The Lyceum Theater, later known as Victory Hall, was constructed in 1915 by John Baxter. The theater was used for school productions, plays, and convocations through the 1940s. Later the theater served as an LDS cultural and recreation center.
Located at 35 North Main Street in Spring City, Utah
Victory Hall in Spring City
The Lyceum Theater, later known as The Victory, was constructed about 1915 by John R. Baxter, Jr. (1888-1978). It featured silent films and later “talkies.” The “hall” was sold to the LDS Church and served as a recreational center until 1976 when the cultural hall addition to the LDS chapel was completed.*
The Victory Theater was first known as the Colonial Theater in 1908 and then the Pantages, not to be confused with this one on Main Street, after that is was the Casino Theater and finally the Victory Theater. It later burned in May of 1943 and in 2020 it is sitting in poor shape wit talks of it being demolished.
The parcel is at 40 East 300 South in Salt Lake City and it is now one large boarded up building, the theater was the east half and the address was 48 East 300 South or 48 E Broadway. The west half was the Paris Millinery at 40 E Broadway.
The Villa Theatre on Highland Drive in Salt Lake is a really cool looking building was an awesome vintage neon sign, it was a theater from 1949 to 2003 and is now a rug store.
Built in 1905, the Orpheum Theatre is crowned by a 12-foot tall statue of Venus, the symbol of the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. National vaudeville acts, ranging from comedy skits to scientific boxing bouts, performed on the theater’s elegant stage. With the rising popularity of motion pictures, the Orpheum Theatre closed its doors as a vaudeville stage in 1918. It was reborn shortly thereafter as a movie theater and operated under a variety of names. During the late 1920s and 1930s, the building was regarded as the most stylish movie house in town. In 1972, the LDS Church purchased the building, renamed it Promised Valley Playhouse, and restored it for stage performances.
On 3300 South in Salt Lake you can still see this old sign for Century 6 Theatres.
Century 21 opened in 1967, a duplicate, Century 22 opened in 1969 and several more in the 80s and 90s before they all close down in 1998 and were demolished for parking for the new Century 16.
The Tower Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah was built in 1927 for $40,000 and remodeled in 1950. Originally it was made to look like the Tower of London.
The story began in 1938, when the Annie Pearl and John A. Howell family built a movie house in Draper-“The Pearl” was born. Vaudeville acts started off the evening and a movie or two would follow. Even a few big names, like Tex Ritter, graced the stage of “The Pearl”. During the depression, a bag of groceries was given away every Friday night.
Locals felt fortunate to have a first run theatre right in their small town. For many generations this building, now on the Draper Historic Register, served as a gathering place for the south end of the valley. Tales are told (by now upstanding citizens) of a cherry bomb or two set off during shows and of sneaking buddies in through the back door.
The Rivoli Theater under the ownership of Emil Ostlund first opened its doors to the public on December 22, 1927 with its first movie presentation, a silent picture titled “Loves of Carmen.”
The Rivoli was note the first movie house to open in Springville. The Star Theater in the block north of the Rivoli had been in operation for several years, but would soon give way tothe more progressive Rivoli which added a sound system for the “talkies” in 1929.
The movies, along with radio programs, became the most popular forms of public entertainment and movie going by the late 1920s was a regular habit for many Springville adults and younger people alike. New films were released in great quantity as Hollywood capitalized on the vast appetites of the film loving public. New films opened two or three times a week and the Rivoli audiences responded enthusiastically when the big stars of the day like Clara Bow, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford graced the silver screen.
Through the depression years of the 1930s and the war years of the 1940s patrons flocked to the movies for a brief respite from tough economic times and wartime worries. There were also newsreels for keeping up with current events.
Adding to the fun were live performances of trained chimpanzees and mesmerizing magicians. This mix of filmed and live entertainment continued until 1967 when Carl Lind, a new owner, remodeled the theater and renamed it the Villa. A few years later another group acquired the theater and it became the Villa Playhouse.
