A Winchester woman was going through the belongings of her late mother when she came across a carefully preserved newspaper page wrapped in plastic. It was a full-page spread of the Lexington Herald, dated Oct. 1, 1922, announcing the grand opening of a majestic movie palace in downtown Lexington called the Kentucky Theatre.
Today that clipping resides in a frame in a place of honor on the wall of Fred Mills' office at the Kentucky. He points to it with pride, a piece of history in a historic building that's beloved by generations of Lexingtonians.
For more than 40 years, no other Lexington landmark has been as closely associated with one person as the Kentucky Theatre has with Fred Mills. From a part-time job in the summer of 1963 while he was a Henry Clay High School student, Fred has done it all at the Kentucky. Today as the theatre manager, Fred is still hands on-sweeping floors, serving up popcorn, working with bookers to schedule films, turning out the lights and lovingly tending to the needs of a local treasure.
I recently sat down with Fred in his jam-packed office, just behind the concession stand. I wanted to catch up with him since our days together in the '60s at the "old" Henry Clay-when it was still on East Main Street-and find out how he and the Kentucky Theatre became an inseparable part of the Lexington landscape.
Back in 1963, Fred's neighbor was an assistant manager at the Kentucky. He offered Fred a part-time summer job working at the theatre and at its small, next-door foreign film house, the Cinema, formerly the State Theatre. Fred worked the door, taking tickets, and served candy and coffee.
When his high school days came to an end, Fred was ready to move on. He went to Eastern Kentucky University and studied social science with the goal of becoming a teacher.
After graduation, the only teaching opportunities were out of state. As an only child, Fred decided to stay close to home to care for his aging parents. A position as manager of the Cinema and assistant manager of the Kentucky opened up and, when the final teaching offer didn't materialize, Fred took the job. He moved into an office that he shared with the manager in what was formerly a janitor's closet.
For a brief period, Fred was sent to manage the historic Strand Theatre down the street, which was owned by the same investors as the Kentucky and the Cinema. But the boom of suburban and mall theatres was beginning to take its toll. In the mid-1970s, the Strand was closed, the building was later demolished, and Fred soon found himself back managing the Kentucky and the Cinema next door.
In the years that followed, Fred helped usher in the Kentucky's era as a repertory house, showing a constantly rotating schedule of classic and independent films. The popular six-week calendars appeared on refrigerators all over town.
Fred also hosted a series of midnight movies with rock station WKQQ-FM. "It was just wild," Fred remembers. "As many as a thousand people were here every Friday and Saturday night. It didn't make any difference what was shown-"Soylent Green," "Death Race 2000" or whatever-we had big crowds. It was the place to be." Meanwhile, the smaller Cinema next door also was thriving as an adult film theatre, showing such titles as "Behind the Green Door" and "The Devil in Miss Jones."
"It was a time before the Internet, VCRs and cable," Fred says. "The entertainment options were more limited, and shows at the Kentucky Theatre were as much an event as anything."
In October of 1987, a restaurant fire next door sent smoke billowing into the Kentucky and the Cinema, blackening the interiors of both theatres and effectively ending an era. For the next five years, the Kentucky's doors were closed and its future in limbo, but Fred never gave up hope. He credits a groundswell of support from the Lexington community and especially Mayor Scotty Baesler and later Mayor Pam Miller for making sure that the Kentucky would not die.
In 1992, the newly renovated Kentucky Theatre reopened and, not long after, the Cinema next door was also brought back to life and joined the Kentucky as a second, smaller theatre.
These days, Fred keeps so busy running the Kentucky that he rarely has time to even see the movies themselves. In his leisure time, you'll often see him tending an urban garden-"Fred's Bed"-at the corner of Merino and High Street.
The mission of the Kentucky, as Fred sees it, is to bring the best possible films to town, often independent, foreign or out-of-the-mainstream films that Lexington otherwise might never see. But the theatre has become home not only to movies, but also to the Troubadour Concert Series, the international broadcast of Michael Johnathan's Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour, concerts by artists of all stripes, weddings, receptions, even a recent Halloween party.
At times, Fred's leadership of the Kentucky has placed him in the position of defending the theatre's films against charges of obscenity. The most recent was in 1999 during the screening of a midnight show of "The Disco Dolls in Hot Skin." He found himself on the front lines of that battle against those who wanted to confiscate the film.
The community rallied to support Fred. "People came to that midnight show in great numbers. Attorneys, doctors, students-they all purposely came to support that issue. I was amazed at how they rallied."
All the diverse entertainment options have breathed new life into the Kentucky. "I really want it to be everybody's theatre," Fred says. He credits the energy generated by the theatre with a revitalization of the entire East Main corridor. He points to Portofino's and Natasha's restaurants, construction of loft condominiums, and the recently opened new location for The Dame.
Fred hopes that, even if you were away from Lexington for 50 years and returned to drive down Richmond Road into the city, you'd still see the same landmarks-the grand old homes, Kerr Brothers, the Kentucky, the old Courthouse, and the Lexington Cemetery among them.
"Some things are irreplaceable," Fred says. "And the Kentucky Theatre is that type of building. It really represents the kind of historic treasure that people in other cities want to hold on to."
Not long ago, Fred met with a class of local Montessori students at the Kentucky. He impressed on them the legacy that will be passed on to them. "I said to the kids: 'It's going to be up to you. The Kentucky Theatre will belong to you. You'll want to come here to the movies or concerts or events. And maybe one day, somebody will want to tear the building down. And you're going to have to stand up and raise some Cain and fight for this theatre.'"
In his own pleasant and quiet manner, Fred Mills is still a fighter. He has set the example of stewardship of the Kentucky Theatre, a unique Lexington institution for all of us.
During the month of December, many of the films that will be in the running for Oscars will be coming to the Kentucky Theatre. And a documentary on the Kentucky Theatre will air on KET throughout the month. For showtimes, go to www.ket.org and search for Kentucky Theatre.