Urbana Multiscope Drive-In
Highway 65,
Urbana,
MO
65767
Highway 65,
Urbana,
MO
65767
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This was the first "autoscope" drive in. It opened on July 30, 1953, and first feature shown was "By the Light of the Silvery Moon". Located 4 miles south of Urbana, it was owned and operated by Tom Smith of Urbana, who invented and patented the concept of "autoscope" drive ins, in which small indivdual screens were arranged in a circle, and the film was "back projected" on the screen from the projector in the center of the circle. Each car pulled up to its individual screen from the outside of the circle. The Urbana Multiscope has space for 42 cars. This drive in was only in existance for 2 years, and in 1954 was renamed the Urbana Autoscope Drive In. Also. in 1954, Tom Smith opened the much larger Buffalo Autoscope Drive-In in nearby Buffalo.
Contributed by
Bob Brown
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Here is an article about the drive-in from Boxoffice in August 1953:
http://tinyurl.com/y9m4sj8
I have seen pictures of this before.Interesting.But i would prefer a big screen.
Yes Mike interesting idea,but it is like watching a big screen T.V. from your car,no wonder it did not last long,but they are always trying out something new in this crazy business.Thanks for the photos ken mc.
I have a nice book on Drive-in Theatres from everywhere and they show this set up.
You have to remember that in 1953, all television screens were tiny, and virtually all television programming was in black and white. Even if the show was broadcast in color, most of us had black and white televisions. So the concept of being able to see a movie in color on what would then have been considered a huge television screen would have been much more appealing at the time, especially in a small rural town. It has occurred to me you could reconstruct an autoscope with big screen television sets and DVD’s today! I have seen some of the equipment that was used to create the autoscopes, and it was a very complicated system that required lots of maintenance. I knew the people who eventually owned the Buffalo Autoscope, and that was the primary reason they converted to a conventional drive in after it had operated for about 20 years as an autoscope. The primary advantage of the autoscopes in the 50’s was that you could being a drive in theater to a very small town without a large investment. Later in the 70’s, there was an advantage that if you wanted to show “adult” movies at a drive in, you could do it without “offending” community morals, and being targetted by the authorities, as often happened to conventional “adult” drive ins, with their huge screens. The creation of VCR’s moved these movies to home video, and pretty much killed all of the “adult” theaters.
I have been trying to trace the history and existance of autoscopes, but since they were usually in small towns and/or short lived, it is difficult. I believe over the years there were actually quite a few.
There are two pictures of the Buffalo Autoscope theater here (scroll down): http://www.americandrivein.com/states/mo.htm and a picture of a similar theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico here:http://www.drive-ins.com/pictures/nmtcirc005.jpg
There was a mention and a small picture about Tom Smith’s Autoscope system (described there as “Private Movies”) in the November, 1953 issue of Mechanix (sic) Illustrated (click on the thumbnail captioned “New In Science”): View link
That would be the Circle Autoscope Drive-In Theatre in Albuquerque, which I think is the only other one listed in Cinema Treasures besides the ones in Urbana and Buffalo. I have heard mention of an autoscope drive in in LaCenter KY, but have been unable to verify any other information about it.
Thanks for the link to the Boxoffice article about Tom Smith. I know he was still alive as recently as 1997. He would be about 84 if he is still alive. From talking to people who knew him, he really enjoyed the mechanical part of creating things more than he did the actual business of running a drive in.
Hello Mr Brown, I wish to Thank You for posting your information about Tom Smith and his Autoscope. I have a very dear friend who now lives in Waco Texas but grew up in Buffalo and Urbana on the family ranch off of 65 a stones throw away from the Autoscope. My friend O.K. Kelso first met Tom in front of the Dallas theater in Urbana at the young age of 14 as O.K. was very curious about the business and wanted to learn. Tom and O.K. quickly became very good friends along with Bob and Virgina while becoming a fantastic projectionist and technician working with Tom and Bob on many theater projects with the Autoscopes being a couple of them. He tells many a story about working with Tom helping him align the many mirrors in the mirror room of the booth and maintaining and aligning the screens. O.K. moved to Waco Texas 50 yrs ago today to continue his projectionist career which Tom and Bob had so graciously taught him. The move to Waco came during the time frame Tom was building the 2nd larger Autoscope of which O.K. custom built the amplifier system for Tom at his request. After O.K. left for Waco his communication with the Tom & Bob became somewhat distant however remained friends until Tom died of stomach cancer in 1965.
If you have any information on where Tom or Bob is buried he would greatly appreciate knowing. Also any additional pictures would be fantastic!
Thanks again!
Trey