OGDEN -- Van Summerill remembers the day in 1984 when he noticed the newspaper ad: a free movie with the purchase of a concession item at Peery's Egyptian Theater.
"I knew the end was near," he said.
His fears were confirmed when the Egyptian Theater closed soon after. The health department cited the theater for several infractions, including unsanitary restrooms, broken chairs and no heat in the building.
As a kid, Summerill was hooked on the Egyptian, spending Saturday mornings at the movie palace watching children's movies.
"I knew this building was special at the time," Summerill said.
Little did he know that he would became the theater's greatest friend.
Dream job
Summerill was constantly at the Egyptian through his teenage years and caught the attention of Bill Souttar, the theater manager.
Souttar offered a job that the 19-year-old couldn't refuse -- assistant manager.
"I just couldn't believe it," said Summerill, now 68 and an Ogden resident. "The building where I spent many hours enjoying movies and entertainment, surrounded by this beautiful artwork, I would be working there as an assistant manager."
Summerill wasn't just a fan of the Egyptian. He had became a lover of cinema and the movie palaces. One look into his basement illustrates this, with his own candy stand, projector and small theater room.
He said it was all because of Ted Kirkmeyer, who ran those Saturday morning children's programs.
"Because he made me love this building and gave me this obsession," Summerill said. "I was so fortunate to grow up on the tail end of the movie palace era."
The obsession goes beyond the aesthetics. He collects classic movies, newsreels and serial short stories. He also became a historian of the movie industry and its theaters.
"This man is a wealth of knowledge. I don't think you can think of any movie ... and he won't know something about it. He'll even know who produced it or when it was made or who starred in it," Diana Sedgwick, vice president of the Egyptian Theatre Foundation, said of Summerill.
Downtown fun
Summerill spent hours as a young man working in the theater's box office, watching people along Washington Boulevard.
"It was so great. People would walk on those sidewalks day and night," Summerill said. "It was the main shopping center, the only real shopping center."
But the happy times changed and he watched as buildings and theaters in downtown Ogden fell into decline.
The Egyptian Theater was not immune; it was remodeled in 1961.
"At the time, I didn't notice it, but I guess the first real decline was when they painted it pink and tried to obliterate the colors," Summerill said. "They picked a horrible, tacky carpet that not only was in the lobby but ran down the aisles."
The shopping district changed from window shopping at many stores to one large shopping center with the construction of the Ogden City Mall.
"A lot of people blame the demise of the Egyptian and downtown area on the Ogden City Mall," Summerill said, "but I say it would have happened anyway."
The rallying cry
Summerill first tried to protect the theater in 1978, seven years before it closed.
"I got into it more or less as an amateur historian and started collecting items on theater," Summerill said. "As I did this over the years, I realized the importance of this building, not only to Ogden but the history of the movie industry."
He started Friends of the Egyptian with about 50 people in 1985 after the theater closed.
"But we were all amateurs," Summerill said. "We didn't know what we were doing to begin with. But let me tell you, when you're trying to save a sinking ship and nobody else is, you don't get anybody to help you."
First, they needed to bring attention to the place. The group held a birthday party on July 3, 1985 -- 61 years after brothers Harman and Louis Peery opened the theater.
The birthday gala featured limousines, period costumes and "Laurel and Hardy" director Hal Roach.
Next was raising money to purchase the theater before it could be demolished.
"We were peddling T-shirts all over town," Summerill said.
Bernie Allen, one of the original members of the foundation, even sold T-shirts out of the trunk of his car, Summerill said. "He sold tons of T-shirts and actually kept this place from going under."
The foundation purchased the theater in 1988 and turned its attention to the tougher task of trying to restore it. Summerill said two guardian angels, Diane Ellis and Rob White, came along and took over the project.
He stayed a prominent member of the group, but he was physically and mentally fatigued. He spent his free time helping the theater but started receiving hate mail when the restoration efforts needed city bond money. The idea crossed paths with anti-tax protesters.
"That hurts. Of course it does, and you think, 'How can I explain it to these people?' " Summerill said of the hate mail he received.
The Egyptian Theatre Foundation got help from Ogden city government entities, Weber County and Weber State University to secure funds to restore the theater as well as build the Eccles Conference Center.
Finally, after 12 years of fighting feverishly to reopen the doors, Summerill said he wept as he saw patrons walking into the auditorium again.
"God bless Van Summerill," said Bill Allred, original member of the Friends of the Egyptian and radio host on X96.
"You couldn't find a nicer guy and a more determined guy. He really is the reason that the Egyptian Theater is alive today. He just never let go of it, and that's a great guy."
Summerill remains humble about the experience and the toll it took on him.
"It really played on my emotions and my health to think that we were going to lose this place. Because it was the last one," Summerill said.
"I personally think I got the ball rolling and then luckily we had people come along that knew what they were doing.
"This is my legacy. But I couldn't go through it again."
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