[an error occurred while processing this directive]		Survivor's will to live inspires movie-impresario son MICHAEL FOX Bulletin Correspondent Silent movie exhibitor Charlie Lustman doesn't see himself following in the tradition of Jewish film pioneers like Adolph Zukor and Louis B. Mayer. He traces his inspiration to the Holocaust, and to his father's will to live. "He survived, brought me into the world and here I am free to do and be," says the Los Angeles movie exhibitor and musician. "It's a miracle, and I have to go for it in my life. I'm grateful to be Jewish and to be free, and to have the opportunities that I have to do things in my life." The garrulous Lustman is the energy and brains behind "The Silent Picture Show," a touring extravaganza of classic comedy shorts with accompaniment by legendary organist Bob Mitchell. Lustman, 37, serves as master of ceremonies and sings a number or two, heading the entertainment bill that precedes the movies. The show will run Friday, Dec. 20 through Sunday, Dec. 22 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, kicking off a national tour. Lustman's entrée to the movies came in 1999, when he took over the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles' most Jewish district. The theater had been shuttered for three years following the murder of the owner in the lobby, and it was in danger of being converted to a warehouse or a parking lot. "I was on my way to my favorite Jewish restaurant, Shula & Ester's, when I saw 'For Sale' on the theater building," Lustman relates with a smile. "I went into the restaurant, had a falafel and a soup. And I called the broker, just for a kick. The rest is history. Jewishness led me there, to the Silent Movie Theatre." It reopened on Nov. 7, 1999. Lustman wasn't -- and still isn't -- a film buff. He made a living for several years writing pop songs for hire. He's an entertainer at heart, although his greatest moment as a performer wasn't intended to make his audience smile. "I wrote a very powerful piece of music called 'The Will of a Thousand Men,' about my father's story and how I wished I could be closer to him." Lustman says. He first performed it last year at a convention of survivors and children of survivors in Chicago. Lustman also played the song this spring when his father was honored at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for his support of the Shelters for Israel. Afterward, the elder Lustman was moved to finally give his son his blessing for pursuing a life on the arts. "What he went through in his life was different from the way I've led my life -- free as an artist, a songwriter with a journal and a guitar out on the open road with not a care in the world," Lustman explains. "My father came up to me and said, 'I understand now. I'm sorry. You have a gift.' He had never said, 'Don't do it,' and he didn't try to control me, but the judgment that he placed on me for being an artist the last 20 years was heavy." His father speaks about his Holocaust experiences through the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. The elder Lustman was Polish, and made it through Lodz Ghetto, Buchenwald, Auschwitz and Dachau. "He was one of the last survivors of the ghetto," Lustman notes. "He jumped off the truck when they took the children away, hid and ran back home. He told me the worst part of the war was the ghetto, not the camps, because he watched his family starve to death. In the camp, you had the chance to steal, manipulate, do whatever you needed to do to survive. You had a chance. In the ghetto, they just choked you to death." Lustman recently married a non-Jewish woman, and they are taking Judaism classes together. "All of a sudden," he says, "my entire faith is being renewed. After my bar mitzvah, it was over, man." "The Silent Picture Show" plays at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 20 and 21, and 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22 at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., S.F. Tickets: $12 advance, $15 general, $10 kids. Sunday matinee: $10. Information: (415) 621-6120.

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