3'

ChîcagQ'i äiarlilc Urnc-in, une ol nearly íí(«.i upcii-air ihcjiurs coruirucicd in tlic IJÍI icn ycitn, tidi }|Jdcc3 lur nearly •^•M carload» ul movic-gocn. Big Boom in Outdoor Movies

In spite of TV^, "ozone theaters" are having their biggest year ever, with chicken dinners, rock-and-roll music, and other lures for the whole family,

By Frank J. Taylor

n the up-or-down show business, the hot obligingly provides n parkinfr spot in front of box-office bonanza nowadays is a Cinder- the lofty screen, plus plcniy of fresh air, hot ella stepchild nf the motiun-piclurc in- dogs, pizza pies, pop and popcorn, alonj- wilh When us liiiic (ui J jj.ir<,ni> iii.xy pick up froh I diiipcis for llifir u ;it the iclixahmtni stand. dustry known in Hollywood's vernacular ns jumbo screen stars two or four sturics high. "the ozoncrs " Until recently, this stepchild Anybody wlm wearies of the evening's drama was haughtily ignored by movie tycoons; now ean siretch out and go lo sleep, Aboui half of Cinderella is being welcomed into the cinerii.T the piihuns, knowing they are going to sack il fold with open arms. This change of heart is before tiie show is over, come in their pajamas. justified; the once-despised orphan now brings "Stand by the exit gate and peek into the home almost one fourihofHollywood'sincome, cars as they leave a drive-in movie," suggc-sicd sufficient to be ihe difference belwecii profit stocky, exuberant Robert L. Lippurl, de.ui cf and IQ». open-air eineiiia enterprisers, whose eliain of As might be suspected, an "ozoncr" is one iwcnty-three ozuneri stretches from Southern of those weird-looking open-air drive-in movies Oregon to ihe Caltfiirnin-Miwito burder. which stud the landscape outside American "You'll gel an eye-opener," rontinucd Lip- and Canadian cities, a phenomenon of the perl "In nine out of ten cars you'll see young raolor age found nowhere else on earth. In an children asleip un the back seat and on the ozoncr, the customen bring their own scats, flour, Thai's why the ozoners are going over those of the family car. The management big. The drive-in (Coninucd on I'agt- 100) This (ilayland at the limonium, Md., drivc-in helps keep ihc youngstci-s ainiucd until (tic movie sians. tüO

{Continiieil from Pci^e VS) on the news. tal I returned to my ullice. The column I "The public now wants action. And it had been found lying un Mulberry Street A Stack of papers and magazines and news wrote that day s;iid in part: looks like it will get it. Not only from the in the Lower East Side with a bullet m hii releases were read lo me. Soon I was ready "It's gcod lo be buck ¡it the uld type- police, the special grand juries across the head, early on Saturday morning, July 10 go back to the olTictf. 1 asked for my writer nnd on ihe uld beat, I sal down ut nation and the FBI but from u slowly 28th. portable typewriter. I hit a fistful of keys my old desk for the first time, fondled the stirring Señalo and House." fr But the struggle against mob arrogan« and wept for my awkwardness. But Ihcn old threshing machine of a typewriter, This was a strong prediction, And it is not over. There's a batttc lo win. I hope I went through the a-\-J-f-g routine, the bumped into a few desks and made cer- came true, in my case, on August 17, it's won—as I've won my personal strug- touch-typing system I'd been taught in tain m> Stan" had nut hidden my o!ü pipes. 1956, when the FBI arrested Joseph Car- gle. No more do I feel thai being one of high school. "The nighimare of tlic black-haired, linu and Gondolfo Miranii in New York the nation's 360.000 blind citizens is freak- After a bit of practice, 1 wrote, "Now acid-throwing goon is hislorj. The point City. Tediously gathered evidence showed ish. I'm writing and covering the news as is the time for ¡ill good men to come to now is lo keep the nulion, its police, its that they and a third man. Abraham 1 always have. the aid of ihemsclves without feeling political leaders and the public from fur- Telvi, had conspired to keep me from 1 wish I could see. Of cout^ I cIo, It's sorry for ihemselves." geiling the arrogant thumbing of the testifying before a grand jury al Ihe re- sort of inconvenient not to sec. But all Then I knocked uut a laid to the col- mnhs' iioseal all uf us. For all the weeks quest of Federal District Attorney Paul you wondcrlul people out there would umn, not a good one, but still a leiid— during which they washed the acid out of Williams. Il was Tclvi, the trigger man, be surprised how easy it is to be with without typographical errors, I was back my eyes I've been itching to get biick into who threw the acid at me, Telvi was not you. in stride. Four days after I left the hospi- ihis light. arrested with the two others because he Thet^ arc no tears iti my eyes.

