Saving the Miller

The chance that downtown Augusta's historic Miller Theater will be renovated and restored as a prime entertainment and movie venue has been greatly enhanced by the timely intervention this month of prominent businessman Peter S. Knox IV. He bought the Broad Street landmark for an undisclosed sum.

The once magnificent theater, noted for its lustrous satin aluminum handrails, was built by entrepreneur Frank Miller and opened Feb. 26, 1940, amid a wave of congratulatory telegrams from film stars such as Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney.

Many popular entertainers, such as country singing legend Eddy Arnold, performed there live, and the prominent 1957 movie The Three Faces of Eve - which won Joanne Woodward a best-actress Academy Award - had its nationwide premiere there.

A victim of changing times, the great theater closed in the mid-1980s and fell into disrepair, worsened by this summer's rains. His first task, says Knox, is to repair the leaky, decaying roof.

After that, says Janie Peel of Prime Commercial Properties and Richmond County's economic development ombudsman, the structure will be ready for further renovation. Most renovation money will be raised through private sources.

Peel says she's especially encouraged that the people who spearheaded the restoration of the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta want to get involved in the Miller Theater project, too.

Peel believes a modernized Miller Theater would complement, not compete with, the rejuvenated Imperial Theater. "Downtown Augusta is growing," she said. "There'll be plenty going on to keep both theaters busy."

This is music to the ears of the Augustans and former Augustans heading up the grass-roots campaign to save the Miller. And Knox's purchase of the theater continues his family's tradition of rescuing prominent landmarks. His grandfather, Peter S. Knox Jr., did a wonderful job in the 1970s restoring Sacred Heart Church, which now operates as the Sacred Heart Cultural Center.

Let's hope the Miller project is similarly successful.