I have just finished the editorial for my drive-in page. It discusses the reasons why drive-ins closed and are opening again and arguably takes an original look at the reasons why. You may or may not agree but I hope you enjoy it.

You may look at the editorial here.

I am reproducing it below but I think it is better read at the site as the photos I have added add a certain atmosphere. Do you agree or not with my reasoning?

cheers Peter

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Often, when I tell my friends that I went to the drive-in theatre on the weekend, they give me a strange look and
say 'oh... I thought all the drive-ins were closed...?'

Hello and welcome to my editorial.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the vast majority of Australian drive-in theatres closed. Why was this so? Many reasons
have been put forward eg land prices, the introduction of the video cassette recorders etc, but different people have
different views on this issue.

My own view is a little more complicated. Firstly, one needs to appreciate that there are two categories of
entertainment namely public and private. By public I mean going to a cinema or drive-in theatre where one watches
a film with other people from the same district. By private I mean watching a film in one's home.

Private entertainment is

- convenient
- cheap (tv)
- offers greater choice (videos, dvds)
- and offers privacy

Public entertainment on the other hand

- offers one the opportunity to meet other people
- is convenient in that someone else can do the cooking
- offers that 'night out' experience
- offers a different style of presentation to that which one is generally used to
- can offer a degree of privacy (eg drive-ins)

Needless to say, the above evidences that there is, and will always be, a place for both style of entertainment.
People have an innate need to socialise with other people. When people argue that tv, the vcr or some other form of
private entertainment killed off the drive-in, they are quite incorrect. Yes, these forms of entertainment did offer
other choices for those seeking entertainment but at the same time it must be recognised that they could not meet
the innate need of people to feel part of a group or of the society in which they live.

In fact I would argue that in some ways the vcr probably saved the drive-in. The first major factor that caused the
downturn in drive-in attendances was the reputation that they gained as 'passion pits' or seedy places to watch R
rated movies. When drive-in theatres first opened they were marketed to families and the films screened catered to
this market. However as time went on, drive-in theatres began to market themselves to teenagers or young men
using either second rate product targeted at teenagers or R-rated soft porn films. Naturally the effect of this was
that the family market was lost to other forms of entertainment.

However with introduction of the vcr people found that they could watch first rate material or R-rated material at
home for relatively cheap cost. This effectively killed off most of the market the drive-ins had been aiming at.

At the same time another factor was land prices. The cheap land on the outskirts of town that the drive-in was built
on had become very valuable. One could not blame drive-in owners for closing their cinemas and taking advantage
of the significant capital gains on offer. Far greater profits could be realised by selling the drive-in and investing the
money elsewhere. In many cases it was not that the drive-in was not making good profits - it was just that far
greater profits could be made by closing the drive-in and selling the land.

Also at the same time, the introduction of cineplexes provided theatre owners with an alternate, more capital
efficient way of exhibiting film product. The new theatres also provide a wider choice of movies for patrons to
choose from.

So in the middle of the 1990s one could be forgive for thinking that the drive-in theatre was doomed. But not so.
What had been overlooked by all was that the drive-in theatre has a number of unique advantages:

- One can watch a movie with young children and/or babies in the car
- It offers a unique style of entertainment for a generation looking for something different
- It still offers the biggest screen in town
- Watching films outdoors is fun!
- There is a nostalgia angle
- If you don't like the film you really can slash the seats!

It should come as no surprise then that the wheel is turning full circle. In the early noughties, Drive-ins are
re-opening, being refurbished and/or having extra screens added. The reason is that now having shaken off their
'passion pit' reputation, drive-ins are once more being marketed to families and in particular, families with young
children. First rate product is being offered along with extra screens in many cases to give patrons more choice.
Finally many drive-ins now let kids under 12 in for free thus making the drive-in theatre experience a lot more
affordable for struggling families.

For me the drive-in has always been a special place. When I was quite young, our family would be bundled into the
family car and off we would go to the Glenway drive-in in Balga. Imagine how it feels to be a child going to the
drive-in. To a young child the drive-in is a special place not far from home with a huge screen that towers over the
cars that face it. The family is all together and every time the family goes there the child gets to eat lots of tasty
food and drink that the child would not normally eat at home. Then there are the bright neon lights of the theatre as
well as the family movie that the child sees on the big screen. The theatre is more than just a car park and a screen
- it is a magical place that the family visits occasionally at night with a large screen that is is animated and brought
to life. To a young child it truly is magic.

It's now 30 years on and I still think its magic.

Copyright Peter Berrett
28 September 2002

I'll offer some of my own. Actually, what I've posted below has been taken from various news articles and stories found either on the net or in newspapers within the last several years. I compiled it in this arrangement earlier in the year when I was working with (or against) the local zoning appeals board.

The Drive-In Theatre Industry

Across the country, drive-in theatres are experiencing a resurgence in popularity to patrons of all ages. In the 1990’s – 10 new theatres were built and more than 45 abandoned sites have been re-opened – two of those sites in the state of Tennessee. Because of their nostalgic appeal, drive-ins offer a refreshingly unique alternative to Cineplex’s and other forms of today's commercialized entertainment. Drive-ins appeal to young and old alike — especially families — all looking for good value for their entertainment dollar. The people attending drive-ins today are the same ones who went as kids in the '50s and '60s, and eventually their kids will go too. It's still an entertaining, wholesome night out for a family. And with ticket prices averaging about $6, with young kids usually discounted or free, it's also an inexpensive night out.

