By Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
Nov. 1--Trouble seems to follow Ralph Miller, the former owner of the Falmouth Playhouse, wherever he goes.
In 1984, while he was running the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pa., a building he owned nearby was destroyed by a fire classified as arson.
In 1988, the Woodstock Playhouse in Woodstock, N.Y., which he bought in 1985, was destroyed by arson.
In 1994, the Falmouth Playhouse, which he bought in 1984, was destroyed by arson.
And on Oct. 2, the Pocono Playhouse in Mountainhome, Pa., which he bought in 1984, was destroyed in a fire. Arson? An investigation continues.
Falmouth Police Capt. Edward Dunne says investigators who worked on the Cape case "weren't surprised" to hear about the Pocono fire, and of Miller, he says, "It seems like he has a lot of fires. ... Most people in their lives have no fires. He is a very unlucky person."
Kevin Peters, the assistant fire chief in Woodstock who answered the call for the fire there, had similar sentiments regarding the theater blazes: "One (fire) is one thing, but three? There's either something there or real bad luck."
Perhaps it is just bad luck, but for whom? Insurance companies have paid out hefty amounts to Miller. Creditors have lost out when Miller has filed for bankruptcy -- three times. Communities have lost historic playhouses.
The Falmouth Playhouse was a place, for instance, where, in 1980, you could have seen Julie Harris in "The Belle of Amherst" -- or William Shatner in Ira Levin's "Deathtrap." In the 1970s you could have seen Betty Grable, Lynn Redgrave, Gig Young, Theodore Bikel, David McCallum, Sandy Dennis, Louis Jourdan, Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, Colleen Dewhurst, Paul Sorvino, John and Patty Duke Astin, Kim Hunter, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jerry Orbach, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Kitty Carlisle, Arlene Francis, Peggy Cass, Jan Sterling or Howard Duff.
And, in 1994, the site of that theatrical history went down in ashes.
Who's to blame?
After the Falmouth Playhouse burned down, the Mt. Hawley Insurance Co. of Illinois filed a lawsuit claiming fraud because Miller had "intentionally caused" the fire. The lawsuit was discontinued, and a representative for the insurance company would not comment on whether any of the $1.57 million for which the theater was insured was paid to Miller.
No one has been charged in any of the arsons, and Miller has denied any involvement in them. The statute of limitations on the Falmouth Playhouse fire has passed.
Will we ever learn what happened? Will the guilty party or parties be brought to justice?
Given the new investigation of the Pocono blaze, there's hope. It's an opportunity for police and fire departments from all of the areas affected over the years to work together to discover whether this truly is simply a case of bad luck.
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