ie Boom in Outdoor Movies (Continuedrrom

movie is the answer to the siticr problem, is "ihc neighborhood mo\ie for four was in Ihe book and what wasn't, resorted worth of live talent—bands, crooners, and to the duwntown parking problem. hundred square miles." Canada has 221 lo gimmicks to lure patrons that are dancers and acrobats—for the last week- It's Ihe answer tu the > úung family's night drive-in movies, a number of them all- rated as downright unethical by veteran end in May. Dramatizing the weather oui. It's the neighborhood theater of the year-'round operations, despite the cold mution-pieiLire exhibitors. Several Texas gamble, which is the drive-in operator's future." winters. Scores ofopcn-air movies in the drive-ins, for example, operate laundries nightmare, the heavens cut loose with the The enthusiasm liashing from Bob northern states stay open through the as a side line. The housewife, who might most torrential downpour Chicago had Lippen's black eyes is understandable. winter. In some the owners provide small otherwise be spending the evening at seen in years. Bui Kohlbcrg's troupers He is one of the fortunate pioneers who electric healers fur patrons' cam; olher home with the washing machine, drops went on with the show, the crooners do- bet on ozone cinema when the well-heeled operators give each car owner a gallon her washing at the gate as the family ing their best in the deluge that made operators of "the hiirdlops." as Holly- of gas lo keep the molor idling and run enters the drive-in, and picks it up freshly them sound as though they were singitig wood lemns the cunventional four-w:ilh- the car heater. laundered as she leaves—for a small con- under water, And, pointing up the devo- and-a-roof movie houses, were laughing A surpriçe angle to the mushroom sideration, of course. Some drive-ins tion of drive-in fans for their favorite olT Ihe early and primitive drive-ins as a growth of tlie drive-ins is ihat nearly all amusement, more than 1000 customers oiïer warmed milk lor babies, and fresh turned out, in the face of storm warnings, passing Tad. of them were hunched by comparative diapers, if their infant patrons forget lo amaieurs in the motion-picture enterlain- to watch the show through moaning "Movie people thought 1 was abso- bring along a spare pair of pants. Olhers windshield wipers. lutely crazy when I went around talking ment field. While professional showmen maintain nurseries and playgrounds for the butcher, the baker, and anybody kept on building hardtups, landowners, small frj\ driving ranges for bored dads, Kohlberg, who went broke operating who'd listen into putting a few dollars in merchants, real estaiers, barbers, even open-airdancc floors for teen-agers. Some hardtops just before the war, managed to those early drive-ins," recalled Lippen, farmers, with shoestrings for backers, offer "spook" programs, four shows last- reassemble a small nest egg by working in who did just that to raise capital for his converted Cùw pastures into upen-air ing from midnight to dawn! a Chicago war plant. While hc labored, lîrst ozoner in Sacramento, opened a cinemas. One of ihe mos) lucrative "The hottest lirecracker in Ihe drive-in- Kuhlberg brooded about his lot and that dozen years back. Its lofty flapping canvas chains, around Washington, D.C, eight thcater business," to quote an admiring uf his fellow workers and dreamed of a screen made the movie lovers look drive-ins valued at LIVLT SI,000,000. is film distributor, is Stanford Kuhlberg, a new kind of amusement for the average pretty grotesque when the wind blew: owned by two enterprising Air Force family. majors, Walt Saundcrs and Bob Johnson, short, round, swarthy character with in- But by what Lippcrt calls "the trial and who started iheir first ozoner in 1949 with tense blue eyes, who of>erates ihe Siarliic "1 learned what it was to work all day error system," he solved the screen prob- a hhocbiring of S2000. A Long Island Drive-In Theater on Highway U.S. 20, at a greasy machine job, doing the same lem, and other problems as well, and merchant. Sol Lerner, was able to build southwest of Chicago, which is n baitlc- thing over and over," said Kohlberg. "I moved up and down California's Central up a chain of seven drive-ins, which hc ground of the ozoners. Kohlbcrg, who was frantic for relaxation. 