Camden Drive-In
2901 Admiral Wilson Boulevard,
Pennsauken,
NJ
08109
2901 Admiral Wilson Boulevard,
Pennsauken,
NJ
08109
5 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Architects: Howard E. Hall
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News About This Theater
- Aug 17, 2013 — More than 2,000 vehicles jam the US 23 DI for Bricks Flicks
The Camden Drive-In located in the Pennsauken Township district of Camden, NJ was the first drive-in theater in the U.S. In 1933 Richard Hollingshead received the first patent for the Drive-In Theater (United States Patent# 1,909,537). It was issued on May 16, 1933.
With an investment of $30,000, Richard opened the first drive-in on Tuesday June 6, 1933 in Pennsauken Township, Camden, New Jersey. The opening film was the 1932 British Fox comedy “Wives Beware” (aka in the UK “Two White Arms) starring Adolphe Menjou. The price of admission was 25 cents for the car and 25 cents per person.
The drive-in did not include the in-car speaker system we know today. The inventor contacted the RCA Victor company to provide the sound system, called ‘Directional Sound’. Three main speakers were mounted next to the screen that provided sound. The sound quality was not good for cars in the rear of the theater or for the surrounding neighbors.
It had closed and had been demolished by 1940.
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Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 27 comments)
Here is all the information I could find, plus photos of the site as it is now. Sad to see it without some type of marker for historical purposes! https://driveinadventures.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/the-first-drive-in-theatre-ever-june-6-1933/
There is information about the Camden Drive-in in the book “Drive-in theaters A History from their inception in 1933(Kerry Segrave).
There is footage of Camden Drive-in on Youtube(drive-in blues, towards the end). I think a little of the footage was used on a episode of American Pickers, and a still picture/photo as well(i forget which episode?).
1933 diagram added, via The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit Facebook page.
85th anniversary tomorrow, June 6th 1933.
Happy 85th!!! When did it close and what became of it?
Article:
World’s first Drive in theatre opening Tue, Jun 6, 1933 – 15 · Courier-Post (Camden, Camden, New Jersey, United States of America) · Newspapers.com
Some interesting contemporary details from F. H. Richardson, writing in the Motion Picture Herald’s June 8, 1935 issue. He had been meeting with Larry Ruch, manager of the Liberty theater in Camden.
“Ruch then escorted me to the location, just outside the city, of the Drive-In theater, which accommodates 430 autos on seven ramps. R. H. Smythe is manager. The screen image is 50 feet wide. The projection distance is 178 feet. The projection room is partly sunken, lens and observation port bottoms about even with ground level. The projection angle is upward, of course. Projection room is equipped with Simplex projectors, Hall and Connolly H. I. lamps and RCA sound. This theatre was opening that night for its third season. It has made more than expenses, though financially I was advised it was no world-beater.”
Opened 90 years ago today.
It didn’t last very long it seems. A 1940 aerial shows it to be demolished. The outline and ramps are present, but there is no screen or projector booth.