Trail of fire: From Woodstock to Cape Cod to Pocono, 4 playhouses, 3 fires, 1 owner

[Geppetto 31]

By Steve Israel

Times Herald-Record

October 25, 2009

Before three of his theaters would burn to the ground and before he would be accused of arson, fraud and forgery, Ralph Miller had a plan. Some would call it a scheme.

Miller already owned the Pocono and Falmouth Playhouses in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and was running the Bucks County, Pa., Playhouse. In 1985, he bought the Woodstock Playhouse, which had a national reputation for not only presenting stars like Helen Hayes and Joanne Woodward, but for staging concerts by huge acts like Jimi Hendrix and Santana....

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/.../NEWS/910230373

[Geppetto 31]

Theater owner a magnet for disaster

By Michael Levensohn

Times-Herald Record

November 15, 2009

Months before the Pocono Playhouse burned down, owner Ralph Miller increased the insurance on the building by 25 percent. With a $1.25 million policy in force and just an $85,000 mortgage on the building, Miller could be in line for a million-dollar payout from the October blaze. If history is any guide, he'll have to fight for payment.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091115/NEWS/911149992/-1/NEWS

Just how unlucky can you get?

[Anthony Tester 13]

Interesting. After reading this, I was persuaded to do a little research myself. There was a huge Playhouse in Hyde Park that had burned a few years prior to me joining the Fire Service. I read this article, briefly. It does not appear that that the owner mentioned in the other Playhouse fires owned this one. Interesting though.

http://www.chronogram.com/issue/2008/6/Community+Notebook/A-Curtain-Call-for-the-Hyde-Park-Playhouse?page=1

This fire spread quick due to the buildings construction and close proximity to each other. Remnants of the infamous "missing tower bell" are still around, lurking in the shadows of an untold firehouse.