Dressed in psychedelic tie-dye and John Lennon glasses – a nod to the 1970s, the decade he first opened the Town Hall Theatre – Dennis Markaverich thanked the crowd that had come out for a party to celebrate the town theater’s 50th anniversary.
Even 50 years in, the theater is still being recognized, with Markaverich being awarded the Best Independent Theater by New Hampshire Magazine this year.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Markaverich said. “I think, ‘50 years? No, it was just last week.’”
Markaverich, who refers to himself as the Town Hall’s “house mouse” or “night watchman” said he opened the Wilton Town Hall Theatre on March 16, 1973, with “Gone with the Wind.” But his love for movies and sharing them with other people started long before that.
Dick Putnam, a lifelong friend of Markaverich, recalled playdates when they were still in elementary school. When they went to Putnam’s house, they would play with his model train. When they went to Markaverich’s, he would set up a projector and a tiny screen – complete with a pull-curtain, something Markaverich’s full-size theater is also equipped with – and Markaverich would play cartoons.
“When I was a tiny kid, I went to the movies all the time,” Markaverich recalled. Indeed, one of his early experiences with what is now the Town Hall Theatre was movie nights.
“I think I saw everything,” Markaverich said. “Often, I’ll come upon a classic movie I want to play, and a lot of the reason I want to play it is because I remember seeing it here, when I was little.”
As a teen, Markaverich worked in movie theaters in Nashua and Manchester, and at the local drive-in as a projectionist. When he joined the Air Force, he even worked as a projectionist in the base’s movie theater.
When he left the military in 1972, Markaverich got into discussions with the Select Board about operating the theater as a full-time business, rather than occasional movie night showings.
From the start, Markaverich said he found his niche with classics and art house films, and an ongoing tradition of silent films accompanied by live piano music.
“That’s how I’ve always run this business, with the classics – not ‘Godzilla vs. Cinderella,’” Markaverich joked.
Last weekend, in honor of his anniversary, Markaverich honored his opening date by playing movies from the 1970s, including “The Warriors,” a film now considered a classic of its time, but controversial when it first came out due to its depictions of gang violence.
Markaverich said it was so controversial that a group of citizens in Wilton gathered signatures in a petition to try to bar it being shown at the Town Hall Theatre. Markaverich recalled that Dick Greeley, a selectman at the time, bluntly informed the petitioners, “If you don’t want to see it, don’t come.”
Markaverich said the movie theater business has been in decline since COVID-19 shutdowns and the starting of streaming releases. Markaverich said he’s committed to running the theater for as long as he’s able, and he has seen the markets change, perhaps for good.
But his love for the art, and the business, remains intact.
“I had the best of it, I have to tell you. The movies used to be great. Now that it is no longer what it used to be, and it will never be what it was, it’s not the end of the world, because I had the best of it — I had the absolute best of it,” Markaverich said.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.