1 know what it Valley, persuading other businessmen to sold to Ihe professionals fur over S2,000.- hails from an old Omaha vaudeville fam- is for the man with four or live kids 10 risk dollars in additional open-air cine- 000, "Now Lerner spends his time chang- ily, has tried so many comc-ons to lure hiive to dig inlo his pocket for an evening mas—four in Fresno, twu in Modesto, ing suits," explains an envious neighbor. customers that he is rated as unfair com- out, I thoughi, if a father and mother and until the chain of iwenly-three extended petition hy his more conscrvaiive rivals. ail the kid.s could go to one place and from El Centro, near the Mexican bor- A Int of Ihese amateur amusement To kick utT the 1956 summer season, have a good time together, that would be der, to Medford. in Soulhern Oregon. entrepreneurs, who did not knuw what fur instance, Kohlbcrg lined up S20.000 the greatest thing in the world." Those who bet with Lippen un his ozon- Cogitating this idea put Kohlberg into ers shared the jack pol along with him. the drivc-in movie business. He found By 1956, Box Office, the trade magazine "angels" in Iwo Chicago businessmen that styles itself "the pulse of the motion- wilhng to bet on his ideas. They helped picture industry," reported that there were him buy eighly-seven acre« near the more than 5000 of the drive-in movies suburb of Oak Lawn, "that babyland in the United Slates and Canada. Last of Illinois," as Kohlberg describes ii. year, when only a dozen or so ntw con- Eight years ago, he opened up with a ventional theaters were opened in the en- 1200-car drive-in, since enlarged to ac- tire country, 389 new drive-ins were commodate 1875 cars, plus \QfíO seats for launched at a cost of 579,880.000 accord- walk-in patrons. In 1953, Kohlberg d^ ing to the Box Office survey. The pulse cided to stay open all winter, and hasn't of the drive-ins is beating young and closed seasonally since. strong; that of many of Ihe 13,000 older, Though rival outdoor movie operaton conventional theaters is flickering. As the insisted that Stan Kohlberg was plumb older picture houses arc abandoned. Tew dafTy to try to keep his drive-in open all are being replaced, because it costs S5tH) winter, there were enough outdoor movie per scat tu replace them, and unly half fans "as crazy as Kohlberg" who turned that much to provide space for the bring- out night after night, to huddle snugly in your-own-scau of the drive-in movie their cars with motors idling to keep patrons, who. incidentally, spend as much healers functioning, to make all-year for food and soft drinks at ihe cuneesiiion operation worth while. Nobody objected stand as they do for entrance tickets. As a to the borealis around the screen pictures magnet for collecting nickels, dimes, projected through raindrops and snow- quarters, and even dollars, the ozoner flakes. Nobody minded the cold winds ranks with Coney Island. off Lake Michigan. A couple of nights, sleet had cul down the visibility to a point The boom in drive-ins is a nationwide where Kohlberg felt obligated lo issue phenomenon. Weather has little influence "fog checks" and advise paLrons to come on il. Illinois, for example, has 126 drive- back tomorrow. ins, about average for a populous state. Pennsylvania has 226, North Carolina "Noihing but ground fogs close us 274. more than California with 174. down," boasts Kohlberg, "When the air- Texas boasts 472, many of them mush- ports close down, we're closed down too." rooming out of the open prairie, midway Kohlbcrg has concentrated on Itires between three or four cities, where each thnt attract the customers in any kind of Septcn toi Are termites secretly attacking your home?

