Grove Theatre

History:

Lester Theobald, and a larger business building on the south, leasing it to Dixon Taylor Russell Furniture Store. Ironically, the first activity in the theatre was the September 1926 Utah County Republican Convention. Silent movies began showing shortly after that. Albert managed the theatre. Children's tickets sold for ten cents and adults twenty-five. From an orchestra pit below the stage a Mr. Moffit injected pipe organ sounds to enhance the action of the silent pictures projected on the screen, i.e., bells of a fire truck, train whistles, gun shots, horses hooves, thunder and rain, or doors slamming. In about three years movies with sound came out and Albert went further into debt to put in expensive sound equipment. Live entertainment also took place on stage in the theatre. The King Sisters, while still children, performed there. Harold and Dezzie Wootton purchased the theatre and Cafe after Albert declared bankruptcy during the Depression. They managed the theatre until John H. Miller. owner of two other theatres in north Utah Co., purchased the theatre in 1942. The Millers operated the theatre successfully for thirty plus years with Keith and Afton Miller as managers. They named it Grove theatre. In 1978 Joseph and Johanna Major purchased the theatre and held live productions and later operated it as a $1 movies theatre. Jeffery and Cathy Johnston purchased it in 1982 and named it Alhambra Playhouse and held live productions and later operated it as a $1 movie theatre. After sitting vacant for some years William and Suzanne Kirby purchased it and renamed - it Little London Dinner theatre in - 1999, and served dinners while patrons, who had paid $21.50, watched live productions. However, this dinner theatre operation was not successful, and the Western Community Bank foreclosed on the property in 2002.