Photo by SIERRA BOLGER
Joe Bojtschewsky and Sherri Burns, of Reedsville, are the new owners of the Miller Cinemas in Lewistown.

LEWISTOWN — There was a time when the Miller Cinemas’ marquee lit up like a Hollywood premier.

Opening night on April 1, 1949, featured Gene Kelley in “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” posted in large letters for those passing through downtown Lewistown to see.

The original Miller, located on West Market Street right before the town square, was a single-screen theater with all 1,242 seats on a single level. The projection booth on the second floor had a cry room on its right and a private viewing room on its left. A cry room allows parents to take their children to a sound-proof room where they can still watch the movie but won’t disturb others.

The Miller opened with much fanfare as the words, “Welcome, Mifflin County’s Finest!” greeted guests as they entered through the theater doors.

Today’s Miller needs some tender loving care. New owners Joe Bojtschewsky and Sherri Burns, who live in Reedsville with their teenage daughter, Andrea, are looking to do just that.

“We are really hoping to bring some of the original charm back to the theater,” said Sherri, who purchased the Miller Cinemas in July. “I love the history of the building and the town back in the days when people used to get dressed up to go to the theater.”

“The sense of community is really what drew me to the place,” she explained. “The more people I talked to, the more I knew we had to buy it.

“Everyone from Lewistown has stories about the theater,” she added. “I was talking to an 83-year-old man who told me that he worked as an usher here in the ’50s.”

Theater manager, Rob Sprankle, has been with the Miller since 1984. And there are so many others.

Sherri has her own stories of theater lore. A native of Glenside, located in the Philadelphia suburbs, her parents used to frequent the historic Keswick Theatre, which first opened in 1928. “They used to show movies for 10 cents,” Sherri recalled.

When Sherri and her family moved to Mifflin County two years ago, they were looking for a movie theater and found limited options. “It was either Miller or going to State College,” she said. “Naturally, we checked out the Miller. We loved the downtown feel of the theater and had become regular moviegoers there.”

From the 1920s, theatergoers in Lewistown had a choice of venues to see their favorite films – The Rialto, Pastime and Embassy theaters. When the Miller opened, it was larger than its predecessors and represented the new trends in theater design following World War II.

Daniel Miller purchased the downtown properties from 38 to 46 West Market St. and built the theater, which was operated by the Humphries Theaters Inc. of Philadelphia.

The Miller’s original auditorium was 65 feet wide and 149 feet from the projection booth to the screen and had 1,242 seats. The décor was post-modern Art-Deco in varied but subdued colors, historian Paul T. Fagley wrote in “Juniata Valley Landmarks and Legends,” published by The Sentinel in 2013.

On opening night, patrons flocked to see the newest MGM musical, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” starring Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams and Gene Kelly, Fagley continued.

The Miller debuted the first 3-D film in Lewistown in 1953, and later that year, the first CinemaScope film in the area. Through the 1960s and ’70s, the Miller remained a single-screen theater.

In February 1981, Harold Cohen decided to retire from the theater business and sold the Miller to a new group known as the Lewistown Entertainment Corp.

The last film shown in the single-screen theater was “Stir Crazy,” starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.

The Miller’s large auditorium was divided into three smaller ones. Known as the Miller Cinemas 3, it had a grand reopening on May 22, 1981. Two of the three auditoriums were ready, showing “Excalibur” and “Hardly Working.” By summer, the theater was fully opened.

In the 1990s, the theater was further divided into the six current theaters, the concession area moved into an adjacent area that was once retail space and the marquee repaired, retaining some of its original look in a simplified form.

“I did the design on the restoration of the current marquee for Lou Silverman, who owned it at the time,” Fagley said. “I simplified the original design. The Miller letters are the original. Most of the other metal was replaced.”

That general appearance is something that Sherri will strive to keep. They hope to display the original blueprints for the building and a reel-to-reel camera. “It’s like taking a step back in time,” she said. “We want to bring back the original beauty rather than modernize it.”

Sherri has already gone to great lengths to research “the original look and glamour.”

Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rhonda Kelley is glad the Miller Cinemas is in good hands.

“It is a relief to know that one of our important, historic Lewistown landmarks has been sold and will continue bringing quality entertainment to the residents and visitors of the Juniata Valley,” Kelley said. “From an economic perspective, as our local employers seek to retain and attract employees, amenities such as the theater play a very important role when considering quality of life.

“I wish the new owners all the best,” she added.

Today, the Miller Cinemas is one of a dwindling number of smaller downtown theaters left in the country, as many became shuttered when new multiplex theaters were built in areas away from traditional downtowns.

“When people ask me why we bought the theater, I tell them that it’s the sense of community,” Sherri said. Despite the trend to stream, she added, “I feel like people like to leave the couch sometime and the theater experience – watching a movie on the big screen, sitting together and eating buttered popcorn – and making memories during a family outing.” So far, so good.

“We’ve been encouraged with the turnout of patrons,” Sherri said. “So many have said, ‘We’re glad, the Miller is still here. We have so many memories walking into the building.’

“I hope people will take their children out and make the same memories with them that they had as children,” she added.

For more information, find the Miller Cinemas’ page on Facebook. To hear the current movies that are playing, call (717) 242-2000. To contact the theater, call (717) 242-2001.