Palace of Silents (2010) - full transcript

The Silent Movie Theater has been screening the films of the silent era for over 65 years. It was almost lost to us completely when its previous owner, Lawrence Austin, was murdered in the theater's lobby. This is a documentary film about the passionate and somewhat eccentric individuals who strove to keep the old movies running for audiences in this unique and odd venue. This is a film about obsession for silent film and a love of the theater. The Silent Movie Theater's Quixotic occupants keep on screening films (now of all eras) despite the odds of the place surviving.

- Silence is certainly important

in a historical context.

You get a sense of how

the art of film developed.

You watch this thing evolve.

And so by the late 20s, what

you have is a real artform.

A great silent film

in the right setting

has as much ability

to move an audience

as any other movie with sound

or any other artform,

novel, painting.

And just like seeing

a great piece of art,

you wanna go to a museum

that presents it properly.

The Silent Movie Theatre is

like a museum in that sense.

But more than that, it's a

place where you really can have

a transcendent film experience.

- If you put this

into a real movie,

made this a movie movie.

Nobody will believe this stuff.

They'd all say it's

gotta be fiction.

- The Silent Movie Theatre

was like a time machine.

- It was a secretive place,

sort of a house of secrets.

- It's not some big fancy event

with a full orchestra

and a preserved print

and it's a hundred bucks a seat.

No, this is the

Silent Movie Theatre.

- It's special and it's perfect.

It's the most Hollywood

thing that you could be

because on the surface it's

all glamorous and art deco

and wonderful and clean.

And underneath there is a

roiling dark noirish subtext.

It's Sunset Boulevard,

it's Hollywood Gothic.

- This is a move theater.

You know, the theater closes,

the guy dies a horrible

death from cancer.

The best friend suddenly

shows up out of nowhere.

He reopens it with pizazz.

Bad choices lead to

this terrible thing.

Murder and people go to

prison and lives are ruined.

The theater gets sold

and is it gonna stay open

or is it gonna close?

- I started going to

the Silent Movie Theater

when I came, well the signs

those wishes around 1950.

That was the only place

in town that I knew of

that was showing silent films.

- The first time I went to

the Silent Movie Theatre

was in December of 1961.

And I went to see

the King of Kings

which was an annual

tradition there.

- The first time I went to

the Silent Movie Theatre

would have been

around 1963 or 1964.

And one Friday night I got

my father to take me there.

- The first time I went to

the Silent Movie Theatre

was 1971 and I saw

"Birth of a Nation".

- There was a whole

page about the theater

in Ezra Goodman's book,

"The Fifty Year Decline

"and Fall of Hollywood."

That might have been

where I first heard

of the theater.

- I was surprised

when I saw an ad

for the Silent Movie

Theatre and I had no idea

anything like that existed

anywhere on the world.

- I passed by one time

and I was attracted to it

and checked out to find

what it was all about

and when I did, I

thought of going there.

- I was fascinated.

I went a number of

times through the years

to the theater.

- In the early 70s,

we didn't have DVDs.

We didn't have VHS.

- When we went to the

Silent Movie Theatre

we had this strange

sensation that we were

the only people in the

world that had access

to those movies.

- I saw a lot of things there.

The first Chaney film

I saw there was called

"Flesh and Blood".

A 1922 independent film

he did with Jack Mulhall.

- I saw "The Mark of Zorro".

- I saw "Intolerance" there.

That was the first time

I saw "Intolerance"

in a complete form.

- I probably saw those

for the first time

at his theater.

- John Hampton

created the theater

and John Hampton

was the theater.

And only John Hampton

and his wife Dorothy

work at that theater.

- My brother and I ran the

show there at that time

for kids and neighborhood

every Friday night.

And my love for silent films was

nailed down tight at that point.

- He took his new

bride from Oklahoma,

transplanted her here and

set to work on his dream.

- They built that

theater which was built

like a fortress.

Poured concrete, this and that.

Like a bunker, practically.

- We started this theater,

actually we opened it

in February 25th, 1942.

I'll never forget that date

'cause that was the

day after Los Angeles

was supposedly bombed

by the Japanese.

- The second he

opened this place,

he almost closed it

'cause I remember

he was a conscientious

objector to the war.

- Willingly went to jail.

He was an activist.

He was a Quaker and

didn't believe in the war.

- And apparently was a,

kind of a difficult

case in prison,

very much an anti war guy.

- I would say about

42, was probably about

the lowest ebb for

appreciation of silent film.

- They were considered

extremely old fashioned then,

even more so than now.

- Remember, Marian Peckford

felt that the advent of sound

had made her films

look so old fashioned,

she seriously considered

destroying them.

- Silent Movie Theatre was not,

at best it was like

a neighborhood house

in a small town.

It didn't have that

Grand Movie Palace aura

about it at all.

- Small and depressing.

And very hard chairs.

- I swear to god, it was painted

the color of dried blood.

- There was no

adornment of any kind

except the handpainted

posters outside the theater.

There were no pictures

inside the theater.

- Sometimes the lobby was

a John Hampton art show.

There is this beautiful

lettering and photo work

on the outside.

And then you would

go into the theater

and it was always very dark

and he had these dead flowers

at the front of the theater.

- It just seemed old,

cramped and antiquated.

But we didn't care.

We went to this place and it

was just a magical place for us

because of what

was on the screen.

- You'd go into the theater

and Hampton would play 78s.

- He would play 40s swing.

- As the scenes would

change, he would move rapidly

from one turntable to the other

to have music.

- And sometimes the

music worked, sometimes

the music didn't work.

But it didn't matter.

- It was still, in a

sense, a live performance

because it was

different for every show

'cause you couldn't get those

needles in the same groove.

- He had some amazing

affinity for this equipment

and it was all taped

together and patched together

with wire and masking tape.

He had a lot of masking

tape on everything.

- The program at Silent

Movie Theatre was pretty much

the same unless he

had a very long film.

- They start off with

a Felix the Cat cartoon.

And then they had a

couple of comedy shorts.

There was in those days,

generally there was

always a Chaplin film.

- And then frequently

they'll have a serial.

- I think he had

"Plunder" with Pearl White

and the "Adventures of

Tarzan" with Elma Winkin.

- Hampton had this

humongous collection.

What this guy had

was unbelievable.

- There were a number

of films that John ran

that you literally

couldn't see anywhere else.

- You'd go there and you'd

go away with this feeling

of finding buried treasure.

- Most of what John ran were

films that had been distributed

through the Kodascope Library

and the Bell and Howe library

and the Universal

show at home library

in the 20s and 30s.

- It's especially fortunate

because Universal threw out

or one of their

executives had decided

to throw out their entire

silent inventory in the 1940s.

So many of the Universal

pictures only survived

through 16 millimeter prints.

And this includes

big important movies

like "The Hunchback of

Notre Dame" with Chaney.

- Hampton never ran anything

other than public domain films.

- He ran "The Covered

Wagon" and Paramount

did go after him.

- It was quite

famous at the time.

He had shown Covered

Wagon, which was a film

which was in copyright.

And Paramount came down on

them like a ton of bricks.

- Mr. Hampton had this

strange duty to the theater

but he also had a

duty to posterity.

