The American Drive-In Movie Theatre

Although the drive-in theater didn't start in Hawaii, it may be that the outdoor movie did. In "The American Drive-in Movie Theatre," Texas drive-in buffs Don and Susan Sanders have a photograph of a sizable crowd watching films projected against the outside wall of a building next to Sacred Hearts Convent School in Honolulu in 1906 -- about a year after the silent movie came to America. It took a surprisingly long time to marry the outdoor movie and the automobile. In 1933, Richard Hollingshead Jr., the "father of the drive-in theater," opened the Camden Drive-In in New Jersey. Although cars and movies seem as natural a combination as milk and cookies, it wasn't so easy for the pioneers. The Sanderses say the studios never liked "ozoners" and refused to make first-run, or even good second-run, films available. And getting sound to the customers was a problem that took years to solve. When the problem eventually was put in the hands of a professional engineer, at RCA in 1941, a workable solution was simple. But drive-in entrepreneurs were not engineers, nor were they the kind of people who turned to engineers for help. They tinkered. The results were weird and wonderful -- and likely to annoy the neighbors. One solution was a giant speaker that broadcast the sound over the lot, and much farther. Cold nights cut into business, too, but every problem was an opportunity to the drive-in operator: In Anchorage, the Billiken Drive-In offered 18-hour, seven-feature admissions in the wintertime. The 1945-55 decade was the peak for drive-ins. The nation had more than 5,000 of them, though they never caught on much overseas. From 1955 on, the Sanderses say, television and other changes started to suck the family trade away, leaving the field to teen-agers and Samuel Z. Arkoff's American International Pictures for another half decade or so. Since then, drive-ins have steadily declined. There are about 500 left, mostly in rural areas. They require too much land to be affordable in cities. Some individual theaters are doing well, and drive-in societies seek to preserve and protect them. The Sanderses have traveled to more than 40 states to interview drive-in people and take pictures, and they have ransacked archives for illustrations. They came up with enough material not only for this charming bit of nostalgia, but for another volume, "Drive-In Movie Memories."

The best book of its kind, bar none. Photos are excellent, and it is obvious that the authors really know and love their subject. Anyone who has ever spent an evening at the drive-in would love the memories this book evokes. Anyone who never had the opportunity to participate in the golden age of drive-in movies can experience it vicariously through The American Drive-In Movie Theatre. I've given several copies as gifts -- Everyone loves a Drive-In !

This book made me love drive-ins even more! The photos tell a wonderful story, as does the lively text. It will make you remember a better time.

This is the best work I've seen on the subject. The photos are excellent and the text is quite informative. I wish there could have been more color photos however, especially of the neon signs. This book is a good read but it also makes a good coffee table book. I think the index is rather sparse. Overall though, it's worth the money.

As a former drive-in manager, I look for all books about this topic. The Sanders' book is the best I have seen. If you only want a single book about drive-ins, this is it. The historical survey is concise and well-written, and the photographs are dazzling. I especially appreciated the page devoted to the classic Winston Link drive-in/train photo from the Fifties. This will be a great gift/coffee table book for any of your friends who ever went to the drive-in. Other books about the drive-in culture have been rendered irrelevant by the Sanders' work. Congratulations to them.