West Bend Theatre

The West Bend Theatre was the town’s second movie theater and replaced its Opera House turned Orpheum Theatre that was destroyed by fire March 15, 1931. The West Bend Theatre opened with 220 seats on July 22, 1933 and was operated by at least ten different operators from 1933 to 1961. It was placed in an existing retail storefront in Downtown West Bend.

J.G. Fair of Laurens, Iowa was its first operator and was succeeded by a line of folks including Mr. Cashen, George Thacker, Herman Sanders, A.E. Pertl of J&E Amusement of Spencer, Iowa, Don Christensen, and finally the retailers of West Bend. As was the case in many small town cinemas, television was too much to overcome for the West Bend Theatre. It initially closed in 1954 during the summer but was reopened in style.

The theatre was converted to widescreen to present VistaVision and CinemaScope titles in February of 1955 - its final updating. The West Bend Theatre then dropped Wednesday shows as business had floundered in February of 1960. This left just two changeovers with shows running Thursday-Saturday and Sunday-Tuesday. In November of 1961, it reduced to only Saturday/Sunday operation.

The West Bend Theatre closed permanently on December 30, 1961 with Jerry Lewis in “The Ladies Man”. Locals say that the building has since been demolished.

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