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Towne Cinemas
120 West Main Street
American Fork, Utah  84003
801 756-3181
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Gem Theatre
Salt Lake City, Utah

The Liberty Theatre, later known as the Gem, opened 1 February 1911 at a cost of $20,000.  The “photo-playhouse” was to be “one of the most modern motion picture houses in the west,” including “many new features which have not before been incorporated in plans for a motion picture house.”  Private loges allowed patrons to enjoy “the exclusiveness and comforts of the opera box.”

 
 
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The front of the Towne Cinemas.

Photographer: Grant Smith
Date: 18 October 2003

Towne Cinemas
(Coral Theatre, Towne Cinema)
 
120 West Main Street
American Fork, Utah 84003
801 756-3181
http://www.townecinema.com/
 
Status:
Open 
Auditoriums:
Total Seats:
583 
Open:
1953  
 

John Miller built the Towne Cinema in American Fork after moving there from Heber, where he started his first theater in the mid 1920s.  In the 1940s, he also purchased the Alhambra in Pleasant Grove and a theater in Lehi.1

The theater was known as the Coral Theatre from about 1955<2> to 1980.<3>

On 5 September 2003, Johnny Biscuit opened a performing arts venue called, "The Biscuit Theatre," at the Towne Cinema. A stage and theatrical lighting were added to theater 1 to accomodate the weekend program, which includes not only Johnny Biscuit's hypnosis shows and stand-up, but other forms of live entertainment, such as a monthly talent show.<4> The Towne Cinema continues to show movies in both theaters during the rest of the week. For more information, visit www.biscuittheatre.com.

1. "Grove Theater Legacy", New Utah, 4 December 2003, page 3
2
. "Excel fle", movietheatre.org, listing as its sources the Film Weekly Film Journal yearbooks 1920, 1925, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955 and International motion picture almanacs 1961, 1964, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000
3. Timpanogas Phone Directory, 1980
4. "Biscuit bites into local entertainment with new theater", The Daily Herald, 24 September 2003, page B1