News Article: 20 Years Long Enough In One Line - Caro - The four Kitchen Brothers of Caro are getting out of the gasoline business - and not because of the current oil strike. They are going into the outdoor theater business in partnership with another Caro brother team, the Ashmun Brothers. The Kitchens - Wilfred, Jae, Hugh and Hubert - yesterday sold their gasoline distributing business, which covered the entire Thumb area, to the Texas Co. The step from gasoline station to theater does not seem like a large one to the Kitchens. "It was Jae's idea", said Hugh Kitchen, "just as it was Jae's idea to get into the gasoline business." Jae Kitchen, at 39 a man of boundless energy, has been in the gasoline business for 20 years, 17 of them in Caro. "I believe," said Jae, "that anybody who has been in one line of work for 20 years is due for a change." It's as simple as that. Brother Wilfred, 41, and the twins, Hugh and Hubert, 33, went along with the idea. Wilfred joined Jae in the gasoline business in 1937; the twins joined them after service in World War 2. The Kitchens recently became co-owners with the Ashmun Brothers - Richard and Reginald - of three outdoor theaters. They are operating a theater in East Lansing. One is under construction at Bad Axe, and another under construction at East Tawas. The Ashmuns own 12 other theaters and have part ownership of still two more, including Twilite Drive-In on State Street, Saginaw. Jae Kitchen is managing the firm's theater in East Lansing. Wilfred will manage the East Tawas theater; and the twins will tend the Bad Axe theater. The Kitchens' Caro bulk plant and retail station will be managed by Wendall Biddle, a former employee. (The Saginaw News 5/8/52)

News Article: Season drive-ins closings....M-53 at Bad Axe and Tawas at East Tawas, Ashmun and Kitchen brothers.... (Boxoffice Magazine 11/16/59)

Update: These pictures were taken about 5 years ago in the fall and there is even less today as a gas station sits where the foundation of the screen is one of the pictures. My family had a summer home in Tawas for about 20 years and I saw many a movie there and smoked my first cigar there with one of my friends at the time. These days I live in Alaska which doesn't have any drive-in's because of the extended sunlght during the summer. (Tom Elmore 11/15/99)

Update: Tawas drive in closed by 1991. There were seats in front of the concession stand, and I own half of such a seat. Only the snack bar and part of the driveway remain. (Bobby Peacock 7/4/02)

Update: Was open as late as 1990-91. (Michigandriveins.com 6/9/03)

News Article: Fenton - Diane Kitchen worked the ticket counter at Fenton Cinema on a recent Friday, covering for an employee who wanted to go to her homecoming game. Hard to imagine the head of mega-chains Showcase Cinemas or AMC Theatres doing that. Diane and Dean Kitchen, both 50, say theyre proud to own one of the last mom-and-mop movie theaters around. "We really enjoy it," Diane Kitchen said. "It's just my husband and me, so we have total control." And they've exercised it. The Kitchens have kept slasher films out of their eight-screen theater, highlighting family fare instead. They show movies every day all year, even on Christmas Day, mindful that some people have nowhere else to go on holidays. They sell tickets for less than most competitors, with adults paying $5 for daily matinees and $7.25 for evening shows. Seniors and children pay $5 anytime. They played captioned movies for the hearing impaired on weekends for 10 years, attracting streams of students from the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint. The couple often arrange special movie showings for groups, most recently a series of Disney flicks for special-needs children and their families. "They've been so good about it," said Anita Hawkshaw of Flint Township, whose son, Dominic, 5, is autistic. He loves movies, she said, but usually is too hyperactive to sit still through them. "This way, I can take him to the theater, and I dont have to worry about him. I can just relax and enjoy." The young mother got choked up when talking about the Kitchens. "I love those guys so much," she said. "I dont think they know how important they are to me." Erik and Kristen Schaedig, both 29, said they owe their marriage to the couple, who employed them from 1991-98. Erik started as a projectionist. Kristen was at the ticket counter. They planned a first date on New Years Eve, but Kristen was scheduled to work. "Diane offered to cover that night for Kristen," Erik Schaedig said. "If she hadn't, Kristen and I might never have gone out. Diane's the reason were together." After college graduation, Erik plotted a marriage proposal in which Fenton Cinema would play a role. Friends who were in on the scheme picked Kristen up to go shopping. At the last minute, they swung by the theater to see what was playing. The marquee read: "Kristen, Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Will you marry me?" Below the sign stood Erik. Needless to say, Kristen said yes. "We still keep in touch with the Kitchens," said Erik, who lives with Kristen in Ann Arbor. "They're great people. And as employers, you felt like they actually cared about you." The Kitchens said their personal touch sets them apart from the multiplexes and is one way to give back to a community that has given much to them. "We cant thank the people around here enough," Dean Kitchen said. "They've been very loyal and supportive." Its been that way since 1985, they said, the year they built Fenton Cinema, which originally had two screens. Before that, the couple - high school sweethearts in their hometown of Millington, now married 30 years - owned the Clarkston Cinema and a drive-in theater in East Tawas. They graduated from college with degrees in accounting (Diane) and criminal justice (Dean), but got hooked on the movie theater business. "There are lots of businesses you go to because something's broken, there's some kind of problem," Dean Kitchen said. "But when people come to the movies, they're there to have fun. They're in a good mood." For the first seven years, the Kitchens worked long hours at Fenton Cinema, 365 days a year. Diane handled the business end while Dean was in charge of technical equipment. Their sweat and labor paid off when they were able to add three screens in 1989. That's the year Diane gave birth to their first child, Jae, now 14. Daughter Jennie came along two years later. The couple found their priorities shifting. "After our son was born, we hired good managers so we wouldnt have to work every day," said Diane, who commutes from the couples home in Clarkston. But they've still got both hands in the business, adding three more screens and a new lobby and restrooms in 1998. And just the other day, Dean was raving about "Radio," a tear-jerker starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ed Harris thats coming out later this month. "It kind of gets in your blood," he said. (The Flint Journal 10/19/03)

Update: My Dad and uncle (RD Ashmun & RJ Ashmun) bought the Strand Theatre in Caro in 1933. By the early 1950's they had aprox. 13 indoor theatres in Michigan. About 1948 they started buying drive-in theatres and by the middle 60's they owned about 14 drive-ins. They had sold all of the theatres by 1983 with the exception of the Strand, which they sold in 1991. The Caro drive-in is one of the theatres that they built. It was built in 1949 and the Bad Axe and Tawas drive-ins were built the next year by the same builder following the same design. The Caro drive-in ran successfully until 1985 when the screen tower was destroyed by a summer storm. The property sat vacant until the Wal-Mart corporation purchased it in about 1990. Their main office was located above the Strand Theatre and at the height of their career it held offices for my dad and uncle, two office receptionists, and three additional partners, my Dad, uncle, and Shirley (receptionists for 36 years) were there until the Strand was sold. Shirleys son , Rick now owns the theatre. He grew up in the business and has done every job possible through out years. (Bob Ashmun 12/2/03)