Robert Mitchell (organist)
Encyclopedia
Robert Mitchell was an American
organist
and choir director whose career spanned 85 years, from 1924 to 2009. He was one of the last original silent film accompanists, having accompanied films from 1924 to 1928. Mitchell revived the art from 1992 until his death in 2009, usually to wild acclaim. During the 1930s, he organized the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir, who were cast in many films from the 1930s to the 1960s.
mother found the new art form of silent film
"cheap and vulgar". However, as an avid music lover, she allowed him to take music lessons with the reasoning he could accompany church services. At the age of 12 he was allowed to take a stint at The Strand Theatre in Pasadena, California
to play Christmas carols between showings of films. However, he did not stop playing once the film started, and his career as an accompanist began. He played for four years until the arrival of talkies made accompanists irrelevant.
At age 18 in 1930, Mitchell became the youngest person to become a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists
(AGO), the highest level of professional certification awarded by the organization. In 1932 Mitchell won a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music
, where he studied piano. He stayed in New York City
performing gigs that varied from church accompaniment to speakeasies and radio.
with Bing Crosby
, Carefree
with Fred Astaire
, Angels with Dirty Faces
with Pat O'Brien
, and The Bishop's Wife
with Cary Grant
. Noted film composer Dimitri Tiomkin
said of them, "Bob Mitchell’s boys represent the unusual combination of musicianship, artistry and versatility. Bob Mitchell’s genius is ever present. It was a great pleasure to have them sing and appear in The Great Waltz."
Mitchell and the choir were featured in a special short documentary film, Forty Boys and a Song (1941), which described the choir and showed the students rehearsing at their school desks as Mitchell provided instruction. The film was nominated for an Academy Award (for Best Short Subject, One-reel).
In December 1949 Mitchell was honored on the television series, This Is Your Life
, for his work with the choir.
On Christmas Eve 1953, the choir appeared on Where's Raymond?
, an American Broadcasting Company
sitcom starring Ray Bolger
. On Christmas night 1954, the choir appeared as the only guest on NBC
's The Donald O'Connor Show
.
. Mitchell was musical director for several churches: St. Ann, St. Brendan, St. Kevin, and St. Peter in Los Angeles, and The Church of the Good Shepherd
in Beverly Hills.
Mitchell performed until May 2009. After a bout with pneumonia his health began to decline. Mitchell hated missing a performance and according to a friend he tried to check himself out of the hospital weeks before his death so he could perform. The Silent Movie Theatre noted, "You don't really replace somebody like Bob Mitchell." Surrounded by a few close friends and listening to a recording of one of his performances, Mitchell died on July 4, 2009 at the age of 96. His funeral was held at Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles on July 10, 2009. He is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
.
and Princess Grace of Monaco
. He also received a Silver Beaver Award
, the highest honor awarded volunteers by local councils of the Boy Scouts of America
. The American Melkite Archimandrite acclaimed Mitchell as a "Knight of Malta"
with a medal. He also received an Honorary Plaque in the Amphitheater of Temple Ahavat Shalom, Northridge, California, as well as the "Pro Papa et Ecclesia" Certificate from Pope John Paul II
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
and choir director whose career spanned 85 years, from 1924 to 2009. He was one of the last original silent film accompanists, having accompanied films from 1924 to 1928. Mitchell revived the art from 1992 until his death in 2009, usually to wild acclaim. During the 1930s, he organized the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir, who were cast in many films from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Early life and career
Mitchell's Victorian eraVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
mother found the new art form of silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
"cheap and vulgar". However, as an avid music lover, she allowed him to take music lessons with the reasoning he could accompany church services. At the age of 12 he was allowed to take a stint at The Strand Theatre in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
to play Christmas carols between showings of films. However, he did not stop playing once the film started, and his career as an accompanist began. He played for four years until the arrival of talkies made accompanists irrelevant.
At age 18 in 1930, Mitchell became the youngest person to become a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists
American Guild of Organists
The American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...
(AGO), the highest level of professional certification awarded by the organization. In 1932 Mitchell won a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
, where he studied piano. He stayed in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
performing gigs that varied from church accompaniment to speakeasies and radio.
