Resurrecting a town landmark

FRANKLIN—Through near-tragedy and high adversity, comes a story of preservation and rescue, of perseverance and humanity, of strength and renewal. Domenick DiMinni, the owner of the former Franklin Theater, is renovating that building and has plans to turn it into a commercial venture. Moreover, he and his sons also have a new adopted friend, Rocky. And already, people are starting to notice how the old theater's renovation looks. "Oh, I think it just looks so regal already with what he's done," commented Betty Allen, the Franklin Historical Society president. "I can't wait until it's completed. It's a grand old building." DiMinni, who bought the former theater shortly before part of it was ruined due to an early-morning fire one day before Thanksgiving last fall, has rebuilt the burned sections of the roof. With the outer walls saved, he is hoping the renovation will be complete "by the end of the summer." Once the building is finished, DiMinni says he has plans to work with town government to convert the Main Street building, possibly into a combination theater an upscale coffee shop. "It's a small town, but there's definitely business in there," DiMinni said. "And there might be enough business in there to cover the expenses. But we just want to make sure we have a tenant (first)." Last November's pre-dawn fire, believed to have started when a tenant of one of the building's apartments temporarily left the building while cooking French fries, gutted much of the insides, including the inner theater shell where famed actress Ethel Barrymore performed in 1914. But DiMinni credits fire and emergency units for having arrived in time to save the outer/original walls, around which the renovation is taking place. Some time around Christmas, two people driving past the building noticed one dark-haired cat peering down at Main Street from the window of what used to be one of two second-floor apartments. With one of the drivers later notifying DiMinni's Clifton-based office of this, both the owner and his son, Domenick Jr. began leaving food for the cat, who turned out to be the pet of one of the displaced tenants. "We knew there was a cat in there, and we kept putting food and water in there," DiMinni explained. "And then one day I said, ‘bring him home; maybe we'll find the tenant for him.' But my son put him in his truck and he fell asleep in there by my son. So we took him home." DiMinni did contact the tenant, who by now was living in a place where pets apparently weren't permitted. Enter DiMinni's youngest son, 12-year-old Nicholas, who named the brown-and-black, 20-pound tiger cat "Rocky," as in "Rocky the survivor." Sylvester Stallone himself couldn't have written a better script. "He sleeps on my lap, he sleeps on my neck, and he sleeps right next to you," said DiMinni with at least a trace or two of affection in his tone. "My son named him Rocky, and he learned his name. And I would say that was a happy ending for the cat. "That cat is like a human being," DiMinni added. "He talks to you. He's a big, strong cat." As for the building itself, DiMinni hasn't ruled out the possibility of constructing one or two apartment units, but his main intent is in concentrating on a new movie theater, while emulating as much of the building's original pattern as possible. When asked whether the new theater would go where the old one was, DiMinni answered in the affirmative, although he held out little hope for the old stage itself, which was dealt a heavy blow by both smoke and water damage. "The new theater will go where the old one was," DiMinni said. "There's some part of the (theater) framing we might be able to save. The stage is there, but there's not really much left of it." DiMinni also said outside help may be called in. "Right now we plan on cleaning it up, and we'd like to get the theater going," DiMinni said. "We're still kicking around the idea to bring in an expert on theaters. Does he want it to go in the front or just the back? But we'll take it one step at a time. Everything costs money today."