Customers: BST is a ‘great hometown theater’

Movie theater marks centennial

NEW MILFORD — A century has passed since Bank Street Theater first opened, but one thing re mains the same: people’s interest in the big screen.

The New Milford theater, then known as the Star Theatre, opened its doors to the public May 9, 1920 and was considered a state-of-the-art theater at the time.

More than 1,500 people flocked to the venue featuring one giant auditorium to watch the first movie screened there, “Shores Acres,” now a lost film, and “The Garage,” starring Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton.

Today, thousands of patrons continue to be drawn to the theater to catch the latest blockbuster hits and other films.

Tara Ewers, director of the theater, said the theater planned a 100th anniversary celebration but due to the coronavirus pandemic, plans were put on hold.

“I think it’s an amazing accomplishment for any small business to last this long,” said Ewers, who has worked at the theater for 21 years. “Granted, it’s been different owners, but it’s a testament to the town and community that they’re still supporting us after a hundred years.”

Theater officials had hoped to screen the original film for the anniversary, but it’s now considered a lost film, Ewers said.

Instead, the theater planned to screen an Arbuckle short that was shown before the original movie for which Myke Furhman of Myke Foo Media in town recently provided color correction.

The theater shared the short on social media to celebrate the business’ milestone.

“When I was a little boy in the 1950s I would walk downtown to the theater with siblings and friends to see such Saturday afternoon matinee kids’ fare as the ‘King of the Rocketmen’ shorts and Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett movies,” lifetime New Milford resident Norm Cummings said, reminiscing of his childhood days at theater.

“I think popcorn then was a dime and candy bars and sodas were each a nickel, back when coins meant something,” he said.

Cummings described the theater as one auditorium, with the ticket booth open to customers along the street and concessions just inside the door to the right.

“For me, the theater was as cool as Radio City Music Hall’s enormous auditorium,” he said.

Cummings remained a faithful patron throughout the years, often enjoying movies “on date nights.” It eventually “took on increased prominence for me again in the early 2000s when I’d regularly see movies like ‘Stars Wars,’ ‘Ice Age,’ ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ as chaperone for youngsters of close friends,” he said.

Resident Carol McKay recalls going to the theater as a child with her mom and meeting friends there.

“My best memory is the chocolate caramel candy pompoms,” said McKay, who continued the tradition of introducing a new generation to the theater.

McKay brought her children in the 1990s to the theater. Her daughter, Katie, 26, saw her first movie “Oliver and Company” at the theater when she was 2.

“It’s a wonderful theater,” McKay said, citing its convenience when her children were young.

In 1919, William Mock, who owned a silent movie house on Bank Street, decided to build a larger, more modern theater. He purchased the building then known as the New England House Hotel across the street, home of the present-day Bank Street Theater.

Renovations took several months but once complete, the theater was a popular destination for residents near and far who “had nothing to do,” Ewers said.

“When it first opened, it was spectacular,” said Ewers, who scoured microfiche last year to research the theater’s rich history.“It had cove lights in the ceiling, curtains and art deco flourishes.”

The tile floor in the present lobby is original to the theater.

Mock sold the theater to Steven Panora in 1925 for

$23,000. Panora invested

$11,000 into the theater so that it could show talking pictures, with the first one being “The Idle Rich” that was screened June 26, 1929.

A month later, the town voted to allow movies to be shown on Sundays.

In 1937, Panora conducted an $80,000 renovation and added the carara glass and stainless steel trim façade and the marquee, which still graces the theater today. He reopened the theater as the

20th Century Theater. Panora’s family sold the theater to Arthur Smith, who owned Edmund Town Hall, in 1950. But the theater closed its doors in 1968 when Smith died.

Rocky Barry purchased the theater in 1973. In 1982, he reconfigured the single auditorium into two; one seating

126 and the other 260. And in

1997, the theater was again renovated, this time to three auditoriums seating approximately 120 in each. Barry operated the theater until

2005.

Garden Home Cinemas was owner for a short while before Gary Goldring purchased it in 2008.

In 2010, a fourth screen was added in the space that originally housed a theater stage. In more recent years, the theater has restored the drapery in theaters 1, 2 and 3; installed new seats in theaters

2 and 3; and added a beer and wine room.

Ewers said the theater explored luxury reclining seats but because the theater is an historical space, there was not enough room to install them. Instead, oversized, synthetic leather seats with lift-up arms were added, she said.

“We constantly have to be thinking about what our customers want and how we can differentiate ourselves from the bigger chains,” Ewers said.