Robert Mitchell Boys Choir
Returning to Los Angeles, he started the Mitchell Singing Boys (also known as the St. Brendan's Church Choir or Bob Mitchell's Singing Boys, from 1934–2000). The choir performed in over 100 films, including 1944's Best Picture winner Going My WayGoing My Way
Going My Way is a 1944 film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a light-hearted musical comedy-drama about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran . Crosby sings five songs in the film. It was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's. This picture was...
with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Carefree
Carefree (film)
Carefree is a 1938 musical film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. With a plot similar to screwball comedies of the period, Carefree is the shortest of the Astaire-Rogers films, featuring only four musical numbers...
with Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
, Angels with Dirty Faces
Angels with Dirty Faces
Angels with Dirty Faces is a 1938 American gangster film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, the Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart, along with Ann Sheridan and George Bancroft...
with Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
, and The Bishop's Wife
The Bishop's Wife
The Bishop's Wife is a 1947 Samuel Goldwyn romantic comedy feature film starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven in a story about an angel who helps a bishop with his problems. It was released by RKO. The film was adapted by Leonardo Bercovici and Robert E...
with Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
. Noted film composer Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin was a Russian-born Hollywood film score composer and conductor. He is considered "one of the giants of Hollywood movie music." Musically trained in Russia, he is best known for his westerns, "where his expansive, muscular style had its greatest impact." Tiomkin...
said of them, "Bob Mitchell’s boys represent the unusual combination of musicianship, artistry and versatility. Bob Mitchell’s genius is ever present. It was a great pleasure to have them sing and appear in The Great Waltz."
Mitchell and the choir were featured in a special short documentary film, Forty Boys and a Song (1941), which described the choir and showed the students rehearsing at their school desks as Mitchell provided instruction. The film was nominated for an Academy Award (for Best Short Subject, One-reel).
In December 1949 Mitchell was honored on the television series, This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
, for his work with the choir.
On Christmas Eve 1953, the choir appeared on Where's Raymond?
Where's Raymond?
Where's Raymond? is a 1953-1954 ABC situation comedy television series starring Ray Bolger as Raymond Wallace, a song-and-dance man who is consistently barely on time for his performances...
, an American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
sitcom starring Ray Bolger
Ray Bolger
Raymond Wallace "Ray" Bolger was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hank in The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...
. On Christmas night 1954, the choir appeared as the only guest on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Donald O'Connor Show
The Donald O'Connor Show
The Donald O'Connor Show is an American musical situation comedy television series starring singer/dancer Donald O'Connor...
.
Other work
From 1962 to 1966 Mitchell played the organ for the Los Angeles DodgersLos Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
. Mitchell was musical director for several churches: St. Ann, St. Brendan, St. Kevin, and St. Peter in Los Angeles, and The Church of the Good Shepherd
Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd (Beverly Hills)
The Church of the Good Shepherd, located at 505 North Bedford Drive is now the oldest church in Beverly Hills. It has only 600 seats.Over the years, this small house of worship has been the local parish church for most of the Catholic movie stars who live in Beverly Hills, from Rudolph Valentino to...
in Beverly Hills.
Silent Movie Revival
From 1992 until his death in 2009 Mitchell regularly accompanied silent films in revival houses, particularly in California. He performed at The Orpheum and played a weekly stint at The Silent Movie Theatre, playing some of the original scores he had in the 1920s. True to his art Mitchell noted, "I never play anything that wasn't published before the picture was made," he says, "but I don't know how many people would actually know that." Mitchell's accompaniments were well known, and he received wild acclaim for his performances.Mitchell performed until May 2009. After a bout with pneumonia his health began to decline. Mitchell hated missing a performance and according to a friend he tried to check himself out of the hospital weeks before his death so he could perform. The Silent Movie Theatre noted, "You don't really replace somebody like Bob Mitchell." Surrounded by a few close friends and listening to a recording of one of his performances, Mitchell died on July 4, 2009 at the age of 96. His funeral was held at Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles on July 10, 2009. He is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
.
Awards
Mitchell received many awards during his lifetime. He received the Silver Medal awarded at the Royal Palace in Monte Carlo by Prince Rainier IIIRainier III, Prince of Monaco
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco , styled His Serene Highness The Sovereign Prince of Monaco, ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest ruling monarchs of the 20th century.Though he was best known outside of Europe for having married American...
and Princess Grace of Monaco
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
. He also received a Silver Beaver Award
Silver Beaver Award
The Silver Beaver Award is the council-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Recipients of this award are registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council...
, the highest honor awarded volunteers by local councils of the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
. The American Melkite Archimandrite acclaimed Mitchell as a "Knight of Malta"
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
with a medal. He also received an Honorary Plaque in the Amphitheater of Temple Ahavat Shalom, Northridge, California, as well as the "Pro Papa et Ecclesia" Certificate from Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
.
External links
- The Legacy of Bob Mitchell
- Mitchell Article
- LA Times Obituary
- Bob Mitchell - Daily Telegraph obituary