Latest / Ridiculous History / You Auto-go to the Drive-in, Part One: Cars Meet Cinema

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You Auto-go to the Drive-in, Part One: Cars Meet Cinema · Ridiculous History

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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
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Speaker 1: the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you as old Ways so
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Speaker 1: the myth legend. Our super producer, mister Max Williams.
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Speaker 2: Yes and no, okay, fair enough, But thank you for
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Speaker 2: the verbatim reading of my last meal. I very much
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Speaker 2: appreciated that.
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Speaker 1: Of course, gotcha, I am been bullying. This is Noel Brown.
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Speaker 1: We are we are coming to you from across the world.
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Speaker 1: Here two thirds of us are well let's say we're
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Speaker 1: all weathering something. I'm weathering some crazy meteorological phenomenon out
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Speaker 1: the wild, and Noel, U and Max are on the
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Speaker 1: other side of some of the late summer cools circulating around.
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Speaker 3: I was trying to think of like an Alison wonder
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Speaker 3: any weather or not your weathering the weather, but I.
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Speaker 2: That's all I could come up with.
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Speaker 1: It almost sounds like an Oasis lyric. Right, Oh god,
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Speaker 1: the lyrics are the worst by the.
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Speaker 3: You know what, it's supernova in the sky.
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Speaker 2: What even is that? How you walk down the hall
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Speaker 2: faster than a cannonball? I don't even that doesn't.
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Speaker 4: Make any sense to me. And then what was that
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Speaker 4: slowly walking faster than he's got dirty dishes on the brain.
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Speaker 4: There's a weird metaphor about washing dishes and romance. Anyway, nostalgia.
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Speaker 1: I love that's the way we get in here, because
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Speaker 1: as seen as we're back together and we're all feeling
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Speaker 1: hail and harty, we might do something that you can't
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Speaker 1: do everywhere in America today. We might go to Atlanta's
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Speaker 1: Drive in theater.
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Speaker 3: Ben I think I maybe mentioned this not on the show.
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Speaker 3: I have been to the Starlight Drive in for like
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Speaker 3: a I've never seen a drive in movie ever. I've
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Speaker 3: never been to a drive in movie. It fully occupies
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Speaker 3: the realm of nostalgia, well not even real nostalgia, the
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Speaker 3: idea of like nostalgia for things that you never actually experienced,
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Speaker 3: you know. I think of movies like American Graffiti, you know,
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Speaker 3: I just think of like the Golden Age of Hollywood,
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Speaker 3: and you know, like girls on roller skates bringing you
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Speaker 3: your burgers, things like that.
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Speaker 2: You know.
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Speaker 3: I just I love old Hollywood culture, and the drive
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Speaker 3: in is squarely a part of that. We're gonna get
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Speaker 3: to kind of when that actually came along, because it
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Speaker 3: didn't start out that way, didn't.
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Speaker 2: It did not.
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Speaker 1: And we also have a big special announcement for Ridiculous Historians.
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Speaker 1: We're excited about this. Join us in welcoming our new
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Speaker 1: research associate. Nickname still TBD, but it's our.
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Speaker 2: Pal, Andrea.
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Speaker 1: Andrea is still TBD, And no where would where would
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Speaker 1: where would our friends and listeners in the art audience
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Speaker 1: tonight maybe recognize Andrea.
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Speaker 3: From Andrea is the crack research associate for our sister podcast,
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Speaker 3: Ridiculous Crime, So doing excellent work over there and now
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Speaker 3: the OG podcast Ridiculous History.
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Speaker 1: Oh gosh, we are ogs.
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Speaker 2: You know. That got to me the og.
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Speaker 3: Ridiculous OG's of ridiculousness here on iHeart Radio.
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Speaker 1: I was hanging out somewhere I can't remember where last
4:30
Speaker 1: year and got recognized and someone said, oh, you're an
4:34
Speaker 1: OG of podcasting, And it is meant as a compliment,
4:38
Speaker 1: but I.
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Speaker 2: I would have taken it as such.
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Speaker 3: I got voice clocked in line at the Metropolitan Museum
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Speaker 3: of Art in New York, our good friend Jordan. It
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Speaker 3: always feels weird and lovely that people are randomly out
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Speaker 3: there in the world listening to our silly podcast.
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Speaker 2: But it's true. Man, we've been doing this for a
4:56
Speaker 2: long time.
4:57
Speaker 3: To quote either the The Sopranos or Goodfellas, it's really
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Speaker 3: hard to get in on the ground floor of something,
5:06
Speaker 3: and we were lucky enough to be able to do that.
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Speaker 3: So we thank the podcast gods for that opportunity.
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Speaker 2: And man, let's jump right into it.
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Speaker 3: Dude, I didn't know this, but the very first kind
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Speaker 3: of modern ish, well it's not really modern, just like again,
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Speaker 3: it's sort of vintage. But the notion of the design
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Speaker 3: of a drive in theater consisting of a screen, a projector,
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Speaker 3: and a space for cars, likely a concession stand of sorts,
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Speaker 3: was first scene at the Teatra di Guadalupe in New
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Speaker 3: Mexico in nineteen sixteen. So it is definitely still like
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Speaker 3: a Southwest originating thing. But this wasn't even considered like
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Speaker 3: a full drive in. It was a partial drive in.
