Orpheus Hall
Vernal, Utah
C. W. Showalter, and Andrew King opened the Orpheus Hall on Thanksgiving Day, 30 November 1911. The amusement hall had a spring dance floor, but was also used for roller skating, basketball, banquets, and movies. It was named after the Greek god of Mirth, “a famous musician who is reputed to have had power to entrance men, beasts, and inanimate objects by the music of his lyre.” At 11:00 PM on New Years Eve, 1928, the hall was renamed Imperial Hall. In a ceremony on 20 April 1965, Governor Governor Calvin L. Rampton took a sledge hammer and delivered the first blow in the demolition of the hall as part of a community beautification campaign.
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10 great places to see a classic cinema
USA Today, 22 November 2001
Article Summary:
The Villa Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah was included in a list of 10 historic movie palaces in the United States that still are entrancing audiences. The list was compiled by Ross Melnick and Patrick Crowley, founders of the cinematreasures.org web site.
Of the Villa, the article said, "Several mid-1990s renovations restored the theater's original
1949 murals and neon-laden facade, and with Utah's largest screen (at 93 feet), 'this 1,000-seat jewel is the last historic movie house operating in the city
and is still one of the best places to see a movie in America.'"