Celebrating Christmas With Classic Hollywood

Some Angelenos celebrated Christmas in true Hollywood style: at the movies.

About 75 people huddled in a darkened theater in the Fairfax district Saturday afternoon to watch a matinee screening of “The Bishop’s Wife,” a 1947 holiday classic starring Cary Grant.

“This is really what Christmas is all about: watching old movies,” said Sherman Oaks resident Bill Robens, 29, who went to see the film at the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax Avenue before heading home for Christmas dinner.

“We’ve been coming here for many years,” said West Los Angeles resident Ita Nagy, 14, who settled in to watch the flick with her father and younger sister. “This seemed like a one-of-a-kind Christmas experience.”

Joan and George Becht of West Hills brought their daughter, who was visiting from San Francisco.

“We were looking for something different to do before dinner,” said Joan Becht, 71. “We can’t go rolling in the snow.”

The enthusiastic crowd laughed heartily and applauded the black-and-white film, which features Grant as an angel who offers a distracted bishop some guidance.

Bob Mitchell, the theater’s organist and a well-known choir director, was on hand with several original members of his Boys Choir, who performed in the film. In the movie, the boys played members of a choir singing to raise money for a struggling church.

“It really was one of the finest scenes we did,” said Mitchell, 87, whose choir has performed in more than 100 films.

“It’s really fantastic to see 1/8the original members 3/8,” said Mitchell, who formed the choir in 1934. “It’s hard to believe they were once little boys so long ago.”

Before the show, six current members of the choir performed Christmas songs for the crowd.

Mitchell, a longtime Hollywood musician, made his debut playing the organ in silent movie houses 75 years ago. Nowadays, he performs every Wednesday at the Fairfax theater.

“I love the thrill of going into the theater and hearing this gorgeous sound,” he said.

For owner Charlie Lustman, who recently reopened the theater--one of the few of its kind in the country--it was gratifying to have people turn out for an old movie on Christmas afternoon.

“Maybe we’ll start making this a tradition,” he said.