He grew up in Doylestown going to see movies at the County Theater.

When he was older, he and some like-minded friends set up a folding screen at the James-Lorah house and showed films in 16mm.

In 1992, when the County closed after years of struggles and faced an uncertain future, it seemed only fitting that John Toner and the film society step in to try to keep it alive.

Now, as a rise in new technology threatened to close the County’s doors again, supporters are rallying to keep the icon of downtown Doylestown aglow.

“It’s been overwhelming how many people have made gifts and how generous they’ve been and how much the theater means to the community,” Toner told DoylestownPatch Wednesday.

When the County Theater replaced the Strand Theater on East State Street in 1938, going to the movies was a popular pastime.

The County thrived during the golden age of Hollywood but began to decline after the 1960s under pressure from television and shopping centers. The slide accelerated as opportunities for recreation exploded and families had more choices of how to spend their time and money.

Independent movie theaters closed across the country, replaced by multiplexes like the Regal Cinema and at-home entertainment on TV.

A fiercely loyal band of supporters, though, has kept the County Theater the anchor of Doylestown’s downtown renewal, ever since it reopened in 1993 as a nonprofit.

So when word got out that the County needed to raise $200,000 or face closure, the supporters stepped up again.

The movie industry is switching from 35mm film projection, which is how the County has shown movies for decades, to Digital Cinema projection,

"Since 1889, 35mm has been the principal film projection technology, taking movie audiences from the slapstick of the silent age, through the great musicals of the sound era, to the epoch of the summer blockbuster," said David Hancock, head of film and cinema research at IHS, in a report on the new technology.

"However, after 10 years of market priming, movie theaters now are undergoing a rapid transition to digital technology, spurred initially by the rising popularity of 3-D films," Hancock continued. "This is resulting in the rapid decline of 35mm, first losing its status as the dominant cinema technology in early 2012 — and then causing it to dwindle to insignificance in four years."

If the County wanted to keep showing new films, it would have to convert to digital, said Toner, the executive director of Renew Theaters, the nonprofit group that owns the County and the Ambler Theater.

“If we don’t make the transition to digital cinema, which we have to do by 2013, we won’t be able to show you the movies we show you now,” Toner said in a video appeal to donors. “So we will meet the digital cinema challenge.”

It costs about $100,000 to buy and install one new digital projector, Toner said Wednesday.

The County has raised about $140,000 but still needs about $60,000 to convert both of its screens to the new digital format, he said.

As the fundraising has progressed, the timeline for the conversion has been nudged back. Originally slated for this summer, Toner said the first screen upgrade may not begin until September.

“It’s still possible to do it in the summer, but I think by the time we make the final decision to move forward, our installers will be all booked up,” he said. “That may push us back to September. “

About 1,000 individual donors have stepped up to support the cause, Toner said. To join them, click here to donate online, or pick up a handout in the theater's lobby.