A THEATER THE LOCAL DRIVE-IN SCENE By Frederick Jerant
On many clear summer nights, you can tip your head to the skies and watch familiar stars come out: the Big and Little Dippers, Orion’s Belt and the Northern Cross, for example.
But on those same summer nights, even bigger stars come out – in action movies, comedies, sci- fi , horror and drama – all playing on huge silver screens set in vast fi elds.
Yes…drive-in movies are still around.
So turn off your headlights, put the kids in the back seat (where they can sleep), grab some pop- corn at the snack bar, and relax. We’re going to the drive-in!
“Ground zero” for drive-ins is Riverton, NJ. Rich- ard M. Hollingshead, Jr. was working as general sales manager for Whiz Auto Products Company, the family business. Looking for a new oppor- tunity, he envisioned a super-duper gas station, decked out to look like a Hawaiian village. Cus- tomers waiting for service could enjoy the pro-
50 May 2013
posed on-premises restaurant and free outdoor movies, he reasoned.
He decided instead to simply show movies, and his serious tinkering began. He nailed a movie screen to some trees on his property, placed a pro- jector on the hood of his car and set up a radio be- hind the screen to test various sound levels. (You can only imagine his neighbors’ reactions!)
After several weeks of experiments, he also de- vised a system of precisely angled ramps and carefully placed spaces that would permit every driver to have a clear view of the screen.
On August 6, 1932, Hollingshead applied for a patent. Nine months later – the perfect period for “birthing” a major invention – he received U.S. Patent #1,909,537.
With the backing of several investors, Hollings- head opened the nation’s fi rst drive-in theater on June 6, 1933. Located on Admiral Wilson Blvd. in Camden, it featured a 40’ x 50’ screen and
space for 400 cars, spread over 250,000 square feet. On opening night, 600 people saw “Wives Beware,” a British-made comedy, and a new era in movie-going had begun.
Hollingshead’s success (reportedly, employees spotted license plates from 43 different states that summer!) spawned many imitators, but the quick- est was Wilson Shankweiler, of Orefi eld, PA. His theater, opened in 1934, was the second drive-in in the U.S., and is the oldest one still operating.
By 1940, there were only 18 drive-ins throughout the country. But after World War II, the numbers really took off – 155 by 1949; 820 by 1951; and an astounding 3,700 drive-ins just six years later! Eventually, about 25% of all move theaters in the United States were drive-ins.
There were several reasons for the drive-in’s popularity. You could eat, smoke and talk with- out disturbing other patrons. The physically chal- lenged avoided narrow aisles. And the privacy of cars was a huge hit.
Lehigh Valley Marketplace
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