5:48
Speaker 3: It was erected in nineteen sixteen. The Rio Grand Republican
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Speaker 3: newspaper described it as having the ability to seat seven
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Speaker 3: hundred people in the auditorium, automobile entrances and places for
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Speaker 3: forty or more cars within the theater grounds, and inline
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Speaker 3: position to see the pictures and witness all the performances
6:07
Speaker 3: on the stage. Is a feature of the place that
6:10
Speaker 3: will please car owners.
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Speaker 2: It's a hybrid. It's a hybrid.
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Speaker 3: And one thing we also know about the Southwest car
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Speaker 3: culture baby big deal even to this day, car shows,
6:21
Speaker 3: you know, muscle cars, all of these kind of things,
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Speaker 3: rims whatever. I'm not a supercar guy, but I know
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Speaker 3: you are. But it really is something that still is
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Speaker 3: a big deal in southern California and that part of
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Speaker 3: the world.
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Speaker 1: And this, you know, journey back with this folks in
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Speaker 1: nineteen sixteen cars are very different than the cars you
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Speaker 1: would see here in twenty twenty four. You know, this
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Speaker 1: is the days of the of the jeloppies as they
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Speaker 1: would be called, and the augas. Yeah, this is an
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Speaker 1: I would say this is seen at the time in
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Speaker 1: New Mexico as a kind of fall word facing, cutting edge,
7:02
Speaker 1: early adopter technology thing exactly right, right, And not a
7:06
Speaker 1: lot of people own cars at this point, so it's
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Speaker 1: definitely a flex If you own a car, you want
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Speaker 1: people to see it. And it's still you know, it
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Speaker 1: still speaks to and we'll get into this, it still
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Speaker 1: speaks to a fundamental human drive that's been around since
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Speaker 1: the days of theater in ancient Greece and ancient China,
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Speaker 1: the idea of experiencing a story with other people around,
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Speaker 1: as Andrew puts it, watching a movie al Fresco, which
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Speaker 1: I loved, and yeah.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, well yeah as an alfresco kind of like a picnic.
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Speaker 2: Isn't that what that means? I think?
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Speaker 3: So, yeah, yeah, I believe it's sort of just like,
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Speaker 3: you know the idea of doing something outside, yeah, in
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Speaker 3: the outdoors, in the out but it's but usually when
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Speaker 3: some people talk about taking a meal alfresco. It's sort
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Speaker 3: of referring to a picnic idea, and that is neat
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Speaker 3: about the drive in experience because it's you're able to
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Speaker 3: kind of you got your own kind of mobile tent.
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Speaker 3: You know, you're almost like camping in a weird way.
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Speaker 3: And we'll get into some of the other factors that
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Speaker 3: made it really, really popular, but it's a little bit
8:12
Speaker 3: easier to kind of do what you want, if that
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Speaker 3: makes sense.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're a family show. Yeah, we'll get to it. Though.
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Speaker 1: There's a reason people love to drive in Atlanta, and
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Speaker 1: this is something that is fascinating that we learned in
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Speaker 1: the course of research for this episode. Showing movies outdoors
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Speaker 1: at this time, pre nineteen sixteen, it was not a
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Speaker 1: novel concept in and of itself because then is now,
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Speaker 1: people would set up projector screens maybe on beaches or
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Speaker 1: other wide open spaces to quote the Dixie Chicks, and
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Speaker 1: they would watch silent films. There would often be musicians
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Speaker 1: who would play the score. Right, So this is a
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Speaker 1: heck of an evening. It's still a kind of party
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Speaker 1: that we would want to go to, and it hearkens
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Speaker 1: back again into the idea of watching live theatrical performances,
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Speaker 1: maybe in an amphitheater out in the Mediterranean countryside. We
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Speaker 1: know that there are some heroic characters, the pioneers of
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Speaker 1: drive in films, and that's where we need to introduce
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Speaker 1: you to our first protagonist of the story, Max. If
9:21
Speaker 1: we could get some like profound cinematic music.
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Speaker 2: Really do it up there. It is Robert Is who
9:37
Speaker 2: is strolling to find out who.
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Speaker 1: Is strolling onto the stage here, Noel, that would be
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Speaker 1: mister Richard Milton hollings Head Junior.
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Speaker 3: Quite the name and quite the legacy of this man
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Speaker 3: left behind. He was a big gear head, you know.
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Speaker 3: He was a movie fan as well, and he was
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Speaker 3: a sales manager at his father's company called Whiz Auto
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Speaker 3: Products over there in Camden, New Jersey, and he wanted
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Speaker 3: to combine his two loves movie theaters and movies and
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Speaker 3: car culture.
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Speaker 2: Like we said, so.
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Speaker 3: He kind of, you know, brain birthed the idea of
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Speaker 3: the early park in theaters. Drive in is one of
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Speaker 3: those things that is maybe less coined by an individual
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Speaker 3: and maybe more just like a term that became what
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Speaker 3: people referred to him as, and then they sort of
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Speaker 3: got picked up widely I don't the concept, but not
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Speaker 3: the name. Well also, you know, I mean a drive
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Speaker 3: in is I guess you'd have that for like diners
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Speaker 3: and stuff too, like you have like a certain you know,
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Speaker 3: like Sonic, which is like the classic you know, drive
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Speaker 3: in food service situation. It all went kind of hand
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Speaker 3: in hand with that called car culture thing. But park
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Speaker 3: in it's not as sexy as it's not as active.
