Back Then Today: First Drive-In Movie Theatre Opens To Public

By Shreyas

Updated: Saturday, June 6, 2015, 16:22 [IST]

On this very day, way back in 1933, the first drive-in theatre was opened in Camden, New Jersey, USA. It was an idea of a chemical company tycoon Richard M Hollingshead Jr., whose family ran RM Hollingshead Corporation chemical plant in Camden, New Jersey.

Hollingshead began experimenting with this concept in his driveway in Riverton. He secured a screen to trees and began his dry run with a Kodak projector. On August 6, 1932, he applied for a patent for a drive-in theatre and the US government patented his invention on May 16, 1933.

So after the patent, Hollingshead Jr. opened the first drive-in theatre to a grand audience, on this day. Her even gave a witty slogan for advertisement, that said, "The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are" - Americans and advertisements!

This particular drive-in existed only for 3 years, but it caught much of America's attention and soon there were drive-ins all across the United States.The first movie it played was Wife Beware, a British comedy directed by Fred Niblo and starring Adolphe Menjou.

And let's not forget the four-wheeled stars of that era like the flamboyant Buick 60 series, the Cadillac 61s, the Auburn 851 Boattail Speedsters, Ford V8s, the Hudson Straight 8s, and my personal favourite, the Plymouth Roadking.