Drive- In History
In June 1933, auto-parts salesman Richard Hollingshead, looking for a way to bring more customers to his business, opened the world's first drive-in in Camden, New Jersey. He described his newest business venture as a place for the whole family, "regardless of how noisy the children are." Admission was 25 cents or $1 per family. More than 600 motorists attended the opening night showing of the comedy Wife Beware, according to one newspaper account, and less than a year later a second outdoor theater—Shankweiler's Auto Park in Orefield, Pa.—opened. Then the rest of America caught on.
Five years after the end of the Second World War, the number of outdoor theaters rose from 96 to more than 1,700. The 1949 grand opening of the 66 Drive-In on Route 66 in Carthage, Mo., beckoned audiences, "Come as you are," and in the late 1940s and early 50s, families flocked to the silver screen in Chevy’s and Fords for the chance to watch films under a canopy of stars.
Theaters offered in-car speakers, heaters, and concession carts that brought food directly to your car. Pajama-clad kids found playgrounds, petting zoos, and train rides. The new theaters revolutionized not only entertainment but also the culture of the car. "The drive-in theater was the ultimate automobile architecture," wrote Maggie Valentine in her book An Architectural History of the Movie Theatre. "Motorists no longer needed to leave their cars; the parking lot had replaced the building in importance [and] the cars themselves became the form, providing the shape, color, line, and structure of the space."

Since the mid- 1990’s Drive-In Theatres are slowly making a comeback. The PARK 60 Drive-In Theatre (Jamestown, NY) opened on May 18, 2001 to a sold out crowd. Dale and Belinda Eckman are new owners of the newly built twin screen drive-in, which is New York's second new build. The first, the VINTAGE, a three- screener owned by Paul Dean, opened in 1997 in Avon.

These two New York drive-ins are among a long list of re-opened and newly built drive-ins in the last decade. The new builds are of particular interest because they show that the industry is not dying. In the 1980s, industry representatives were stating there would never be another new drive-in built. The 1990’s and 2000’s have proved them wrong. New builds are in business in New York, Alabama, Texas, Wisconsin, Toronto, Canada, and Russia. Among the five new builds in Alabama is the SAND MOUNTAIN, a twin screen opened in 1996 by owner Terry Morrison. More re-openings and new builds are underway in the states of Tennessee, Maryland, Arizona and Texas. The industry is alive and well thanks to owners worldwide who continue to bring the magic of movies under the stars to the public.

Tennessee Drive-In Theatres
For patrons willing to take a ride, projectors flickering gigantic images into the night sky can be found in the middle Tennessee area in places such as The Broadway Drive-In in Dickson; the state’s oldest operating drive-in, the Hi-Way 50 Drive-In near Lewisburg; and the newly re-opened Sparta Drive-In Theatre on the outskirts of Sparta.
Scattered across the state from Bristol to Memphis, Tennessee drive-in theatres are all seeing new patrons seeking a more “family oriented” form of entertainment.

It is our intention that the Stardust Drive-In Theatre be considered a gathering place for the community as well as a first class Family Entertainment facility. It will be a place to meet the neighbors, a place for the whole family, from grandparents and grandkids to teenagers on a date, all sharing an outdoor experience and the excitement of being alone and part of the group at the same time. It’s romantic, but at the same time your part of something bigger than yourself – with a giant screen looming larger than life over everything.

During my work over the last several years of pulling together all of the information necessary to start the construction of our theatre, I came to the realization that the most economical use for a 15-20 acre parcel of commercially zoned land WAS NOT a drive-in theatre. Yes, the drive-in theatre can survive in these days of 27 screen multi-plex cinemas, but it only makes commercial since to build it in a rural area where it's likely that a multi-plex will never be built. The number of drive-in theatres will never reach over the 5,000 mark it once did in the late 1950's, but the ones that survive today are holding their own.

Drive-In patrons are a totally different type of moviegoer. Many are blue collar, lower to mid income, and are very frivolous with there entertainment dollars. Still they expect a "percieved value" for the entertainment dollars they do spend, and for them the drive-in theatre fits that niche well.

Family Economics:

What does it take to go to a dinner and a movie on an average Saturday night:

Going to the multi-plex at the Mall.
Dinner for two at a local resturaunt: $35.00
Tickets for two adults to the 9:00 p.m. show: $16.00
Coke and Popcorn for two: $11.00
Paying the babysitter to watch the kids for 5 hours: $40.00

Total price for dinner and the movie: $102.00

Same night, but at the drive-in:
Dinner for the whole family of 4 (2 adults + 4 yr old and a 2 yr old): $16.00 (1 burger, 1 chicken nugget dinner, 2 corndogs, fries, tater wedges, 3 drinks)
Tickets for two adults to the evenings first run double feature bill: $12.00 ($6.00 each - the kids get in free)
Biggest tub of Popcorn during intermission for the family: $3.75
No baby sitter: The kids fell asleep half way thru the first feature.

Total price for an entire night of family entertainment: $31.75

$102.00 - $31.75 = $70.25

As a father of two, husband of one, and sole bread winner for the entire family, the difference of $70.25 looks an awful lot like this months electric bill, half a weeks groceries, or two more weekends worth of entertainment for the family.

This is one reason why the drive-in can survive... if built and operated correctly in the right location.

Just my opinion........

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Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Lebanon, Tennessee