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Speaker 3: It's like we're.
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Speaker 1: Powering in with the power of automobiles.
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Speaker 2: There were automobiles compels us.
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Speaker 1: Yes, there were drive ins as early as the nineteen tens,
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Speaker 1: by which we mean there were people driving to watch
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Speaker 1: stuff outdoors. But the concept as a patented notion first
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Speaker 1: opened on June sixth, nineteen thirty three. Our buddy Hollingshead
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Speaker 1: Junior got a location a sweet spot on Crescent Boulevard
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Speaker 1: in New Jersey. There's a bit of confusion here because
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Speaker 1: it's often reported that this drive in opened on Admiral
11:33
Speaker 1: Wilson Boulevard in Camden, but it's not. It opened on
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Speaker 1: Crescent Boulevard in Don't kill me here, folks, Pensaken Township.
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Speaker 3: I think that was a delightful attempt, if not nailed
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Speaker 3: its spot on That's what I would have said. Yeah,
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Speaker 3: And it's funny because I really do associate this the
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Speaker 3: drive in culture with the West Coast, and you know,
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Speaker 3: we do have that very very earliest one over there
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Speaker 3: in New Mexico. But this is kind of the more
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Speaker 3: the beginnings of the mainstreaming of drive in culture. And
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Speaker 3: then you mentioned the idea of patenting this. I find
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Speaker 3: that really interesting and I immediately was sort of like, huh, like,
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Speaker 3: how do you patent the idea of showing a movie outside?
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Speaker 1: You know, I thought you were going to say, how
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Speaker 1: do you patent the idea of showing up somewhere?
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Speaker 3: Wells that is part of it, though, Ben, isn't it
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Speaker 3: because you're not providing the cars. At this point, they
12:25
Speaker 3: didn't even have like, you know, obviously there's going to
12:28
Speaker 3: get to a point where they've got more innovative solutions
12:31
Speaker 3: like the radio tunable speakers you know that you put
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Speaker 3: in your car directly personal speakers. But at this point
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Speaker 3: it's just a big old public address system outdoors and
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Speaker 3: a big screen and like cars that would pull up.
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Speaker 3: But he was granted a patent for this, and I
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Speaker 3: just find that interesting because it seems not particularly novel
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Speaker 3: because usually a patent requires something that's very very novel
12:53
Speaker 3: and some sort of very specific design.
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Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, we should also do a weird history of
12:57
Speaker 1: patents just so we can figure out how it works.
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Speaker 3: We can even get into like the modern development of
13:04
Speaker 3: like things like Patent Control IV.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, this would also be immensely helpful to
13:09
Speaker 1: me because I have a bunch of weird ideas for inventions,
13:13
Speaker 1: and I swear to god they always sound crazy and
13:18
Speaker 1: eccentric in my head until I read a news story
13:21
Speaker 1: about someone doing that very thing, like the like the
13:25
Speaker 1: screw tops for plastic bottles in Europe.
13:27
Speaker 2: They called me mad. They did call you mad, But
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Speaker 2: I think I told you.
13:31
Speaker 3: I used to have a bit of a kooky boss
13:33
Speaker 3: who was very much of more of like the Ricky
13:35
Speaker 3: Gervais version of the Michael Scott character in the office,
13:38
Speaker 3: so a little bit more mean spirited and kind of
13:40
Speaker 3: like really unpleasant, let's just say. But he was one
13:44
Speaker 3: of these cats that would just drop these like wild ideas,
13:47
Speaker 3: and the funniest one that everyone laughed at him about
13:50
Speaker 3: was what if we had this powder that you put
13:52
Speaker 3: in your water and it man, it gives it a
13:54
Speaker 3: flavor and vitamins and it's going to be called wait.
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Speaker 2: For it, H two woe. I love it. H two.
14:04
Speaker 3: I would have also accepted H two Wow. That would
14:07
Speaker 3: have also worked. But yeah, man like that, you know
14:09
Speaker 3: a couple of years past. That's absolutely a thing.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, and that's prescient. So flowers where
14:16
Speaker 1: they're due. I had another one, and I'll keep the
14:18
Speaker 1: short says nothing to do with drive. Ince I had
14:20
Speaker 1: another one. I was super into this idea.
14:22
Speaker 2: It's like, hey, you.
14:23
Speaker 1: Know how you you ever have that moment where you're
14:26
Speaker 1: holding something expensive and fragile and you think, what if
14:30
Speaker 1: I just broke this right just to sort of feel something?
14:34
Speaker 1: And I said, we should make not a stark bend.
14:37
Speaker 1: We should make not escape rooms, but break rooms where
14:40
Speaker 1: you could pay money to go in, get an implement
14:43
Speaker 1: of your choice, like a hammer, baseball bat, and we
14:46
Speaker 1: could get a bunch of stuff from a thrift store,
14:48
Speaker 1: and then you could just go nuts for a little
14:51
Speaker 1: while breaking it. People said it was violet and crazy,
14:54
Speaker 1: and now it's a successful thing that it was.
