quote: reminise.com

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Autoscope drive-in movie had a screen for every car

March 2, 2011

By Shirley Triplett, Pleasanton, California

The Autoscope in Buffalo, Missouri.The Autoscope in Buffalo, Missouri opened August 1, 1954, the summer after I graduated from high school. It was a revolutionary idea, with 118 screens set up like a giant wheel, instead of one big screen.

The cars were parked in a circle, each facing its own 30- by 60-inch screen. The film was projected from a building in the center of the circle.

It was still a real drive-in, though, outdoors and under the stars.

My future husband, Paul, and I went to the Buffalo Autoscope in 1954. He even sneaked a kiss from me there.

We moved from Buffalo in 1955 when we married but moved back with our family in 1963 for about 4 years, so our children have memories of this unique drive-in.

Our son Randy remembers a time at the Autoscope when he was 6 or 7. He went to the snack shack at the center of the circle of screens, and when he came out, he was confused about where our car was parked.

Randy walked around the circle of cars until he spotted our Corvair, but when he opened the door, he found another family in the car. Someone else in town had a Corvair just like ours.

I’m not sure how successful the Autoscope was, or if it ever caught on elsewhere.

I do know the Autoscope was a real boon to Buffalo, and it served the community until 1976.

Last fall, while visiting Buffalo, we drove out Highway 65 to see the site of the Autoscope. Nothing remained of it or the single-screen drive-in that had later replaced it.

Progress had put an end to our nostalgic wanderings, but my family and I still have fond memories of our nights at the Autoscope.

About the Autoscope

The Autoscope, billed as the “world’s first private screen theatre,” was designed and built by two Dallas County Missouri men, Tom Smith and Bert Croley.

The Autoscope drive-in was built in 1954 on Highway 65 on the north edge of Buffalo, Missouri. It featured 118 30-by-60-inch screens, one for every car. The screens were arranged in a circle, the center of which contained the projection house.

The projector was made up of a “fly’s eye lens,” which was a cluster of small lenses. The film was beamed through the lens, then reflected off mirrors and through portholes in the building and onto the individual screens by rear projection.

The Buffalo Autoscope was actually the second one that Smith and Croley built. The first was a 54-screen experimental theater near Urbana, 18 miles north of Buffalo. When the men saw that their idea worked, they built the bigger drive-in in Buffalo.

The Autoscope was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Rober DeJarnette in 1974. They ran it for 2 more years, then replaced it with the more common single big screen.

There were two Autoscopes in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the early 1960s. They survived only a few years.

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 01-23-2012, 11:06 AM:
 

quote: Mitchell Dvoskin

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how could they have put out an acceptable picture?

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1) It was FILM
2) They had actual projectionists, not 'platter people'

But seriously, all sniping aside, I did a little poking around
the USPTO & found the patent filing for the Autoscope, which
in 'patent-ese' is better described as "an outdoor motion
picture projection display device with a plurality of screens
designed to facilitate viewing by individual automotive occupants"
(whew!)

You can learn all about how it worked by reading the patent-

"Autoscope" Patent Filing

It seems to me that the weakest link in the system which would
affect the image quality would be the 'multiple lens element' as it is
described in the patent. Despite the small screen size, it must
have taken a LOT of light to get a decent picture as the beam
had to pass through mutliple optics & mirrors!

(And notice it used two projectors. - No platters!)
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-23-2012, 11:23 AM:
 
I think we had a picture in another thread, but I can't find it. The schematic makes it look simple, the photo of it looked like some monstrosity that would have been impossible to align. Can you imagine the job of adjusting those mirrors? Can you imagine the color fringing on those tiny lenses? The final image on those screen must have looked like anaglyphic 3D without the glasses.

So the goal of this gargantuan enterprise was to make every patron feel like he's sitting in his car watching a television set propped up outside it?
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 01-23-2012, 12:58 PM:
 
Ask and ye shall receive.

Autoscope photo tour

It is my understanding, that this format of drive-in was primarily so the more 'adult' type of product could be screened whilst giving the patrons a bit more privacy.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 01-23-2012, 01:43 PM:
 
I've seen a drive-in that was still using that big reel transport system a few years back until the thing died and had to convert to platter.

Place was situated on a hill with the building on top of the hill so no upward tilt of the projector was necessary..
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-23-2012, 04:04 PM:
 

quote:

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(And notice it used two projectors. - No platters!)

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That would be insane. Look at the pictures. First off they are using large reels. Second TRY AND IMAGINE THE HELL of setting up TWO of that mess for a second projector!

I still want to see a PA35 loop ran through those.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-23-2012, 10:59 PM:
 
Ian, thanks for the linky. What a freakin nightmare!!

Brad, I think the ONLY way they could do two projectors would be with a multiplex box like what they used to use in TV stations. It had first surface mirrors that could be moved to switch between two sources, usually a film projector and a slide projector. Most were motorized but there were some that were manually changed. Such a unit could easily adapted to this thing, especially given the agiliity the projectionists would have to have dealing with mirrors in general -- just another mirror added to the mess.
 

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Posted by Robert Throop (Member # 61) on 01-23-2012, 11:47 PM:
 
I seem to recall that the original Autoscope used a single projector with large reels. They had two Mighty 90 carbon arc lamps at right angles to the projector with a mirror that could be swiveled to either lamp. When the first ran low on carbon they switched to the other.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-24-2012, 12:16 AM:
 
Interesting idea Frank. However I would think that none of the mirror alignment would be the "projectionist's responsibility". I seem to remember reading somewhere that there was only one guy who could align them.
 

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 01-24-2012, 09:33 AM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

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That would be insane. Look at the pictures.

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I based my "two projector" comment on the patent diagram, which
shows two projectors in the booth. But as the photos show, there
was clearly a difference between idea and implementation.
. . . and I 100% agree with you, attempting to align that maze
of mirrors & lenses for one projector alone was probably a
nightmare, but two would defineatley be 'insane' as you said!
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 01-24-2012, 09:50 AM:
 
The phototour shows a Christie lamp of 2500 watts or less. Scuttlebutt at the time, confirmed porn as the primary target and , according to the local Altec tech, was a bear to set up.

I don't think they ever had more than 3 or 4 of them. Louis
 

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Posted by Robert Throop (Member # 61) on 01-24-2012, 10:59 AM:
 
In the early sixties, Life magazine had an issue devoted to movies with a color, nightime photo of the theatre in Albuquerque with a the screens all lit up
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-24-2012, 11:39 AM:
 
Focus and framing must have been fun. Also, how would one see the cues in a two-machine installation of this type?

I'm sure that this was a novelty at the time, but the whole thing seems sort of dumb. Might as well just park in your own driveway and put a TV set on the hood.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-24-2012, 02:41 PM:
 
With one bulb having its light split into 118 screens after having been reflected off a couple of mirrors, I'll bet brightness was not so good.
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 01-24-2012, 03:10 PM:
 
Not to mention the rear projection screen material's (in)ability to withstand the elements.

Would love to see an aerial shot of that place working though, just to see all those beams spoking out from the central building.
 

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Posted by Don Sneed (Member # 955) on 02-06-2012, 07:23 PM:
 
WOW What a trip !! that was when a sound engineer was an engineer no question about it...I seen a lot of things & changes in my 32 yrs as a tech....I am thankful I didn't have to deal with that, I thought AMC mirror system was a pain in the 80's....I have a lot of respect for our fore-fathers in the booth tech dept. !!! especially after seeing those picts...
 

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