On this day in 1933, Richard Hollingshead (along with Willie Warren Smith, Edward Ellis, and Oliver Willets) opened the world’s first drive-in theater, in Camden, New Jersey.
Built for $30,000, the aptly named “Drive-In Theatre”, featured inclined slots for 400 cars and a “60 foot talkie screen”; unlike later drive-ins, sound was produced via large speakers installed on the screen tower (RCA’s “Direct Sound” system for the Camden location). Priced at twenty five cents per car and twenty five cents per person, not exceeding one dollar per car load, the opening feature was “Wives Beware”.
Due to several legal disputes, Camden’s Dive-In Theatre was closed in 1935, but this first effort ultimately launched a movie going craze that became a cornerstone of mid twentieth century pop culture and iconic slice of Americana.
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