He was conscious of

the fact that he was

the only guy out there who's

restoring a lot of these films.

- He would get a print of a film

and let's say three quarters

of the film was in good shape.

And the other

quarter part wasn't.

He would wind up,

wheeling and dealing

and he'd get the better last

quarter part of the film

and he'd splice it together.

- He had a Sydney Chaplin

film that he was editing

together from two

different prints

he'd got from different sources.

And he had no idea

why he kept saying

I don't know why I'm doing this.

Nobody wants to

see Sydney Chaplin.

There's no notice in this films.

And then he answers

his own question.

He said, if I don't

do it, no one will.

- You can always tell

a Hampton restoration,

one of his 16 millimeter prints

because he favored a Bell

& Howell diagonal splicer

intended to give you a strong

splice in 16 millimeter.

- But it goes right

across the picture.

- He would buy sound

prints of silence

and he would perforate them

so that he could run them

on his silent projectors.

- These perforations were

very ragged as I recall.

They weren't very good.

But they got the job done.

- On the other hand,

there wasn't a textbook

for restoring film.

There were people

that were doing it,

but he was way ahead

of his time I think

in the concept of

trying to find materials

to create the best and

most complete prints.

You'll see things

in a Hampton print

that you won't see

on any other print.

But you're also gonna

see the, you know,

the diagonal splice come

through the projector.

It's just the tradeoff.

- You couldn't really

talk to Hampton

about anything really

more than the operation

of the Silent Movie Theatre

and what he was showing.

- Something in him

resonated deeply

about the value of silent films.

- He had to clear

off some film cans

for me to have a place to sit.

And we sat there and

he never looked up

from editing the

film the whole time.

I don't think he ever could

tell you what I looked like.

- He was so focused on his work

that when he built the place

he built it with

a little trapdoor

in the projection booth.

So that rather

than stop working,

Dorothy could feed him

food from the upstairs

where the kitchen was

down through the hole

into the booth.

- The week before Christmas

he'd run "King of Kings"

and then he'd go take off for

a week or two for vacation.

And that was the only time

that he wasn't in that booth

splicing film or running film.

- And they had their

cause and that's what

they devoted their lives to.

Heroically, frankly.

- Offhand, I don't remember

what they were charging

65 cents or a dollar.

- Often for a crowd of

maybe seven to 14 people.

- I don't think they did

it to make a lot of money.

They did it to pay

the light bills

and keep the doors open.

And they lived in

the building as well.

- I mean you had to

have had a passion

to build a theater,

to live upstairs.

I don't know what it

was like up there.

But I assumed it

was pretty small.

- I felt so privileged

to be upstairs.

And even though

there's no room for me.

There were reels of

film piled everywhere

and you couldn't

see how he even knew

where anything was.

- He was very devoted

to the silent picture

to my way of thinking,

kind of extreme extent.

- I think it was probably

mostly his obsession.

And maybe his wife

Dorothy was sort of

secondary to that.

I think she was

working for his dreams

a lot of the time.

And my impression that hers

were probably perhaps withering.

- She was just a

very supportive wife

and she was kind

of in awe of John.

She just thought he was the

greatest guy in the world.

It would have been

very intriguing

to be around John

Hampton at the time

of the sound transition when

he was in his late teens

because he obviously

loved silent pictures.

And sound pictures won and it

must have been tough on him.

- Actually I was up there

one time when he was

running a sound

film for himself.

A sound film?

- Yeah, he was running a

sound film in the theater.

It seemed very strange.

- I would say that John and

Dorothy were private people.

I don't say that in a bad way.

You know, they were unassuming.

- John and Dorothy

were difficult to know.

- I got to know the

Hamptons about as well

as I think anybody

could at that time

which was not very much.

You got the feeling that these

people woke up in the morning

and their lives were running

that theater night and day.

- On a couple occasions,

I saw them on a bus

heading toward

downtown Los Angeles

and I was told by

John that he was going

to visit his son who

was in a hospital.

- She had wanted a

baby for a long time.

He was born with Down Syndrome.

He was put in a hospital.

And I believe he died.

- That has got to have

been very tragic for them

and then perhaps the

theater was an escape.

- In the photographs, they

look when they're with the kid

I mean especially

Dorothy looks so happy.

She wants this.

- And then, one day came,

the Hamptons went on a vacation

and they just never quite

somehow got around to reopening.

- It was always, we're

gonna reopen sometime soon

and sometime soon stretched

to six months and a year

and ultimately

something like 10 years.

- By the early 80s, everybody's

putting all those films

that you used to see at

Silent Movie Theatre on VHS.

And then in 1979 Kevin

Brownlow's Hollywood Series

is finally syndicated.

Now I've seen stuff

I've never seen.

I've kind of graduated

from film history 101

of the Hamptons and now

I'm into graduate level

Kevin Brownlow silent films.

- The Hamptons at

the time had an offer

to sell the collection and

close down as I understand it

to inventory their collection,

get ready to sell it

for a substantial

amount of money.

- Well I heard

through the grapevine

that David Packard had

bought that collection.

When you sell things off,

it's perhaps an indication

that you're not as completely

obsessed as you were.

- They just kind of

disappeared, faded out.

You know, kind of like

Norma Desmond in a way.

- And then the next

thing one heard

is that John was ill

and then really ill.

- It must have attributed

this man's ill health

that he was sitting

there all day

breathing all these

different chemicals.

He was mixing them

in the bathroom.

- Whether John Hampton

really died as a result of

what he breathed, who can say?

Who can say?

He lived to be 80.

- Then you know, then John died.

And Dorothy lived on upstairs

in their little

apartment upstairs.

- Well obviously

when I heard that

I thought well that's

the final blow.

That's the end of the theater.

- It just kind of seemed to,

was going to die a quiet death.

- It was part of my past and

I kept needing to revisit.

You know, we all

have these regrets.

I wish I had gone to

the Silent Movie Theatre

a couple times

before it closed down

and just visit it one more time

in the form that I knew it.

♪ They think that I'm bashful

♪ But I'm flighty

just the same ♪

♪ It's this dress I wear that

makes them think I'm slow ♪

♪ They think I haven't

cut my wisdom tooth ♪

♪ But oh boy if they

only knew the truth ♪

- I drove down Fairfax one

day and they were painting it.

There were people out

front putting a fresh coat

of paint on it and I went

oh my goodness, it's

coming back to life.

- Suddenly I realized there's

this new person, Larry Austin

who suddenly is going to

open the theater again.

I said, couldn't believe it.

- Well, I've been

running silent films

for about four years before this

at a church out in the valley.

And Hampton of course

knew about this

and he's very much interested

in the project I was doing.

Unfortunately his

health never allowed him

to come to see what

I was doing, but,

he knew I always

had this interest.

And when he passed away,

I talked to Dorothy about

reopening the theater.

And she thought it

was a good idea so

it took us about five

months to get the place

in shape again.

- He had been going to the

theater for a long, long time.

He did know the Hamptons.

He was in a position,

because he was known by them

to talk Dorothy into letting

him reopen the theater.

- And we reopened on

January 18th, 1991

with the film "King of Kings".

- That was great!

I had a great time

and I started going

more and more often.

- It was 1991, I

moved to Los Angeles.

