TAMPA, Fla. -- The movie business was always his business.
When Ted Freiwald, 89, was a kid back in Kansas City, Missouri, he recalls watching his first movie with his father. “It cost a nickel to get in for an adult — he picked me up and carried me in,” said Freiwald. “It was Disney’s ‘Snow White.’ That was the first show I ever saw, that I remember, at a movie theater.”
His family moved to West Palm Beach in 1938. Eight years later, he got a job at a local drive-in theater directing parking with the use of a flashlight and an orange cone. “I was only 13 years old and you weren’t even supposed to work,” Freiwald recalls.
Freiwald soon went from the parking lot to the projection booth. Having watched the process of getting the show on the screen, he was ready one night during an unexpected situation.
“One Saturday night they had a full house and the projectionist was drunk and turned the show upside down and backwards,” Freiwald said. The rest of that summer he practiced — and became the projectionist “till they found a grownup to do it.”
It’s easy to remember when Freiwald started working at the Ruskin Family Drive-In. It was April 16, 1952, Freiwald’s 19th birthday and the grand opening for the drive-in. The first movie played was “Singing in the Rain.”
“I recall it was seven straight days. It rained every single night and we didn’t have too many people,” Freiwald said. The 2,000-square-foot screen has remained lit since, and Freiwald is still there, still on the job, now as owner.
The Ruskin Family Drive-In is one of only a few left in the state. It costs $7 for two movies and is open rain or shine, even on holidays, except for Mondays and Tuesdays. The grounds can hold 200 to 250 cars. The biggest turnout of the year so far was the first week showing of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in November.
As cars drive in, Freiwald moves through, stopping by each one to greet his customers and introduce himself, reminding them to have their money ready (cash only). “I’ve met and I know a lot of people. Grandparents and parents and children and grandchildren,” he said.
“I work here because of him,” Karen Freiwald said, citing her husband’s love for the business. The couple works together each night to get the concessions set up and the film going.
“They were raised here as kids. Their families — parents and grandparents — brought them here,” Karen Freiwald said of the drive-in’s customers. “Hopefully, they’ll get good family entertainment in a peaceful surrounding. And good food. You see two movies for $7 and you’re outside and your neighbors and friends come and you have a little street party.”
Technological advances have impacted the business over the decades. They switched to digital in 2012. “I love my digital because it’s so much easier,” Karen Freiwald said. “Every night you had to come in and thread the machine and do this and do that. Now I come in, press one button and you’re ready to go. Now, if you ask Ted, he’s gonna tell you he likes film better.”
Freiwald fears streaming services will be the end of movie theaters, coupled with supply chain shortages and inflation as electricity and concession costs rise. “In your lifetime you are going to see indoor theaters and drive-ins completely disappear,” he said.
As night arrives and guests settle into the back of their vehicles or behind their steering wheels, the screen lights up and previews begin. Freiwald finds his wife at the concession stand to say goodbye as he prepares to head home. Karen Freiwald takes over for the rest of the evening. “I lean over the counter and give him a little kiss and send him on his way,” she said of their nightly routine.
It’s show time.
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