European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 26, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New York times he drive in theater that passion pit of teen age Romance and the cheap night out for parents who could not afford a Babysitter was once heralded As the salvation of a movie Industry under siege by , the movie houses Are doing much better and it is the drive in that is in need of  and John Ford could t have timed it better the technology that might save them has arrived bring ing not Only better sound systems but also screens that show two pictures at once. The suburban sprawl of the 1950s gave drive ins their greatest boost but by the 1960s the land was More profitably put to other uses and hundreds of drive ins Nave dosed in the last two decades victims of that same sub Urban sprawl. In Hartford conn., for example the 2,000 parking spaces of the Meadows drive in once the largest in Connecticut now accommodate the cars of Jai Alai patrons the screen sits on the front Lawn of a new Post office. Business was t real bad but the property was just so valuable said Jack Mitchell vice president and Genera manager of the women co theater Chain in Miami which has sold three of its six drive ins since january. Other theater owners and theater Chain executives across the nation agreed that the Price of land and changes in zoning Laws were principal causes Tor the drive in s decline. From Only 820 in 1948 drive ins reached a Peak of More than 4,000 in 1958, but the number has dropped again to just Over 3,000. Meanwhile indoor Heaters which had dwindled from nearly 18,000 in 1948 to less than half that figure in 1967, have recovered somewhat As so called multiplex Cine Mas those with two or More separate Heaters have become a fixture in suburban shopping mails across the nation. In 1976 there were 12,562 indoor screens in 9,504 build Ings according to estimates by the motion picture association of America and the census Bureau. Drive ins too have gone into the multiplex bad Ness and that has helped them hold their own indecent Yean especially in the Midwest and South West where business was always better anyway be came warmer climates permitted year round or a least longer operation. In fact the number of drive ins has increased in the last decade in such places As Kansas City and Bois Idaho. And in Texas where More than 100 drive Iro have dosed in the last decade Al Reynolds president of the National association of theatre owners of Texas believes that outdoor Heaters Are on the verge of a  it he is right the reason May Well be the multiple screens and other technological advances that Richard m. Hollingshead jr., the chemicals manufacturer who opened the first commercial drive in in Camden. N.j., on june 1.1933, might have regarded with Awe. The sound for Hollingshead s 10-acre establishment radio sound is replacing drive in car speakers such c was transmitted by loudspeakers above the 40-Footscreen. Those speakers gave Way to Bulky receivers attached by wire to posts and lifted from the posts to Hook on to a car s window. That kind of sound system still predominates in most drive ins and motorists still on occasion forget to unhook the speakers before driving away. But to such innovators As Pacific Heaters the largest drive in Chain in the United states with 250 locations in California and the Southwest they in i fins on automobiles. The trend now is to Small wire is attached to the and the moviegoer simply Tan times to a special frequency. The sound is substantial. And there is the added Benefit of betas to 1 Poge 14 the stars and stripes Mumm Mumm no need to leave your ear in this Garden Grove. Calif., Church