Drive-in Theater, Highway 81, Waco, Texas, 1973
Artist
Steve Fitch
(American, born 1949)
DateNegative 1973, print 1998
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 10 × 11 5/8 in. (25.4 × 29.5 cm)
Support: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Support: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Steve Fitch, 2021
Object number2021.10.3
DescriptionStructure of the back side of a drive-in movie screen fills most of composition. It has three-dimensional architectural ornamentation around the edges and a frame at center that encloses a painted image of a charging bear with one claw on a mound of earth. Written horizontally in neon across the the top is “CIRCLE”; letters stacked vertically at left of bear picture spell “DRIVEIN”; words stacked verticall at right of bear picture spell “THEATRE”. Night scene with a prominent light fixture at center in front of the structure and a bicycle leaning against it at right.eMuseum Notes
Steve Fitch is a devoted bard of the American road trip and in the 1970s began photographing roadside attractions, neon signs, old motels, and other markers of this country’s highway culture. The name of this motel and the promise of a swimming pool were intended to attract weary drivers on a busy travel route but now serves only as a reminder of its glory days.
On View
Not on view
Steve Fitch
Negative 1983, print 2021
William Penhallow Henderson
circa 1910
