Avalon sticks with good clean classics

Yellowed posters featuring stars like Clark Gable, Ingrid Bergman, Frank Capra and Bette Davis plaster the length of one wall. Below them, shelves are stacked with the videotape versions of productions these individuals have acted in.

A few other rows of shelves and turntables around the room sport similar fare for rent, filling the cramped shop. Over the top of a cluttered glass counter, more movies are evident, some neatly shelved, others piled in disarray.

In contrast to the popular movie rental companies of today, the video rental shop seems archaic and out of place. But the shop and its sister business, Avalon Theater, which are located at 3605 S. State in Salt Lake City, have always been an anomaly in the movie world.

While Hollywood hits have become increasingly violent and sensual, Art Proctor, Avalon's proprietor, has made his living from showing and renting "clean wholesome classics" since 1963.

"People said, 'Oh, you'll never make it,' but guess what happened? We filled the house," said Proctor. "People came because they knew we played good movies."

Business was good all through the '90s, but that was before the big multifeature theaters moved in, he explained. Three years ago he stopped regularly showing movies at the Avalon.

Outside, blue-gray paint is curling and peeling off the cinderblock building, and "For Sale" signs hang overhead.

"I'm 74, it's time I get out," Proctor said. "I want to retire — go fishing and go on a cruise."

The video rental shop still sees frequent visitors, though — customers who come to rent, others who come seeking obscure classics that are no longer being produced. The room is chilly from all the traffic going in and out.

Avalon Theater still has a following as well. Three or four times a year, Proctor will start up the projector and advertise a movie on the marquee. They're nearly always old films, though he's not opposed to showing new releases if they're morally clean.

Most recently, Proctor showed the musical version of "Scrooge." It's become a Christmas tradition for more than just the Avalon.

"It's a delightful version of the show," said Vince Miller, a Liberty (Weber County) resident, who planned to bring his family to the movie.

Miller, who used to live in West Jordan, said he and his wife went to the Avalon more than any other movie theater whenever they went to a show.