DuPont Theater
1322 Connecticut Avenue NW,
Washington,
DC
20036
1322 Connecticut Avenue NW,
Washington,
DC
20036
1 person
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Circle Theatres, Mann Theatres, MN, United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Architects: Max Barth, Leon Julius
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Sep 24, 2007 — Dupont Circle 5 to close in Jan '08
This theater opened March 19, 1948 with Franklin D. Roosevelt in “The Roosevelt Story”. It was designed by Leon Julius and Max Barth. It was located on Connecticut Avenue, not far from DuPont Circle, for which it was named. The theater was closed in 1986.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 18 comments)
There is an enormous office building at 1330 Connecticut that spans the entire block. If the 1322 address is correct, the theater is gone.
The longest running films at the Dupont between 1954 and 1972 (when I lived in the D.C. area) were: JULIUS CAESAR (15 weeks), THE HORSE’S MOUTH (14 weeks), NEVER ON SUNDAY (43 weeks!!!) ONE, TWO, THREE (15 weeks), PHAEDRA (15 weeks), THE THRILL OF IT ALL (14 weeks), DR. STRANGELOVE (14 weeks), THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT (11 weeks), ZORBA THE GREEK (22 weeks!), THE LOVED ONE (11 weeks), GEORGY GIRL (27 weeks!), THE FOX (16 weeks), ROMEO AND JULIET (36 weeks!), IF (12 weeks), and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY (12 weeks).
There were also a great many films that played at the Dupont for almost two months, and I will include the entire list of every picture that played at the theater from January of 1950 to January of 1972 at a later date so you can find your favorites.
Some sidenotes: DR. STRANGELOVE and THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT played back to back at the Dupont between 2/20/64 and 9/1/64. THE THRILL OF IT ALL with Doris Day and James Garner was hardly an art house film, which was the Dupont’s specialty, but it obviously did great business. Undoubtedly a great “date movie”, it ran at the Dupont from 7/24/63 to 10/10/63.
Ironically, the 1954 version of ROMEO AND JULIET with Laurence Harvey and Susan Shentall also had its first-run engagement at the Dupont. It played for 7 weeks, starting on Christmas Eve of that year.
After enjoying a healthy run of 10 weeks at the Embassy, JOE (1970) moved over to the Dupont on 10/28/70 and played there for 8 more weeks.
The only films I saw at the Dupont were: PRIVILEGE (1967), THE SWIMMER (1968), the 1968 version of ROMEO AND JULIET, TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE (a late 1969 release that opened at the Dupont on 1/16/70), THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY (another late 1969 release that opened at the Dupont on 2/18/70), and THE GREAT WHITE HOPE (1970).
The Dupont opened for business on March 19, 1948. It’s premier attraction was the documentary THE ROOSEVELT STORY.
JULIUS CAESAR, with Marlon Brando and James Mason, was released in June of 1953 and played in other major cities before coming to the Dupont on February 3, 1954.
Picture of the Dupont:
View link
HIGH NOON opened in New York City on July 24, 1952, but did not make it to D.C. until 12/31/52. According to an article I read in the “Washington Post” by their film critic Richard L. Coe, the film was held back because of protests by the American Legion.
HIGH NOON opened simultanously at the Dupont, where it played for 16 weeks, and the Playhouse, where it played for 6 weeks.
This may have been the movie house I saw a Melvin Van Peebles film called “Don’t Play Us Cheap”. I couldn’t remember the theater until a saw the exterior photo. Thanks CSWalczak
My parent built and ran the Dupont Theater from 1948 and it was the first nonsegregated movie theater in Washington D.C.
March 19th, 1948 grand opening ad in photo section
The Dupont Building and the Dupont Movie theater were both owned and operated by my parents, J. Daniel and Mary Weitzman, and the desegragated theater opened in 1948, not by Mann or Freudberg in 1961. American movie distributors refused to lease films to the desegregated theater and the FBI harassed my parent until they eventually had to sell in 1961.