morning, doc. yes, yes it looks just fine.
oh, yes, plenty. plenty.
sweet jesus.
cecil! cecil, there's a young man in there.
listen to me! the young man in there.
cecil, listen to me!
it's luke.
has tears forming in his eyes. a smile turns up the corners of his mouth, and quickly lights up his whole face.
i knew all along. i knew you were alive! oh, luke.
only one in town. get in, son.
harry, son. harry.
albert lucas trumbo. but you've been "luke" since you were a baby.
you never came back from the war. we were told you were missing and presumed dead.
you joined up one month to the day after pearl harbor. january seventh.  nineteen forty-two.
nine and-a-half years ago.
well, son, you're home!
thanks for the lift, cecil.
wait'll you see the inside!
we've been closed for a while.
hmmmm.  after you left, it was difficult, and then lily -- that's your mother -- she took ill and died.  we haven't shown a picture since forty-eight.
well, after the war, with so many of the town's boys killed, people around here didn't much feel like going to the movies, i guess. some of 'em moved away -- los angeles, sacramento, san francisco. wasn't much to keep 'em here, i expect. and now with this "television" thing -- people just aren't going out as much as they used to.
oh, i had irene and old tim but they really couldn't help much. broke their hearts when we closed up. broke mine, too. but now that you're back, well, things will be different around here, that's for sure. c'mon, i'll show you where we live.
the day you shipped out. that was a proud day for your mother and me. last time you saw her. last time i saw you.
till today.
that's lily. your mother, rest her soul.
well, yes, that she was. she certainly made this place a home.
can i get you anything? i can put some coffee on or some.
stands, looks down warmly at his son. then, suddenly, he's seized by a thought. he turns and crosses to the window.
when i woke up this morning, my son was dead. now, i have my boy again. i have my boy again.
'morning, son.
sleep well?
they couldn't wait to see you.
this is the staff of the bijou.
six-thirty. i thought we'd get an early start.
oh, i'm sorry, they know you, but you don't.  you need to be re- introduced. luke, this is mrs. irene terwilliger.
and this fine fellow is our head usher, resident fix-it man and custodian. luke, meet old tim. you remember luke, don't you?
well, lots to do, so we'd better get a move on.
'fraid this has seen better days. well, i was meaning to get a new screen, anyway.
i promised him a new uniform when we re-opened. and you'll get one, too.
anyone want to see the projector?
beautiful. bright and even from edge to edge. see for yourself.
she's always been a bit tricky.
no, your mother did, then i did after she passed.
gary cooper. and barbara stanwyck. yowsa.
yes?
forty-two was a lean year around here. the war had just started.  you were gone less than a month.  and we were coming off a bit of a drought as i recall. not everyone could ante up the price of a ticket, and a chicken's as good as money if you ask me. at that time, it meant a lot to the folks around here to be able to come to the pictures.
i know it's hard to believe, son, but this place, this little place this wasn't a theater then, this was a palace! any man, woman, child, you, me, it didn't matter, you bought your ticket and you walked in and you.
 you were in a palace. it was like a dream. it was like heaven, like you died and went to a palace in heaven, that's what it was like. and spotless, too.
come with me!
maybe you had problems and worries out there, but once you came through that door, they didn't matter anymore. in here, you were safe. maybe it was just an escape from reality, but.  oh, god.  it was beautiful.
charlie chaplin. keaton and lloyd. swanson. and later on, clark gable and claudette colbert and jimmy stewart and james cagney and bogart and becall and judy and mickey.  and fred and ginger.
they.  were.  like.  gods!
and that.  was the altar. would you remember if i told you, we felt lucky to be here, to have the privilege of watching them? this television thing. why would you want to sit at home and watch a little box with a little screen? because it's convenient? because you don't have to get dressed and put on a coat and a tie and a hat? because you can just.  sit there? how can you call that "entertainment," all alone in your living room? where are the other people? where's the audience?
where's the magic?
i'll tell you. in a place like this, the magic is all around you. all the time. everywhere. in every thing.
the trick.  is to see it.
son, i think you loved the bijou even more than i did. you've got to remember that. you've got to.
i take breakfast and supper at mabel's every day except sunday. have for years, since lily died. if it weren't for mabel, i'd probably starve to death.
it's really him, ernie.
ernie.
we were just gonna get some supper. would you like to join us?
katie, would you like to join us for dinner? the more, the merrier.
carl. friend of yours from high school. everybody calls him "cueball."
gonna re-open the bijou, that's what.
if it's tough, that means it's worth doing.
you two have a lot of catching up to do, i guess.
goodnight, son. 'night, delly.
yes?
nine hundred.
they're.
it's all my fault. i was neglectful and this is the price of that.
well, it's true. wanting to open this place back up. it's folly, irene, pure and simple. might as well just call it what it is.
oh, no, i.
son, we're gonna go. you two kids have a lovely time.
beautiful, wasn't it?
well, son, i wish i could've shown you more, but this is all that's left. just this one reel that never got sent back from a picture we showed here a long time ago. nineteen twenty-five, to be exact.
ha!
you know, since you've been back, that's the first time you've called me "dad."
luke.  what time is it?
oh, baby, make your daddy happy.
you're a good girl. no matter what i say.
oh, jesus.
the film broke.
did you.  did you.
did you.  did you.
did you fix the damn film? it broke in the last reel.
anybody take it?
vultures.
i'm not happy about this, mind you, but if i have to go, at least i'm going in my own bed, the same bed my lily died in, and.  knowing that my son is alive. that's not too shabby, is it?
don't tell me, i know about these things. i've seen it before. it's all right. it's.  all right. you're here. oh, god, i love you, son.
oh, so.  much.  lighter.