From their ground ncsU, Uny tsood-cat' fng Icrmitai iccrctiij cntrr tjnur limne throuf^h crackt ot joints iit foundüttim walU or ftoin shhi. tiooJ in iiintact nilh Ihc g^rmiiid, or thin tubes ihctj iniUtI oier undtntrucltirc mjtfwrU. No type of con- •-Termile tiructiuu potiilvcUj keeps ititl termite». nesi Call Termlnix for reliable Inspeetlon and guaranteed protection Hiddrn from sight. ILTIIUIIS tat aw.iy Sliuuld yiiiir liomc iieed termite pn> iiisidt- tiinljcrs .itid Other WIHHI until iiiily tcctinn, it will pay you to insi.st on the ;i flimsy shell rüniaiiis. 'llicir diima^t* is sd(.'ntific ser\iee of your local Termini* costly Io repair became it tiïiiially st.irts comp.my. Their contract w-ilh you is under ilrs and spiL-ads inside walls. gu.ir.tnt(.t.d liy E, L. Bruce Co., insured ".•\in I hunic?" Only a traiiH_-(l, expL-rit'iicod inspL-ctur l»y Sun liisiuaiiCL* Olîîcf, Ltd. kiKikvs wlicrc and hnw ID Imik- lur llie L*Mik ill yimr classified phone book for well hiddi'n siipis of termile infest^ition. BHtCE-TEHMINIX SERVICE under weather. Admii^sion for adults is SI.2S; In the Starlite Drive-In. Kohlberg can Terminix, world's I.irgcst in tirmitc con- 'Termite Conlrol" (or under "Exter- youngsters under t\«lve. as many as can accommodate more palrons ihan Chi- trol, (îiïrrs ll ttiorniipll Íiis[)i'ctiiiri n[ yirnr minating" ). For ffrss cop/ of 'Tcnnitcs be packed in a car. are free, and each gels cago's largest downlown ihcatcr. Scvcrjl property tliat will reve.il wlicthtr or not ill Yuur ÍIomi-'?"wTÍtí-TerminÜC Division, a door prize. The SI.25 pa>s for ihe of his compclitors whose dnvc-ins ring )'uu have a termite pmlileiii. E. L, Br\icf Co.. Memphis 1, Tcnn. movie, for dancing under Ihe slars to Chicago can do ihc same. The tssaness music from name bands, ll includes free chain, which opéralos eleven hardlops an TERMITES? milk for babi» and free diapers if young \^cll as four o/oncrs. has about tliL* same mothers forget them, Kohlberg has a capacity in its largest drivc-m, the Harkm Kiddicland for >oung5ters too smalt lobe Avenue Outdoor. Another, the nuw Bel- call TERMINIX iniereslcd in cinema drama. He hus a Air, which turned an unsightly old city miniature golf course and driving range dump on Cicero Awnuc inlo u plush World's laryeat in termite control for anyone in the family not interested in drivo-in, has parking spjcc for 25ÜOcjni Ask about f he lo\XM:OJt Tetnxinit Protecttorx Plan for Icrmltc-frec homct. the picture. Three concession buildings plus 1000 seats for cuslomer^ who park purvey soft or hot drink.i. pizza piei. hot outside and walk in. The M. & R. chain, dogs, hamburgers at popular prices. For which built the Bel-Air, also runs the one dollar Kohlborg sells his patrons a Double Dnve-ln. with Iv^o movies show- chicken dinner. One of his more brilliant ing at the same time on opposite sides of ideas is the "Siarlile Happiness Book," ihc huge miilal scretrn. Ralph Smilha, good for uve or ten or fifteen dollars' numagcr of Essaness, once iried a four- north of entertainment and food, sold on screen dnve-in, which wasn'i a success, credit loany holderof a deparmienl-store Smilha slill considers ihc four-scrcener a for Af Mete's Foot! or oil-company credit card. Kohlberg great idea, even if the movie-goers didn't bills his charge accounts ut the end of go for it. thirty days. "The drive-in attracts brand-nevs movie "Parents know iheir youngsters won't patrons." says Smitha. "Young families ^^ind up in a beer hall," says Kohlberg. wilh children, young people with aged OCTOFEN "Wilh a Happiness Book a youih brings parcnis, ptiople with dogs Ihey won't Rapid clinical elearing of cMremely stubborn leave al home, teen-agers, and college his girl to the Surliie. where we don'i sell cases proves OCTOFEN moit reliable and quick. THE ONir FOOT any alcoholic drinks. We even hu\e at- kids. You have to be where the customers FUNGICIDE TO EARN tendants in Ihc rc^t rooms to sec ihal no- can drive lo your ihcLiier easily." Under laborniory eonditions, kills the fungi on 2 minutes conlacl. Yd non-causlic or irri- THIS ENDORSEMENT body spikes Ihc sofi drinks. The drive-in Smilha and mosl drive-in