The first movies in Blanding were shown in the Primary room in the South Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, under the direction of the LDS bishopric. Later, equipment was set up in the balcony of the chapel and films were projected onto a screen in the front. Movies cost a dollar a month for a whole family and were shown on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A piano provided accompaniment and the projector was a “hand cranked machine that ran on a small engine.”^[1]

Attendance at the weekly movies was so important that the mother of one family provided this written excuse, “Dear Bishop, please let our children go to the show. My husband will pay for the tickets when his check comes in. My husband is out of town on the mountain working on the forest now. I would come myself but am not feeling very good. So please excuse me.”^[1][2]

According to Polk's Utah Gazetter and Business Directory, E. P. Lyman operated a theater in Blanding in 1922^[3] and M. F. Lyman from about 1927 to 1930.^[4]

1. "The Early Movie Scene: Blanding", by Stephen Workman, Blue Mountain Shadows, Volume 8, Summer 1991, page 36
2. “Blanding Ward History”, Michael T. Hurst, 1976, page 107, quoted in "The Early Movie Scene: Blanding", by Stephen Workman, Blue Mountain Shadows, Volume 8, Summer 1991, page 36
3. Utah State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1922 - 1923
4. Utah State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1927 -1 928 and Polk’s Utah Gazetteer and Business Directory 1930 - 1931