My name is George Read and here is my connection to the Franklin. In 1950, at the age of 16, I went to work at the theatre as doorman and worked my way up to assistant manager. In 1955, I was drafted into the Army for two years. While in the service, I worked at the theatre at times when I was home. I got out of the service at age of 21 and took a three-year lease on the theatre as the previous owners, Mr. and Mrs. Rapley Merriman (who ran the theatre from almost the year one) decided to retire. I took over the theatre on August 8, 1955 and ran it until December 31, 1959. Declining business was the reason for closing. Almost immediately, I went to work for Kallet Theatres at their Genesee Theatre, remaining in their employment until February 15, 1974 when the theatre was taken over by Cinema Natinal Theatres. Getting back to the Franklin, it was a third run house until I started to run first-run art and foreign films, mostly from Rank Film Distributors of America. A theatre owner from Rochester reopened the Empire Theatre downtown with the same policy and I couldn’t afford to continue to operate, thus forced to close.
My name is George Read and here is my connection to the Franklin. In 1950, at the age of 16, I went to work at the theatre as doorman and worked my way up to assistant manager. In 1955, I was drafted into the Army for two years. While in the service, I worked at the theatre at times when I was home. I got out of the service at age of 21 and took a three-year lease on the theatre as the previous owners, Mr. and Mrs. Rapley Merriman (who ran the theatre from almost the year one) decided to retire. I took over the theatre on August 8, 1955 and ran it until December 31, 1959. Declining business was the reason for closing. Almost immediately, I went to work for Kallet Theatres at their Genesee Theatre, remaining in their employment until February 15, 1974 when the theatre was taken over by Cinema Natinal Theatres. Getting back to the Franklin, it was a third run house until I started to run first-run art and foreign films, mostly from Rank Film Distributors of America. A theatre owner from Rochester reopened the Empire Theatre downtown with the same policy and I couldn’t afford to continue to operate, thus forced to close.