[TerranC]

Hey Look at this:

INDIO, California (AP) -- It may be the perfect date movie.

Each day, in a small movie theater here, curious patrons watch a short flick called "The Romance and Sex Life of the Date."

Don't get any funny ideas: It's about dates, as in the sweet fruit.

The Coachella Valley date harvest is in full swing and production is expected to hit 30 million pounds, said John Beck of the California Date Commission.

And one date producer, Shields Date Garden in Indio, isn't above using sex to help sell its share. Deceased founder Floyd Shields was a master marketer who came up with the saucy sounding movie in the 1950s. It runs continuously at Shields' 108-seat theater from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and is free.

"We still have people that ask us if they can take the children in," said 80-year-old Juanita Ottman, who works the counter at Shields.

The movie is the true story about how dates reproduce.

Date trees come in male and female Versions. Bees are drawn to the male's elaborate flowers, but avoid the female's. So workers cut off the male flowers, dry them and extract the pollen. The pollen is then applied to the female flowers.

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