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Speaker 3: It's been a I remember Tamika, our long time colleague,
15:02
Speaker 3: mentioned several years back that she went to one of
15:04
Speaker 3: those and it's a very I think it's a cathartic
15:07
Speaker 3: way of releasing your attentions on like old computer screens
15:10
Speaker 3: and stuff instead of like, you know, punching.
15:12
Speaker 2: Somebody do that full support.
15:15
Speaker 1: Oh maybe that will be our next business now of.
15:18
Speaker 3: A space you're talking about, right, They smashing the Facts machine.
15:22
Speaker 1: And I loved watching that. That's iconic, that that's something
15:25
Speaker 1: that I'm glad that I watched that for the first
15:28
Speaker 1: time with other people. With that sublid track, we get
15:32
Speaker 1: the appeal of the films and that's the way.
15:36
Speaker 2: That's it.
15:36
Speaker 1: And people also had that same impetus. In nineteen thirty three,
15:48
Speaker 1: they paid twenty five cents per car as well as
15:52
Speaker 1: per person to watch films like the British comedy Lives Beware,
15:57
Speaker 1: which I don't think either of us have seen, and
16:00
Speaker 1: the local paper called this the first automobile movie theota
16:05
Speaker 1: in the world. I have to pause here and all
16:08
Speaker 1: because nineteen thirty three a quarter per car and per person.
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Speaker 1: It's pricey, right, I think that's right, Ben, And I
16:17
Speaker 1: think that was part of some of the growing pains
16:20
Speaker 1: of the early days of drive in movie theaters because
16:23
Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting if you think about it. You're
16:25
Speaker 1: paying for the privilege of sitting in your own car.
16:29
Speaker 1: They don't even have to provide you a seat or
16:31
Speaker 1: air conditioning. It almost seems a little a little bit
16:34
Speaker 1: like a grift when you really break it down, doesn't it.
16:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it hit me.
16:38
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're mentioning this. Not too long ago. It's
16:42
Speaker 1: in a different city in Japan. We're reading at a
16:45
Speaker 1: Yaqui Niku place, which is kind of like the Japanese
16:48
Speaker 1: version koreem barbecue, and it hit me. I thought, hang on,
16:52
Speaker 1: we're paying these folks to go to a restaurant where
16:57
Speaker 1: we are the cooks.
16:58
Speaker 3: Basically, that's right. It's brilliant, but it's also a feature,
17:01
Speaker 3: not a bug in a lot of ways. It depends
17:03
Speaker 3: on how you view it and what you're into. But
17:06
Speaker 3: you know, some people are real particular about the dunness
17:09
Speaker 3: of their meat, and you know, it's like barbecuing on
17:11
Speaker 3: a table.
17:12
Speaker 2: It's a lot of fun.
17:13
Speaker 3: And again, this is worth a little bit extra price
17:16
Speaker 3: of admission because it feels like an adventure. You know,
17:19
Speaker 3: you're taking your car, you're in the great outdoors, you're
17:21
Speaker 3: sort of glamping in a way, and watching the movie.
17:24
Speaker 2: But there were problems though.
17:27
Speaker 3: There were problems that needed to be solved in terms
17:29
Speaker 3: of things like visibility, maintaining an unobstructed line of sight
17:34
Speaker 3: to the screen. And also again, like I mentioned that
17:38
Speaker 3: PA system, it was one single sound source that was
17:42
Speaker 3: supposed to hit all of the attendees sitting in their cars.
17:46
Speaker 3: And if anyone knows anything about sound traveling over distance
17:50
Speaker 3: connected to a picture, you're gonna get some lag there.
17:53
Speaker 3: And that problem doesn't get solved until a little bit later.
17:57
Speaker 3: So Halling said to backtrack just a little bit.
18:00
Speaker 2: He did get his.
18:00
Speaker 3: Start working at an automotive parts company, Wiz Auto Parts Company,
18:05
Speaker 3: founded by his father in the early years of the
18:06
Speaker 3: twentieth century. They sold you know, lubrications, greases, oils, polishes,
18:12
Speaker 3: turtle wax, things like that, and Hollings had considered he
18:17
Speaker 3: looked at what his customers were buying and recognized that
18:23
Speaker 3: people often would give up on food, clothing, automobiles.
18:28
Speaker 2: And movies in that order.
18:30
Speaker 3: Like that was the the hierarchy of needs in the
18:33
Speaker 3: depression exactly, Ben, Yeah, tell us more.
18:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, because and we see this pattern that haulings Head
18:41
Speaker 1: astutely identifies. We see this in almost every time of
18:45
Speaker 1: economic turmoil, people will give up the fancy meals, right,
18:50
Speaker 1: you'll tighten your belt. Speaking of belts, you won't buy
18:53
Speaker 1: as many name brand clothing items. You're probably not gonna
18:59
Speaker 1: pony up the money for a new car. But you
19:01
Speaker 1: will rationalize entertainment. You will rationalize things like you know,
19:07
Speaker 1: vices too, honestly, alcoholics, bacco, movies.
