Since the days fo the pioneers live theatre has played a major role in the cultural life of Utah. By the end of the nineteenth century, with Mormon church backing, Salt Lake had become a leading dramatic center in the Intermountain West. Boasting the nationally recognized Salt Lake Theatre, Utahns were able to see and enjoy a number of highly popular vaudeville, minstrel, and touring stock presentations. Conversely, the movies were a recent innovation in 1900. Not until 1896, the year of Utah's statehood, did the new invention receive its first successful U.S. theatrical screening in New York City, far removed from the still-remote mountain state. And despite Thomas A. Edison's personal prestige, the new motion picture industry remained somewhat disreputable. Contemporary accounts and editorials in Utah as elsewhere echoed the concern, particularly of churchmen, that hte unparalleled impact of the moving picture image would harmfully influence susceptible minds. Nevertheless, the emerging art found an audience among Utahns and was definitely established in the state not long after the turn of the century. After their first public appearance in Salt Lake City, the movies quickly won acceptance throughout the state. [From the text]