A Possible Silver Lining to the COVID Pandemic: Can a 20th Century Cultural Phenomenon Make a Comeback for Us and Our Descendants?

One of my earliest memories–going back to about 1956–is waking to the sound of an explosion and then seeing fire everywhere completely consuming buildings while a man led a horse and wagon past the conflagration. I sat there frightened, but mesmerized, until my parents realized I was awake and watching the commotion. When I was much older I realized that what had awakened me and what I had watched was the scene of the burning of Atlanta from the movie Gone With The Wind (depicted above).

Back in 1956 I had only seen black and white TV at my grandparents home on a small, round screen and what I was watching was huge and in living color.  It was what must have been one of my earliest, if not my very first, drive-in movie experience.  It took place at the Shipyard Drive-in located in Providence, RI.  [The drive-in lot actually sat on the border between Providence and Cranston.  The screen was located in Cranston.]  Throughout my childhood, drive-in movie trips were one of the true highlights of every summer for me and my siblings.  Sadly, today Rhode Island only has two active drive-ins: the Rustic Tri-View Drive-in on Rte. 146 South in North Smithfiled, and Misquamicut Drive-in located in Westerly.  

But now, in this era of the COVID pandemic, drive-in movie theaters just might be making a longed for comeback due to the ability to be outdoors and to easily practice social distancing in the comfort and privacy of one's own vehicle!!  😊💖¹  

According to Wikipedia, "After 1945 rising car ownership and suburban and rural population led to a boom in drive-in theaters, with hundreds being opened each year.  More couples were reunited and having children, resulting in the 'Baby Boom,' and more cars were being purchased following the end of wartime fuel rationing.  By 1951, the number of drive-in movie theaters in the United States had increased from its 1947 total of 155 to 4,151."  Today there are 300 or fewer opreating drive-in movie theaters in the U.S.–but based on recent news reports, that might be changing as summer arrives and families are looking for safe family entertainment that avoids the close contact of indoor movie theaters.  I for one am thrilled with this possibility.  I have mused with my wife for maybe a decade now that new technology should have been able to bring back the drive-in theaters, but my hopes and enthusiasm never saw the resurgence I fondly wish our grandchildren could experience.  It appears that a possible silver lining of this otherwise horrific and destructive pandemic could be the revitalization of the family drive-in experience!

The history of the drive-in is an interesting one, and, as a cultural phenomenon of the middle of the 20th century, it is a worthy subject for inclusion in any detailed treatment of a family genealogy/history covering the actual experiences of ancestors.

The history of the drive-in seems to have begun in New Mexico.  Wikipedia states that the first "partial drive-in theater" was the Theatre de Guadalupe that opened in Las Cruces, New Mexico on April 23, 1915 and closed in July 1916.  The partial drive-in Theatre de Guadalupe experience was described as follows: "Seven hundred people may be comfortably seated in the auditorium. Automobile entrances and places for 40 or more cars within the theater grounds and in-line position to see the pictures and witness all performances on the stage is a feature of the place that will please car owners."  In the 1920s a "drive-in" opened that allowed cars to park bumper-to-bumper in downtown Comanche, Texas and see the screening of silent films from their cars.  And later, so-called "outdoor movies" (where patrons sat in rows of seats outdoors to watch movies) were tried.

An outdoor seated movie theater in Iran during the 1960s

The drive-in movie theater as most of us came to know it was patented in New Jersey on May 16, 1933 by Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr.  His family operated the R.M. Hollingshead Corp. chemical plant in Camden, NJ.  It was in 1932 that young Mr. Hollingshead (he was 32 years old) conducted what today would be called "proof of concept" tests of his idea for a true drive-in movie theater.  He conducted his tests in the driveway of his home at 212 Thomas Ave. in Riverton, NJ.  He nailed a screen to trees in his backyard and then placed a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car.  He put a radio behind the screen and ran tests for different sound levels with his car windows up and with them down.  During his driveway tests, he also placed blocks under cars in the driveway to figure out the size and spacing of ramps so that all cars could have a clear view of the screen.  When he was satisfied his idea could work, he applied for a patent and opened his drive-in on Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken, NJ on June 6, 1933.  The sound was not projected from individual speaker boxes at each car, but rather from a single tower and resulted in a sound delay for patrons parked in the back.  The viewing screen was  40 x 50 ft. and the drive-in theater had room for 400 cars², but after three years he sold the theater and its infrastructure was moved to Union, NJ. 

