Warner Theatre

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

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.

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.

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.

The WARNER THEATER is alive and well, now exceeding its ½ 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.