On March 13, 1950, the General Assembly amended earlier acts establishing licensing fees for theaters, defined as buildings "in which moving pictures, vaudeville, musical entertainment or plays are regularly given," to include "open air or drive-in theaters." Reflecting the greater prosperity and mobility of Kentuckians after World War II, the licensing fee of twenty cents per seat per year was applied to drive-ins so that each parking space was "construed as the equivalent of two seats."
Drive-in speakers, Kentucky Historical Society Use Collection. Teenagers accustomed to today's home-theater systems may be unfamiliar with the drive-in theater experience. But how many of their parents and grandparents forgot to replace the speakers on the stand before driving off?
