Remembering the Drive-In Theater
By Michael Karl Witzel ©2007-2008
Back in the fifties, while cruisers were haunting the drive-in restaurants found along the loop, couples were finding entertainment in places that weren’t so brightly lit. With many of the same characteristics that made curb service so popular, the drive-in theater became a secondary destination for the mobile teen. There, the admission was affordable, parking plentiful, and the snack bars overflowed with popcorn and soda. Best of all, the audience could watch a movie in private, choosing to focus their attentions on the flickering screen or the person that was sitting next to them in the front seat.
Circle Drive-in, Waco, Texas (demolished)
It’s precisely the arrangement that Richard Milton Hollingshead, Jr. was working towards when he first began to experiment with the idea of an outdoor picture show. It all began during the height of the depression while he was employed as general sales manager for the Whiz Auto Products Company, his father’s company. Eager to develop his very own enterprise, he studied the purchasing habits of the public and came to the conclusion that there were a few basic things that people were loathe to live without. After the basics of food and clothing, movies and automobiles topped the list.
Inspired by the revelation, he began thinking about how these two obsessions could be combined. On a hunch, he positioned a Kodak silent movie projector on the hood of his car and focused the flickering beam on a makeshift screen that he nailed to a tree. To simulate the film’s sound, he positioned a small radio receiver behind the panel.
While seated in his car, he peered through the windshield and took stock of the view. He found the moneymaker he was looking for: movies-in-your-car! Hollingshead continued working on the details until he perfected a practical arrangement to patent and in June of 1933, opened America’s first Drive-In Theatre in Camden, New Jersey.
At first, Hollingshead’s unconventional motion-picture parking lot where “people could enjoy talkies in their car” was plagued with problems and was a little slow to gain acceptance. While the grand opening boasted a packed lot, the nights that followed saw a drop. Warm summer temperatures limited the attendance. Because three shows were scheduled for each night, there was some difficulty in clearing the lot after each screening, too. Eventually, these smaller kinks were smoothed out, leaving one hindrance that was painfully obvious: the quality of the films.
In those days, five of America’s top eight movie production companies owned most of the nation’s indoor movie theaters. At the same time, they controlled the channels of film distribution and instituted arcane rules that limited incursions from outside competition. All of their efforts went into marketing and promoting commercial product to run in their viewing outlets. As a rather unfortunate side-effect of this cinema oligopoly, the upstart drive-in operators that were threatening to siphon off some the revenues were required to hand over exorbitant fees for movie rentals.
Despite the many limitations that were imposed by those in power, the number of drive-ins boomed after World War II. In just three years, the one-hundred and two drive-ins that were doing business in 1946 had swelled to over 1,000 strong. By that time, the defacto consortium of production companies was fragmented by an antitrust suit that forced the majors to sell their theater holdings. Still, the industry remained relatively hostile and drive-in operators continued to cry for better films. Relegated to running stale product instead of first-run picture shows, the American drive-in became the bastion of the “B” movie and would remain so until the end of its glory days.
Strangely enough, the vast audience of American movie-goers didn’t seem to mind. The drive-in industry was spoon feeding them the idea of a “total outdoor entertainment package” and they were wolfing down every bite. Where else could an entire family pile into an automobile and be entertained with a minimum of hassle or expense? At last, invalids and the physically challenged had an outlet where they could see their favorite stars burning brightly up the silver screen. Since one’s own car provided the seating, overweight individuals who were concerned about the petite chairs at the indoor movie house were afforded new comfort. More important, young couples with small children were freed from baby-sitters. When they desired entertainment, they took the little ones along!
In some areas of the country, the “ozoners” were becoming so popular that the female portion of the teenage job market began to suffer economic hardship. In 1947, a small gang of six baby-sitters picketed the packed house at the Aurora Drive-In near Seattle, Washington to voice concerns about the family-style convenience. Toting placards that read “Down with drive-ins, more work for baby-sitters!” they made their feelings on family fun quite clear.
Despite the furor, the protest was one of the most short-lived in the history of the drive-in. Eager to silence the cries of foul, theater management appeased the disgruntled protesters with a complimentary movie and free hot dogs! As quickly as it had started, the revolt against the drive-in was forgotten.
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