Writeup for content of the 2020 ILS survey

Writeup for content of the 2020 ILS survey.

Briefly describe the principal building, additions or alterations and their dates, and associated outbuildings and structures. Use continuation sheets as necessary. In May 1968, the Utah Theater closed. In the mean time, Intermountain Theaters renewed their lease with the then-current owners, the Carlesons, and got cleared for a big-time renovation on the Utah Pantages Theater. The construction promised to add allure to the downtown entertainment life of Salt Lake City by splitting the Pantages’s mezzanine level with a huge dividing wall and floor plate into two separate theaters… the upper, the “Penthouse Theater” to seat 624, and the lower “Utah Theater” with 807 seats.1 Henry George Green AIA. of New York, and Jacobsen construction created a scheme which removed the existing stage on the main floor and put the screen on the back of the main theater. They also put an escalator up to the mezzanine “penthouse” level, as well as new theater chairs, carpet, and furniture. A new box office and concession stand was to serve the two “piggyback” theaters.2 It reopened on July 12th, 1968 with a premier of Rosemary’s Baby playing downstairs and Doctor Doolittle playing upstairs in the Penthouse.3 Some who grew up going to films at the Utah and Penthouse theaters recall that in the upper “Penthouse” theater, one could clearly hear the other movie playing downstairs in the “Utah” theater. Write a chronological history of the property, focusing primarily on the original or principal owners & significant events. Explain and justify any significant themes marked above. Use continuation sheets as necessary. Alexander Pantages, a Greek immigrant, ran a very extensive and successful vaudeville theater circuit in the Midwest to Western United States in the early 1900s.4 His Vaudeville shows eventually became popular enough for him to land a permanent name in Salt Lake City. He renovated and took over the former Colonial Theatre at 44 East Broadway (300 South) on Sept. 10, 1913, renaming it the “Pantages Theater”.56 After operating this theatre for four years and further growing the recognizability of his Vaudeville empire, Pantages decided he wanted his “own” theatre house. He had built already in Seattle and Spokane, and rather than renovate and upkeep the old Colonial for his touring group of acts, he’d build from the ground up. This was met with some resistance by the public as well as the State Department of Commercial Economy at the time, since steel was in short supply during the First World War. It was controversial to build an “amusement house” with such an important resource during wartime.78 Pantages traveled to Salt Lake a few times in the months preceding December 19189 with his architect B. Marcus Priteca, who had already built a multitude of his other theater 1 “Utah Closes, To Remodel.” The Deseret News, 08 May 1968. “Utah Theatre Restyled To Twin-Deck Cinema.” Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Apr. 1968. 3 “Dolittle Set at ‘New Utah’.” The Deseret News, 19 Apr. 1968. 4 “ALEXANDER PANTAGES.” Pantages, Stanford University, web.stanford.edu/~ichriss/Pantages.htm. 5 “Pantages Will Visit in Salt Lake Today.” Salt Lake Telegram, 07 Nov. 1917. 6 “Plans for New Pantages Theatre Near Completion.” Salt Lake Telegram, 11 Nov. 1917. 7 “Work Is Resumed On New Pantages.” Salt Lake Tribune, 24 May 1919. 8 Pantages Ready To Build Theater - Steel Arrives for New Playhouse Designed for Salt Lake.” ​Salt Lake Tribune,​ 24 Aug. 1918. 9 “Pantages Will Visit in Salt Lake Today.” Salt Lake Telegram, 07 Nov. 1917. 2 houses in a self proclaimed “Pantages Greek” revival style, using renaissance, mannerist, and even baroque elements of antiquity in his architecture.10 It was finally decided that he would build the new theater at the spot of a piece of retail properties from William McIntyre. The property on Main Street, just south of the Kearns Building, housed the Lund Wagner Company, John Elliott Clark and Company, and the Cox Brothers Billiards.11 Pantages’s new theatre would have retail space to accommodate some of the existing businesses. There remains a menswear store in the space as of 2020 called Shapiro’s. His new theatre was estimated to be built at a cost of $250,000 starting in December 1918. Some vaudeville actresses laid the first bricks.13 15,000 lbs of cement and 7,000 bricks were laid by the time the theater was finished.14 When the project was completed in November 1920, its projected cost was more than doubled. The theatre’s grand opening was December 1st15 with construction costs mounting $525,000.16 The new Pantages theater was so modern for the time that it had one of the few air conditioning systems in Utah17, and amazing interior Greek Revival mouldings and decoration, courtesy of Pantages’s personal theater architect, B. Marcus Priteca. According to the newspapers, over 400 tons of plaster were used for the beautiful moldings and columns. Honduran and Phillippine mahogany grace the interior, and Alaskan marble compliments the 175-foot long interior corridor.18 A beautiful and elegant sign reading “PANTAGES” graced the front of the theater and cantilevered into main street.19 The beautiful vaudeville house was now open for business. 