Beginning in 1931, Frank Miller became the backbone of a new company, Augusta Amusements, and boldly built a business that seemed to fly in the face of good sense at the height of the Great Depression, purchasing and managing theaters in downtown Augusta. Miller and his associates managed the Modjeska, Imperial, Dreamland, Rialto Theatres and eventually built Georgia’s second largest theatre, the 1660 seat Miller Theatre, followed by several drive-ins. For thirty-seven years, Augusta Amusements provided Augustans with the best in film and live entertainment.

Miller served Augusta Amusements in many capacities, chiefly as the face of the business.  His partners—Arthur Lucas, William K. Jenkins, James Hull, and Leonard Goldenson—were content to remain in the background while Miller assumed a public role for which his experience in vaudeville as a youth seemed to prepare him. Eventually, he was elected President of Augusta Amusements, a position he held from 1943 until his untimely death, after a brief illness, on August 11, 1944. 

Frank Miller contributed mightily to the growth and betterment of Augusta through all of his activities.  In many ways, great and small—none for which he sought personal enrichment or recognition—he made Augusta a better community in which to live and work.

Frank J. Miller was the embodiment of the Horatio Alger myth, rising from rags to riches and, ultimately, realizing his own version of the American dream: for more than thirty years he managed theaters in downtown Augusta, providing this community with world-class live and filmed entertainment that would have aroused envy in any other community in the South and capturing the attention of impresarios in such bigger cities as New York and Los Angeles.

“Legendary” is not too strong an adjective to apply to impresario and visionary businessman Frank J. Miller.  His impact is felt in Augusta - still.