An Ode To Film | The Silent Movie Theatre 
Preserving Hollywood's First Stars & Legends  
Written by: Marianne Moro

    Graumann's Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian may be the most famous movie palaces in Hollywood, but there is another unique theatre a few blocks away that honors Hollywood in a grand manner.. The Silent Movie Theatre pays homage to a rich but rarely publicized film genre.

The Silent Movie Theatre originated far from the city where most of its films it showed were produced. formed by brothers John and Gil Hampton. When local authorities denied a permit to build a bigger space in Oklahoma, John and his new wife Dorothy moved to Los Angeles. In 1942 , they opened the Silent Movie Theatre in a converted church in the Fairfax district. The history of the theatre itself is as dramatic as many of the films it shows.

The Silent Movie Theatre thrived throughout the '40s and '50s, despite being shuttered for a four years while John served a prison sentence for distributing anti-war propaganda. The theater reopened until his death. The lone champion of silent film preservation at a time when the medium was wholly ignored, John preserved films in their Hollywood home. The chemicals used in this process contributed to his death from lung cancer in 1990.

After John's death, Laurence Austin, a friend of the couple, took over the reigns, as Dorothy was now too sick to run the theatre.

While scandal and controversy had always plagued the Theatre, its past difficulties paled in comparison with the lovers' triangle that almost closed it for good. In a twist worthy of its own blockbuster movie, the Hamptons' friend Laurence Austin, now owned the theatre. Austin ran the theatre along with his lover, James Van Sickle the handiman/ projectionist. Dorothy Hampton had signed over the theatre to them upon her death in 1993. Van Sickle hired a hitman to kill Austin, who was fatally shot in the face in 1997. The ensuing media coverage included Americas Most Wanted. Eventually, Van Sickle was caught and sentenced to eight years in prison. He is now serving a life sentence for another crime. For a few years, this scandal became the only link the world had to the Silent Movie Theatre, and the real purpose was lost.

In 1999,current owner Charlie Lustman biked past the theatre and noticed the for sale sign. Although he had never even seen a silent film before, the idea of owning such an establishment piqued his interest. In a spate of inspiration, he gathered investors and the Silent Movie Theatre was reopened in late '99.

    Every weekend the theatre features films with a connecting theme or the works of a particular artist. Recent weekends have featured tributes to Clara Bowe, Buster Keaton, and an ode to Hitchcock's silent films. A nationwide tour is slated for later this year, and it is sure to garner many converts into "silents."