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Hollingshead Submits Patent
Richard Milton Hollingshead files a patent for the drive-in movie theatre. Patent # 1,909,537 -
The Patent is Granted
Hollingshead's patent is approved and granted. He begins what would be the world's first drive-in theater. -
Financing the Drive-In
Shortly after the 16th, Hollingshead found financing by partnering with his first cousin, Willie Warren Smith. Together they formed Park-In Theatres Inc. Edward Ellis, a road contractor, helped with the desired land in exchange for stocks. A Campbell's Soup execute, Oliver Willets, buys stocks of the company too. -
Grand Opening
Hollingshead opens the first drive-in movie theatre in the United States in Camden, New Jersey, bordering near the Pennsauken Township. Though it was known as the "Drive-In", the official name of the theatre was the "Automobile Movie Theatre". Admission was 25 cents per car and 25 cents per additional person. It held nearly 400 cars. -
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Speaker System
In the late 1930s, a stationary speaker was mounted on a pole near the car to allow viewers to listen. -
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Closure
In the year of 1936, Hollingshead closes down his drive-in and sells it to a man who moves the theatre to Union, New Jersey. Due to the high rental costs of the films, the theatre was unprofitable and Hollingshead sold it in favor of focusing on the licensing of his patent. He never operated a drive-in again. -
The Drive-Ins Spread
In Weymouth, Massachusets, another drive-in in opened by Thomas DiMaura and James Guarino without a license from Park-In Theatres Inc. -
Lawsuit
When Park-In Theatres caught wind of this, they took immediate legal action against the Weymouth drive-in for copyright infringement. -
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A Deal is Reached
In the Fall, both parties reach an agreement. The Weymouth drive-in or Drive-In Theatres Corp, paid a one-time fee of $1000 and 5 percent of gross box-office to Park-In Theatres Inc. In exchange, Park-In Theatres protected the territory that the Weymouth drive-in was located on. -
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Legal Chaos
In the late 1930s, a burst of drive-in theatres appeared. M.A. Rogers and Thomas Burgess opened a drive-in in California without a license. Several more drive-ins followed suit. The swarm of authorized and unauthorized sites threw Park-In Theatres into a disarray of legal actions involving lawsuits and countersuits. Park-In Theatres could not keep up the legal action compared to the amount of new drive-ins opening. -
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Licensing Violations Increase
In this time period, Elias M. Leow open a drive-in in Lynn, Massachusetts without a license, violating the protected territory agreement Park-In Theatres Inc. is obligated to uphold with Drive-In Theatres Corp. Drive-In Theatres sues Park-In Theatres to get them to sue the Lynn drive-in. However, Park-In Theatres counter sued Drive-In Theatres for opening an unauthorized drive-in in Shrewsbury, Mass. This legal battle would only be the beginning. -
Michael Redstone
Michael Redstone opens a Sunrise Drive-in in Valley Stream, New York, the first for the state. This was the foundation for what would become Redstone Theatres, then Northeast Theatres, then National Amusements Inc., until Michael's son, Sumner Redstone, acquired Viacom, Paramount and CBS Television, creating one of the largest media groups in the world. -
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The Studio Monopoly
Throughout the 1940s, eight major corporations controlled about 95 percent of the films produced in the US. The companies were Paramount (later acquired by Sumner Redstone), 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., MGM, RKO, Columbia, Universal, and United Artists. This allowed studios to force indepedent theater oweners into showing the products they wanted, with little option for the owners because they relied on feature titles to make profits. This unethical practice was known as block booking. -
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The Hanging Car Window Speaker
In 1941, RCA Victor created a speaker that could hang on a car window. This device grew in usage as drive-in theaters began receive noise complaints because of their large speaker systems were sometimes heard miles away. -
United States vs Paramount Pictures Inc.
In this supreme court case, it is decided that Paramount Pictures Inc. and the seven other major studios are violating antitrust laws. While this did not completel end the tough relationships between studios and indepedent theater owners, it killed the block booking practice and lessened the overall power of studios. -
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The Delsea Drive-In Debuts
The Delsea Drive-In opens for the first time ever in 1949. -
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The Explosion of Drive-In Theaters
With the war over, the baby boom starting, cars and suburbs in mass production, this accelarated the growth of drive-ins to their peak prominence. During this period, concessions stands became an integral part of the profits for the drive-in theaters. Most drive-ins were able to mark-up the prices on the food and beverages and make good profits in this period. In 1949, there were 155 drive-ins in the US
In 1951, there were 820
In 1957, there were 3700 -
The Patent is Denied
Hollingshead's patent on the drive-in was rejected by the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The judged believed that the patent design was not inventive enough by itself and that it was only an adaption based off traditional theater arrangements. This would be a crucial blow the Park-In Theatres Inc. since they had been in constant legal battles up until this point. With no official patent, Park-In Theatres was bound to lose those lawsuits. And hundreds of drive-ins was already operating. -
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Adult Movies on the Big Screen
The Detroit Times reported about adult movies being shown at the Fort, Grand River and Gratiot Drive-Ins. Drive-ins had usually been family-friendly, but this practice of adult films would gain steam later on. -
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The Retired Inventor
After joining his father's company and becoming chairman in 1950, Hollingshead retired in 1964. -
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The Decline of Drive-Ins
Attendance begins to delice in this time period. More and more owners attempt to salvage their theaters by adult and exploitive films. The most desperate ran X-rated films, which was not well received by communities. -
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Reasons for the Dying Drive-Ins
The main reasons for the drop in attendance are because
of the lack of quality films shown, popularity of the television drop in car culture, and the arrival of multiplex theaters. -
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Daylight Savings Time
It was believed that Daylight Savings Time caused a drop in attendance at drive-ins because it pushed back start times. However, evidence of this notion is lacking. -
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AM Radio
The audio quality had always been a problem for drive-in theaters. Since most cars had AM radio, drive-ins started adapting and playing their audio through an AM station in their location. This became the standard in the early 70s. -
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Not so Bad, Yet
While they were without a doubt in decline, there were still a hefty amount of drive-ins in operation throughout the 1970s. Around 3000 drive-ins were still open in 1977. -
Death of the Inventor
Hollingshead died at the age of 75 in Vallanova, PA. -
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Death Arrives
"Drive-ins are rapidly becoming part of our nostalgic past. I foresee their extinction by the end of the decade," said Sumner Redstone, president of Northeast Theatre Corp, in a 1982 interview with newsweek. He predicted the death of the drive-in. In 1982, there were 2129 drive-ins open.
In 1987, there were 999 drive-ins open.
Drive-in property became high valuable at this time because of a building boom. Owners wanted to cash-in. Real estate value went into the millions. -
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The Delsea Drive-In Closes
In 1987, the drive-in closes. -
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The Stable Drop
Though in decline, the numbers drop less rapidly around the 750 mark. But they slowly kept dying down afterwards. -
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The Delsea Drive-In Returns
John and Jude DeLeonardis work to restore and revive the Delsea Drive-In. The drive-in reopens in 2004 successfully. -
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Going Digital
With an already tough economy and industry, drive-in theaters were forced to abandon their 35mm equipment and make costly upgrades in order to play the digital format that studios were rolling out.