operators tating (except in unusual cases of allergic re- is Ihe answer lo ihc problem of whole- don'i like to be close to shopping centers For prolessional foot care, con- act ton I Be safe, gel ihc heM-ihe preparation some amusement forieen-agcrs, I know, or race Iracks on accouni of inillic con- suli your chiropodist or podiatrist. because I have seven girls and Iwo boys, thai specialists i-ndorsc! üCTOFtN, ;it your ge%lion. They Iry "^ locate on a major a Product of ranging fromcollegcagcio I hrce months." highway inlo a cily, because on hoi sum- druysiore: 4 I1uid-oz., S3 Not cheap, hut well This is a fur cr> from ihe early-day mer nighis many apart men i-hou se dwell- worth Ihe relief and protection }ou get I McKESSONtROBBINS drive-ins, which were labeled "pasMon ers like to drive oui lo ihe counlry for pits" hy ihcir hardiop competitors, be- fresh air, jusl as young mothers yearn to cause sin and cinema were though! to be escape the house for an evening. inseparable wilhin the confines of dark- "People like IO eocui withoui dressing ened aulomobiles. In ihe province of up." sa>s Smilha. "The> can go to a Quebec, Canada, drive-ins ure slill laboo, drive-in in any kind of clolhcs." largely because ihe Calholic Church has The drive-in operators prefer not lo be not yet lifted an early ban on them. But too near to roadside taverns or "clubs" elsewhere in Canada and all o\er ihe that attract rowdies. Most drive-ins are United Slates, the pa«ion-pii problem now striclly chaperoned. Some work seems lo have resolved iisclf. The bulk closely with churches and schools, offer- when you want GUMMED REINFORCEMENTS, of Ihe patrons are young couples with ing Iheir facilities free for Easier sunrise ehildren. to whom ihe drive-in is an op- services and for outdoor civic gather- STARS and INDEX TABS ponunily lo spend an evening out wiih- ings. oul investing in either a siiter or a park- ing space. The roughs, «ho apparently Once he has his acreage, the drive-in don'i approve of the company of young proprietor, often a syndicate of l(x:al in- parenU with kids sleeping In ihc back vestors, layj it out. cljmihcll shape, with DDflFITQI ^"" enjoy f\tro profiti» this Tull by seal, have gone elsewhere. To discourage a screen and office where ihe clamshells I l\Uri lO* jiiiniiijiiin K nur ütníT nT indi'pfiiilcnt reprc- wouldh(K)k together. The rampsare graded Ihr tnliln-.H IM'IOIV, und y«u v*il| rcvcive the rowdy element and the liquor drink- in curves facing the «roen, undtr which II |m-lul ers, the larger ozoners have special conipl.lc dftitil» nliitiit imr r. No ohli(tHlinn. officers, with flushlighls. patrolling ihe the office i^ usually located. It lakes mile* of iinitcrground wiring lo connect Ihe in- CURTIS CIRCULATION COMPANY. 818 IndepcndcncB Squarfl, Plitladalphia 5, Penni. rampi. ear speaker», located on posts between loa o ti cars. The posts also house the outlets into ramps thut elevated the windshields of his tainment business, the operators have timorr. The whopper of all dnvc-ms, which are plugged the small electric customers' curs towurd the screen, Tlte prided themselves on their landscaping 300&r neighbors—along with ticularly in New Jersey and New York with a capacity of 1000 cars or concession building, which also houses another question, namely, how to design and other nonhcm slates, have invested eluding scseral ihar can accomr the projectors and the toilet facilities. a long-throw projector that wouldn't sizable sums of money on landscaping, on more than 2000 ears. The latter ha\ The combination cafeteria-soda fountatn- bum out aflcr a few nights' operation. the theory that it is in the daytime Ihut greater seating capacity lhan Radio i Also, how lo keep the projector cool, so Mrs. Housewife decides whether or not Music Hall, the country's largest fotir- eandy counter is an all-important pan of that it wouldn't damage the film which she would like to go to the movies, and wall motion-picture palace. the drive-in, because the sale of food, hot the exchanges wtre reluctant to rent to which one she would like to see that and cold drinks, and candy accounts for a dri%e-ins on account of the