Full Moon Drive-In Cinema

New Jersey is the birthplace of the drive-in movie. Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr. opened his newly copyrighted drive-in theatre on June 6, 1933, in Pennsauken, NJ where he showed Wife Beware starring Adolphe Menjou. 

The first movie I remember seeing at a real drive-in was Lord Jim starring Peter O'Toole somewhere in Bergen County. My sister and brother and I slept in the back of my parents' Ford Country Squire station wagon while they watched the movie from the front seat of the car. It was not really a kids' movie but it must have been cheaper than a babysitter. 

The last movie I remember seeing at a real drive-in was Angels in The Outfield while vacationing in Wellfleet, MA on Cape Cod when my sons were young. We took our Volvo station wagon too, but we turned it around in the space like a tail gate party. The kids lay in sleeping bags watching the movie from the open tail gate and the parents sat beside them in lawn chairs. Even though my sons and my niece Jill wore their pajamas, they didn't fall asleep. I probably did though.

Unfortunately the last outdoor screen in NJ, the Route 35 Drive-In, closed in 1991. There were still places where we could watch movies out of doors in the summer like Bryant Park in NYC and La Grande Park in Scotch Plains, but they weren't technically drive-ins without the car. When I was Rear Commodore of Mantoloking Yacht Club, we would even bring deck chairs and watch them on a big screen in the clubhouse overlooking Barnegat Bay. Denise the Club Manager would provide popcorn and shaved ice and Barnegat Bay would provide the breezy air-conditioning. Open air to be sure, but not a drive-in.

Last night we joined other drive-in lovers under the full moon for Joburg's first ever Full Moon Drive-in Cinema. The pop-up drive-in was held in Mark's Park, a sporting field club downtown across from the Melville Koppies Nature Reserve. The evening was presented by Short and Sweet. a production company for short films. They promised an "eccentrically sentimental amalgamation of ground-breaking film making and nostalgic enchantment." And they delivered.


Showcasing eight hand-selected short films on the country’s largest inflatable screen, the evening featured every conceivable cinematic convenience including ushers, popcorn, gourmet refreshments and a full bar. (One of the sponsors was Hendrick's Gin.)

We brought a picnic dinner and our own refreshments, although we did buy some popcorn there. It was freshly popped and hot.

And since the theme was "short and sweet" we brought the puppies too.


The films were all great. They included one South African film about a Tupperware party hostess which was a hysterical roast of the apartheid years. They also showed the 1992 Academy Award-winning animated short film, Manipulation. My favorite short film though may have been the Reefer Madness parody called Catnip.

I really love short films and I have a soft spot for the animated ones because my son Alex works in animation for Disney! He started out in film but soon moved over to his real passion, game animation. Not being a gaming fan myself, I found the film part much more interesting. But he's happy and that's all that is important!

There was indeed a full moon at the drive-in although the cloud cover kept it pretty well under wraps for most of the night. Still, it was a great night, a lot of fun and nobody fell asleep.

Bring back the drive-in!