Warner Theatre

I grew up in Bethesda and remember hearing my parents talk about movies at the Earle. When the Warner converted to three-projector Cinerama, I saw “This Is Cinerama” there shortly after it opened when I was 10. I still have the original program. I saw several other Cinerama films there (“Windjammer,” “South Seas Adventure'). The Cinerama films ended at the Warner in the fall of 1959. The 3 hour and 40 minute cut of "Cleopatra” played there in an exclusive roadshow engagement for some months. Perhaps the most exciting Warner Theater moment for me was the first Saturday night screening of “My Fair Lady” there. As I walked through the lobby at intermission I almost walked in Jack Warner himself and Jack Valenti. The Ontario (which had “Lawrence of Arabia” in its roadshow run) and Uptown (which installed Todd-AO for “Oklahoma!,” “Around the World in 80 Days” and “South Pacific”) were other big-screen theater that had 70mm installations. As downtown DC ran down, and all the old movie palaces were torn down (Capitol, Palace, Columbia), the Warner lost its cache and turned into an exploitation and grind house. The Ontario was in another neighborhood that decline and went dark. That left the Uptown, which converted to three-projector Cinerama in 1961, I believe (I remember seeing “Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” there and “How the West Was Won”), then single-projector Cinerama (“Mad World” through “Ice Station Zebra”). I probably was “2001” there half a dozen times or more in its year long run. The Cinerama screen was replaced but the Cinerama screen scaffold and track were still in place when I saw “2001” there in 2001. Now I understand all that gone and so has film, which all shows now in digital format.

The firs film I remember seeing at the Warner was “Seven Wonders of the World” in 3-strip Cinerama. Later “Ben Hur”, “El Cid” and “Dr. Zhivago” during their roadshow engagements.

In the late 1960s while working as a projectionist I learned the booth at the Warner (among others). It was equipped with Norelco DP70 machines and Ashcraft lamps. “Pop” Shannon was still the projectionist and at 90 years old and was hefting those huge reels like a 30 year old. He had some great stories going back to the days when it was the Earle. He said projectionists actually got a raise during the depression.

I also worked many of the downtown theaters before they all but disappeared. Greatly missed!

December 27th, 1924 grand opening ad as Earle in photo section.

actually the most recent movie screenings here was in August 2016 for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain exhibited a traveling roadshow showing of the “Star Wars Trilogy: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi”

My original post is gone from 2K5. I never saw a movie here but did see the comics Stephen Lynch and the late Mitch Hedberg in 2005. I don’t recall a whole lot being this was 19 years+ years ago. I recall the interior was decent and the seats cramped and relatively clean. No movie screen but a decent stage. Lynch was great although, from my memory had to drink some beers to become animated enough to do his off the wall comedic songs. Hedberg seemed high or drunk and kept the show going on what seemed like hours or way past the booked time. Not that this was bad, its just that one can only maintain comfort in those seats with no break and I had superior bladder control at the time, too. Sadly, Hedberg passed away mere weeks after this show and that sticks in my mind as I write this.