Drive-In

The drive-in theatre was invented by Richard M. Hollingshead. Hollingshead experimented by hanging a sheet in his backyard and mounting a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car. The first drive-in officially opened in 1933, showing a film titled "Wife Beware." By the 1950s, the drive-in boom was under way with as many as 5,000 drive-in theatres. The All-Weather Drive-In, the largest, housed parking spaces for 2,500 cars on 28 acres of land and supplied hours of family entertainment offering not only movies, but also train, pony and boat rides, miniature golf and animal shows. While cable TV and the VCR was bringing Hollywood into America's homes, existing drive-ins managed to stay in business by adding screens, with one Florida drive-in featuring thirteen projection surfaces.