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OGDEN — Back in the 1980s, Peery's Egyptian Theater wasn't much of a draw.
"Honestly, it just became a big pigeon coop," said Kassi Bybee, general manager of the downtown Ogden theater and performance venue. It was closed, condemned, boarded up, "100% dilapidated" and on the verge of demolition.
Then Van Summerill stepped in.
Summerhill had grown up attending Saturday matinees at the theater as a kid in the 1950s — later working there selling concessions, taking tickets and operating the projector — and couldn't bear to see it torn down. He launched a fundraising drive, cobbling together a team of like-minded boosters and eventually garnering enough support and money to renovate the classic old theater.
"It was so close to being torn down," Bybee said.
Now, the theater — 100 years old this year — is a key pillar in Ogden's arts scene, and on Monday Summerill's family, friends and others gathered to remember him and his role in preserving the facility. Miller died on March 17 at the age of 81; his obituary says he had suffered from Parkinson's disease.
Elysia Butler, his niece, thinks his efforts all those years ago were spurred by the magic Summerill felt in the theater as he grew up, its power in bringing people together through laughter and shared memories.
"I think he saw the negative impact it could have in Ogden if it went away," she said.
Whatever it was, Summerill and others involved in the fundraising effort tapped into something, and the Egyptian Theater, 2415 Washington Blvd., was spared. Now owned by Weber County, it's become what Bybee describes as the "nucleus" of Ogden's varied arts facilities in the Nine Rails Creative District in the heart of the city.
"Without Van's hard work and tenacity, the Peery's Egyptian Theater would not be here today. The theater was a huge part of Van's life. In many ways, this theater was his 'kid,'" reads the program for Monday's celebration of life. Summerill even received an honorary doctorate in 2014 from Weber State University, in part, for his efforts to save the Egyptian Theater.
'Gave him hope'
As with many kids of his day, Summerill's Saturdays were spent watching movies at Peery's Egyptian Theater. The 900-seat facility first opened in 1924 with a design and theme inspired by King Tut, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh whose tomb had been discovered just two years earlier in 1922.
"All his life he loved the cinema houses and going to the movies," Bybee said. Eventually, he drew the attention of the Egyptian Theater management.
"The owner saw him there so many times that he offered him a job there," Butler said. The theater, she said, "gave him hope," inspired his imagination.
The years passed, and Summerill eventually took a job managing printing services at Weber State University — the only job he held aside from his stint at the Egyptian Theater — and then word emerged of the possible demolition of the old theater. As with many grand theaters of yore, the advent of multiplexes had taken a toll, leading to its closure in the 1980s, abandonment and threatened demolition.
That's when Summerill stepped in, spearheading the campaign to renovate it to its old glory, holding 5K runs, bake sales and more. "Just any little thing they could do to raise funding for that theater," Bybee said.
The efforts mustered the support of Weber County and Ogden officials, Weber State and the Weber County Heritage Foundation. Eventually, the boosters secured a $1 million, matching grant from the private sector, and plans took off.
"It is Utah's only intact Egyptian revival building and probably the best example of the style ever built in Utah. It was designed to produce a show rather than just showing a movie," reads the 1978 application to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places.
As part of the renovation, the theater, which had undergone renovations over the years, was restored to its original luster, reopening in 1997. The wall behind the screen was punched out and a stage was installed to expand the range of events possible at the theater. The work, including construction of the David Eccles Conference Center next door, cost $22.4 million, according to Sanders Associates Architects of Ogden, the main architect for the project.
Bybee said creating the stage allows the Egyptian Theater to host live events, including symphonic concerts, stage plays and more. "It changed what we could do," she said.
Now, the conference center — built with an Egyptian look to match the Egyptian Theater — is undergoing its own metamorphosis with nearly $20 million in improvements and upgrades inside. Both facilities, as Bybee describes them, are thriving.
The Egyptian Theater is in the midst of activities spread out over the year to mark its 100-year anniversary. They launched on Jan. 26 with a special program featuring Marie Osmond, when Summerill received public kudos for his efforts over the years. They're to continue with showings of classic movies, a performance of Dracula and more.
