MILTON
THEATRE
Plans
are to have the historic Milton Theatre flicker to life anew
with
silent movies and Milton will have something for the fourteen
million
people within a 90 minute drive of the historic Sussex county
town
to visit for. Dr. Wagner, director of the Milton Development
Corporation,
says “ we need something to get people downtown “ .
Step
one is the 1930's era ' soda fountain ' and step two is the
complete
renovation
of the whole theater. It is an idea to preserve ' silent movies
'
that
were the 'thing' when men brought their ' lady friends'
to town
by
horse and carriage.
The
two story brick building built in 1915 had a store on the
ground
floor
and a 'community' room upstairs where basketball was played and
silent
movies were shown. This building was destroyed by fire in late
1930's
and in 1939 the fire company built a replacement which had
fire
equipment on the south side and the 'community hall' which held the
theater,
to the north. The theater was “ a state-or-the art theater “
for it's
time
and leased to “Mr Scott” who had built several theaters
around the
country
during the depression. “Scotty” bought the fire company out in
the
late 1940's and operated it until early 1960's when a Broadkill
flood
filled
the place up over the seats and ruined the theater.
The
Milton Development Corporation bought the building, holding the
Riverfront
Cafe, The deco of the renovation has not been decide upon
as
yet, Wagner favors a 'plebian' atmosphere with wood wall and
ceiling
covering,
enhanced by 1930's backlit frescoes which still hang on the
stage.
Two hundred and fifty red velvet cushioned seats have been
obtained
from the Wilmington Grand Opera house for $1 each. Sound
factors
are to be a major concern.
Abstract:
Wednesday, December 20, 2000 , Wilmington News Journal ,
special
to the News Journal article, by Lynn R. Parks
No comments:
Post a Comment