Warner Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
Encyclopedia
The Warner Theatre is a theater located at 513 13th Street, N.W. in Downtown Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. The basement level is at 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. that joins the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street", it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches...

.

History

Originally named the Earle Theatre, it was built in 1924 as a movie palace
Movie palace
A movie palace is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed...

 presenting live vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 and first run silent movies
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

. It had a rooftop garden, basment ballroom, and restaurant.
On August 12, 1943, the movie This Is the Army
This Is the Army
This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime motion picture produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, and a wartime musical designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone...

premiered there.
In 1945, the theater began showing movies exclusively. The theater was renamed in 1947 in honor of its owner, Harry Warner
Harry Warner
Harry Morris Warner was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three brothers Warner played a crucial role in the film business and played a key role in establishing Warner Bros...

, one of the founders of Warner Brothers
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

.

By the 1970s, the Warner Theatre had fallen into disrepair and was briefly used to screen pornographic films before being revived as a live concert venue.

The Warner closed for renovations in 1989 and reopened in 1992. The reopened theater added theatrical and dance productions to the musical performances on its calendar.

In 1992, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

 performed there.

In 2007, it was the venue for the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize
Gershwin Prize
The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is an award given to a composer or performer for their lifetime contributions to popular music...

 for Popular Song. The recipient of the first Gershwin Prize was Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

.

The theater is also home to The BET Honors
The BET Honors
The BET Honors were established in 2008 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate the lives and achievements of African American luminaries...

ceremony, held annually.

External links

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