Ogden Theater

larrygoldsmith on June 24, 2010 at 10:38 am

Great history, thanks again Van.

Van on March 2, 2010 at 12:02 pm

Ogden Theatre History
by Van Summerill

According to a 1909 newspaper story, the Ogden Theatre was initially operated by the Utah Theatre Company, an organization composed of Ogden people and prominent U.S. theatre investors. “The Ogden theatre, which represents an outlay of about $100,000 was built by the D. H. Peery Estate,” the article reported. “The work upon the structure, which is entirely new, save one wall…”, a remnant of the old Utahna Theatre previously occupying the location, was completed in less than four months time.

Architect for the new play house was E. W. Houghton of Seattle. Aiding him was Leslie S. Hodgson who would go on to design many of Ogden’s greatest buildings, including Peery’s Egyptian Theatre, and two Art Deco landmarks, the Municipal building and Ogden High School.

The new theatre seated about 1,000 on the main floor and two balconies. “There is not a theatre in the west that is better appointed,” the newspaper description proclaimed. “There is not a pillar or post to obstruct a full view…”

A road company entertained first-nighters with a play entitled, “Commencement Days.” The grand opening orchestra was composed of Ogden musicians aided by members of Salt Lake City’s Colonial Theatre.

In April 1914, Harman Peery announced that the D. H. Peery Estate purchased the interests of the operators, “taking immediate control and management of the Ogden.” The theatre soon converted to movies-only, and the second balcony was sealed off.

In the depths of the Great Depression, the Peerys opted to lease their Egyptian and Ogden theatres to fledgling Twentieth Century-Fox under the banner of Fox Inter-Mountain Theatres, thus ending the family’s involvement in exhibition in Ogden. Fox brought in Ted Kirkmeyer as city manager for their theatre chain. He recalls things being so depressed in the area that bartering for commodities was common. Then came World War II. Movie business boomed. With well over 100 passenger and troop trains stopping daily at Ogden’s Union Station, the Ogden and the city’s other four theatres were packed and prosperous.

Double-features accompanied by newsreels, cartoons and serials were popular at the Ogden during the 1940s. But by decade’s close, the onslaught of drive-in theatres— even though restricted to second-fun fare—brought serious competition to indoor show houses. And then there was the television menace, coupled with fewer movies coming out of Hollywood.

By the mid-1950s, the Ogden was showing move-over hits from the Egyptian, and films from a new company specializing in low-budget double-feature programs: American-International. The Ogden occasionally ran art/foreign films, but the real moneymakers were Spanish-language movies directed at the area’s large migrant work force. On a given weekend, the Ogden Theatre could turn a bigger profit showing Spanish films than would the Egyptian with first-run, mainstream product. Occasionally, wrestling matches were held at the Ogden, and plays staged by a local amateur theatre troupe.

The drive-ins began showing first-run pictures in the new decade, and the Ogden closed in 1966, after 56 years of operation. The building was demolished in the summer of 1968, and is now a parking lot.

KenRoe on March 5, 2005 at 10:10 am

Listed in the Film Daily Yearbook, 1941 as having 1,000 seats. It was operated by Fox Intermountain Theaters Inc.