children had been killed on their way
to school in early-morning winter darkness. All were struck by motor vehicles. "I said on the air that Michigan should go back to
standard time, so we could have more light in the early morning," Purtan says solemnly. "I mentioned that I could show a drive-in
movie in the morning before it got light outside." As proof, Purtan showed "Take The Money And Run" at a drive-in (Oak Drive-In)
one Saturday at 7am. "It was a terrible, snowy day," he recounts. "We had 400 cars in the drive-in and had to turn away more than
1,000 others." People were advised at 6am not to come out, because the line was already too long. "The entire [WXYZ] staff and I
spent the whole movie pushing cars into and out of snow banks. The promotion made national press." ( Keener13.com Interview)
Update: Despite the claim of national press for this event, we found no coverage in the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News or the Oakland
Press. Only a small blurb was found in the Free Press movie listings on February 9th. The event was mentioned in an article in the April
15th, 1974 issue of Boxoffice magazine. (Michigandriveins.com 3/12/05)
News Article: Thousands at drive-in movie in the morning - Royal Oak, Mich. (UPI) - Almost 2,000 carloads of people showed up at a drive-in theater in this Detroit suburb to see a movie to the surprise of the man who promoted the idea. Showtime was 7 a.m. - and the crowd turned out in Daylight Saving Time darkness. The Movie at the Oak Drive-In was "Take the Money an Run" with Comedian Woody Allen and the temperature was 8 degress. The Detroit disk jockey who masterminded the sunrise attraction said Friday he is still reeling from the response.
"I wanted to graphically demonstrate how ridiculous it is to have all the darkness in the morning," said Dick Purtan, a WXYZ deejay whose early morning antics have made him a celebrity in the Detroit area. Purtan said he had been unsure how many people would climb out of bed on a Saturday morning to see a drive-in movie. With the estimated 2,000 carloads lined up at the theaer, which couls only accomodate 400 cars, hundreds of angry fans had to be turned away. "I got one letter from this disgruntled guy who said he got his pregnant wife and two-year-old kid out of bed a 5 a.m.," Purtan said. "And they didn't even make it inside the theater."
"All I wanted to do was show that you can make use of this darkness if you try, " Purtan said. "one hundred per cent of the people I talked to at the movie were irritated with Daylight Saving Time." When Purtan arrived at the theater an hour before showtime Saturday morning, a huge double-file line of cars was backed up for blocks. "I never expected this kind of reaction," he said. "I've even had calls from radio stations in New York City and Pittsburgh asking how they can organize similar shows." Does he plan to sponsor another sunrise movie? "all I can say is it never happened before and it probably will never happen again." (Lodi News-Sentinal Lodi, CA 2/15/74)
Update: In your profile of the Oak Drive-In located on Normandy Ave in Royal Oak, you show a couple of pictures (one of them has
been colorized) of a sign for the drive-in that reads "Oak Drive-In 2 Blocks". That sign was located on top of a small building,
somewhere in the Normandy and Coolidge area and I am trying to recall what the building was and where it was located, exactly.
(Joe Busto 10/5/05)
Update: The sign in question was located on the East side of Woodward. The address was 31996 Woodward Ave. which would have
been two blocks from the drive-in site as the sign reads. Sources;
Historic Royal Oak site, and the
City of Royal Oak site .
(Michigandriveins.com 12/28/05)
Update: I remember the Oak Drive-In very well. When I was a kid my parents took us to a Drive-In theatre nearly every weekend each
summer. It was cheap and fun family entertainment. As a kid I loved getting there early and playing on the "giant" playgrounds that
nearly every Drive-In had, the Oak was unique, in that, they also had a real fire truck that the kids could ride on that would circle the
theatre lot until showtime. We lived in Clawson and Troy and we frequented all of the local drive-ins, among them: Troy, Oak, BlueSky,
Miracle Mile, Gratiot, Galaxy, and Mt. Clemens (the last one standing for several years). I was, at least, able to take my children to
the Mt. Clemens Drive-In during its last two years of operation. What wonderful memories! (Kelly Milner 7/13/06)
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