What Happened to the Drive-In Movie Theater? 

Part I

The first patented drive-in movie theater was opened by Richard M. Hollingshead on June 6, 1933 on Admiral Wilson Boulevard charging 25 cents per person in Camden, New Jersey.  The drive-in was designed as a family-friendly accessible alternative to indoor theaters.  After peaking in the 1950s and 1960s with over 4,000 U.S. locations, they declined due to the 1970s energy crisis, rising land values and home video, but experienced a niche resurgence as a nostalgic experience for another generation.

Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr., a sales manager at his father's company created the drive-in to solve the discomfort of traditional theaters and make movies accessible to families, regardless of how noisy children were. In 1932, Hollingshead tested his idea in his driveway by nailing a screen to trees, using a 1928 projector on his car hood and placing a radio behind the screen to test sound. He applied for a patent in August of 1932 which was granted in May 1933.  While the idea was novel the original drive-in was not immediately successful and Hollingshead sold it after three years.

Post WWII, with the boom in car culture, drive-ins exploded in popularity, particularly in rural areas and suburbs. The introduction of in-car speakers with volume control in 1941 by RCA significantly improved the experience.  Drive-ins often included playgrounds and miniature golf.

Drive-ins were not without challenges:  the sound broadcast from the screen reached viewers in the back with an annoying time delay, out of sync with what was happening in the films.  This was addressed first by more speakers, then by clip-on speakers, and ultimately by broadcasting the soundtrack directly to car radios.

Originally, the movie's sound was provided by speakers on the screen and later by individual speakers hung from the window of each car which was attached to a small pole by a wire.  These speaker systems were superseded by the more practical method of broadcasting the soundtrack through car radios. 

By 1958, the peak year for drive-in theaters in the United States, there were approximately 4,000 to 5,000 operating with specific figures citing around 4,063 locations marking the zenith of their popularity before television and home entertainment led to a decline.  The height of the drive-in era was driven by post-war culture and the baby boom. This boom was fueled by suburban growth and the demand for family--friendly entertainment, a niche drive-ins filled perfectly. 

Michigan has the largest drive-in theater, the Ford-Wyoming Drive-In in Dearborn which once held nine screens and capacity for 3,000 cars making it the world's largest though it now operates with fewer screens but remains a huge venue.  Another contender for the biggest screen is Gengie's Drive-In in Maryland known for its massive screen.

The oldest continuously operating drive-in theater in America is Shankweiler's Drive-In Theatre in Orefield, PA. off PA Route 309 by Wilson Shankweiler.  It opened on April 15, 1934 and holds the Guinness World Record as the oldest in the world being the second drive-in ever built in the United States after the original in Camden, New Jersey. The Shankweiler's Drive-In was one of the first drive-ins to use FM radio for audio and later adopted digital projection.