Carmen Snow recounts how the theater management kept the balcony closed until the bottom of the theater was filled. “Everyone wanted to sit up there.” “A lot of films were shot in St. George and the studios would hold their premiers at the Dixie Theater,” says Carmen. “I was the stunt rider for Joan Staheli in Gunpoint, an Audie Murphy movie, and my whole family was invited to the premier showing.” Carmen tells how she especially loved the beach movies like Where the Boys Are and Gidget and epics like The Ten Commandments and Gone with the Wind. “For some reason, I’ll always remember the burgundy velvet seats that matched the stage curtains. I also remember how some kids would buy tickets and let in their friends through the exit by the stage, friends who couldn’t afford to buy tickets, but they had to walk down the scary alley to get to it.”
feature. “By the time the second feature rolled around, we would fall asleep right in our seats. Being away so long on a Saturday was just fine with our mother. It gave her a little time to herself and she would sometimes use that time to clean the house.” Sherril tells of one evening when she attended the House of Wax, featured at 8:00 p.m. “By the time the movie was over it was dark and we were so frightened that we walked down the middle of the street to stay away from anything or anyone hiding in the bushes. That was one long walk and it was the first and last time I ever saw a movie like that!” Sherril adds: “The price of a movie was just the right price: Show tickets were 10 cents, popcorn was 10 cents, and drinks were 10 cents.” Reber says that on special occasions they even offered popcorn for 5 cents. What a bargain, indeed!
A Marvel Unto Itself
St. George Mayor Dan McArthur tells about visiting the theater: “I remember going to The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur and many other movies as well as attending Saturday afternoon movies with serials like Rocket Man and The Lone Ranger.
In time, with the changing trends in the movie theater industry, R.M. sold the building to local entrepreneur John Clemons, who, in 2001, changed the name of the theater to “Main Street Theater & Ballroom.” It served as a venue for weddings and a variety of receptions and housed a retail shop.
In fact, Saturday afternoons seemed to be another favorite time to visit the theater. “I loved the Roy Rogers films,” says Sherril Newby, who lived about a mile away in Sand Town (the Diagonal Street area). Often she would walk to the theater with her sister to see a double
To create just the right décor, local visual artist Roland Lee and John Clemons traveled to the heart of old Quebec City to the Frontenac, an exquisite and stately hotel, where Lee made sketches to recreate the feeling of old world, 19th century elegance.
woman
LearnKey office inside Main Street Theater. Photo by Nathan Wotkyns.
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Other changes took place: The apartments were removed that Reber says were part of the original building; the curved ceilings above the lobby were restored and the second floor ballroom came to life with the original maple flooring. Over the past several years even more changes in the structure have been made to meet modern building codes. The rear part of the building has undergone seismic retrofitting. “It’s a sound and sturdy building,” says Clemons, and then adds, “With the additional remodeling and restoration, including digging a basement under the theater to create work areas, hopefully this building will be around for many, many decades to come.” What was once the theater has now been decorated into 15,000 square feet of office space to house LearnKey, Inc., a provider of training programs for business, government, and education. Clemons founded the company in 1987 to pioneer training in technology, a company that has grown since he first filmed instructional videos in his small basement studio for users of WordPerfect. Upon entering the office area, one is overcome with the spaciousness, the preservation of the colorful stained glass panels from the original theater, the earliest of early lighting fixtures, and the stunning magnitude of the decoration, the creative blending of old and new.
Tenney Clemons Saarelainen in Ancestor Square. Photo provided by Brian Tenney.
ving Music, Melod a e W ies and Memories 56
Tapestry: Weaving Music, Melodies and Memories Southwest Symphony Orchestra 31st Concert Series
2011-2012 Gary Caldwell, Conductor 7:30 pm Cox Performing Arts Center, Dixie State College Halloween Spooktacular Oct. 28, 2011
Valiant, Vanguard Veterans Featuring: Color Country Chorus
Nov. 11, 2011
Handel’s Messiah
Youth Concerto Classic Mar. 23, 2012
Wild West Pops
Featuring: Cody Bryant and the Riders of the Purple Sage
Apr. 26, 2012 8:00pm
Dec. 4 - 5, 2011
Tuacahn Amphitheatre
Totally Tchaikovsky
From Bach to Broadway
Featuring: Justin Hansen
Feb. 17, 2012
May 11, 2012
Watch for other special Southwest Symphony Orchestra events by visiting
www.southwestsyphony.org
Season tickets may be purchased by calling 435.688.8183.
However, this is not the first building that Clemons has renovated. The list is ambitious: the old 7-Eleven on St. George Boulevard that became a Kawasaki dealership, the Lewis Meats building that housed the LearnKey operations (the site that is now Walgreens on Sunset), and the historic Hardy home owned by Brian Tenney and Clemons in Ancestor Square, where Tenney, Clemons’ partner of 20 years, manages Tenney Clemons Saarelainen, a successful advertising and public relations firm. Clemons is also one of the founders of InfoWest. He explains it like this: “If one little entrepreneurial thing works, it causes lots of great things to happen.”
FA L L 2 0 1 1
As I walk through what was once the Dixie Theater, I can touch and hold the history from which this building is created. The walls, consisting of adobe brick, are, as Reber says “Three bricks thick,” and he repeats the phrase for emphasis “three bricks thick; three bricks thick.” Today the theater remains the largest adobe structure in the area, with walls reaching nearly 30 feet high, a tribute to its exceptional builders. It breathes of the intense desert sun and azure skies and the spirit of industry that is the foundation of the community. In the first movie to play in the Wadsworth/Dixie Theater, The Singing Fool with Al Jolson, one hears the song, “I’m Sittin’ on Top of the World.” It is worth recalling that song in what seems to be a milestone year for Clemons and those around him who have accomplished so much and who have helped beautify our area. “There are people in this community who value the legacies of the past and it’s important we continue building upon those legacies,” says Clemons. “The history of this grand building may serve as a legacy for the future—where new stories have yet to be told.” JJ Abernathy lives in St. George, and is a former multi-national business executive based in Hong Kong. Currently, she serves as an educator in the Washington County School District. She is an avid musician and arts advocate.
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