19:10
Speaker 3: Well, it's during the hardest of times that that kind
19:14
Speaker 3: of escapism is the most crucial, you know, I mean, honestly,
19:18
Speaker 3: if you think about it, movies and entertainment, it's just
19:21
Speaker 3: our way of kind of biding our time until death.
19:24
Speaker 2: I mean, not to be too.
19:26
Speaker 3: Gallowsy about it, but like we need those distractions to
19:30
Speaker 3: kind of distract us from our mortality and from all
19:33
Speaker 3: of the kind of heavy stuff. And during the heaviest
19:36
Speaker 3: of times, that's what entertainment is the most valuable and
19:39
Speaker 3: the most like crucial kind of for keeping you from
19:42
Speaker 3: burning out and just having like a crisis of the soul.
19:46
Speaker 1: And Holly said, is really smart about his approach here.
19:49
Speaker 1: Instead of immediately jumping into the real estate game, he
19:54
Speaker 1: goes to his backyard. He sets up an outdoor theater.
19:57
Speaker 1: It's a thing a lot of my friends in Atlanta
19:59
Speaker 1: still do. It's very fun when the weather's dice. And
20:02
Speaker 1: so his house is at two twelve Thomas Avenue in Riverton,
20:06
Speaker 1: New Jersey. He gets a projection screen. He lets the
20:10
Speaker 1: town know, and he says, all right, I'm gonna try
20:13
Speaker 1: this thing out. It's going to be like a cool party.
20:16
Speaker 1: He's I've got a nineteen twenty eight Kodak projector. I've
20:19
Speaker 1: literally just nailed a screen to a tree in the back.
20:23
Speaker 1: And he spends some time experimenting before he brings people
20:29
Speaker 1: over and does a dry run. He is trying to
20:33
Speaker 1: figure out the ideal home theater layout because as anybody
20:38
Speaker 1: can tell you, anybody's been to a concert could tell you,
20:41
Speaker 1: one of the worst things to happen is to go
20:43
Speaker 1: to a place like this and to have your view blocked.
20:46
Speaker 1: Have you ever been stuck behind like a pillar or
20:49
Speaker 1: some kind of standing.
20:51
Speaker 3: Pole, And God, you asked, it wasn't that egregious. But
20:55
Speaker 3: I had never been to a place in year old
20:57
Speaker 3: stomping grounds in Nashville, Tennessee into a show at the
21:00
Speaker 3: Mother Church the Ryman Auditorium. Yeah, and I bought tickets
21:05
Speaker 3: to go see the Flaming Lips there and I was
21:09
Speaker 3: I thought they were seemed like really good seats in
21:11
Speaker 3: terms of like the abe through z, you know, kind
21:13
Speaker 3: of like how close you are to the stage.
21:16
Speaker 2: It was like a nice middle kind of ground or whatever.
21:19
Speaker 3: I got there only to realize they call it the
21:21
Speaker 3: Mother Church because the place used to be an actual
21:23
Speaker 3: church which has a balcony, and a whole bunch of
21:26
Speaker 3: the seats are under the balcony. So while I wasn't
21:30
Speaker 3: behind a pillar and most bands wouldn't use what you'd
21:34
Speaker 3: call like the the entire you know, stretch of the prescenium,
21:39
Speaker 3: Flaming Lips absolutely did. They had massive inflatables. They were
21:42
Speaker 3: doing all kinds of crazy stuff way up in the sky, and.
21:44
Speaker 2: I was like, what's going on there?
21:46
Speaker 3: I mean, you'll totally left out, and like, yeah, I
21:47
Speaker 3: couldn't see anything above that overhang of the balcony and
21:51
Speaker 3: it was a little bit of a bummer, but I
21:52
Speaker 3: still very much enjoyed it. But now I know pro
21:55
Speaker 3: tip when you're going to the rhyman, make sure you're
21:57
Speaker 3: not you know, you're you're shooting for either balcony seats
22:01
Speaker 3: or something before the balcony cuts you off your view.
22:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the I've been to the Rhyman as well,
22:08
Speaker 1: obviously being from Nashville, and the my favorite seats there,
22:13
Speaker 1: as you said, like right on the lip of the
22:15
Speaker 1: balcony on the second floor. They are very they are
22:19
Speaker 1: still at least last time I was there. They're real
22:21
Speaker 1: church views. It's weird.
22:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, it was an incredible experience. It was a
22:25
Speaker 3: wonderful place to see the show. Beautiful stained glass. But
22:28
Speaker 3: just be mindful because if it hadn't been a band
22:31
Speaker 3: that like was using all of that space, it wouldn't
22:33
Speaker 3: have been a big deal. But like you know, Wayne Coyn,
22:35
Speaker 3: He's like got this magical mechanical flying bird and it's
22:38
Speaker 3: all zooming around. I'm like, I want to see the
22:39
Speaker 3: flying bird, but I couldn't see it. But anyway, I digress.
22:42
Speaker 3: So the logistics are a big part of this dude's thinking.
22:47
Speaker 3: He's doing this test run in his backyard and he's
22:50
Speaker 3: basically laying out how to best make sure that every
22:54
Speaker 3: single seat in the house is the best seat in
22:56
Speaker 3: the house.