12 Eventually, things took a turn for the Pantages empire. It fell after he was involved in a case in which he allegedly raped a 17 year old dancer who was auditioning to work for one of his shows.20 Pantages’s wife, Lois, had killed a man in a DUI accident just a month later.21 These events along with the 1929 stock market crash led to Pantages selling six of his theaters 10 “Alexander Pantages.” Alexander Pantages | Seattle Theatre History, 2014, seattletheatrehistory.org/collections/people/alexander-pantages. 11 “Plans for New Pantages Theatre Near Completion.” Salt Lake Telegram, 11 Nov. 1917. 12 “Pantages Ready To Build Theater - Steel Arrives for New Playhouse Designed for Salt Lake.” ​Salt Lake Tribune​, 24 Aug. 1918. 13 “Pantages Stars Lay First Brick For New Theater's Balcony.” ​Salt Lake Tribune​, 17 May 1919. 14 “New Pantages Work Of Art: Vaudeville House to Open Here Declared Among Most Beautiful of World..” ​Salt Lake Tribune,​ 21 Nov. 1920. “Pantages Opening Date Postponed to December 1.” ​Salt Lake Tribune​, 23 Nov. 1920. “New Pantages Home Is Ready: Formal Opening of $525,000 Theater Building Is Scheduled for Nov. 24.” ​Salt Lake Tribune,​ 17 Nov. 1920. 17 “Install New System.” Salt Lake Herald Republican, 25 Jun. 1920. 18 “New Pantages Work Of Art: Vaudeville House to Open Here Declared Among Most Beautiful of World..” Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Nov. 1920. 19 Shipler Photo # #20780 20 “Pantages Goes On Stand In Own Defense: Theater Man Denies Ever Attacking Complaining Witness.” Salt Lake Tribune, 23 Oct. 1929. 21 “Mrs. Pantages' Name Cleared: Ten-Year Probation Resulting From Accident Terminated.” Salt Lake Tribune, 23 Dec. 1930. 15 16 to R.K.O. for $4.5-5 million.22 The Utah Pantages was shut and renovated. It was to be reopened as a Radio Kieth-Orpheum theatre on September 11th, 1929 with again a combination of stage vaudeville and on-screen performances.23 A beautifully lit sign reading “ORPHEUM” took the place of its predecessor, hanging above the empty Main Street. 24 Just a few years later in August 1933, in the midst of the great depression, Radio Keith Orpheum went bankrupt. It defaulted on the lease it took over from Pantages/McIntyre, and the theater and all of its furnishings were sold at public auction to the Marshall Square Building Company. R.K.O tried to sue, claiming that it had right to all of the assets and furnishings in the theater, but it was no use. The lease and deed they signed clearly gave all assets to the Marshall Square Building Company. Months of backed rent led to an extensive list of their assets being seized from the theater, including typewriters, much of the furniture, projectors, and more. 25 During the interim in which the Marshall Square Building Company owned the theater, an ill and mostly broke Alexander Pantages came back to Salt Lake City with intent to buy back his beloved intermountain theater, saying “I spent $840,000 in building the present R-K-O Orphuem theater, formerly the Pantages theater, and I have every moral and legal right to regain possession of this theater, which is now closed.” (Salt Lake Tribune, July 23rd, 1933) 26 Pantage’s plans were partly successful. A month later in September, the theater is re-leased to a new group, called the Orphmar Theater Company by the Marshall Square Building Company. It is said that Pantages had big plans to return to the theater business in Vaudeville, not movies, and that he was to re-lease the Hollywood and Seattle theaters along with the Salt Lake theater from the current bondholders and make deals with theater show companies to regain control of them… but Pantages ended up retiring in Southern California to a life of betting on horse races. 27 The Utah R.K.O. Pantages theater would continue to be operated by the Orphmar Theater Company, now the Orpheum theater in name, and then the Utah Theater.28 It showed films mostly through the rest of its life, being passed about local theater operators and businessmen.29 22 “ALEXANDER PANTAGES.” Pantages, Stanford University, web.stanford.edu/~ichriss/Pantages.htm. “R-K-O Theater Opens Friday: Fanchon and Marco Will Present Vaudeville and First Run Films.” Salt Lake Tribune, 26 Aug. 1933. 