On June 6, 1933, New Jersey businessman Richard M. Hollingshead opened the very first drive-in movie theater in the country. Located in his hometown of Camden, the first feature film screened was the comedy \u201cWives Beware\u201d<\/i>starring actor Adolphe Menjou.<\/p>\n
As the years passed, drive-in theaters became a popular dating option among teens, and young parents seized the opportunity to enjoy a night out with their young children in tow. The 1950s and 1960s saw the option flourish.<\/p>\n
Apparently, the charm of watching a first-run movie while seated in the privacy of one\u2019s own vehicle is still attractive given the fact that Dutchess County has long been home to drive-in theaters in Hyde Park and Poughkeepsie. In May, a new 125-vehicle capacity drive-in opened in Amenia, operated by the owners of Four Brothers restaurant.<\/p>\n
But longtime residents of the eastern Dutchess County town still recall attending screenings at an earlier drive-in that operated in the community, one that held the distinction of being \u201cthe smallest drive-in in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Named the Amenia Drive-In Theater, it opened on Sept. 10, 1965, and was owned by Bynon and Frances Kipp. It was located along Route 44 behind an auto body shop, about a half-mile west of the Amenia traffic signal.<\/p>\n
The capacity of the Kipps\u2019 theater was 44 cars. Unlike the high-tech signage that normally identifies a theater today, in Amenia a single light bulb illuminated a small cardboard sign with hand lettering that usually read \u201cMovie Tonight \u2014 8 PM,\u201d along with that evening\u2019s feature film. The sign was fastened to a suspended rope with clothespins.<\/p>\n
Rather than showing all the latest films, the venue focused on more vintage and\/or B-movies. Knowing that the screen could be seen by passers-by on Route 44, the Kipps favored family-oriented motion pictures so as not to offend anyone.<\/p>\n
Upon entering the quarter-acre plot of land that boasted a single 16-foot-by-32-foot plywood movie screen, cars made their way past a combination projection booth\/snack shack. The Kipps\u2019 daughter, niece and nephew served snack shack patrons with fresh popcorn, soda and a variety of candy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a machine that cooked hot dogs with electricity,\u201d recalled nephew Calvin Hotaling. \u201cYou\u2019d put a positive or negative thong into either side of the hot dog, close the lid and they were done in about a minute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had an electric taste to them but everybody loved them,\u201d Hotaling said.<\/p>\n
Frances Kipp greeted each vehicle, counting the number of people occupying it and collecting fees. During the late 1970s, the cost to attend the drive-in for a family of four would be $4; $1 for the vehicle and seventy-five cents for each of its occupants.<\/p>\n
Bynon Kipp manned the projection booth. A longtime employee of the Wassaic Development Center, Kipp also through the years managed nearby movie houses and if one shut down he would purchase its equipment. He amassed a supply of projectors, sound equipment and even old but usable popcorn machines before deciding to open his own operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBynon Kipp even put an old clunker car on the drive-in grounds so that if anyone in town wanted to walk down to see a motion picture they could just sit in the empty vehicle,\u201d said Ann Linden, archives manager for the Amenia Historical Society.<\/p>\n
Dover\u2019s Tony Robert lived about a mile from the drive-in and he and his friends often took advantage of the stationary car option.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d walk down, pay our admission fee and sit in the old car on the grounds,\u201d Robert recalled. \u201cEvery time I went to the drive-in there were four or five kids sitting in that car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat drive-in theater was a staple of Amenia and there were nights that the place was packed,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n
The Kipps\u2019 drive-in theater closed in 1983 around the time VHS tapes became popular but Amenia retains its stature as having once been home to \u201cthe world\u2019s smallest drive-in.\u201d