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This cache is located at a West Chicago Iconic place where many generations have watched our history in the movies.
Drive-In Theater History
A brief history of the drive-in Theater from its inception to the present.
The drive-in Theater was the brainchild of one Richard Milton Hollingshead, Jr. The inventor's father, Richard Milton Hollingshead, Sr., owned and operated a business that first sold harness soap, later moving on to selling a complete line of automotive products under the name of the "Whiz Auto Products Company." After Richard Jr. finished school, he took a position with his father's company as general sales manager.
Always on the lookout for new ideas, Richard Jr. began thinking about new business concepts. His preference was to have a cash business, as he didn't like the idea of going into debt. It dawned on him that in terms of buying habits, people gave up Food, Clothing, Autos and Movies last, in that order. He had noticed that even though the depression was in full swing, folks continued to go to motion pictures at their local Theater. From this, his first notion was to create a deluxe gas station, designed like a Hawaiian Village, that would feature a restaurant and outdoor movies where the customers could mingle while their cars were being serviced, utilizing Whiz Auto Products of course!
It is not clear why he dropped every other aspect of the idea other than the outdoor Theater, but soon Richard, 30 years old by this time, was experimenting with the concept in his back yard on 212 Thomas Avenue in Riverton, New Jersey. He started by placing an old Kodak projector on the hood of his car, projecting the movie onto a screen nailed to a tree. He turned on his sprinkler to simulate rainfall, and placed a radio behind the screen to provide the sound. He also reasoned that in order to ensure that all of the vehicles had an un-obstructed view of the screen, they would need to be positioned in a special way. He spent several weeks arranging vehicles in different configurations to solve the visibility problem. The final solution was a series of terraced ramps whose height increased as you parked closer to the screen. This arrangement of ramps was the core of his concept and Richard felt it was strong enough to be patentable, allowing him to collect royalties from future drive-in operators for a period of 17 years, the standard time limit for patents. Or so he thought.
The application for patent was filed on August 6, 1932, and it was later granted by the patent office on May 16, 1933 under patent number 1,909,537. The next thing on the agenda was to build the first drive-in in order to promote the idea to the public as well as potential investors. First off though, he needed to get some financial backing which came from Willie Warren Smith, his first cousin and parking lot operator. The two men then formed a company, called Park-In Theaters Inc. Richard assigned his patent to the company immediately. Edward Ellis, a road contractor, was brought in to grade the lot of the first Theater in exchange for stock. Oliver Willets, an executive of Campbell's Soup, also bought stock in the company at the time.
On May 16, 1933, the day the patent was granted, work began on constructing the drive-in on Crescent Boulevard in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey. The location is usually reported as Admiral Wilson Blvd. in Camden, but technically the Theater was just over the Camden town line, where the name of the road changes. Opening night was June 6, 1933, and it was known simply as "Drive-In Theater" although the actual name was the "Automobile Movie Theater." Opening night was packed with cars, and the first film ever shown at a drive-in was the 1932 release of "Wives Beware," which was in second-run status at the time. The problem of obtaining first-run films for drive-ins remains to this day! Admission was 25¢ for each car and an additional 25¢ for each person, somewhat higher than the prevailing price at the indoor houses at the time, who were also offering double features. Ironically, this has reversed itself over time and drive-ins are usually the only places to see double features today.
Two such drive-in theaters in the Chicago area are the Cascade and the McHenry outdoor theaters.
****Congrats to TeamJds' for the FTF!!****
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