#14 Peery's Egyptian Theater

The Egyptian Theater first opened it doors on July 3, 1924. As with most of Ogden's notable buildings of the time period, this too was designed by Hodgson and McClenehan. Back in those days the only movies around were silent so the theater was equipped with a built-in pipe organ to keep things interesting. The first "talkie" was shown in 1929 which effectively demoted the organ and it was eventually placed in storage in 1960. As interest in single-screen theaters declined the Egyption eventually stopped showing new releases and was finally shut down by a health code violation in 1984. The theater was boarded up for many years and survived several demolition death-threats. It was finally saved and restored by the newly created Egyptian Theater Foundation. On January 17, 1997 the doors were reopened. The theater is now a community theater and is used annually as one of the venues for the Sundance Film Festival. The famous organ was officially brought out of retirement in 2003 to complete the historic ambiance of the theater.

Photos copyrighted by me.