Live Again Bob Mitchell...

Bob Mitchell was a doll. I never talked to him, because I couldn't think of anything to say. But I worshipped him...I probably owe a good chunk of my silent film love to him. Don't know the name? Bob Mitchell was the organist at the Silent Movie Theatre. A sort of legend he was 96 years old...and had played with original silent films in the 1920s (specifically 1924-1928).

Silent films suffer badly with poor crappy scores. Seriously buy the Mary Pickford Collection and go INSANE trying to watch the death scene with the carnival casio loop. There are many renowned silent film composers...but most aren't older than 50...they never played with original silents. Bob was born in 1912, he lived through it all despite his mother's wishes (she was very religious and found flickers distasteful).

For a 96 year old his accompaniments had a level of pep and vigour I have NEVER heard with any silent film accompanist...not even a full out orchestra. Bob would usually play the piano for shorts, then the organ for the feature. He was in huge demand...there was not a respectable silent film event that didn't court his services. Frankly I was praying that he'd live just one more year at the least...The Rudolph Valentino Film Festival needed him.

I started going to the Silent Movie Theatre in March 2008 (yup I'm that green). Bob was there from Day 1 onward. At 95 he blew me away, and I felt privileged just to watch him play. After attending many silent events, some without him playing, I've come to realize just what a treasure he was. The Eagle was one of the first movies I ever seen of Valentino's...yet when Bob played it a year later I sat blown away...his score just made you want to jump out of your seat and cheer. He said it was the same score he used in 1925...something that just blew my mind. Pandora's Box was one of the Bob's last performances, and it also moved me deeply despite the broken projector (meaning we had to wait 5 mins between reels). When I seen it July 2nd it was not the same...Bob was supposed to play but he was ill so someone else stepped in. Despite being at the gorgeous Orpheum on an authentically wonderful organ...it just didn't have that pep. Bob had been ill for a few months...I started fearing what we were about to lose.

Bob died on July 4th...2 days after he was scheduled for Pandora's Box. According to the obituaries he took ill sometime in April with pneumonia, and it weakened him. It was very noticeable as Bob had been the same the entire time I'd been there...but in April he was much weaker and needed a wheel chair. We began to whisper that it didn't look good...we hoped very much so he would get better and live forever.

I hate shorts (ironic I know) so the last time I made my weekly screening was in May which was the Louise Brook's month. Bob didn't play for Beggars of Life (the last film of the month) and we all worried...but the staff assured us he just had another gig. So the last time I seen him to my memory was accompanying was right before my birthday to "Its the Old Army Game". Of course I might be wrong and it might have been the week before, with "Diary of a Lost Girl". Either way I loved it. I don't know if he played through June, but I doubt it. According to his friends he tried to leave the hospital a few times, he just wanted to play one more gig. I dont know why I never did it in life, but when I heard the news I decided I'd clean up his wikipedia. You can read that here.

Bob never played a tune that hadn't been written at the time of the film. He knew everything by heart and never used a prewritten score. He'd play a little roar for the MGM lion (always to much laughter), the choo choo of the train, and explained the story behind what we'd call the 'Indian Rhythm' (he had met the man who created it). He loved Westerns particularly Tom Mix and William S. Hart...last May they did a whole month of Westerns just for him. He played at the death festival of Valentino every year, and when they screened The Sheiks he sang every Rudy song he knew.

He was a funny man too. After Pandora's Box had finished he said, "Well that was a happy little picture wasn't it?" Towards the end when he was so frail they got him up on the bench and people began to fret over him. Bob had a coughing fit and said, "Shows over!" (it hadn't begun yet) then laughed and said no way...he was playing tonight (and he did!) He grew up in a religious Victorian family and told stories about how certain movies and actresses embarrassed him...how his mother found them too naughty. He was a living legend and the acclaim he got for it was well deserved...in fact maybe it wasn't enough. Every silent tinged documentary interviewed him, all sorts of publications did articles on him, and every night after he played the hell out of that organ he'd get a standing ovation usually several minutes long. He always looked like he loved it.

I know they taped many of his performances...what they (or who they were for that matter) did with them I don't know. I know they taped The Eagle and I'd kill for a copy. Any upstanding composer or DVD distributor should consult these tapes before doing a score for ANYTHING...Bob was it. Bob was a legend...and sadly he was the last of his kind.

Bob's funeral is on Friday at 9:30 at at Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles. He will be buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery where he performed every year. I'm not much a fan of funerals (particularly Christian-y funerals) but I will never forget Bob. I don't think I've explained this before but the phrase 'Live Again' stems from a song by Alex Band by that name. Alex is one of my favorite musicians and there's all sorts of interesting interpretations to his music. When Anita Page died that song was playing...and it seemed apt particularly as I like the belief of reincarnation. Ever since its seemed fitting to play in so and sos honor. Bob lived this life to the fullest, and whatever is beyond I'm sure he'll live it to the fullest one more time.