'Show must go on . . .'
Deseret News, 23 August 1977, page C9
The slogan, "The show must go on," applies to those in the business end of the industry as much as the performers.
A family drama with more pathos than some of the films he has shown at his theater took a new turn this week for Art Proctor, owner of the Avalon, a family-operated theater at 3605 South State St.
The drama involves the Proctor son, Jeffery, who was injured seriously in an auto accident in February. He has been in a coma since the accident. He has been home for the past few days, still in the coma, but Art says that physicians feel the home environment could bring the young man out of his coma.
Jeff, who has been a cog in the wheel of the theater operation, had planned to enter BYU before the accident.
But, the show must go on. Proctor continues to book his classical films for the Avalon. His next two movies will be "Chained," which was produced in 1934, and "Test Pilot," which was made in 1938.
Both star Clark Gable. His costars in "Chained" are Joan Crawford and Otto Kruger. His costars in "Test Pilot" are Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy and Lionel Barrymore.
The current program at the Avalon features "Under Capricorn," a 1949 movie starring Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Michael Wilding, and "Smallest Show on Earth," a 1957 film starring Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford, Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers.
Regardless of what drama he shows at the Avalon, however, Art will have to go far to match the one going on in his own life.