Silent Movie Keeps Date With Fans at Last : Film: The Fairfax Avenue theater closed 11 years ago. It has reopened thanks to the efforts of a man with a lifelong interest in early cinema.

There were no searchlights or limousines at this movie premiere. Not a Meryl Streep or Kevin Costner in sight. No Army Archerd, no one from “Entertainment Tonight.” Just a lone bagpipe player and a long queue of movie buffs standing outside the box office--a box office that had been closed for 11 years.

The Silent Movie, a popular theater on Fairfax Avenue for nearly four decades, closed abruptly in 1979. Over the ensuing years, only a light burning in a window above the theater and a fading sign that announced “Closed for vacation--returning January 18” captured the curiosity of passersby.

The theater did indeed reopen on Jan. 18, with a screening of Cecil B. DeMille’s “King of Kings,” but it was 11 years later than owners John and Dorothy Hampton had originally planned.

Dorothy Hampton, a widow now, stood proudly inside the 250-seat theater, taking tickets and basking in the compliments of the grateful silent-movie fans.

“Dorothy, you probably don’t remember me, but my Mom used to take me here when I was little,” said a man in his 20s.

“Dorothy, I used to come here in the ‘40s and ‘50s and mingle with the stars,” said another man in the crowd.

“I remember the opening like it was yesterday,” Hampton, 78, told her admirers. “You know, we officially opened the Friday before Pearl Harbor, but promptly closed for a month. I guess you could call this a re-reopening!”

Hampton said most of the credit for the theater’s revival belongs to Larry Austin, the new manager.

Austin, an actor, film historian and longtime friend of John and Dorothy Hampton, said his strongest incentive for the $14,000 project was a desire to honor the memory of John Hampton.

“John Hampton passed away in December, 1989, at the age of 80,” Austin said in an interview. “This reopening is like a memorial to John for all the hard work he did.”

Hampton, Austin said, had a lifelong interest in silent movies. As a youth in Oklahoma City, he would screen them in his living room for family and friends. As an adult, he barnstormed the Oklahoma City region showing the movies, and after his marriage, Dorothy joined him in the business.

Like so many transplanted Californians, the Hamptons moved to Los Angeles for health reasons, Austin said. Equipped with a collection of films that John Hampton had been building since childhood, they opened the Silent Movie Theater at 611 N. Fairfax Ave. in 1941. Admission was 10 cents.

The Hamptons lived upstairs in an apartment. Dorothy managed the candy concession while John ran the movies. It was an instant success.

“The war helped the popularity of the theater,” Austin said. “Silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Colleen Moore, Mack Sennett and Mary Pickford would attend screenings.”

And with the assistance of the likes of Griffith, Sennett, Moore and Cecil B. DeMille, they kept building the film collection, making it into what Austin said is the largest private collection of silent movies in the world.

“These celebrities were friends of John’s,” Austin said. “They were so impressed by his devotion to silent films, they would give him copies of their classic films for his library.”

In 1979, a death in the Hampton family prompted a temporary closing of the theater. The Hamptons set about compiling a formal catalogue of the collection--it came to more than 1,000 films--but for reasons Austin cannot fully explain, they didn’t get around to reopening the theater. “They were tired,” suggested Austin, shrugging his shoulders.

Austin, meanwhile, had a lifelong affection of his own for Hollywood and films. He grew up in Hollywood. His father was an actor and landscaper. His mother was a personal “lady tailor” for Cecil B. DeMille.

“My mother used to say she made everything . . . Mr. DeMille’s shirts, ties, pajamas all the way down to his BVDs!”

It was while screening some silent films late last year, Austin said, that he thought of approaching Dorothy Hampton about reopening the theater. After some persuasion, Hampton, who now lives in a retirement home, agreed.

“It’s been a challenging experience considering I gave myself only two months to get the theater in order,” Austin said. In that time, new projection and sound systems have been installed, new curtains put up, a patio for intermissions has been renovated, and the exterior has been fixed up.

Among the theater’s Fairfax neighbors, the reopening is a big hit.

“There has been a tremendous response,” Austin said. “Phone calls, passersby remembering the theater. So many people in the neighborhood are very excited.”

Word that the theater reopened also has sparked interest among people connected with the silent film era. Austin counts among his friends the widows of silent screen superstars Buster Keaton, Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle and Harry Langdon.

“I received a call the other day from Gilbert Roland,” who is 86, Austin added. “He heard about the theater through the grapevine. It’s amazing!”

For now, the theater will be open Friday and Saturday nights with an admission price of $5. During the first two weekends, there was live piano accompaniment for the movies. Now, Austin has switched to recorded music, drawing heavily from the Hamptons’ huge record collection.

“Eventually, we want to purchase an pipe organ for the real atmosphere of a silent film,” he said.

Austin says the initial response indicates that silent movies may be in for a renaissance, and that a new generation will gain an appreciation for the accomplishments of Hollywood’s pioneers.

“I started to believe it had become a lost art,” he said. “These people built an industry and had talents beyond our wildest imagination. It’s a generation that’s come and gone which we will never see the likes of again. Geniuses. We don’t appreciate our own heritage.”