Warner Theatre

Called Earle Cinema in 1924.3-strip Cinerama installed from 5 No 1953 to 13 Sept 1959.146 degree curved screen.68 ft x 26 ft.

mansorama has told me what my memories of yesteryear were having trouble with. The Warner was the theatre where I saw a couple of Cinerama movies back about 1958. A fine theatre. Thanks for the memory jog.

The Warner has shown films since it's reopening in 1992. Several films held their premieres at the Warner - including Batman, Quiz Show, Amistad and Gettysburg.

Clear Channel runs it now, does a great job, the place looks beautiful. I was a media buyer there in 1984-85, the joint was fun, but the owners kept it a bit dank. Met Mickey Rooney backstage during Sugar Babies, along with Yul Brynner in King & I who always insisted that his dressing room be painted fresh with dark brown paint.
The Cinerama screen were still up on the sides back in the early 80's, hidden by a false wall.

When the Warner Theatre was a movie theatre it seated 2154 people.

Part of a theater's history are the films that played there. Listed below are the films which played the Warner Theater in Washington, DC from 1957-71. Research was gathered from microfilms of The Washington Post and Variety.

11/27/57 Seven Wonders of the World (49th week)
01/15/58 Search for Paradise
10/15/58 Windjammer
12/17/58 South Seas Adventure
10/07/59 The Big Fisherman
12/16/59 House of Intrigue
12/23/59 Operation Petticoat
03/09/60 DARK
03/16/60 Ben-Hur
01/18/61 Spartacus
06/28/61 Two Rode Together
07/12/61 Fanny
09/13/61 Come September
10/25/61 DARK
11/01/61 King of Kings
02/14/62 Judgement at Nuremberg
06/13/62 El Cid
08/29/62 The Spiral Road
09/12/62 West Side Story
11/21/62 Mutiny on the Bounty
04/24/63 DARK
05/01/63 The Ugly American
05/29/63 55 Days at Peking
06/26/63 Cleopatra
04/01/64 The Fall of the Roman Empire
06/24/64 The Unsinkable Molly Brown
08/26/64 The Night of the Iguana
10/07/64 A House is Not a Home
11/25/64 My Fair Lady
10/27/65 The Great Race
02/02/66 Doctor Zhivago
02/15/67 Hawaii
07/19/67 Ulysses
11/08/67 Camelot
06/12/68 Doctor Dolittle
09/18/68 Helga
10/23/68 The Unsinkable Molly Brown
11/06/68 Star!
02/05/69 Riot
02/19/69 Inga
03/26/69 Hell in the Pacific
04/09/69 Michael and Helga
04/23/69 A Bullet for the General
04/30/69 The Oldest Profession
05/14/69 Death of a Gunfighter
05/21/69 Slaves
06/25/69 The Lost Man
07/30/69 Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?
08/27/69 Paranoia
09/17/69 The Man from Nowhere
09/24/69 Planet of the Apes/Valley of the Dolls
10/08/69 Change of Mind
10/22/69 Fanny Hill
12/17/69 Hello, Dolly!
05/27/70 2001: A Space Odyssey
06/24/70 Too Late the Hero
07/08/70 The Christine Jorgensen Story
07/22/70 Fanny Hill/The Man from O.R.G.Y.
07/29/70 Night of Bloody Horror
08/26/70 Soldier Blue
09/16/70 Whirlpool
10/07/70 Cherry, Harry, and Raquel
11/04/70 Pattern of Evil
12/23/70 He and She
01/27/71 Interplay
02/03/71 The Minx/The Female
02/10/71 The Brazen Women of Balzac
02/24/71 The ABCs of Marriage
03/10/71 Beyond Love and Evil
03/24/71 Naked and Free
03/31/71 Enjoy
04/21/71 Zodiac Couples
04/28/71 Censorship USA
05/12/71 Kama Sutra '71
07/21/71 Soldier Blue/C.C. and Company
07/28/71 Patton/MASH
08/11/71 Dr. No/From Russia, With Love

As noted above, the theater began as the Earle, although it was originally to have been called the Cosmopolitan. In 1947 Harry Warner was in Washington and saw the name Earle on the marquee. "I own that theater. Put my name up there," he said, which is the origin of the theater's name being changed to the Warner Theater.