22:57
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
22:57
Speaker 1: And he's doing some real mcgui stuff. He says, Okay,
23:01
Speaker 1: what if I park the cars in this layout? No,
23:06
Speaker 1: because you know, twenty percent of the people can't see.
23:09
Speaker 1: How do I ensure that people who are parked behind
23:12
Speaker 1: the first row of cars can also see instead of
23:15
Speaker 1: just trying to like look through the rear view and
23:18
Speaker 1: the windshield or the car in front of him. And
23:20
Speaker 1: so he says, all right, I need a series of
23:23
Speaker 1: terraced rows. I need raised ramps so that everybody has
23:28
Speaker 1: a good chance of seeing each other. Now, granted this
23:32
Speaker 1: is before the days of very tall, lifted trucks, you
23:35
Speaker 1: know what I mean, they can ruin the views. Still
23:38
Speaker 1: at a drive in, so collings Head places blocks under
23:43
Speaker 1: the front wheels of cars and this adjust their height
23:48
Speaker 1: until the driver who is further back can see over
23:51
Speaker 1: the car in front. And if you go to a
23:54
Speaker 1: drive in theater today, you'll notice that same kind of
23:58
Speaker 1: pattern in the pavement. Right, And if you're driving slow,
24:02
Speaker 1: you might not notice it, but if you pick up
24:04
Speaker 1: any speed, then you noticed you're going over a series
24:08
Speaker 1: of tiny hills.
24:09
Speaker 2: That's right.
24:09
Speaker 3: I mean if even at the Starlight drive in here
24:11
Speaker 3: in Atlanta, I believe the whole thing is paved kind
24:13
Speaker 3: of on an incline, you know, And like I think
24:16
Speaker 3: the most successful venues typically that follow the whole The
24:20
Speaker 3: classic tale is oldest time design of like an amphitheater
24:23
Speaker 3: in Greek times would be that raked perspective because you know,
24:27
Speaker 3: at the farther back you get, you got a little
24:28
Speaker 3: bit of a rise, so therefore you can kind of
24:30
Speaker 3: see over the heads or tail lights of the person
24:33
Speaker 3: in front of you.
24:34
Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Yeah.
24:35
Speaker 1: And he also he also tried to envision what it
24:39
Speaker 1: would be like in inclement weather, so he hit sprinklers
24:43
Speaker 1: and he said, Okay, this is what it looks like
24:44
Speaker 1: if you're really like this guy. Yeah, that's fun. I
24:47
Speaker 1: love that you pointed out the importance of sound. He
24:50
Speaker 1: was trying to figure out the best place to locate
24:53
Speaker 1: a radio. He ultimately decided that he will put it
24:56
Speaker 1: behind the screen, and this becase These became the key
25:01
Speaker 1: tenants of what we call a drive in theater. There
25:05
Speaker 1: was a personal note that comes to us per Jim
25:09
Speaker 1: Copp of the United Drive in Theaters Owners Association, and
25:13
Speaker 1: he says that at least part of Hauling Hollingshead's motivation
25:19
Speaker 1: was to make a theater that his mom could enjoy.
25:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can relate to this. My mother was a
25:33
Speaker 3: larger lady, let's say, and this is something that he
25:37
Speaker 3: was thinking about. He wanted to make sure that his
25:39
Speaker 3: mother and folks of her, you know, ilk would enjoy
25:43
Speaker 3: themselves as well. So a typical indoor theater. I mean, gosh, man,
25:49
Speaker 3: have you been to like an old theater, like in
25:51
Speaker 3: like La, like a like a real old movie theater.
25:53
Speaker 3: Even here in Atlanta, the Plaza Theater, the seats are tight,
25:57
Speaker 3: They're very uncomfortable.
25:59
Speaker 2: I'm a big enough and I could certainly still fit
26:02
Speaker 2: in them.
26:02
Speaker 3: But someone much larger than me, I mean, that would
26:05
Speaker 3: be prohibitive and would really make you feel not welcome,
26:09
Speaker 3: especially if he can't move the arm rest You can't
26:11
Speaker 3: move the arm rests, you know. I mean, it's it's
26:14
Speaker 3: definitely no fun because of that sense of just this
26:16
Speaker 3: is not a place for me, and he having you know,
26:20
Speaker 3: this person who he loved, his mother, fall into that set.
26:23
Speaker 3: He was very concerned with people that were a little
26:25
Speaker 3: bit larger being able to enjoy a movie with the
26:28
Speaker 3: rest of them without being judged or being uncomfortable. So
26:31
Speaker 3: he stuck her in a car before any of this stuff.
26:35
Speaker 3: This is almost like the germ of the idea, right,
26:38
Speaker 3: and he stuck her in a car and put a
26:39
Speaker 3: nineteen twenty eight projector on the hood of the car
26:42
Speaker 3: and tied two sheets to trees in his yard. I'm sorry,
26:45
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say it again. I like this guy. It's
26:48
Speaker 3: very sweet.
26:49
Speaker 2: He's taking care of his mom. I think that's cool. Man.