As my siblings and I grew older, the family moved around New England following my father's various promotions and transfers within the Sears store management program.  When we lived in Chicopee, Massachusetts, we would go to the AirLine Drive-in that was just minutes from the first home my parents owned.  The drive-in was named after the fact that it was located directly in the path of a runway for Westover Air base.  It was the summer evening trips to the Air-Line that gave rise to what we children came to identify as the telltale signs a drive-in trip was in the offing–there was a an attempt on the part of our parents to secretly pop a huge paper shopping bag full of popcorn and the large insulated picnic jug would appear to be filled with the special drive-in juice mixture made from cans of frozen lemonade and Welch's dark grapejuice.  It was also at the Air-Line that I first remember what became a staple of a child's drive-in experience–the playground!  I suspect now that the playground was not only to occupy kids while it was too light out to show the movie, but also (especially for a double feature) it was to hopefully wear out the kids so the adults could enjoy what was often the second, more mature feature in the peace and quite of sleeping children.  [Many young kids going to a drive-in back then arrived in pajamas and it was not unusual for pajama-clad kids to populate the playground before the movie started. There was a very helpful countdown to the movie time that was principally an animated advertisement of all the goodies available at the concession stand until the movie started and during intermission.]  

When our family moved in about 1958 from Chicopee to what was then called Salem Depot, NH, our local drive-in was the Ole Rock Drive-in just a couple of miles down the road from the new housing development where we lived.  It was located right across from the famous Rockingham Race Track (which was called out in the movie "The Sting").  It was on the main road going from Salem into Lawrence, Massachusetts and it was not far from the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Salem back in the era where Coke came in little green glass bottles that were not disposable and were washed and reused.

The horse racing track at the top of the photo and The Ole Rock Drive-in at bottom center.

Our next move was from Salem to Concord, NH, the state capital.  In Concord the drive-in was across the Merrimack River from where our homes in Concord were located.  The Concord Drive-in was east of the river up toward what was called "the Heights" where the airport was located.  The drive-in was down Blackhill Rd. across from the airport and down closer to the river.  During this time I was in late elementary school and the first year of what was then junior high school and could not drive–so drive-in trips were still very much a summer family event with a huge bag of popcorn and a jug of drive-in juice, but not many sleeping kids in PJs anymore. 

In 1965, our family (my parents, four kids, and a dog) moved from Concord, NH to Cinnaminson, NJ, a small residential town across the Delaware River from northeast Philadelphia.  This was our first experience of living outside New England and in the penumbra of one of the largest cities in the country–but there were still active drive-ins in the immediate area.  It was in NJ in the late 60s that I received my driver's license and a new era of relationship with the American drive-in began.

Before I was licensed to drive, my younger siblings and I would still look forward to a family outing to a drive-in, but the playground was more for my youngest brother who was nine years my junior.  The concession stand now held more interest, but the bag of popcorn and the jug of drive-in juice were still required items for a true drive-in event.  We did not realize then that we actually lived very close to the home in neighboring Riverton where young Mr. Hollingshead invented the modern drive-in.  In fact, his former home was just a few minutes walk from the school my sister and I attended–Cinnaminson Jr. Sr. High School.  [Years later the older of my two younger brothers and his family lived in Riverton and still later his daughter and her family lived in Riverton.]  

The first drive-in I remember the family going to in New Jersey was just a few miles north up Route 130, the highway that divided Cinnaminson east and west.  It was the Super 130 Drive-in located in Edgewater Park, NJ.

At age seventeen I was able to get a driver's license in NJ and the the drive-in was a wonderful summer substitute for dates at a movie theater during colder seasons.  The drive-in that stands out most from that time is the Circle Drive-in on the border of Moorestown and Mapleshade, NJ, neighboring towns to Cinnaminson.  It sat at Routes 38 and 73 very near the Moorestown Mall on Rte. 38 and Matlack's Dairy Bar on the opposite side of the drive-in lot.  The Circle Drive-in no longer exists, but it is where I met my future wife.

And then there was the Pennsauken Drive-in on Rte. 73 just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.  It opened in the 1950s and was closed by about 1985.  I recall seeing the movie Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman, there.  Below are two aerial views of the Pennsauken Drive-in taken from different angles.  In the top photo the screen is at the top of the photo in the trees and in the lower photo the screen is at the bottom.

By the 1970s the decline and disappearance of the American drive-in was well underway.  It was not until the late 1980s after Molly and I were married with two young sons that the hankering for another drive-in experience took hold.  I especially wanted our sons to know what a drive-in movie theater was  before they completely disappeared.  It was about this time that we discovered an active drive-in along the route we took each summer to get to the Adirondacks from our home in northwestern Virginia.  On Rte. 15 in Pennsylvania just south of Harrisburg in a little town called Dillsburg we passed Haar's Drive-in.  We could not stop to take in a show, but it incentivized me to try to find a drive-in closer to our home than the 90-mile, nearly 2 hour drive to Dillsburg.  Haar's Drive-in opened in June 1953 and remains an active drive-in to this day (although in more recent years they also operate an auction on the site).  Movies are shown at Haar's Drive-in from April through September.