Around the corner, like a

few blocks from where I lived

there was this Silent Movie

Theatre and I thought wow,

how amazing is this.

- A friend of mine

said you know,

have you been to this place,

the Silent Movie

Theatre on Fairfax?

- That was my Friday night.

I used to walk over the

Silent Movie Theatre

and watch these films

and it was magic to me.

- I was blown away by

the first experience

and also impressed by

the proprietor who plays.

One Lawrence Austin.

- He really did a great

number on the theater.

I mean the theater

really came to life.

- I was amazed what

he had done with it.

He made it into a

beautiful little jewel box.

- Like a little toy theater.

Like a little dream theater.

Just the right size, you know.

Couple hundred seats.

- Larry put the right

curtain on the theater

which is still there.

- Really, really

wonderful blowups of

major silent stars.

- The wooden seats were

still freaking uncomfortable.

He did finally pad

the bottom parts.

- Lawrence indicated

that he was very close

to the Hamptons.

- He felt they were like family.

They had known each

other for years, he said

and I'd seen snapshots of

them taking trips together.

- He certainly seemed to have

a close bond with Dorothy.

- Lawrence would give

the person the ticket

and not three feet

away, there'd be Dorothy

ripping the ticket in half.

It was like the

space of this much.

- She smile, she glowed,

she right where regarded it

as a miracle.

- Larry played them all

but we tried to put on the

best films that we could.

And my husband spent his life

collecting and

refurbishing, you know.

- Clearly he was

very fond of Dorothy.

But he would say

things like, well John.

People don't know John.

John had a very dark side.

I kind of think it might

had just been as innocent

as running some porn reels

for his own pleasure.

- I got to work one

day and Lawrence

was out on the back

patio with a garbage can

with a pencil stuck

through the reels

and literally pulling the

stuff, this film off these reels

into the garbage can.

And I'm like what are you doing?

He says, oh there's

all these films.

It's pornography, you

want some pornography?

- It might have been

hardcore, but it was antique.

Another time though, we

were inventoring the film

at the back of the film vault.

And he gets to one and he says

write down this

one, A224XXX horse.

And he sets it down.

- Larry would tell me that

John would be collecting

large amounts of pornography,

as he was anti-pornography.

And he would do marches

and things like that.

Then upstairs, Dorothy

would be in bed

watching evangelists

on the television.

- Lawrence was absolutely

enamored of silent films.

He would often get the

names and dates wrong

when he was relaying

information to the audience.

Because that wasn't the most

important thing to Lawrence.

- There must have been

something more than just

let's say promoting himself

when he was running the theater.

- He loved to play

the role of the person

who represented the

Silent Movie Theatre.

He was extremely

proud of that role.

- I was working at

the theater the night

that the LA riots started.

Larry continued to run the

theater through the riots.

He was running Laurel

and Hardy movies

during the Los Angeles riots.

Couldn't understand

why Larry wouldn't just

close the theater.

But again it was part

of being Larry Austin

was to just damn the

torpedoes, full steam ahead.

- As a silent film buff,

with Larry running it

in the first four to five

years up to about 95,

he really went all out

to try and show things.

- He didn't really care

if five people showed up

or 15 or 200.

Pretty much the midweek show

was where you'd see the

real sort of rarities.

- And birth, it

takes a lot of worth

and considering so

many films gone by,

it challenge you to what kind

of programs you can put on

and change the variation

so that you'll keep

the audience interest

in the program.

- Larry Austin would screen

as many rare features as

he can get his hands on.

"The Black Pirate",

"Love Sosoniaw", Sadie Thompson.

- He, unlike John

Hampton would get films

from various sources, not

just what was at the theater.

- He was able to get a

lot of MGM silent films

that never got shown.

Well we got to see

a lot of that stuff.

- There were never a

lot of people there

except on comedy nights.

- Laurel and Hardy weekend,

all star comedy or Chaplin.

'Cause the comedies really

sort of drew the most in.

- Larry put certain

emphasis on comedy.

He called his company, I guess,

the Shape of

Laughter productions.

- He showed a lot of Keaton.

Keaton had a resurgence

because of Larry, literally.

- That was the only

time you would ever see

any kind of real line

out this theater.

- There were still films from

John Hampton's collection

at the theater.

And that helped a lot because

we could draw on those.

- Naturally, he was

very protective of this.

He really didn't want

other collectors to know

what was in the collection.

It's the holy grail,

you know, finding out,

getting a list of what

the films were actually

in the collection.

And the rumors were flying

about what he actually had

and many of them, perpetuated

by Lawrence himself

who would say oh

yeah, we have that.

We have that and

someday I'll show it.

And of course he never did.

- One of the nights

we ran, "The Eagle"

which was a real strong

Valentino picture.

Larry brought out this print

and I printed it up and

did some rehearsal with it.

And it was pretty

fuzzy, pretty dupey

and I said to Larry, well

it's not very good quality.

And Larry went back

into the vaults

and brought out another print.

So I printed up this print

and it looked about the same.

So I said to Larry, this is

not better really, Larry.

Larry went back into

the vault again,

brought out a third print.

It was gorgeous.

- I remember one time I get

this phone call from him

and he says "You're never

gonna guess what I found."

I said, "What?"

"Well I've been going through

these cans that Hampton had

"and checking his notes."

And he goes "There's some

footage from Chaney's Thunder."

which was Chaney's

last silent film

which has been considered lost.

I said "You're kidding."

He goes. "No."

He says "Come down tomorrow,

I'll show it for you."

- I didn't care if it was nerdy

to spend my Friday nights

in the Silent Movie Theatre.

I was very happy there.

- It was the best

time of my life,

that two and a half

years I was there, really

with all the ups and downs.

- Once everything settled

in and the lights went down

and I got to sit in the back

row finally and just watch,

and it was fantastic.

Silent films are not

meant to be seen silent.

Silent films are meant

to be seen with music.

And Lawrence knew this.

- You'd have players

like Bob Mitchell,

the legendary Bob Mitchell.

- The first night I came here,

they were showing "Hands Up".

And I had played for that in

1925 at the Strand Theater.

And I remember it vividly.

- Dayward Carter,

of the top three

silent film accompanists

of all time.

- Dean Mora started

playing for Larry.

- I actually started on piano.

Lawrence had said "We'll

start you on a movie

"that we're showing

for a UCLA film class.

"It'll be on piano and

it'll be pretty easy."

And it turned out to

be "Birth of a Nation."

It's only three hours long.

- First thing, they

called me, said that

can you play "Pomp

and Circumstance"?

I said yes I can play

it in all 12 keys.

- He would open each show

with "Pomp and Circumstance"

which I guess he had

heard that Sid Grauman

had himself piped into

the Grauman's Chinese.

- Oh my god, what is he doing?

- It was Larry, it was

part of the show, you know?

- This worked.

Every time I start up

"Pomp and Circumstance"

audience would go and applause.

So he knew his

showbusiness anyhow.

- Tonight we're gonna

start the program

with "Felix the Cat".

- He was utterly

charming and weird.

- He would tell you how

he'd preserve the films

and how he was running

films in 35 millimeter

when in fact they

were 16 millimeter.

- He would often laugh.

And people really were

kind of laughing at him

but he would laugh also.

