Richard Hollingshead was a young sales manager at his dad's Whiz Auto Products, who had a hankering to invent something that combined his two interests: cars and movies.
Richard Hollingshead's vision was an open-air movie theater where moviegoers could watch from their own cars. He experimented in his own driveway at 212 Thomas Avenue, Camden, New Jersey. The inventor mounted a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car, projected onto a screen he had nailed to trees in his backyard, and used a radio placed behind the screen for sound.
The first patent for the Drive-In Theater (United States Patent# 1,909,537) was issued on May 16, 1933. With an investment of $30,000, Richard opened the first drive-in on Tuesday June 6, 1933 at a location on Crescent Boulevard, Camden, New Jersey. The price of admission was 25 cents for the car and 25 cents per person.
| The drive-in movie theater is one of those treasured American inventions that has yet to grow obsolete. Even though our country's advanced technology now allows us to watch movies on innovative devices, from HD plasma screens to Ipods, there's just something romantically old-fashioned about sitting outside and enjoying a film projected onto a huge screen.
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Hope you're all enjoying a summer of movies under the stars.
Wanted to share a link to a sneak preview of a drive-in segment that will air on a PBS station near you this fall!
It's a show for baby-boomers called MY GENERATION, produced by the AARP. Producer (and drive-in fan) Bill Creed did a great job on this segment which features April Wright, the director of GOING ATTRACTIONS as well as several other drive-in owners from across the country.
Enjoy!
Click on this link to view the segment which will air on PBS this fall!
Thanks!
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For movie showtimes and general information about
the Drive In please call:
843-846-4500 (movie line) or 846-4021 (after 6pm)
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You can also write us at PO Box 464,
Beaufort, South Carolina 29901
Or e-mail us at hwy21drivein@embarqmail.com
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To get to the Drive In
from Charleston: take 17 South (Savannah Highway) to Gardens Corner, there turn left onto 21 South towards Beaufort, nine miles more on the right will be the entrance to the Drive In.
from Savannah: I-95 North - exit 8 and turn right. Watch for the sign on the left to Beaufort (before the Wal-Mart), turn left to a Stop sign, turn left again onto Hwy 170 and follow that to the stop light past the Beaufort WalMart, (approx. 7 - 10 miles, crossing 2 bridges), turn left and follow to Hwy 21 (road ends) turn left again onto Hwy 21, go past the Marine Corp Air Station about 1.5 miles, the entrance will be on the left.
OR also from Savannah: Hwy 17 to Hwy 170, follow signs to Beaufort, 170 bends to the right. Go about 7 - 10 miles to the Stop light past the Beaufort Walmart (crossing 2 bridges), turn left to the light at Hwy 21, then turn left onto Hwy 21, go past the Marine Corp Air Station about 1.5 miles, the entrance will be on the left.
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