Harry Crandall built theaters you wanted to walk into on a 95-degree DC afternoon. His chain was famous for its air conditioning back when air conditioning was still a novelty, and the Metropolitan, at 9th and E NW, was marketed as “the coolest theater south of the north pole.”
Crandall already had the Lincoln Theatre, the Knickerbocker Theatre, and the Tivoli Theatre when he opened the Met. He hired Reginald W. Geare, the architect behind the Lincoln and the original Knickerbocker, to design it. The Metropolitan opened on November 23, 1918 with Theda Bara starring in “Under Two Flags.”
By the 1920s, the original marquee was gone, replaced with something larger that swallowed part of the arched window over the main entrance. A 60-foot vertical sign was bolted to the front, running straight up through the pediment’s sculpture. The Met booked live stage shows alongside the films and kept a house orchestra on the payroll. In 1927, it hosted the Washington premiere of “The Jazz Singer,” making it the first theater in the city to show a talking picture.
Warner Brothers bought the Metropolitan in 1928 and held it until the early 1950s, when it sold to Harry Brandt. Brandt tried to keep it relevant. There were major remodels in 1954 and again in 1961. None of it worked. The Metropolitan closed for the last time on January 3, 1966, with Tony Curtis in “Boeing, Boeing” on the screen. Two years later, the building was gone.
The coolest theater south of the north pole, leveled.
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