Most of the studios cashed in quickly by turning out cheap B-movies in 3-D, which could get into theaters fast, while taking their time to develop more prestigious 3-D films, such as Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder," John Wayne's "Hondo," Rita Hayworth in "Miss Sadie Thompson" and "Kiss Me Kate." But by the time those films were ready for release, moviegoers had tired of the gimmick, preferring films shown "flat," minus the 3-D process.

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox remembered a widescreen process that had been offered to the studios in 1927, at the end of the silent era. Burdened with the heavy cost of converting to sound just as the Great Depression arrived, there had been no interest in changing the screen size, as well.

What made the process enticing to Fox in 1953 was its ability to "squeeze" an image that was 2 1/2 times as wide onto a normal strip of 35mm film. Using a single projector, instead of the three required for Cinerama, a widescreen movie could be projected in any theater that installed a new screen and used an "anamorphic" lens to properly spread out the squeezed image.

Fox dubbed its "new" anamorphic system CinemaScope and boldly announced that all future Fox films would be shot in this widescreen process.

Other studios were invited to license the process for their major productions, and demonstrations were set up in New York at the Roxy Theater on a newly installed screen, 68 feet in width, to let theater owners see the dramatic impact offered by CinemaScope (especially when paired with a four-track stereophonic sound system).

In Salt Lake City, the Lyric and Villa theaters were the first to take the gamble. By June 1953, the Villa had installed a huge screen, measuring 53 feet in width, in preparation for the Sept. 30 opening of "The Robe," the first CinemaScope film.

Based on a novel by Lloyd C. Douglas, "The Robe" is about a Roman Tribune (played by Richard Burton) who is put in charge of the crucifixion of Christ. The film cost some $5 million to produce — a hefty sum at the time — and proved a successful choice to introduce the widescreen process.

A capacity crowd sat spellbound as Alfred Newman's stirring score filled the Villa auditorium. The screen credits appeared over gold-trimmed wide-colored drapes that opened to reveal the splendor that was once Emperor Tiberius' Rome. As the story moved to the turbulence of Jerusalem at the time of Christ and back to pagan Rome, the new film process enhanced the dramatic experience.

Fortunately for 20th Century Fox, which already had $42 million worth of product awaiting release, audiences worldwide embraced the CinemaScope process. By the time "The Robe" opened, some 1,500 theaters in the United States had already installed new screens and purchased anamorphic projection lenses, which cost $2,800 a pair — at a time when a starter home could be purchased for $5,000.

After 60 years in a standard format, movie screens were changing shape.