20th Century Theatre
3021 Madison Road,
Cincinnati,
OH
45209
3021 Madison Road,
Cincinnati,
OH
45209
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 54 comments
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.
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.
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.
I remember as a kid going there in the sixties and after the trailers came a notice that said, “Stop Pay TV – sign petition in the lobby.” It didn’t work.
Ha!! I LIKE that marquee! It’s cool!
Great time in ‘73-'74 when they experimented with showing old Hollywood double bills for $1.25. Caught a double bill of Grand Hotel and Dinner at Eight, Marx Bros., WC Fields, Laurel and Hardy, Big Sleep and Maltese Falcon, Giant, Busby Berkeley, it was wonderful. Then they stopped. It was nice in '78-'79 when they attempted a calendar theatre, too, but then they gave that up.
Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/6h3twr
Also, for those who saw the recent CBS News “48 HOURS” episode about murdered starlet Christa Helm, her ill-fated debut film LET’S GO FOR BROKE had it’s world premiere (and only public) engagement at the 20th Century in 1974.
I could have sworn they had a ground-floor crying room as well – my father pointed it out to me when I was in middle school and we went to movies there. Although, that could have been the nearby Ambassador theatre instead.
This crying room was generally located within the balcony area.
I don’t know about a periscope, the crying rooms I’m familiar with were built like a broadcasting booth with a large glass window so seated patrons could see the film and loudspeakers within this seperate room carried audio of the movie. Hense only the other mothers with babies could listen to the flicker while the children screamed!
They had one of those in the Los Angeles Theater, if I recall correctly. I think it had a periscope so mom could keep up with the film while in the crying room.
The 20th Century had a crying room in the balcony area for the use of Moms with little tots who wanted to see a flick without annoying the patrons with their small offspring.
An article from the Cincinnati Enquirer dated 7/3/07 says that Mark&Trisha Rogers who had leased the 20th Century for the past 10 years have purchased the theater from Mike Belmont of the Belhow Corp. for 1.3 million on June 20,2007. The Rogers operate the Habits Cafe ,also on Oakley Square, they will continue to run the 20th Century Theater as a concert,wedding,and reception venue, plus they plan to re-light the 72 foot tall vertical marquee and tower which was last illuminated in 1983.
The 20th Century Theatre in Oakley was purchased by the leasees of that site and they plan to re-light the 72 foot tall vertical. Hooray, it will stand out for miles! More news on this soon.
The pictures of Louis Wiethe’s Valley Theater 1949, in Roselawn ,a suburb of Cincinnati,Ohio ,look like his 71 foot aluminum pilon with oversized film reel may have borrowed something of a design element from the 1941 20th. Century ’s vertical, both of these structures must have been spectacular when lit at night.
What a gorgeous theater!!! Congratulations Cincinnati, you should be proud to have that beautiful theater!
Just imagine the distance that that vertical marquee could be viewed from in its glory days as a cinema outlet. Wonder if it is still maintained ?
On the topof the 20th Century Vertical the pigeons drop seeds, the rains arrive, and presto a small tree begins to grow. From time to time over the years someone has had the joyous job of cutting down said faunawhen it becomes a redwood measurement.
The 20th Century Theater open in 1941 with the film entitled ,“Blood and Sand”, starring Tyrone Powers because Tyrone Powers was a Cincinnati boy made good at Twentieth Century Fox Pictures. I think the original,“Blood And Sand”, starred Rudolph Valentino and it was a silent.
Here is a pre-renovation photo:
http://tinyurl.com/rz9g9
Well, a lot later, I did get a couple of pictures of the facade, but 1)not digital, 2)can’t REdevelop as PictureDisk.
In the early 60’s they had matinees every Sunday from 1pm to (around)5pm geared toward younger audiences…~8 to ~15 yrs. or so.
Three movies; action, horror, sci-fi and/or comedy for about $1 (.75 if you were under 12). Not always the best movies and sometimes the bill left you wondering…“Snow White & The Three Stooges” followed by “The Tingler” for instance…but we always had fun and the best part, as with all “nabes” is that we could walk or ride bikes to the theater.