heat generated night. big bite of the drive-in's take. Many in the long-throw projectors. iliver since the drive-ins began to (lo drive-in operators figure they can offer to In recent years, many of (he larger ish. Hollyuood's most agile minds I run the movie on a bare bnrak-even basis After many cxpcrimenis. the RCA men drive-ins have merged into chains. Scores been trying to figure out what t and make their profit from food, candy solved all three problems and found of independent owners have turned iheir cinema appeals most lo outdoor and drink sales. Some early drive-ins themselves in the lucrative business of drive-ins over to chains to operate. The fans. The answer seems to be aetio]^ employed car hops to peddle food and outfitting new drive-ins, a side line that giant among the chains is Pacific-Drive-ln turcs in color. Color is all-important, I drink. Now they run teasers on the screen, has grown into an importunt division. Theaters, which has 38 major outdoor cause color pictures can be seen distic urging the patrons to come and got it, The next speakers were located in pits, cinemas in and uround Los Angeles, on the screen half an hour earlier cafeteria style. They sell more over the but the accumulated volume of the hun- which is the drive-in hotbed of the coun- black and white, "Critic pictures dc counter, and sell fast. dreds of small speakers was almost as bad try. Paciflc-Drive-In is unique in unolher pull in drive-in customers," one oi: as one big blast. Then the designers hit respect: it was bought by four veteran explained. "Drive-in movie fans In the larger 2000-car drive-ins, the Hollj'wood movie tycoons who sensed the rear ramps arc one fifth of a mile from the on speakers which attendants hung on westerns, or any picture with action I bumpers, so that voices and music came phenomenal potential of the outdoor fits into the holiday mood." screens, about as far as a picture can be booming up through the autos' hoods. eincma in time to capture the lion's share seen without becoming fuzzy. The view That was pretty sepulchral, so RCA of the good sites for super drive-ins in the About the only problem that driv from the last row is better, however, than evolved a small, light, in-car speaker, area. This has given Paeific an advantage operators haven't been able to thai from the front row. dominated by a which hung from a post between parked enjoyed by drive-ins of no other area. ground fog. When a pea-soup fog setU towering screen on which giant players as cars. All a customer has to do is reach Because of its mass coverage. Pacific can it means thai, like the airlines, the i tall a.s a Ihree-slcry house make love in out, pull in a speaker, and hang it inside outbid the hardtops for first runs of big ins are fogged out. No matter how ] soft, toned-down in-car speaker whispers. his car window and lum the volume high pictures, and frequently does so. Often ful the projector, the picture never gett] In Texas, some dnvc-ins have a rail be- or low, as he likes it. While they were at half a dozen of Pacific's drive-ins will kick the screen. When the fog sweeps in, hind Ihe back ramp, where horws can be it, the RCA engineers designed translu- off a premiere simultaneously wilh two or drive-in managers get out the teihercd or where riders can watch the cent lights, enabling the customers to see three of the downtown Los Angeles and checks." good for admission some i pictures from saddles and their mounts where they were driving wiih the head- Hollywood movie palaces. evening. ean obser\e how the pampered nags of lights otr. Now, oulside your car, a Solving Ihe winter problem, ac HollywcKMJ cam their hay. These "gallop- drive-in is us quiet and eerie us a moonlit Whether or not this is worth while, ex- to operators who have kept open all ; ins" have become so popular that a few graveyard. cept to prove that dri\e-ins arc no longer is partly a mailer of healers, partly i northern operators huve borrowed the the orphans of the movie industry, is a cation. As summer draws to a close, ' idea. Originator Holling.shcad sold his patent moot question. First-run pictures are year-around operators in the