And the whole thing had kind of

a rather friendly vibe about it.

- He seemed to have this

infectious love of the films

that he was showing.

I caught that right away

and I loved this guy.

And I love the theater

and I love what he was doing.

- And Lawrence did make

an evening out of it.

It was something that was

I think very special.

- And for six dollars,

you could come hear these

incredible players play

and bring these

antiques to life.

- The movie started

with all these things

to support the film.

Vaudeville and music.

And that gradually

went away and movies

just became an

automated sort of thing.

Just a machine running.

Larry was gonna bring

back a human touch.

- He'd say "so on with the show"

and he'd walk back

up and he'd start.

He'd get up in the theater

and the curtains would part.

Larry, what can you

say about Larry?

There's a lot you

can say about Larry.

- Larry was a very

interesting person.

He could be a lot of fun.

- Larger than life in many ways.

He was very full of life.

He was somebody that I

look forward to seeing,

you know, everyday.

- I think if you looked

up the word dichotomy

you'd see Larry

Austin's picture.

- Lawrence was a Mormon.

And would often sort

of sponsor events

at the Mormon church.

- He loved his mother.

I mean what his

mama said was law.

Mama hated FDR and

Larry hated FDR.

He was just a real, real

dyed in the wool republican.

- Larry and I developed

a very nice relationship.

- Our friendship was built

around collecting films

and "Murder She Wrote."

And after "Murder She

Wrote" would be over,

the phone would ring

and it'll be Larry

talking about this

scene or that scene.

- I don't wanna deal to

heavily in stereotypes.

I of all people, there you go,

Larry like myself, I think

is pretty easy to figure

out that we're gay.

- Don't wanna say I

took it for granted

but I assumed it.

- He was very defensive

about being gay.

Very uptight about that.

- He pretended in fact

that he was straight.

Talking about globetrotting

with lady friends.

Oh, what a time we had.

- He was always upfront.

He would talk about his

encounters, his boyfriends.

- Why he pretended to be

straight in my presence,

I never understood.

I mean, he was of another time.

- There are some reasons

why I enjoy doing this work.

One of them is that my

parents were in the business.

My mother worked for the mail

and my father was an actor.

- Larry did start

talking about his parents

quite a lot.

- And he would tell

these wonderful stories

about his childhood.

- His father was

actor William Austin

of probably most famous for

his role in the film "It."

- His mom made C.B.

Demille's BVDs.

That was always

his famous point.

- And then his uncle

was Albert Austin

who is in a lot of

the Chaplin films

especially the Chaplin mutuals.

He's got in those

films a big mustache.

- He would talk about walking

with his uncle on the lot.

And he was attacked

by Rin Tin Tin

and he took whatever

was in his hand

and he whacked him

right over the snout.

None of that was true.

- It was more or

less common knowledge

that he had been in prison,

that he wasn't the

son of William Austin,

that his mother hadn't

worked for Cecil B. Demille.

- These were jawdroppers.

The whole thing

was a jawdropper.

But it didn't affect

my feeling for him.

- Stories came out later.

His father was a macho sailor,

didn't care for his son

who played with dolls

instead of army men

et cetera et cetera,

that kind of stuff.

- You know, this is Hollywood.

We all despise but

also love a conman.

Anybody who can get

by on their wits alone

and Lawrence was a guy who

can get by on his wits.

- I mean I had sort

of this image of him

that's this coyote-esque

windmill chaser

and superhero who was

offering this experience to me

and the minions you

know, week after week.

I got in there and he

was a very difficult

individual to work for.

- He wasn't a saint

and he wasn't a devil.

Although there are some people

that probably think that.

Lawrence was one

of these people who

strove for respectability

or outward respectability.

- He was not exactly the most

honest person in the world.

- He would rarely tell the truth

when a lie would suffice.

And I was often asked to

back him up in his lie

and how much was

buried.

At the same time,

lavish gifts on people

that he decided to arbitrarily

and he was very

generous with me.

- The whole movie world that

was related to silent pictures

and that sort of thing

was clearly aware

of Larry's activities

and his skilfulness

at being minion.

- He wanted to be the only

guy who was bringing silence

to the modern world.

- Cinecon, which

meets every Labor Day

and he would try

to outshine them.

- Cinecon is an

organization that puts on

a festival every year,

fantastic rarities

such as early silent films.

- Cinecon brought out

the perverse in Larry.

- He would jealously

save his best material

for the week that

Cinecon was going.

- I never was

involved in the feud.

I always thought it

was kind of stupid.

I mean the biggest thing

you're gonna get out of this

is being the king

of silent movies.

And nobody cares, you know, in

the greater scheme of things.

- That was Larry's take on it.

He was out there to

cut the competition

and steal audiences if he could.

- Almost at this

very time I met Larry

I met James Van Sickle.

- A friend of Larry's who

corresponded with people

in prison, brought him out.

He had just gotten out and

was trying to help him.

- Every time that Larry would

be in the room with James,

the few times that

I saw them together,

you could just

see it in his eyes

that he was hanging on every

word that James had said.

- James had sort of

wormed his way into

a very important

position, if ill-defined.

- There were times when

I would run errands

and those errands were

paying James' cable bill.

Or paying overdue

utility bills for James.

- James in his

more in shape days

had been a Hollywood Hustler.

- He would often

use this, you know

"in my wilder days"

statement, talk about

his gay bashing days.

- Was he gay?

I didn't think so.

- They had got into

an argument one night

and James had taken

the telephone cord

and wrapped it

around Larry's throat

and tried to kill him.

- There were a number of

nights where I was asked

to stay late.

Lawrence would say "well

tell James that you,

"You can't come in

tomorrow and do your work

"so you have to stay

late tonight to do it

"because he's in

one of his moods

"and I'd really rather

there was somebody here."

- The other side of

this is Larry then,

gets to put back into prison.

While James is back in prison,

he buys and sends him

a color television,

sends him a case of oysters

and other foods that he likes.

Of course he gets out

of prison, he's back

in Larry's life again.

- I warned him once, I

had the nerve to suggest

at one point that he

needed to be afraid.

Yet he kept taking him back.

And others have warned him,

he kept taking him back.

- The best way you can

describe the relationship

is battered wife syndrome.

And Larry's the battered wife.

- I was sort of keeping a

watchful eye at that point

and I felt that maybe

if I was diligent

that maybe I could

somehow intervene

because of course the

theater was everything

and James was a threat to that.

- I never could figure

out how you could possibly

keep that place running, you

know, and even break even.

Much less make a profit

and it turns out,

he probably didn't.

- Lawrence had that glorious

situation at the theater

where money was not

a major concern.

He lived upstairs.

He took one vacation a year,

kept his gold Cadillac

with the license plate

Mr. Silent or M. Silent.

- He was buying things and

he bought James a truck.

- You know the old

saying play your cards

close to the vest?

Larry had him inside his vest.

- This sort of

incredible rumor mill

that surrounded the

theater, Lawrence.

- Larry was a little mysterious.

- Some of these stories were

true, others were false.

Others I'm still not

sure about.

- There were rumors that odd

events were going on there.

You know, sex with

maybe hired people.

- He also did some

copying of things

that were really not

on the up and up.

