We can debate for a long time about the origins of various things in our lives, but the drive-in theater is a purely American invention. Where else are movies and cars so popular?

The father of the “drive-in theater” is considered a chemical magnate from New Jersey, Richard Hollingstead. In 1932, he nailed a screen to the trees in his backyard and placed a projector on the hood of his car. He then began to experiment with sound and viewability. As a result of these experiments, he managed to patent his know-how (However, the patent was invalidated in 1950). On June 6, 1933, the first open-air movie theater began operations. Hollingstead offered visitors 500 seats and a screen of 15 by 12 meters. The only problems were with the sound – the speakers placed on a special tower created a delay in sound and poor audibility for the back rows. Nevertheless, Hollingstead’s idea was quickly picked up in other states. Later, radio broadcasting of the sound track on a special frequency provided high-quality sound.

This kind of movie theaters became a mass phenomenon in the 1950s and 60s. There were about 4,000 of them in the U.S. at the time. Families could watch movies without leaving the car, and as a result, it was possible to take even the littlest ones with them without causing themselves too much trouble. Young people used movie theaters as date nights. Evening show times and the more private setting of the private car contributed to the immoral image of open-air cinemas. It was not uncommon for viewers to be “smuggled” in the trunk, and when the show started, to be moved. This entailed charging not for the number of passengers, but at once for the car seat. To attract viewers, movie theaters handed out portable gas heaters during the winter, and some were even equipped with air conditioning (through underground pipes). There were also weekday discounts, street menageries, and Sunday church services. Thus, these were no longer just movie theaters, but centers of social life. And if you consider the fact that the majority of these cinemas were located in rural areas, it is safe to say that they made art more accessible.

But everything comes to an end, in the 1970s there was a rise in prices, both for gasoline and land, which affected the profitability of many cinemas in the open air. Exploitation movies1 and even pornographic films appeared in their repertoire. In a sense, this became a problem. The era of mass “drive-in theaters” ended with the victorious march of VHS players across the United States. Symbolically, one theater in Pennsylvania was destroyed by a tornado in 1985. A popular joke at the time said that the owners hung a Gone with the Wind poster afterwards.

Now open-air cinema is experiencing a second birth. Modern technology allows enthusiasts to open “homemade cinemas” in their yards and on the streets. The vintage fashion encourages the opening of new sites and the reanimation of theaters of the 50s. Nostalgic Americans are actively buying tickets for the screenings. All’s well that ends well.