As happened with many other downtown Washington theaters, the Warner fell victim to changes in the wind, particularly after the rioting following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968. Film studios were by this time premiering their new releases in newer first-run thaters in suburban shopping centers, forcing many downtown palaces to play second run films and X-rated sexploitation films. This happened to the Warner in its last two years. At least the final regular booking was that good old standby, 007.

In August 1971 the theater was sold by RKO-Stanley Warner Theaters, virtually ending it's days as a downtown picture palace, although thankfully, this beautiful ediface is still standing and operating with concerts (The Rolling Stones performed there in 1978), stage productions, and the occasional movie. I first saw the theater in August 1964 while with my family on a vacation to the nation's capitol. "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," with Debbie Reynolds and Harve Presnell, was playing and when I wanted to see it, I was told that we would wait until it played at a theater back home. We did see it, three weeks later, but it would have been nice to see it at the Warner.

The Warner Theatre was a movie palace. I remember those huge red velvet curtains and that large balcony. One of last times I was there was back in the mid 80's. I was fortunate to see Yul Bryner live in the play "The King And I". After they stopped showing movies they had a few Rythm and Blues shows before it was renovated to where it is today. This was a grand theatre.

The architects attributed to the Earle/Warner Theater were C. Howard Crane and Kenneth Franzheim. It opened in 1924.

I have heard stories to the effect that this was J.F.K.'s favorite theatre, and that he would often frustrate the Secret Service by sneaking off to visit it. Urban Legend, or not?

Do I not remember that in 1944-45, when I attended Washington Missionary College in Takoma Park, the Earle would feature big bands and vaudeville acts, along with movies, as did so many movie palaces of the day?

Ernie Nagy

does anyone know the dimensions or size of the warner theatre, i need to build a replica for a project i'm doing for school. can anyone help me?

The WARNER THEATER is alive and well, now exceeding its 1/2 block away neighbor, the NATIONAL, in booking top stage shows. This beautiful theater, the best surviving theater in Washington since Loew's CAPITOL was torn down, was almost murdered by the Martin Luther King riots and looting, carried on without interference from police or military, and excused by many, but not by me. Being part of an office building saved it, but after the riots, major Road Show first runs were moved elsewhere, like to the UPTOWN, and the WARNER fell on hard times, was boarded up. The WARNER was the site of the fancy World Premiere of JOHN WAYNE's SANDS OF IWO JIMA. It was a big deal and led to many other --- mostly military films --- WorLd Premieres in Washington, at the WARNER or CAPITOL. Thank God we still have this place --- and it's thriving.

Could rivjr please keep his views on history and racial politics to himself? The riots were unforgivable by all accounts but to blame King and anyone else for them is clearly racist. I may be a bleeding heart liberal, but that has nothing to do with the fond nostalgia people have for these old theatres.

I think you overread rlwjr's comments. He didn't blame MLK for the riots. He blamed those who perpetrated them, and the authorities who did little to stop them. Not unlike the way we stood by in Baghdad and allowed the looting of priceless antiquities from the museums there. I agree with Michael's characterizations. I understand the rage of the perpetrators, but it does not justify the enormous damage done.

I don't wish to use this particular website for politcal arguments but in another thread about another theatre in D.C. rlvjr calls the rioters admirers of MLK. He goes through similar threads in a few other D.C, theatre sites. The race riots that followed MLK's death is a sorry chapter in our lives and our history. My understanding of those events in Washington is that they were most extensive on 14th St. in the black areas of NW D.C. Many viable stores were destroyed in that area. The downtown theatres continued on for at least another 20 years. When I visited Washington beginning in 1971 I saw no evidence of any damage downtown to any theatres other than
the psychological damage caused by the riots. His comments remind me of those who constantly blame Israel for terrorist attacks in our country and elsewhere. They may say they're not anti-semitic but in reality undoubtedly are. rlvjr has every right to his opinion, I just don't think they belong to this particular site.