- He would rent films

from some of the studios

and he would backdoor

it out to the lab

to get a negative made

for bootleg prints.

- According to Larry,

they were extra prints

that John Hampton had.

- The best way to

describe this is that

a film would play at

the Silent Movie Theatre

and then three or four weeks

later, you'd get a call

saying "Do you want a

print of such and such?"

- At the time, I was

not privy to any detail.

I was however sent on these

sketchy clandestine errands

for instance at two o'clock

there would be a guy

pulling into the parking lot

of Bob's Big Boy in Burbank.

He'll be driving a blue pinto.

Don't talk to him.

Just give him this

film and this envelope

and he'll give you an

envelope and bring it back.

Lawrence was really sort

of from a proud tradition

of thieving materials that

very few people care about

but certain people are

passionate enough to steal for.

- He was a film collector.

And when you get into the

realm of film collecting

you get into this

controversial area.

- Half the films in the

archive wouldn't be there

if over the years and

decades, film collectors,

people who saw these films

as something special,

had begged,

borrowed, stolen then

whatever they had to do

from whatever source.

- I don't think that was a

cool thing for Larry to do.

But I don't think he,

it was as much of a

stretch for him to justify

any kind of behavior, whether

it would be embezzling

or illegal copying

of prints, you know.

I just think that he

was an outlaw in a way.

- There was definitely

a greed factor there.

He liked money.

And he looked for

reasons to get it.

But he was always very

selective about who and how.

- John Hampton and

Dorothy had built up

a large collection

of posters and stills

and trade magazines.

And Lawrence was busy

using surrogates to sell

all that material to collectors.

- He didn't have things.

He didn't know how to get them.

He embezzled money.

He was an opportunity,

certainly I can relate

since my dream was to someday

run the Silent Movie Theatre.

I'm sure when he was

going there, friends

with the Hamptons,

someday he wanted to be

the person that did this.

- Now there's always

been the implications

that he took a lot of money

out of Dorothy's pocket

to get it done, I don't know.

- You know the odd thing is,

Lawrence didn't

introduce me to Dorothy

as one of the owners

of the theater.

- I mean there are

accusations that at the end

he didn't treat her

like he should have.

He wasn't generous

enough with her.

I didn't necessarily

see this firsthand

but she seemed delighted that

he had reopened the theater.

- I don't think any of us

were aware until much later

that he had essentially

tricked her out

of it by getting her to

sign a quick claim deed.

- Larry at one time

asked me to be a witness

to the changing

of Dorothy's will.

So I got there and he

brought the paperwork out

and I said "Where's Dorothy?"

- He said "Well, nobody

sees Dorothy anymore."

- I said "Well, Larry, I

can't witness a signature

"that I didn't

see Dorothy sign."

- I knew her and

she was not senile.

And she knew what was going on.

And I think that she wanted

Larry to have the theater

because it kept John

Hampton's work alive.

- People have said Larry

took advantage of Dorothy.

I don't know about how

true any of this is.

And I don't give a damn.

Because I never saw Dorothy

more radiantly happy

ever in the whole

time I knew her

as when Larry

reopened that theater.

- Once a year,

Lawrence was invited

to be a guest in Japan.

Lawrence would take a

player along with him

and oddly enough,

his hairdresser.

- He was just thrilled.

He was just thrilled to go.

And I'm sure he's

thrilled to get back

'cause he loved

his cats so much.

And he loved his theater.

- Probably the thing that

Lawrence was most connected to

in the world besides the theater

was his beloved cat that he

gave the name Sir Purity.

- Beautiful cat, long hair.

- He'd always said

that when he died

he wanted Sir

Purity put to sleep

and rested on his chest

in his crossed arms

as he was lowered

into the ground.

- He used to hug this

cat and he used to say

"He knows nothing of the

evils of the outside world.

"He is safe here, he

will always be safe

"here in this theater."

- James was able to use the cat

because he knew that the cat

was an Achilles

heel for Lawrence.

He would often sort

of make threats

against Sir Purity to get

leverage with Lawrence.

- He called me

one night and said

"Well James pulled a

Trall Rodbury on me.

- A phone call came

through and it was Lawrence

and he said "Oh you'll never

imagine what just happened.

"James came in

with these two guys

"and they threatened to

throw me down the stairs

"if I didn't give them all

the money in the place.

"I called the police,

police are on their way."

Well I saw them out side,

I saw them out front.

I saw them acting

very suspiciously.

Do you want me to come back

and talk to the police?

" No, no, no, don't come

back, don't get involved.

"I'll talk to the police

"and I'm having the

locks changed today.

"We won't see James here again."

- Later in the day

James called and said

you know, they put him up to it.

- I said well boy, James sounds

pretty dangerous, you know.

He said "Well I've gotten a

restraining order against him."

- He did get a cellphone

so he had a cellphone

by the bed in case he

had to call the police.

Because at that point he

did fear for his life.

- So for the next

several months,

it was Lawrence and I.

I became a lot more

involved in every aspect

of running the place.

I was loving it.

I mean I was learning

new stuff every day.

Really I felt like

I was being groomed.

I still think it was the

greatest time of my life.

Of course, it couldn't last.

- By 96, he was still showing

some interesting stuff

but not as much.

I had heard he was thinking

of pulling the pin,

selling the theater or

just closing the theater

within a couple of years.

- The phone rang in the

lobby during a show.

And I picked up

the phone and next,

somebody on the other end

asked in a gruff voice,

"Is Lawrence Austin there?"

And I knew instantaneously

that it was James

and my heart froze.

And I said "He's not available."

And James said "You know

who this is, don't you?"

- That was the

point that I started

getting really scared for Larry.

I mean I'm really

getting scared.

- And the next day I came

in and the first thing I did

was I told Lawrence

I had to leave.

He acted very

strangely and he said

"Oh well, fine", he said,

"Well we don't need you here.

"We've been here a long

time and we'll be here

"long after you're gone."

- Larry said to me

"Oh, I'm not afraid.

"I'm not afraid", he said.

"God will protect me."

- Every week he'd

call and he'd say

"I know you miss this place.

"You're not gonna be

able to stay away."

He was right.

Boy, I wish I could

change reality.

But you know,

- The feature that was gonna

be shown was "Sunrise."

- As usual, Lawrence

started out with his march

down the aisle to "Pomp

and Circumstance".

- One of those standard nights.

- That night I came

here to see "Sunrise."

- First it opened with

Felix the Cat goes hungry.

And the second short that

run was called "The Golf Bug"

with Monty Banks.

The next thing I notice

is somebody has come in

and sat down at the end seat.

"School Days" comes on.

He abruptly gets up and goes.

I mean abruptly.

- And as I'm coming

out of the bathroom,

it was only like a

minute or two later,

- All of a sudden there

was this enormous noise.

- Bam!

- What I thought

were firecrackers.

- And then there were

two more, bam, bam.

- And I remember this

woman walking out

and I remember jumping

on her to keep her down.

- I can remember

thinking to myself

"What the fuck was that?"

- And I heard you

know, bam, another one.

- Then I stopped playing.

- Dean Mora jumps up

immediately from his bench.

- And at that point I see

someone bursting through

the curtains on the other aisle.

- And it's my former

seatmate there.