24 CinemaTreasures photo #GRANOLA-2 25 148 S Main St. Title Reports, Salt Lake County Assessor, Accessed 7/3/20 26 “House Sought By Pantages: Veteran Showman Reiterates Intent to Open S. L. Theater.” Salt Lake Tribune, 23 July 1933. 27 Lagos, Anastasios George. American Zeus: the Life of Alexander Pantages, Theater Mogul. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2018. 28 “The Utah Theatre.” As You Pass by: Architectural Musings on Salt Lake City: a Collection of Columns and Sketches from the Salt Lake Tribune, by Jack Goodman, University of Utah Press, 1995, pp. 222–224. Chapter written June 12th, 1988 29 148 S Main St. Title Reports, Salt Lake County Assessor, Accessed 7/3/20 23 When the Orphmar lease expired in 1941, prominent car dealership tycoon husband and wife team Fred A. and Lucille Carleson took over the lease.30 Shortly afterwards, original lessor and property owner William McIntyre dies, and his wife Phoebe O. McIntyre signs over the property deed and lease over to the Carlesons permanently via quit-claim deed.31 In 1945, the Carlesons move their assets, including the lease and property, to their new company, the Triple Annuity Corporation and continue to have Intermountain and Salt Mount theaters operate their shows in and out of the theater… premiers, celebrities, and big-screen blockbusters came and went. 32 In 1968, the Utah Theater closed again, but this time with big promise.33 Intermountain Theaters renews their lease with the Carlesons and gets cleared for a big-time renovation on the Utah Pantages Theater. The construction promises to add allure to the downtown entertainment of Salt Lake City34 by splitting the Pantages’s mezzanine level with a huge dividing wall and floor into two separate theaters… the upper, the “Penthouse Theater” to seat 624, and the lower “Utah Theater” with 807 seats. It reopened on July 12th, 1968 with a premier of Rosemary’s Baby playing downstairs and Doctor Doolittle playing upstairs in the Penthouse.35 36 Some who grew up going to films at the Utah and Penthouse theaters recall that in the upper theater, one could clearly hear the movie playing downstairs. The theater was passed into the hands of the Little America Refining Corporation in 1975 and quickly turned around to individual Raye C. Ringholz, and then passed to son of prominent Utah contractor Richard J. Howa.37 In the years leading up to current, the theater was unoccupied and fell into disrepair as it was neglected. It was meant for demolition by the Howa group that bought it, but these plans never came to fruition.38 The empty relic was acquired by the current owner, the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City, on January 5th, 2010. When this change of ownership happened and the plans to demolish the theater were announced, a significant movement with efforts to prevent its demolition arose, called “Save the Utah Theater”. 39 A change.org petition was created by the group, amassing about 4,700 signatures to petition the mayor and RDA not to demolish the Pantages, but to restore and save it.40 Unfortunately, the damage that the theater had sustained prior to its acquisition by the RDA was too 30 “Main Street Properties Title Change: Fred A. Carlesons Buy Frontage Along 100 Block.” Salt Lake Tribune, 29 May 1941. 31 148 S Main St. Title Reports, Salt Lake County Assessor, Accessed 7/3/20 32 “New Corporations: Fred A Carleson - Triple Annuity Corporation.” Salt Lake Tribune, 24 Feb. 1945. 33 “Utah Closes, To Remodel.” The Deseret News, 08 May 1968. 34 “Utah Theatre Restyled To Twin-Deck Cinema.” Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Apr. 1968. 35 “Penthouse Premier.” The Deseret News, 11 July 1968. 36 “Dolittle Set at ‘New Utah’.” The Deseret News, 19 Apr. 1968. 37 148 S Main St. Title Reports, Salt Lake County Assessor, Accessed 7/3/20 38 Howa Construction Inc. “Main Floor.” 1995. Demolition Plan of Floor 1 Utah Theater 148 S Main St. 39 https://savetheutahtheater.org/ 40 McCurdy, Steven. “Sign the Petition.” Change.org, 2019, www.change.org/p/salt-lake-city-mayor-save-the-utah-theater-f9521f21-7b65-4836-95e2-558141eb6110. substantial to consider restoration as a viable option for the vaudeville house, and instead the RDA invested a sum of money to have the theater completely documented and researched before its demolition.41 For many, the Utah Theater represents a part of childhood, downtown staple, a main street icon, and a significant piece of Utah theater and architectural history. This theater will be encapsulated in time to the best of today’s technological standards, and be remembered and looked at by many who may have not had the opportunity to enter its doors while it stands. 41 Smith, Trent. 2031 Utah Theater Scope of Work. 2020.