The Circus Blog

Posted By thecircusblog on April 27, 2009

I just happened to find this old add advertising the Osa and Martin Johnson Jungle Adventures. This has nothing to do with the circus, or does it? Drive in theaters were quite the rage many years ago, mainly in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Then they started to loose there popularity.  If you’re old enough to remember this,  just in front of the screen there was a large play area for kids to use during intermission…….Now hang with me. Well it got to the point where something had to be done to increase ticket sales.  Mr Ray Edwards owned several theaters in El Monte and the surrounding towns and he was also a circus buff. My Dad was good friends with Ray, so much so that Dad took the family to the movies every so often….it always was free, because of the friendship. One night we went to the movies at the Edwards Drive-In and as usual Dad would visit with Ray if he was at the theater. This night Dad was gone for a long time. Ray was at the box office where Dad went to say hello. The next thing we knew Dad had made a deal to bring in circus acts to perform before the movie started and during intermission, The time spent by the movie goers was a little longer now but proved to be good for the concessions. We moved the play area off to the side and put in a one ring circus in front of the screen. The attendance came back up in all the drive in theaters………….. Like all things, this only lasted for a while.

Categories: The Great American Circuses
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