96-year old Bob Mitchell was the last surviving silent film accompanist, but that job actually lasted just four, short years - from the time he was 12 to age 16 - the musical legacy he left throughout the rest of his life remained intertwined with the silver screen, and touched lives all over the world.
Bob Mitchell began playing the organ for silent films in 1924, but quit in 1928, when talkies began taking over. He is credited with reviving the art of silent film organ accompaniment in 1992 at Los Angeles' Silent Film Theater and this time, he kept the job all the way up to this summer - he gave his last performance at the Silent Film Theater in May.
Along the way, he started a little choir at Los Angeles' St. Brendan's Catholic Church, where he worked as an organist from 1934 to 2000. That little choir began appearing in films two years later. The Robert Mitchell Boys Choir sang Ave Maria with Bing Crosby in 1944's Best Picture Oscar Winner, Going My Way, and a 1941 documentary on the choir, Forty Boys and a Song, was nominated for an Academy Award. They eventually appeared in some 100 movies.
Mitchell was born in 1912 and learned accompaniment by playing the organ at church services. In 1932, he won a scholarship to the Eastman School of music. Over the years, he continued to work in the church, even while holding down jobs in bars, speakeasies, and the movies (which his mother found "vulgar"). He served as musical director for many churches in and around the Hollywood and Los Angeles areas, and when Dodgers' Stadium opened in 1962, Bob Mitchell was the one playing the organ. He kept that job for only four years. But by this point, Bob Mitchell was an institution - a true, living, local (to L.A.) legend.
Mitchell was renowned as a true artist and even called a "genius" by some, and collected many prestigious awards throughout his career in recognition. His silent film accompaniment performances were widely critically-acclaimed. Mitchell always played published music - a point of which he was proud - he did not "make it up" on the fly, as many silent film accompanists were known to do. Of course, by 1992, silent accompaniment was an art form, not a day job - and, again, an art form Mitchell is credited for pioneering.
A consummate professional, Bob hated missing a performance. One close friend said he tried sneaking out of the hospital to perform at the theater shortly before his death. Bob Mitchell passed away fittingly on the 4th of July.
A Florida woman by the name of Rosa Rio is now the only "original" silent film accompanist (that is, one who actually worked during the silent film era) alive. She still performs regularly at the Tampa Theater. She is 106.
© C Harris Lynn, 2009