- Running down and

starts shooting.

- It's this very theatrical

move on his part.

- Bang, bam.

And I just saw

like orange flame.

- The gunman stopped

shooting and I heard him

go out the door.

At that point, I

ran into the lobby

and saw the candy counter girl

standing there and crying.

At that point I knew, something

terribly wrong happened.

And that's when I

looked over the counter

of the snack bar and

saw Lawrence was shot.

- The first thing I

spot is Mary Giles,

the concessions girl,

she was lying on the ground

with her knees drawn up.

She had a white t-shirt on.

There's red in the

front of her t-shirt.

- I remember trying to help Mary

who was bleeding, a lot.

- Looked over the candy counter

and there's Lawrence's body.

- It was on his right side.

And there was this

oval, I mean like this.

- First of all, there was a hole

where his right eye had been.

- And I remember

thinking I didn't realize

that the human body had

so much blood in it.

Because there was

just blood everywhere.

- The phone rang and

it was Dean calling.

I just said, "You know,

it was James, wasn't it?"

And he said "No, no."

- Received a phone call

that there had been

a homicide in

Hollywood Division.

And it was possibly going

to be a double homicide.

- And there was a

lot of people there.

A lot of crowd of people.

The street was all blocked

off with police cars

and yellow tape.

- We're informed that

Mary had been transported

to the hospital in

extremely critical condition

with a gunshot

wound to the chest

she sustained at

point blank range.

- We went down to talk to Mary.

We still to this day honestly

do not know how she survived.

And the bullet somehow

went around her ribcage.

- There were a few things

that initially didn't add up.

Generally when someone

comes in for a robbery

they're gonna take

everything that they can.

- The money was still

there which was strange.

- Most people that commit

a robbery are not going

to run out where

they could be seen

and cause any kind of attention

to be brought to themselves.

- The night after

Austin was shot,

I drove by the theater

and there was like

a candlelight vigil outside.

There were a dozen

candles burning,

flickering out there.

And people had put

up all these notes

on the wall that said I

came here when I was 14

or I came here when I was 23.

Really personal

experiences that were like

telling the world or

anybody who wandered by

what the theater meant to them.

They just started crying.

This mass, spontaneous

outpouring of love

for this building which I took

as love for John

Hampton's creation

but it was also for,

thank you Mr. Austin

for bringing it back to us.

- Our first clue that

was making us believe

that something

wasn't exactly right,

this wasn't a robbery.

A handwritten will that

just didn't look right.

- James claimed he

owned the theater

because he had the will.

Handwritten will on

a cocktail napkin

supposedly scribbled by

Lawrence at an airport.

- Lawrence Austin

who hated flying,

traveling to Japan.

He said "Hey if something

happened to either one of us,

"you know, we should

make sure we take care

"of the business."

- Couple of days

after the murder,

and he says oh, when they find

that will, I'm in trouble.

- The more information

we got about James,

the more we started keying on,

he was more involved in this.

- Why?

I mean why would

someone do this, okay?

And there's really

no explanation.

I mean think about it.

- We initially found that

he had been on parole

and that he had been convicted

of an attempted murder.

- He had been in

prison for beating

a gay man, an older gay man

that he had kind of befriended.

And so that was kind of

similar to what we had here.

- Mr. Van Sickle

would never admit

to being homosexual, only

saying that he was a hustler

and he did what he

had to do survive

and to make money.

- Sex always comes up

in Hollywood cases.

I don't care what it is.

You know, a guy could get

hit by a motorcycle on Mohol

and somehow sex gets into it.

- He advises that because

of the shady dealings

that Mr. Austin had

had over the years,

he had more than likely

had a number of people

who would be not so displeased

if they would have

seen him dead.

He covered everyone

from the Yakuza

all the way down to

the homeless people

that live down the alley.

- I've heard that Larry had

people that disliked him

but I'd never classify

them as enemies.

They were just collectors,

people that maybe he screwed.

I mean in a monetary way.

- Certainly Mr.

Austin was no angel.

I think we were

pretty clear on that

in our investigation.

Not a whole lot there

that would warrant

a contract hit though.

We kind of got a whole

different dimension

of Mr. Van Sickle at this point.

It became very clear to us

that he was very manipulative.

A couple of things

that came out,

he didn't like me at all.

But he did like

Detective Miller.

- Because I had more

in common with him.

I was from the Midwest,

I was in the Marines,

I was white.

I played like I understood.

- I was very

straightforward with James,

let him know right

upfront that since we,

there were a number of people

that we hadn't eliminated

as suspects, and I informed him

that he was on that list.

He was pretty close to the

top, and working his way up.

- What's kind of interesting

is at the funeral,

James was acting very distant.

Yet he drove up in

Larry's Cadillac.

- Michael and I went

to Lawrence's funeral.

And it was all very odd.

- There's all these

people at his gravesite

and I feel just, I was so moved

that people did appreciate

what he was doing

and they loved him.

- Immediately upon

completion of the service,

he came over to me and started

pumping me for information.

Had I spoken to the

police, he said, oh.

Did you say anything to the cops

because, man they were

really sweating me down.

- Well then we got Moreland.

The secret service actually

called us about Moreland

and he had information.

He had met Van Sickle

at a party in south L.A.

And he said he

thought it was strange

that this white boy

was down at the hood.

- He apparently approached

some Compton gang members

about doing a contact killing.

And they were willing

to take the money

but they were totally turned off

by his lack of professionalism.

Apparently there are

certain protocols

that he violated in

the world of hitmen.

- And we met with Moreland.

And he started

giving us information

that made sense to us.

He described the place.

- We're pretty sure at some

point that they dry ran it.

We're pretty sure

that at some point

they had discussed

the viability of them

taking on the contract.

- It's like the line out

of Alice in Wonderland.

Curiouser and curiouser as

we go down the rabbit hole.

- Since there had been so much

media interest in the case,

we're contacted by the producers

of America's Most Wanted.

- And this is where

we got very lucky.

- They sent out Jeannie

Borland to do a composite

of the shooter.

- And when she was finished,

she had this composite

that really looked

like a person.

- So we blasted that

out to the media

and we went live with that.

Very shortly thereafter,

we're contacted

by the Los Angeles County

Sheriff's Department

and they informed us that an

informant had come forward.

- He said you know that

he was out with a friend,

Christian Rodriguez

and another friend.

And he had the paper.

And this composite

was on the front page.

And he said, god this

looks just like you.

And Rodriguez said in return

"They'll never make me

"off of that picture."

- This is someone that

you would never expect

coming from where he came

from would be involved

in this type of activity

but then we learned

of his life situation where

he had just had a baby.

He was a teenager.

And he had no visible

means of support,

no desire to support himself.

- We finally decided,

okay, what we need now

is we're gonna take

both of these guys down

as quickly as we can,

but we want Van Sickle first.

So we placed him on round

the clock surveillance,

24 hours a day with our

Special Investigations Section,

it was known as SIS.

- And we said okay,

we're gonna get Moreland

to meet with Van Sickle,

we're gonna have him wired.

- And followed him

all the way back

to his residence in Lakewood.

I had prestaged Mr. Moreland

at the residence in Lakewood

so he can confront

James when he arrived

at his residence.

