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N0KFQ > TODAY 06.06.12 12:07l 58 Lines 2833 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 23347_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Jun 6
Path: IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120606/1050Z 23347@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.50
Jun 6, 1933:
First drive-in movie theater opens
On this day in 1933, eager motorists park their automobiles on
the grounds of Park-In Theaters, the first-ever drive-in movie
theater, located on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey.
Park-In Theaters--the term "drive-in" came to be widely used only
later--was the brainchild of Richard Hollingshead, a movie fan
and a sales manager at his father's company, Whiz Auto Products,
in Camden. Reportedly inspired by his mother's struggle to sit
comfortably in traditional movie theater seats, Hollingshead came
up with the idea of an open-air theater where patrons watched
movies in the comfort of their own automobiles. He then
experimented in the driveway of his own house with different
projection and sound techniques, mounting a 1928 Kodak projector
on the hood of his car, pinning a screen to some trees, and
placing a radio behind the screen for sound. He also tested ways
to guard against rain and other inclement weather, and devised
the ideal spacing arrangement for a number of cars so that all
would have a view of the screen.
The young entrepreneur received a patent for the concept in May
of 1933 and opened Park-In Theaters, Inc. less than a month
later, with an initial investment of $30,000. Advertising it as
entertainment for the whole family, Hollingshead charged 25 cents
per car and 25 cents per person, with no group paying more than
one dollar. The idea caught on, and after Hollingshead's patent
was overturned in 1949, drive-in theaters began popping up all
over the country. One of the largest was the All-Weather Drive-In
of Copiague, New York, which featured parking space for 2,500
cars, a kid's playground and a full service restaurant, all on a
28-acre lot.
Drive-in theaters showed mostly B-movies--that is, not
Hollywood's finest fare--but some theaters featured the same
movies that played in regular theaters. The initially poor sound
quality--Hollingshead had mounted three speakers manufactured by
RCA Victor near the screen--improved, and later technology made
it possible for each car's to play the movie's soundtrack through
its FM radio. The popularity of the drive-in spiked after World
War II and reached its heyday in the late 1950s to mid-60s, with
some 5,000 theaters across the country. Drive-ins became an icon
of American culture, and a typical weekend destination not just
for parents and children but also for teenage couples seeking
some privacy. Since then, however, the rising price of real
estate, especially in suburban areas, combined with the growing
numbers of walk-in theaters and the rise of video rentals to curb
the growth of the drive-in industry. Today, fewer than 500
drive-in theaters survive in the United States.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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