Another active drive-in is the one I found that was much closer to our home in Virginia.  The Dalke Family Theatre in Stephens City, VA was just off Interstate 81 in the Shenandoah Valley and only about 35 miles from our home.  We first went to the Dalke Family Theatre drive-in when our sons were about 6 and 8 years old.  We popped a huge bag of popcorn and made a jug of the drive-in lemonade/grapejuice mix and thoroughly enjoyed a summer evening at a real drive-in.  The boys were at the playground until it darkened enough for the movie to start and still remember the experience.  Later we took the boys and their cousins to the drive-in so they could have the experience and I hope they still recall the event fondly.

The Family Theatre, as it is now known, opened in 1957 and has a capacity of 490 cars.  A second screen was added in 1989.  The drive-in is still active as of today.

All of this trip down memory lane leads to what I hope will be an unintended silver lining resulting from this COVID pandemic.  We have two granddaughters 3 and 5 years old now and they have never experienced a drive-in movie.  There is at least one active drive-in within a reasonable driving distance of us here in central New Jersey.  As a family summer activity, a trip to  a drive-in could be a new and fun activity for young children who have no idea what a drive-in movie theater is.  At least initially, the outing would seem to have low or even very low risk when the children are confined to a vehicle with immediate family members and mixing with unknown children and other parents at the playground is eliminated.  Packing food and drink from home can avoid the concession stand/snack bar and the mingling with others outside the family, but be aware  that some drive-ins add a surcharge to the admission fee if food from outside is brought–they rely heavily on concessions sales to remain viable and open.  Use of the rest rooms could pose a risk, but otherwise being in the family vehicle with close family members only, enjoying the outside, and observing social distancing could be a safe family activity.³  

If the drive-in is rediscovered as a fun family event during this warm weather phase of the pandemic, then we can hope that one of the great cultural experiences of generations coming of age in the last century, combined perhaps with ingenious use of new technology, can give rise to a resurgence of the drive-in movie theater!  For many of us from the 20th century–and for those of the millennial generation (Generation Y) and the Zoomers of Generation Z who get to at least exerience a drive-in movie once–such a resurgence could be a silver lining to what has otherwise been a frightful, life altering period in the history of our lives, our country, and our world.  Here's hoping!   

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¹  Recent reports on the news indicate that the pandemic is also giving rise to the return of long-departed services.  For example, the milkman returneth in some parts of the country.  Wade's in Connecticut has put two trucks on the road to make home deliveries of its milk–something that had not been done for decades.  Many boomers might recall the days of the insulated aluminum boxes on the porch where milk was placed by the milkman during his home deliveries.  I can also clearly recall my grandparents getting fresh vegetables and fruits as well as fish and some meats delivered to their home in Cumberlnd, RI when I was a young boy in the 1950s.  Just recently our daughter-in-law discovered a seafood company in Asbury Park, NJ that delivers fresh, dayboat caught seafood to homes in NJ.  See,  https://local-130-seafood-online-shop.myshopify.com.  We also have been getting direct-to-home delivieries of freshly baked, warm loaves of wonderful breads now.  See, https://hoophousenj.com/breadbasket.  Perhaps home delivery of fresh fruit & vegetables might be coming back too??

²  Hollingshead advertised his new drive-in using the slogan, "The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are."

³   See, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/23/861325631/from-camping-to-dining-out-heres-how-experts-rate-the-risks-of-14-summer-activit where experts rank various summer activites by risk level and advise on ways to alter any risks.  With respect to a drive-in experience note the general risk and advice on use of public restrooms. 

Most of the photos above came from the website cinematreasures.org, which was praised by Roger Ebert as "the ultimate web site about movie theaters."  The website has a section devoted to drive-in theaters and includes a list of active drive-ins.  You can explore this wonderful website at the provided link.  Enter "Drive-ins" in the search bar at the top of the page and then select "United States" to see drive-ins in the U.S.

Another site with information about drive-ins is DriveInMovie.com, which is billed as "The Internet's Oldest Drive-In Movie Resource."  It lists drive-ins by state and provides historical information, but fewer photos than Cinema Treasures.

And then there is the drive-in blog by "tine263" on Wordpress.  "Tine" is a drive-in aficionado and writes of her adventures in visiting drive-in movie theaters–whether open or closed.  She lives in South Jersey and mainly explores the bordering states within easy driving distance of her home.  Her blog contains wonderful photos and stories of her adventures and it is worth a visit to Drive-in Theater Adventures. 

A good history of the drive-in movie theater is found at Wikipedia.  The photo of the outdoor seated movie theater is taken from a link at that site.

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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

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