20th Century Theatre
3021 Madison Road,
Cincinnati,
OH
45209
3021 Madison Road,
Cincinnati,
OH
45209
7 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 59 comments found
The original owner was Willis Vance he had quite a few local cinemas, including The Ohio in Norwood,Guild in Cincinnati,,State in Newport,Kentucky and others. He seemed to keep F&Y Construction Builders very busy.
The 20th Century and the Ambassador Theaters were in the Oakley neighborhood of Cincinnati and were about a block apart. The United Dairy Farmers Store was originally directly across Madison Road from the 20th Century where one could buy ice cream cones, etc. Across from the Ambassador was a wonderful ice cream parlor run by the Aglamesisi Brothers. http://www.aglamesis.com It is still there and it is a real, rare treat. Incredible ice cream , malts, shakes, sundaes, all manner of candy and ice cream treats. Definitely worth the trip.
I spent many a Sunday afternoon at the matinees with my friends for $.25. Had my first real date there as a 4th grader. Took a lovely 3rd grade beauty to see The Ten Commandments. Chauffered by my older brother in dad’s ‘49 Packard. Ah, the memories.
Wish I could do this with the Valley. And Hank, I would love to hear any stories you have about my Grandfather. I’m sorry this is kind of a re-post, but I think I have misplaced your contact info. You can email me with any memories you have of Louis Wiethe Sr, Ed Wiethe, or Lou Jr at I would love to hear anything. I have a passion for all things movie related, and I would love to hear more. Do you all ever get together in Cincy to share memories?
I’m told the vertical stands out with the leaves off the trees from 6 blocks away ! It’s our Statue of Libery in Ohio!
Hooray! What a classy piece of architecture to return to Oakley Square,way to go 20th Century Theater!!!!!Tyrone Powers would have been thrilled to see his hometown marquee vertical re-lit after a 30 year absence. And thanks to Mr Bowers as well for the pictures!!!And even a movie included too!Wow!
I have great news about the 20th Century. I live near it, and on the way home, I saw the full tower marquee all aglow. It was beautiful, but don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself
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I attended the movie tonight as part of the celebration, and they said the tower part of the marquee fell into disrepair 30 years ago, and hasn’t been lit again until tonight.
Classic movie, classic theater, $1 popcorn = perfect night.
I have great news about the 20th Century. I live near it, and on the way home, I saw the full tower marquee all aglow. It was beautiful, but don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself
View link
I attended the movie tonight as part of the celebration, and they said the tower part of the marquee fell into disrepair 30 years ago, and hasn’t been lit again until tonight.
Classic movie, classic theater, $1 popcorn = perfect night.
Just happened upon this site as I was looking for more info on the history of the Valley Theater. I am Louis Wiethe’s granddaughter and I have a fascination with his theater life and work. I have pictures of his theater during openings for “Around the World in 80 Days” (with him on an elephant) and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I also have pictures of his cast from a movie he produced called “Little Laura and Big John”. It starred Karen Black and Fabian. I would love to have and share more info. Anyone who worked for him and has memories of his theater that would like to share them please email me!
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Skyfire, While you were usher at the Valley, I was usher and subsequently ticker taker ( a big promotion at the time) at the Westwood. My parents were friends and neighbors of the Wiethe Family who lived on Harrison Ave in Westwood. I suspect your manager was Louis Wiethe Jr., son of the owner. I recall that ED Wiethe also had managerial duties at the Valley. Ed was a great guy and was Lou Sr’s brother.
The letter F in F&Y Construction was Leo Yassenoff,s first partner in the firm based in Columbus,Ohio. That Mr. F who’s full name I can’t remember was the architect for the F&Y firm. Later the architect Mr. F. left the company to design projects on his own. I don"t believe that Leo Yassenoff was trailed as an architect.
Hello SKYFIRE if you’ve not looked at The Valley Th. site on C.T. checkout the results and please add what you lived thru there.
45 years in the business beats my seven years,SKYFIRE hope you add plenty of theatre stories for us old theatre dawgs.
On August 9 1974 a friday one of the worst film makers ever and the 20th Century is showing it is BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND…“BORN LOSERS” with Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack.This re-release is rated PG.It also opened at the ESQUIRE Theatre the same night. Long way from “THE ROBE”.
Nice looking.
I was an usher at the Valley Theater from 1953-1955. Mr. Louis Wiethe was the manager who hired me. I still remember the green uniform with the stripe down the pants. I was usher for the shut-down to convert the theater to CinemaScope. When we re-opened our first movie was THE ROBE iwth Richard Burton. It ran for almost 6 months. That job as usher began my 45 year career in the movie business.
Skyfire
Does anyone know if this theater had “double” seats in its heyday?
(They’ve been described as small loveseats.)
I drove by the 1941 20th Century art deco cinema the other nite, the marquee was all aglow, but sadly the 75 foot vertical does not seem to have been lamped. It must show for miles when its functioning! Maybe someday?
Does anyone have any more information or know of any history of this theater? I can only find the basics and I need way more! Past employees, stories, history of the land, anything! I would appreciate it greatly!!
Leo Yassenoff, the Y in F&Y, was also the head of the Academy Theatres Circuit. F&Y designed and built the theaters Academy had built, and remodeled many that the circuit acquired from other operators.
I’ve tracked down quite a few theaters designed by F&Y and posted comments on their pages here, but the only one that’s been updated with the information is the Geauga Cinema. I think maybe I make most of my comments at the wrong time of day for them to get noticed.
A rather grim sidelight about Leo Yassenoff that I ran across on the Internet is that he was the great-grandfather of Dylan Klebold, of Columbine High School infamy.
It’s good that you caught this mistake. There was an F & Y Construction Co. in Columbus, Ohio that dates back to at least 1927. It could be the same F & Y Construction Company that built this theater. I found another theater in Ohio that was built by an F & Y Construction Company. It was the Miami Western Theater in Oxford, Ohio.
“36 E. High St.: former Miami Western Theater. This singular example of Art Deco architecture was built in 1938 by the F & Y Construction Co. Constructed of yellow brick with blue-glazed Terracotta panels and details, it once contained two wall panels of local interest on either side of the interior, painted by the Stiver Studios of Columbus, Ohio”.
NRHP’s web site is more reliable than many, but I’ve found typos and misspellings there before, and have probably failed to recognize a few others that I’ve seen. The F&W/F&Y mistake was easy for me to spot because I’ve seen so many references to F&Y in Boxoffice.
Don’t blame me. I copied and pasted that information to eliminate typos on my end. Whoever submitted that information to the National Register made the mistake. I might not always be right, but I’m never wrong. :P
The copy from the National Register of Historic Places posted by Lost Memory on Feb 4, 2007, contains an error. F&W Construction should read F&Y Construction (known as F&Y Building Services beginning in 1942.) The November 9, 1940, issue of Boxoffice said that ground had been broken for Willis Vance’s new theater, to be called the 20th Century. Both the design and the construction of the house was being done by the theatre division of F&Y Construction.
There’s an F&W Construction Co. operating in Ozark, Alabama, but I can’t find any company of that name connected with Cincinnati. F&Y, however, designed dozens of theaters in the Ohio area.
The individual architect to whom NRHP attributes the 20th Century Theatre, Fred W. Stritzel, might have been working at F&Y during the period when the theater was built. After WWII he formed the Columbus, Ohio, firm of Alcox & Stritzel with architect Larry Alcox. That firm designed at least two theaters, the Livingston in Columbus and the 1947 rebuild of the Auditorium in Newark, Ohio. I’ve been unable to discover anything else about Fred Stritzel.