History
Richard Hollingshead was a young sales manager at his dad's Whiz
Auto Products, who had a hankering to invent something that
combined his two interests: cars and movies.
Richard Hollingshead's vision was an open-air movie theater
where moviegoers could watch from their own cars. He experimented
in his own driveway at 212 Thomas Avenue, Camden, New Jersey. The
inventor mounted a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car,
projected onto a screen he had nailed to trees in his backyard, and
used a radio placed behind the screen for sound. The inventor
subjected his beta drive-in to vigorous testing: for sound quality,
for different weather conditions (Richard used a lawn sprinkler to
imitate rain) and for figuring out how to park the patrons' cars.
Richard tried lining up the cars in his driveway, which created a
problem with line of sight if one car was directly parked behind
another car. By spacing cars at various distances and placing
blocks and ramps under the front wheels of cars that were further
away from the screen, Richard Hollingshead created the perfect
parking arrangement for the drive-in movie theater experience.
The first patent for the Drive-In Theater (United States Patent#
1,909,537) was issued on May 16, 1933. With an investment of
$30,000, Richard opened the first drive-in on Tuesday June 6, 1933
at a location on Crescent Boulevard, Camden, New Jersey. The price
of admission was 25 cents for the car and 25 cents per person. The
design did not include the in-car speaker system we know today. The
inventor contacted a company by the name of RCA Victor to provide
the sound system, called "Directional Sound." Three main speakers
were mounted next to the screen that provided sound. The sound
quality was not good for cars in the rear of the theater or for the
surrounding neighbors.
The largest drive-in theater in patron capacity was the
All-Weather Drive-In of Copiague, New York. All-Weather had parking
space for 2,500 cars, an indoor 1,200 seat viewing area, kid's
playground, a full service restaurant and a shuttle train that took
customers from their cars and around the 28-acre theater lot. The
two smallest drive-ins were the Harmony Drive-In of Harmony
Pennsylvania and the Highway Drive-In of Bamberg, South Carolina.
Both drive-ins could hold no more than 50 cars.
An interesting innovation was the combination drive-in and
fly-in theater. On June 3, 1948, Edward Brown, Junior opened the
first theater for cars and small planes. Ed Brown's Drive-In and
Fly-In of Asbury Park, New Jersey had the capacity for 500 cars and
25 airplanes. An airfield was placed next to the drive-in and
planes would taxi to the last row of the theater. When the movies
were over, Brown provided a tow for the planes to be brought back
to the airfield. The drive-in theater movie experience cannot be
beat.
The Cache
This hide is a tribute to one of the last Drive-In theaters in
the Memphis area. Of course this one could be much more difficult
(if not impossible) if a movie is playing. You are looking for a
35mm film canister with a log. Bring your own pen or pencil. Enjoy
the hunt and the movie!
**Update**
I have taken new cords for this cache, though it has not moved
far, if at all. The Terrain is still a 1.5, though some of the
surrounding area could be worse, but you DO NOT have to go anywhere
that isn't safe, solid ground. There is plenty of room to find the
cache without having to make it difficult. Because of this new
Terrain, please be very careful if you choose to do this at
night.