“Come as you are in the family car” is slogan that was used in advertisements for drive-in movie theatres. “Come dressed as you are in the family car” was cited in a drive-in advertisement in a 1950 Trenton (NJ) newspaper.
“Come as you are in your family car” was cited in a drive-in advertisement in a 1951 Seattle (WA) newspaper and “Come as you are in the family car” was cited in a different drive-in advertisement in a 1954 Seattle (WA) newspaper.
14 April 1950, Trenton (NJ) Evening Times, pg. 32, col. 2 ad:
LAWRENCE DRIVE-IN
A Walter Reade Theatre
COME DRESSED AS YOU ARE IN THE FAMILY CAR
23 March 1951, Seattle (WA) Times, pg. 25, col. 7 ad:
COME AS YOU ARE IN YOUR FAMILY CAR
(Sunset Drive-In Theatre—ed.)
1 August 1954, Seattle (WA) Times, sec. 3, pg. 4, col. 3 ad:
UNITED DRIVE-IN THEATRES
COME AS YOU ARE IN THE FAMILY CAR
23 July 1955, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pg. 12 ad:
COME AS YOU ARE…IN THE FAMILY CAR
Google Books
Lost Illusions:
American cinema in the shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970-1979
By David A Cook
New York, NY: C. Scribner
2000
Pg. 401:
Pacific Theatres’ slogan for its southern California customers became: “Come as you are in the family car.”
Google Books
Frommer’s Los Angeles 2011
By Matthew Poole
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
2010
Pg,. 19:
Long established as a teenage makeout haven, one theater gained popularity in a more spiritual way when Reverend Robert Schuller began to deliver Sunday-morning sermons to a comfortably parked audience at the Orange County Drive-In. His slogan: “Come as you are, in the family car.”
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH)
Drive-in theaters fighting to survive against modern technology
By Michael Sangiacomo
on June 08, 2013 at 8:00 PM, updated June 10, 2013 at 10:57 AM
(...)
Reding’s grandfather bought the theater in 1957 along with the slogan: “Come as you are in the family car.”
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•“You telling me a crab ran this goon? (5/17)
•“I don’t drink alcohol, I drink distilled spirits. Therefore, I’m not an alcoholic, I’m spiritual” (5/17)
•“I don’t drink alcohol, I drink distilled spirits. So I’m not an alcoholic, I’m spiritual” (5/17)
•“Since we can’t use plastic straws anymore I’ve just been choking turtles with my bare hands” (5/17)
•Entry in progress—BP24 (5/17)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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