Here in the outback, no traffic jams. Almost no roads. Only the vast Australian wilderness, where some houses are 500 miles apart. There seem to be two main sources of entertainment out here: the sunset at the beach and Sun Pictures. It's a movie theater, a very different movie theater. The seats are park benches and deck chairs. You're also welcome to sit on the grass. It's the world's oldest outdoor movie garden.
Sun Pictures was built in 1916 on the other side of the earth from Hollywood. All the big films were shipped here. "We came back, you know, just swooning over Gregory Peck." Pearl Hamaguchi has never traveled far from here. But in these chairs, under the deep-blue night sky, she has been almost everywhere." Well, it was the only input we got from the rest of the world. Of course, we all exchanged seats after lights went off." "Then what went on?" "Oh, a little bit of smooching and holding hands." "Young fella, probably a teenager, came through, and said, 'I think you should let me in for nothing.' And she said 'Why do you think that?' And he said 'Well, my mom and dad conceived me here about 17 years ago in the back row.'"
Each night dozens of people from around the world line up at the old wooden booth, not a computer in sight. Sun Pictures is also a museum, projectors going back to the silent films, a portrait gallery of Hollywood greats who never knew about this place, even though they came here all the time.
Every once in a while, I'm told, you might find a non-ticket holder in your seat. That's why it's always a good idea to shake out your lawn chair to make sure there are no spiders or scorpions. "We've only had a couple of scorpion incidents and no one's been stung yet, so~." A shrine to movie history and a reminder that air conditioning and carpet are no match for grass and fresh air, even when the lizards steal the scene.