26:52
Speaker 3: So this is again, you know, like kind of like
26:54
Speaker 3: just the very first spark of the idea. Now he's
26:58
Speaker 3: tested things and he's kind of all to the races.
27:01
Speaker 2: He sure is.
27:02
Speaker 1: And this would also this would be a neat movie, right,
27:07
Speaker 1: the creation of the drive in film.
27:09
Speaker 2: I think it would.
27:11
Speaker 1: Hollywood loves films about film. So anyway, he has made
27:16
Speaker 1: these breakthroughs. His intentions are noble, his aspirations are pure,
27:22
Speaker 1: and he says, look at all these things, I've figured out,
27:27
Speaker 1: maybe this concept is specialized enough to be patented, because
27:32
Speaker 1: something like this, with all these bells and conceptual whistles,
27:35
Speaker 1: had not existed before he did successfully get a patent.
27:39
Speaker 1: So every for like the next almost twenty years, for
27:43
Speaker 1: the next seventeen years, all the other people who built
27:47
Speaker 1: drive in theaters ended up paying him royalties. If you
27:51
Speaker 1: look at his patent application from August sixth, nineteen thirty two.
27:56
Speaker 1: He says, my invention relates to a new and useful
27:58
Speaker 1: out to a theater, where by the transportation facilities to
28:02
Speaker 1: and from the THEATO on me to constitute an element
28:05
Speaker 1: of the CD facilities. Super sexy writing. He does get
28:09
Speaker 1: the patent number one million, nine hundred and nine thousand,
28:11
Speaker 1: five hundred and thirty seven. The day the patent paperwork
28:15
Speaker 1: comes through, they start building the thing.
28:19
Speaker 3: Well, you know, and earlier I was kind of poo
28:21
Speaker 3: pooing the idea of like granting a patent for something
28:23
Speaker 3: like this, because it really is even when you look
28:25
Speaker 3: at there is a design, you know. And then I
28:27
Speaker 3: certainly got to give the guy credit. He did some testing,
28:30
Speaker 3: he figured out the best arrangement for cars. But if
28:32
Speaker 3: you really look at it, it really is just kind
28:35
Speaker 3: of like I guess the novel thing must have been
28:37
Speaker 3: the series of ramps, right, because that's the only kind
28:40
Speaker 3: of inventioning part of this, because when you look at it,
28:43
Speaker 3: you know, and the graphic we have here is kind
28:44
Speaker 3: of small, but it really does look like a sketch
28:47
Speaker 3: of like you should Greek theater, like an outdoor amphitheater,
28:49
Speaker 3: And the only difference is that it's cars, but he's
28:52
Speaker 3: not providing the cars. It's just an open space, you know,
28:55
Speaker 3: where a car can go. And I believe there'll become
28:59
Speaker 3: later down the line. This patent gets called into question.
29:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, nice foreshadowing there, man, Because of course it will.
29:09
Speaker 1: That's how these things work. So him and his buddy
29:14
Speaker 1: Willie Warren Smith have formed their theater, or that formed
29:18
Speaker 1: their company, park In Theaters Incorporated. And they bring another
29:22
Speaker 1: guy on, a contractor named Edward Ellis, and he is
29:26
Speaker 1: our It's like if they're putting together a highst crew.
29:29
Speaker 1: He's the pavement man. He's the paveman, and he's the
29:33
Speaker 1: guy who grades up the lot for the first theater
29:38
Speaker 1: to make it conform to Holling's head's designs. And he
29:42
Speaker 1: does this work not for cash but for stock shares
29:46
Speaker 1: in the company. And then there's another guy who, in
29:50
Speaker 1: my opinion, comes out of left field. His name's Oliver Willitts.
29:54
Speaker 1: He's a big mukety muckett Campbell's soup. He's a soupman.
30:00
Speaker 1: I can only picture the conversation where he's like, there
30:02
Speaker 1: are two things I like soup and the movies.
30:07
Speaker 2: The pictures he what have called them?
30:08
Speaker 1: So we've We've got a varied crew of specialists. We've
30:13
Speaker 1: got the parking lot operator, Willie Warden Smith, he's kind
30:17
Speaker 1: of the money. Hollins Head is the brains, Edward Ellis
30:21
Speaker 1: is the pavement, and then the soup guy you know,
30:26
Speaker 1: is also there.
30:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yeah, I've been.
30:29
Speaker 3: I want to take a quick pause here just to
30:30
Speaker 3: point something out that I noticed and really cool graphic
30:33
Speaker 3: that Andrew included in the research document. It's an advertisement
30:38
Speaker 3: on the side of a building, or maybe this is
30:40
Speaker 3: actually the backside of the screen. I know, for example,
30:44
Speaker 3: at the Starlight in Atlanta, the screen is this massive
30:47
Speaker 3: thing and on the back of it they have like
30:49
Speaker 3: text and advertising. But this is drive in theater, World's
30:52
Speaker 3: first sit in your car, see and hear movies. It's
30:55
Speaker 3: not only is it twenty five cents per person, it's
31:00
Speaker 3: twenty five cents per car.
31:02
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, so you pay as well a quarter for
31:05
Speaker 1: the car, and then if you have let's say three
31:07
Speaker 1: people in the car, then you're out a dollar.
