Today in 1933, Camden, New Jersey became the site of the very first drive-in movie theater.
Moving pictures were still relatively new back then, and “talkies” with synchronized sound were only a few years old at that time.
But they were big business, even as the Great Depression was in full swing.
That gave Richard Hollingshead an idea.
He had lost work because of the Depression but he still loved the movies.
And he was convinced that films were one of two things people would hang onto even during hard times.
The other? Cars.
So he came up with a way to combine the two.
Hollingshead hooked a movie projector up to the hood of his car, hung a screen on some trees and put a radio set nearby to provide sound.
He also figured out how to space out cars so everyone could see and hear the picture.
Hollingshead figured he could attract people who needed to keep costs down, but also people who maybe didn’t like sitting in theaters, or people who didn’t like to dress up to go to the theater.
He attracted all those and more.
With a cost of 25 cents a head and a maximum one dollar a car, his theater started connecting with movie lovers.
By the 1950s and 60s there were thousands of drive in theaters in the US.
They were so popular movie companies started producing cheap movies that were perfect for the drive in crowd.
Sci-fi and monster pictures were big there (thus leading to one of my hobbies).
By the 1980s, the rise of home movies and video rentals made drive ins less important.
But the drive in made a comeback in 2020.
People who wanted to go see a movie but weren’t ready to be indoors yet could head to the drive in and catch a movie.
So you never know when you might need a drive in theater!
Here’s a new watercraft that sure sounds like it’s out of a movie.
A Dutch company has just come up with a submarine that goes over the top when it’s under the water.
The Under Water Entertainment Platform looks basically like a submersible nightclub, with enough room to take 120 guests on a very sweet ride.
Try not to get thrown out of the underwater nightclub in the middle of the trip, though.
June 6, 1933: The Era of Drive-In Movies Begins (Newspapers.com)
All Aboard the Party Submarine (UrbanDaddy)
We want to throw an underwater party for our Patreon backers!