Cityscape

New Book Is ‘A Long Love Letter’ to An Iconic Dearborn Drive-In, The Ford-Wyoming

August 07, 2014, 6:40 AM by  Alan Stamm

First of two parts. Part 2: A chapter from the book.

Right now is a good time to heat up some buttered popcorn, pour a fizzy beverage and snuggle into a cozy seat to read about a local movie theater born decades before Dolby sound, computer-generated imagery or IMAX.

The story stars an outdoor Dearborn landmark that still draws crowds to double showings on five screens -- 64 years after it opened as the Ford-Wyoming Drive-In with a colossal screen that remains its icon.


Cover portion from the book coming out in three weeks.

Local writer Karen Dybis explores the landmark’s nostalgic lure, remarkable longevity and historic niche in her first book, “The Ford-Wyoming: Cars, Candy and Canoodling in the Motor City.” It comes out Aug. 26 from the History Press, a South Carolina publisher. 

Dybis, a freelance journalist and blogger for Detroit Unspun, dreamed of being an author since childhood in Bad Axe, Mich. Her 128-page paperback reflects nine months of interviews and other research, including six film viewings at the suburban showplace opened in May 1950 by Clyde Clark Sr. and his three sons.

“Sadly, the first time I went to go see a movie there was because I knew I was writing the book,” she tells Deadline Detroit in her first interview about the project. “Like most people, I had neglected drive-in theaters. I saw that as a nostalgic part of my childhood. That was a mistake.”

Visiting and learning about the Ford-Wyoming reframes it as “a national treasure” – a phrase used by an admirer the author interviewed. In a personal blog post, Dybis calls it “a long love letter to this Dearborn institution.” 

Inside Sources

Dybis, a 41-year-old University of Michigan graduate (’95) who lives in Grosse Pointe Woods, spoke with relatives of James, Clyde and Harold Clark – the now-deceased brothers who ran the Ford-Wyoming until Charlie Schafer bought it in 1981.

Schafer, the current owner, ”is still kicking” at age 93, says the writer, who describes him as “a delight . . . incredibly intelligent and well-spoken.”

“He doesn’t go to the theater nightly like he used to because of his health,” she adds in the email interview. “But . . . he’s as current on Detroit as any newspaper reporter could ever hope to be.”


Karen Dybis: “A few people have said they’re buying the book just because of that word” -- canoodling.

Sources also include Los Angeles filmmaker April Wright, who wrote, directed and produced a 2013 documentary about drive-ins called “Going Attractions.“ 

Dybis quotes Wright’s reverence for the main screen tower –still standing in colorful Streamline Moderne style:

“It’s just huge. It’s one of the best original towers operating in the whole country, to be honest. There’s nothing else like it — it’s one of the most fascinating.”

Space for 3,000 Vehicles

At its start, the theater lot had room for 750 cars. Its playground included boat rides for kids at one time.

By 1990, Schafer expanded it with five screens. Another four were added a few years later, but removed in May 2010, according to the Cinema Treasures site.


The 30-acre theater has five screens and 3,000 parking spots – America’s largest drive-in capacity. (Google Street View photo)

In June 2010, it was renamed Ford Drive-In, which now has room for 3,000 vehicles in its five sections over 30 acres – America’s largest drive-in capacity. Patrons hear films via car radios or traditional pole-mounted speakers that stretch to hang inside vehicles. Small heaters are available during cold months.

Films now showing include four summer releases -- “Get on Up,” "Tammy," “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Lucy.” 

“I knew it would be impossible to grasp the largess of the site without going there multiple times,” says Dybis, whose book has more than five dozen photos. “I tried to get there throughout its day as well – watching them set up, seeing a movie, late at night.”

She started a Pinterest page about the landmark, which also earns this attention:

  • It’s second on a “10 best drive-in theaters” list in USA Today this month. 
  • It’s No. 3 on a Fodor’s Travel list posted in May.
  • It’s the focus of an evocative December 2013 blog post by Kristen Gallerneaux, curator of communication and information technology at The Henry Ford in Dearborn.

Three Essentials

As for the catchy subtitle, Dybis explains with the pride of an admitted “word geek” how she came up with “Cars, Candy and Canoodling in the Motor City:”

“I knew the book’s subhead had to mention some of the basics of ‘ozoners,’ or outdoor movies. There had to be vehicles. There had to be food. And there had to be sex.


Ford-Wyoming visitors can use pole-mounted speakers that stretch to hang inside vehicles.

“Being a nice girl from Bad Axe – and hoping my mother would still talk to me after its publication – I came up with “canoodling.” No one hesitated or questioned it. . . . And a few people have said they’re buying the book just because of that word! . . .

“Everyone I met as I did the research for this book had a story about canoodling at a drive-in somewhere. My favorite moment was when a librarian I worked with told me about the night she lost her virginity at the Ford-Wyoming. She and the beau in question are married now.”

Fun fact: The only other title with that colorful word at Amazon is a self-published memoir, “Noodling and Canoodling Around.”    

The Metro Detroit writer who “had neglected drive-in theaters” now makes a point to visit others in Michigan, which has eight. She and her vacationing family last month saw films at the Cherry Bowl in Honor and at Flint’s U.S. 23 Digital Drive-In Theater.

“I have a special place in my heart for these last standing theaters,” Dybis told Detroit Unspun readers after returning. “We hung our speaker from the window, kicked back with some buttered popcorn (with real butter, mind you) and enjoyed a movie under the stars. Don’t forget about these Michigan drive-ins – they are institutions we must strive to preserve.”

Part 2‘Every Generation Seems to Find the Ford-Wyoming’



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