From The Archives...

Memories of the grand old Rochester Opera House
by Joy Clough, Courier Correspondent
The Rochester Courier - Tuesday, May 3, 1983

Nearly a decade of dust has settled in the grand balcony since the last time the curtain went up at the Rochester Opera House, but for Frank Miller, applause from captivated standing-room-only crowds still echoes there.

The only son in a family of seven, Miller was "just a little shaver" when he began following his father, an usher, to the opera house at night. That was around 1910, when you could buy a box of candy at Lightbody's Drug for 25 cents, a box of cigars for a dollar and a night's stay at the Hotel Rochester for $2. Back then, radio entertainment had not made its debut and television was 50 years shy of becoming an American institution so local residents depended on the opera house to escape the doldrums of their turn-of-the-century lifestyles.

And the stately auditorium above city hall never disappointed its patrons. According to Miller, who later became manager there. "We had everything," he says, summarizing the more than 30 years he spent booking performances and community festivities of every kind and description.

When Miller first became associated with the theatre, patrons could buy admission to a show for 10, 20 or 30 cents, depending on what kind of seat accommodation the wanted. "By the way," he points out, "the contractor who designed the place back around 1892 originally planned for the stage to be 55 feet further back from where it is, that's why you can see the stage so good from some of those seats."

But Miller gives the impression that audiences caught up in a "Mid-Summer Night's Dream," enchanted by the children of St. Mary's Church portraying "the Pixies' Triumph" or engrossed in a performance by the Boston Grand Opera - would crane their necks if they had to without minding a bit.

"We always filled the house," Miller recalls, a sign that he never had to solicit shows for the 1,100 seat opera house, because agents always came to him.

Besides booking plays, operas and musicals ranging from "The Brownie" to "Oklahoma," the 81 year-old Miller worked behind the scenes to present wrestling matches, school graduation ceremonies and hospital benefits. But memories that spark the brightest twinkle in the Rochester native's eyes are of the Easter Monday Ball sponsored by the Elks Club.

"It was the social event of the year," he remembers. "The women would primp all up."

Preparing for such an event involved lowering the central floor area of the auditorium, which could be flattened to accomodate dancers or raised at an angle appropriate for theater seats by operating a system of gears and pulleys underneath.

"We were putting the floor down one day when all of a sudden I heard a crash," Miller says. "A bearing had broken and had taken four or five teeth out of one of the pulleys." Miller's expertise in repairing the complex floor mechanisms and keeping them in smooth working order once earned him a ludicrous job offer from the Otis Elevator Company. "I said they'd have to come home with me and talk to my wife about it. They told her I'd travel all around and they'd send my salary back to her every week. She thought they were crazy."

Miller, who most recently managed bookings for the Knights of Columbus Hall and helped with maintenance and renovations projects there, is officially retired as of last Friday. He says he's excited about the recent interest of Arts Rochester members in restoring the opera house.

If the curtain ever rises again at the old landmark during Frank Miller's lifetime, you can be sure he'll be watching. He might even take a seat in the audience for a change.