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Panoramas
Near Here:
Stage
- South
Behind
the Screen
Side of Screen
Viewer Instructions:
•Click and move the mouse to pan and tilt the image.
•Press the Space Bar to show links to other locations.
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The exit hall on the south
side of the stage.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City,
Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 29 August 2002
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Underneath the scaffolding is the original
exit on the left side of the stage. This photo
was taken on 9 December 1949, almost two weeks before
the theater
opened.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Used by permission, Utah State Historical
Society, all rights reserved.
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The red curtains on the
left cover the original exit from the auditorium,
seen here from the exit hallway. This doorway
now provides access to the area behind the Cinerama
screen. The drapes keep the light in the hallway
from shining through during the movie.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City,
Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 29 August
2002 |
In September 1960, a "100-foot
curved screen"* was
installed in front of the stage for the Cinemiracle
presentation of Windjammer. The new
screen probably came within inches of the auditorium
walls, making it impossible to reach the stage or
the exit halls on either side of it. On the
left side of the screen, a new exit doorway was created
at the point where the auditorium wall begins to
curve in towards the stage. No modification
was made to the north wall because the same area
there is used by the ventilation system.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 23 August 2002
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Originally the only access
to the stage from the south hall was this small door
on the right wall. The only stairs to the stage
were in the north hallway, which was inaccessible
while the Cinemiracle screen was in place.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 3 April 2002
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To provide convenient access to the
stage, this doorway was created on the left of the
original doorway to the auditorium. The doorway
was later boarded up and the stairs removed, probably
after Cinerama was installed in July 1961. The
Cinerama screen left enough room between the screen
and the wall so that north hallway was accessible
again.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 18 November 2002
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You can see here how the
ceiling was cut to allow head clearance through the
new doorway. The current light switch for the
stage is located on the other side of this doorway,
on the left wall.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 23 August
2002 |
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The boarded up doorway
from the stage. The light switch for the main
lights in the stage is on the right of the doorway.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 29 August 2002 |
Looking down on the boarded
up doorway, from above the exit hall. In front
of the doorway is one of the original glass doors
from the Villa's
front entrance.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 29 August 2002
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The south exit hall, from
the current auditorium exit, looking towards the
doors into the parking lot (at the end of the hall
on the left, just out of the picture.)
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 29 August 2002
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In December 2002, the
original exit doorway was walled off and new safety
lights were installed in the hallway. The change
was made to keep moviegoers from getting lost behind
the Cinerama screen during an emergency.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 9 December 2002 |
Employees continued
to work on the wall up until the news broke of
the theater closing.
Villa Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo by Grant Smith, 11 February
2003
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