colder or The drive-in boom is definitely a post- to Smilh, who founded an early Eastem rented by the exchanges on a bid basis begin flashing pep talks on the screen, r^ war phenomenon. In the pasi deeade the drive-in chain, and licensed other pio- whieh may give the distributor up to 70 minding the customers that it is a lot number of drive-ins has leaped from 500 neers, one lo a city, to use Ihe ramp idea. per cent of the gate take, plus a fiat mini- more comfortable in u warm car in a to almost 5000. During that time, Ihc Smith happily collected royalties for a mum guarantee, leaving the drivc-in oper- drive-in than in a football stadium or on price tag on a lOOO-car ozoner increased, spell. The income was short-lived, how- ator less than a third. If he wails for a a golf course, and appealing to Ibclr ever, because other promoters, eager to second run, Ihe operator muy keep up to phdc. One of these come-ons used by the depending on the cost of fifieen to fifty two-thirds of the gate, the distributor one- acres of pasture on a major highway near cul themselves in on the drivc-in bonanza, Garden Autotorium Drive-In of Ledß^ contended ihal liltle humps of ground Ihird. Outside Southem Cahfornia, drivc- a center of population, from S50,000 to in operators have taken the attitude that wood. New Jersey, goes: could not be patented. The argument "Good evening, friends. It is certainly S500,000. The drive-in operators, most of went to court in a dozen infringement they don't need first-run pictures lo lili them enterpriwrrs easing their way into a suits in JS many stales. When a Boston their ramps; second-runs will do just as nice to know that we have so many win- fantastic new business, have accumulated court ruled ihat the ramps were just so well, because families are coming out for tertime drive-in fans with us this evening. a lot of lore on the habiis of their pa- much, landscape architecture and not an evening anj'way. so why not wuit for a You hardy folks may be interested lo trons. patentable, the suits were thrown oui of better break on the take? know that the temperature is now iwent)- Instead of improvising, as the drive-in court ever>T*hcrc, and the drive-in idea five degrees. We have always been of Ihe pioneers had to do, operators now can was anybody's, A rush of drive-in build- In the East and Midwesl, the drive-in opinion that real dhve-in patrons would order their drive-in complete, except for ing broke out all over the country. chains have spread risks, weatherw»c attend during the winter, just as theyl land and ramps, from the Radio Corpora- especially, by scattering ihcir operations bundle up to go to a football game or ice' tion of America, which has come by a While the tall-talking Texans can boast over large areas. The Loew chain oper- skaiing. Here you have the advantage of major stake in the business more or less that Ihey have the most dnve-ins, the ates twenty-six drive-ins extending from the warm shelter of your oun car. Why by accident. RCA makes the bulk of the Califomians and the Florid tans have Connecticut to Florida. Smith Manage- not tell your neighbors about our winter projectors, speakers, and even screens for been able to claim the poshast ozonerï, ment Company of Boston has drive-ins policy? They may think the driw-in the new open-air theaters. Another source at least until recently. In Southem Cali- throughout New England and the Middle theater is available lo them only duiinj is National Theater Supply. RCA even fornia, where dependable weather makes Atlantic states and the Midwest, includ- the warm weather. The fact that you are offers a drive-in package deal, including drive-in cinemas an all-year-around enter- ing the 260&carTimonium, outside Dal- here this evening proves that there art financing, to good prospects who have thousands of movie goers who would at- fifteen or more acres on a highway near tend, but think drive-ins operate only a population center. from spring to fall. Pass along the good news that we will be here all winler, Ihis makes a nice chunk of busineiis. bringing you top entertainment." An uverage modem IOOO UTuaiiAV ivuiiiio rvat THE ÍHD