- And I mean Moreland

did a fantastic job.

He like jumps out in front of

him, and "Hey motherfucker.

"What you doing

coming into the hood

"and the hood gets

none of this money

"and you're paying it to this

Mexican from the eastside?"

- He was able to elicit

statements from Mr. Van Sickle

about how the deal was

made with Rodriguez

and discussed how he was

gonna eliminate the hitman.

And he wanted to know

if he knew anyone

that would be able

to take that job on.

- So as soon as they broke off,

our units took Van

Sickle down in his truck

and arrested him.

And then we went over

to Rodriguez's place.

We had it staked out.

- There was a short pursuit

in the city of Southgate

and he was taken into custody.

- He immediately, as

soon as we got him

back to the station, confessed.

- I couldn't drive down Fairfax.

I couldn't drive by the theater,

it was too heartbreaking.

I mean I was trying to

distance myself emotionally

from the situation.

Because not only had

I lost my friend.

But there was the tragedy

of the loss of the theater

to Los Angeles.

I was never again, I thought,

going to be able

to go back there.

- The actual trial for

Christian Rodriguez,

the guy who pulled the

trigger, was about three days.

- They finally came

in with the verdict.

And they had two juries.

One for Rodriguez

and one for James.

So they read it, guilty,

guilty, guilty, guilty.

- Van Sickle did not

get the death penalty.

- He has no chance of

ever getting out of prison

without, absent of escape.

- They are where they are.

And will be until

they're buried.

- There was Lawrence's

family who thought

they should inherit the theater.

And there was the

Hampton family appeared

and made the case that Lawrence

had swindled the theater.

Soon, a deal was worked

out that basically

the Hampton family and

the Austin family agreed

to sell the theater

and all of the films.

With that money, they would

pay for Dorothy's care

until she died.

At which point they

would divide the amount

between the two families.

- The theater was gone.

Specially when they

had the auction.

- It was pretty clear that

there were institutions

and other more

serious collectors

who had specific things in mind.

But no matter what you bid,

you weren't gonna win it.

- I wanted that

clip of "Thunder".

That needed to be preserved.

I tell you, that can

get mighty dangerous.

And it turned out I was bidding

against a well heeled

private collector.

Thank god my wife

wasn't with me.

And it got up to 4,000 dollars.

And I won the bid.

- Once the film collection

was auctioned off

at Butterfield and Butterfield,

it was to my mind

completely over.

The theater possessing

that library of films

was the only way that

it was going to continue

to function like it did.

♪ Pale hands I loved

♪ Beside the

shining moon where ♪

♪ Where are you now

who lies beneath ♪

♪ Your spell

♪ Who do you lean on

♪ Rapture's road way far

♪ Before you wag on

♪ I say meeting farewell

♪ Before you wag on

♪ I stand faring farewell

- It had a second rebirth.

This is now officially the end.

It can't come back

again for a third time.

So when it was reopened

by Charlie Lustman,

it was indeed an amazing event.

- You, everybody knows,

who lives in L.A.

knows that place.

But mostly I would say

99.9 percent of the people

who've driven down

Fairfax their entire life

had seen it, never went inside.

And I was one of those guys.

- He was a very dynamic guy.

He seemed very enthusiastic.

He was running

around like a chicken

with his head cut off trying

to make everything just right.

I mean the place is beautiful,

I couldn't fault him.

He seemed to really care.

- I was a purist.

I wanted it to be a silent

cinema with live music.

We're gonna run these

things every day.

- I felt it's time

to come face to face

with my demons.

I'm gonna have to go into

this theater sooner or later.

So I knocked on the

door and lo and behold,

Charlie Lustman

answers the door.

And I had known Charlie

back in high school.

- When I walked through those

doors for the first time

since I walked out on Lawrence,

I knew that I wasn't gonna

be able to leave again.

- I called him up.

And he said "No, I don't care

to subscribe to the Times."

You know.

That was our starting point.

- And before I know it, I'm

not only selling tickets

but then I'm serving the popcorn

and then I'm in the box office.

And next thing I

know Charlie and I

are running this place together.

- Charlie kept

calling me and said

we really, really want you

back, we really want you back.

And I said no, no, no.

And if I said that he brought

in a holy man or a shaman,

- You know, hard times, you

have to take tough measures.

You know?

So we brought in Maurice

and this guy comes in

and he looked like an

Indian and he was French.

And he came in with Kopal

which is like tree bark

and a big abalone shell and

he starts burning this stuff

and he had a drum.

Then we sit and we have this

kind of like seance thing,

we're all holding

hands and everything.

And then we take the crystal.

She's like all the energy's

been sucked into the crystals.

You put them into a bag

and he tied it really tight

and he hands it to me.

You must release

these into the nature.

Everything worked after he left.

Never had a problem with

the phones, the faxes,

email, you know internet.

- Charlie opened the theater

and it was quite an event.

- Just you know, it's

a complete circus.

What was interesting

to me was the fact that

I didn't know what

the hell I was doing.

- This guy bought the

silent movie theater

having never seen a silent

movie before in his life.

And through sheer force of will,

he reimagined it,

he beautified it

without understanding

what was so great

about silent movies.

- He did not know a

lot about silent films.

- In the beginning,

actually very quickly

he alienated himself

sort of from the serious

silent film fan and community.

Because he wasn't

showing any obscurities.

- And in some peculiar way we

all felt like we owned it too.

We had invested a lot,

and here was some guy

we didn't know who knew

nothing about film.

They told me that

I was a scam, I'm a sham,

a con, a huckster.

You know they called

me all these things

like who is this guy,

he's not for real.

- They crucified Charlie.

Which I thought was unfair.

It wasn't any of

these grand filmmakers

that came forth to

save this theater.

It was this little

singer songwriter.

- Bad, are you kidding me?

I was sold out for eight

weeks straight for Nosferatu.

A public domain film that I had.

I mean it was just pure profit.

That was a great run.

Hey man, all publicity is

good publicity you know.

Even if they caught me

in bed with a hooker.

That would just be

really good for me

in more ways than one.

- Charlie's defense,

he didn't have

the amazing collection

of films that the theater

had had before.

This was a guy that had to rent

or procure from

private collectors

whatever he was gonna run.

- And he had a completely

different crowd in there.

It's not like the old gang.

You know, it's much younger.

He got more people in.

- One of the great things

about the newly reconstituted

Silent Movie Theatre under

Charlie Lustman's management was

he attracted big crowds.

- He thought of it more

broadly as more of a stage show

with him at the center.

♪ You call me on the telephone

♪ To ask if I am all alone

♪ And when I watch

a video today ♪

♪ You gotta be kidding me

- I thought that was marvelous.

He learned showmanship.

♪ So what you

♪ Take me to a

silent picture show ♪

♪ Help me

- This was a show.

And they're looking back at it

like it's some kind of artifact.

Nobody was getting it.

♪ And take me to the

Silent Picture show ♪

- The theater still had

the power to make converts.

And for that reason, I

certainly thought it was

important enough to stay

for the next five years.

- Whether you love Charlie

or you hated Charlie,

Charlie has to get the credit

that he kept the theater open.

- Those xenons would be struck

and we'd open the curtain

and people would applaud

just for the main title.