The WARNER most likely was not JFK's favorite. He was known to favor James Bond movies and was said to sneak over (with the Secret Service) to catch them at RKO Keith's. That was the rumor back in the early 1960's when I worked across from the White House and Keith's.

The Emporis Buildings web site (usually pretty reliable) lists both C. Howard Crane and the firm of Zink, Adkins & Craycroft as architects of the Warner.

Only a bleeding heart liberal would say that the King riots are not related to the loss of our great movie palaces. In the aftermath of the riots, downtown Washington not only lost every single movie theatre except the Warner, but most of our department stores, retail stores, restaurants and other businesses as well. Prime real estate was torn down and parking lots were numerous. There was no economic redevelopment at all east of 14th Street for almost 20 years. Liberals are fond of calling people racist; but they ought simply look in the mirror when using that word.

I am an unabashed liberal -- a dedicated anti-Republican at the very least -- but I must say rtvjr's assertions are pretty much indisputable. Little effort was made to rein in the rioters, major businesses and restaurants disappeared, the downtown, to this day, is commercially and culturally hollow. Was the assassination of MLK a dastardly act? Beyond a doubt. But, particularly in the long run, so were the actions of those who went on a destructive rampage in ostensible response.

Ernie Nagy

Here is an interesting lawsuit from 1985 concerning preservation of the Warner:
http://tinyurl.com/yxfal5

Here is another case concerning allegations of anti-trust against Stanley-Warner, although the case doesn't concern the Warner theater directly:
http://tinyurl.com/yppuq5

Here is a link:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:4:./temp/~pp_TTQm::

Also known as Cinerama.

1950 photo, exterior:
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/intro.htm

This photo shows the Warner's Earle Theater on August 12, 1943.

In the Mid 1970's the Warner Theater served as stage for many top R&B shows. As a member of the group New Birth, we performed there a number of times during that period. The Warner was an excellent host, and I can remember the acoustics of the building being very responsive to our instruments. I would always look forward to performing at the Warner because the audience in DC was so full of life, real party people. When I think of the Warner Theater, I have nothing but good memories. Long live the Warner Theater!!

RR website: home.earthlink.net/~rrussell007/

A Kimball theater organ size 3/10 was installed in the Earle Theater in 1924.

LOC photos..
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:72:./temp/~ammem_eALv::

Was there another Earle Theatre located at 517 13th Street?

LOC pictures..

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&fileName=dc/dc0700/dc0714/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Earle%20Theatre,%20Thirteenth%20%26%20E%20Streets,%20Northwest,%20Washington,%20District%20of%20Columbia,%20DC&displayType=1&itemLink=D?hh:72:./temp/~ammem_qqRo::

Here is a NY Times article from January 21, 1996 that mentions the Warner Theater.

The REALLY GOOD THING about the Warner is that in 2008 you can go there on most nights, find it open, and see a show. Whether you like Broadway, pop music, comedians or ballet; the Warner will have something for you.

As a frequent user of this site, I know many people dwell on the past and on lost memories (as I do) because so many fine theaters are now rubble. Not here! We attend 6 to 10 shows a year at the Warner. Why not sign off right now, buy a ticket, see a show!

Didn't this theatre host Cleopatra's world premiere?

Wikipedia lists the Warner Theatre as the venue that ventriloquist Jeff Dunham taped his 2007 show/DVD "Sparks of Insanity" at.
It's possible that DVD includes good footage of the Warner's interior.
As did his recent Christmas special taped at Milwaukee's historic Pabst Theatre.

Although "Cleopatra" did play there, I do believe that the world premiere of the film was at the Rivoli Theater in New York City and/or the Pantages in Hollywood on June 19, 1963, one week before it opened in Washington and most other cities.

This is a photo of the Warner.

Ron3853, "Cleopatra" had it's World Premiere at the Rivoli Theatre in NYC on June 12th. 1963. The West Coast Premiere at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood was held on June 19th. 1963.