31:10
Speaker 2: I know that seems high, and we're gonna get to that.
31:13
Speaker 3: It does seem high, and it actually causes a little
31:16
Speaker 3: bit of a stir. And this monopoly that Hollingsworth has
31:20
Speaker 3: over the industry, starts to kind of ease up a.
31:22
Speaker 1: Little bit, and here will pause for a brief intermission,
31:27
Speaker 1: just like a long film, because this is a two
31:30
Speaker 1: part episode. The first time I saw a film that
31:35
Speaker 1: had a long intermission, it was a Civil War film
31:39
Speaker 1: called Gettysburg that my dad dragged me to, and I
31:43
Speaker 1: was probably too young to watch an in depth four
31:46
Speaker 1: hour film about the American Civil War?
31:50
Speaker 2: Was that the one with Matthew Broderick in it? Or
31:54
Speaker 2: what am I thinking of?
31:54
Speaker 3: There was another one that was like with Matthew Broderick
31:57
Speaker 3: and Denzel Washington that I thought day off.
32:01
Speaker 2: Was it was it called matt X. Is that Glory? Yeah?
32:04
Speaker 2: It was. It was Glory exactly. That was a big
32:06
Speaker 2: one as well, you know.
32:07
Speaker 3: I actually it's funny a lot of times when they
32:10
Speaker 3: show old movies on TV, they little have an intermission
32:14
Speaker 3: built in. They just like leave the little card on
32:16
Speaker 3: there for a while. But I thought it was pretty cool.
32:19
Speaker 3: When quin Tarantino released The Hateful Eight, they did a
32:23
Speaker 3: road show of the like seventy millimeter print of it,
32:26
Speaker 3: and it had a proper intermission, which I thought was
32:29
Speaker 3: really nostalgic and fun.
32:31
Speaker 2: So did Gettysburg.
32:32
Speaker 1: I just realized as we're wrapping up this episode, Gettysburg
32:36
Speaker 1: is four hours and fourteen minutes long, and to this day,
32:39
Speaker 1: that makes it the longest film ever theatrically released by
32:44
Speaker 1: a big time studio at the United States.
32:46
Speaker 2: So, Dad, if you're hearing this, I'm.
32:48
Speaker 1: Still sore about that man, because I thought that was
32:52
Speaker 1: I thought that was the end of the movie. I
32:55
Speaker 1: escaped to the bathroom and I got pulled back. I
32:58
Speaker 1: know too much about Gettysburg.
33:00
Speaker 3: Do you remember back in those days where when you
33:01
Speaker 3: would rent movies like that from Blockbusters, they'd be like
33:04
Speaker 3: six VHS tapes and they'd all be kind of rubber
33:07
Speaker 3: banded together in this weird little hinged clamshell array.
33:11
Speaker 1: Dude, did I tell you the first time I watched
33:14
Speaker 1: the Godfather series dating myself here, I rented it from
33:18
Speaker 1: Blockbuster and the tapes were out of order, so is
33:22
Speaker 1: the set of The Godfather and Godfather Too. And because
33:25
Speaker 1: the tapes were out of no I watched the first one,
33:29
Speaker 1: the first tape of Godfather one, and I actually put in,
33:33
Speaker 1: you know, like the first or second tape of Godfather too,
33:36
Speaker 1: and I thought this is crazy.
33:38
Speaker 2: The way they're jumping around in.
33:39
Speaker 3: Time, but there already is some jumping around anyway, so
33:43
Speaker 3: you could even be made to believe that you were
33:46
Speaker 3: barking up the right tree.
33:47
Speaker 2: But that's fascinating. But we'll tell you what else is fascinating.
33:50
Speaker 3: The history of drive in movie theaters and old Hollywood
33:53
Speaker 3: and the technological revolution that came along with the boom times.
33:58
Speaker 2: Of drive in.
33:59
Speaker 3: So don't we end this episode we're today part one
34:03
Speaker 3: of you Auto go to the drive in the history
34:06
Speaker 3: of drive in movie here, as named by our crack
34:09
Speaker 3: research associate extraordinaire Andrea. Thanks again for this inaugural contribution
34:14
Speaker 3: to ridiculous history.
34:16
Speaker 1: Big big thanks to our super producer, mister Max Williams.
34:19
Speaker 1: Big thanks to Alex Williams who composed this cinematic masterpiece
34:23
Speaker 1: that is our theme song. Thanks also to ag Bahama's
34:27
Speaker 1: Jacobs do check out his show The Puzzler, And thanks
34:31
Speaker 1: to Jonathan Strickland aka the quizt.
34:35
Speaker 3: Huge thanks to Christophrasiotis and he was Jeff Coats here
34:37
Speaker 3: in spirit to Max Williams. If you've already thanked Max,
34:40
Speaker 3: I'm thanking you again.
34:42
Speaker 2: He's so nice, you got it.
34:43
Speaker 3: Thank him twice and of course Ben, thanks to you
34:46
Speaker 3: for taking this ride with us.
34:50
Speaker 2: It's been a good one and they're looking forward to
34:51
Speaker 2: part two. Oh yeah, Well, see you next time, folks.
35:02
Speaker 3: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
35:06
Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.