- Well Keaton was

our number one star.

Keaton really kept

me in business.

- I accept, hey Charlie

you cannot just show Keaton

and Lloyd and Chaplin and

Chaplin and Lloyd and Keaton

all the time.

- I just realized

that comedy's king

'cause I really didn't

like the dramas that much.

They were a little

too melodramatic,

they weren't that great.

There were just some

that were great.

You put on a Mernaut

picture, it was like wow!

- Charlie would

often run "Sunrise".

He ran it a number of times

as a tribute to Larry.

- I wanted to kind

of show that good

prevails over evil.

So I ran the movie on the

anniversary of the murder.

And we packed the house, right.

Ready to show the film,

we turn the machine on

and it stopped.

- The film was getting

torn up in the gate.

So I immediately

stopped the projector.

And Charlie, Charlie.

- Get on up, come on

you guys are like,

and there it goes.

And it goes back on and

they were on the picture.

At the end of the picture,

there was a bunch of

people came in the booth,

some different people.

And said "You know, we don't

like you manipulating us.

"Wow, how'd you do that?"

Projectors went down and it

was Larry up on the screen.

- People who knew Lawrence say

that for that split second,

they saw him on the screen.

- Folks, we didn't put any

picture of Lawrence Austin

on the screen.

- The films he ran

in the beginning,

"The Wedding March",

"Metropolis", "Big Parade".

It was terrific, it really was.

- Quickly he learned that

he couldn't sustain that

and profit, and in

fact he realized

he was never gonna profit on

running silent films alone.

So he beefed up his

special events business.

- What he realized by

booking these events

is that we could make more

money with one good wedding

than we could running

silent movies for six days.

- That was the only for

profit silent cinema

left in the world.

And there was a reason for that.

Because you can't live

off silents alone.

And you can't.

- The films were a

casualty of that.

We showed fewer

and fewer silents.

Until at the end it

was a few times a year.

- The last couple years

that Charlie had this place

we were making more

money than ever.

But we were burned out.

- Then I got sick.

- He felt a smooth place

above his upper teeth.

- Rare sarcoma, cancer

in my upper jawbone.

- It does seem like it's,

the theater has a

troubled history.

That's kind of part of it.

- I decided I gotta

check out completely.

And at the same time, I

finally got some interest

from one party who wanted

to take over the theater

and loved the theater

just the way it was

and wanted to run the

silent movies and so forth

and they bought it and

here they are today

running pictures and

I'm back to the music.

- Here again, the theater

continues to be surprising.

- Couldn't believe it.

I was absolutely shocked.

- Seems that the theater

outlasted everyone once again.

♪ You can't measure love

by auto rod or meter ♪

♪ But fill your heart

with love each day ♪

♪ Your life goes sweeter

♪ So put a little love

in everything you do ♪

♪ Love will boomerang

right back to you ♪

♪ Now don't forget it

♪ Love will boomerang

right back to you ♪

- Seems like

everybody has a story

or everybody trying to get

into film at some point

would come and check

it out and maybe see

their first silent films here.

Kind of became a joke

to me for a while

because I would go to

parties and so many people

would insist that they were here

the night that Lawrence

Austin was murdered.

There were more people

here that are in the venue.

It's like Woodstock.

It is physically impossible

that as many people

claimed to be here managed

to all find seats that night.

- Hey!

Hello?

Howdy, holy fucking

shit, everybody, right?

- We may seem like

sacrilegious new punks

for trying to take

over the place.

But we love the

stuff, and in reality,

we're probably the

straightest laced people

who've ever been in the venue.

The most we ever did

was crack open a beer

and I can't imagine the things

that go on here at night.

- The guys now

look, seem amazing.

They seem to really love the

theater and it's still there

and it's still

showing silent films,

they're making room for them.

- It really wasn't as much

maybe about a nostalgia

as it has been, this theater

or it's previous film buffs

have been, you know.

There's always gonna

be a little of that.

- I don't wanna come here and

have a nostalgic experience.

I'm not even sure that I

could trust that nostalgia.

- But the experience was

as true as it should be

and probably the

best as it will get.

- The reality of it

is, it's a business.

And to stay viable as a

business, you have to look

at various avenues.

And let's face it,

they haven't been making

silent films since 1929.

- The responses actually

has been a little warmer

than I expected.

I think initially we had a

lot of email and phone calls

and a couple people who

came in and made comments

like what are you doing to

my Silent Movie Theatre?

A very kind of like

personal feeling

like how can you bring in sound,

how can you start

showing Russ Meyer films,

this kind of thing.

- We didn't wanna mess

with too much though

because the place was

so beautiful as it is.

So everything is very delicate.

Like getting a couch

that would still fit in

with the deco aesthetic.

- Sounds ironic,

but I've gotta say

this is a house of

disappointment and

compromise to me.

But I mean that in

the very best sense.

Because at least it's

within a dream endeavored.

- Within just one

week at this theater,

you're gonna see

movies that could be

up to 100 years apart.

And that's the whole

history of cinema.

And that's what's

exciting to me.

- This is the smallest

projection booth

I have actually ever been in.

And they put digital

projection in.

You know, we've got

the slide projector.

16 millimeter and 35 so

it's really really crowded.

- The number one challenge

for revival house

is getting asses in seats.

You can show the most

amazing things in the world

but if people aren't here,

it's like it never happened.

- People do have

many alternatives.

They can Netflix many titles.

They can torrent the

film and download it

off the internet.

Or they just can get caught

up in watching Youtube.

The death of the movie theater

has been predicted

for a long time now.

Television really took

a big chunk out of it

as everybody remembers.

But it didn't disappear.

- It should be a spectacle

that is overwhelming

at some level.

Until that TV set is eight

times as high as I am,

there is simply a

physical reaction

to having that face

be bigger than you

that is more totemic,

more spiritual,

more altar-like.

But the number one,

size, sound, volume,

all these other things,

the number one I really believe

is the audience itself.

I love the moment in the film

where everyone kind

of gasps together.

I sometimes go like, this

movie's not even gonna work

if I don't have 40 people in.

- If the place is

packed, it's great,

there's nothing like it.

Mr. Bob Mitchell!

- It's a nice space.

And it's a space that

you wanna hang out in.

A lot of ways, it's what's

made the Silent Movie Theatre

a great venue.

Because there is

a sort of history

of theatricality to the place

that we can continue

pretty easily.

- As we move on and on

and on into the future,

that art becomes more and

more and more valuable

to our world.

And that's one of

the only places left.

- It's about the movies.

I won't be here forever.

The Harkham's won't

be here forever.

Obviously Mr. Hampton,

Mr. Austin and Charlie,

they worked here.

And this place goes on.

- The theater just

has a magic about it.

It just hangs in there

despite all the many problems

it's had over the years.

And it's not the most

comfortable theater in the world

but it's unique.

♪ You

♪ You keep me living in sin

♪ You laugh at me and then

♪ You say that you love me

♪ But I cannot see

♪ You're lying to me

♪ Didn't care for me

♪ You said that you

were honest and true ♪

♪ Love how could anyone

ever believe in you ♪

♪ You deny the chance

of loving you ♪

♪ What could it have been

♪ You keep me always

living in sin ♪