Calvert Theater
2324 Wisconsin Avenue NW,
Washington,
DC
20007
2324 Wisconsin Avenue NW,
Washington,
DC
20007
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 10 comments
May 5th, 1937 grand opening ad in photo section.
Oh the actress name was Gabrielle Cardinelli and kids tickets .50 cents.Adults, $1.00
I remember this theater as a kid in the 1960’s shortly before being torn down for Pearsons Liquors parking lot. We used to enjoy a double feature,both with Peter Sellers, aThe Pink Panther and a Shot in the Dark. Peter was wild. Capucine hysterical in the hotel scene and David Nivens with that wonderful Italian actress.
“The Slender Thread opened in 1/66. Sorry about the typo
The Calvert closed 5/30/67 with a double bill of “Alfie” and “Funeral in Berlin”.
The Calvert began an on-again/off-again first-fun policy with “The Small World of Sammy Lee” on 9/20/63.
Among its more notable first-runs were “Knife In The Water” (1/64), “Bedtime Story” (6/64), “Marnie” (8/64), “The Slender Thread” (1/65), “Viva Maria” (2/66), “Shout Louder…” (12/66), and its last first-run “Night Games” (3/67).
“Marnie” which opened in multiple theaters that included the Calvert
was the first Alfred Hitcock film not to be shown in a downtown theater.
Most of the films ran from one to three weeks. ‘The Slender Thread" and “Viva Maria” both ran for four weeks. “The Easy Life” ran for six weeks.
photo of lobby:
View link
Going to the Calvert Theatre was alot of fun during my high school years….As one of the “Avenue Boys” we usually spent the day playing ball at Jelleff’s Boys Club just down the street..
One night stands out..when our buddy…nicknamed “Jughead” …..got alittle too loud and rowdy during a ‘62 showing of “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence”……and we were asked to leave the premises.
After the theater was torn down the sign remained for a period of time, I think as the sign for Calvert Liquors. You went under the sign to enter the parking lot from Wisconsin Avenue. During the time that the theater was in existence the entrance to the parking lot was only from 37th Street; there was none from Wisconsin Avenue in those days.
I still remember the neon sign for the Calvert Theater. The letters were red. Each letter would light up in sequence: “C – A – L – V – E – R – T”. Then all the letters would go out. Then they would all come on again at once. Then they would all go out. Then the sequence would begin again.
Among the movies which I saw for the first time at the Calvert were “Vertigo”, “Rodan”, “Invaders From Mars”, “Cleopatra”, “How The West Was Won”, “The Blob”, and no doubt many others. Saturday matinees were thirty-five cents in the latter part of the 1950s.
Bluesman’s e-mail is
Im Looking for any exterior photos of the old Calvert. HELP
Thanks Bill