While the media in what the TV news like to call “the Southland” spends 100% of its time today waxing implausibly maudlin over the Michael Jackson memorial circus in downtown LA, the following email arrived from the Cinefamily organization who do a damned good job running the Silent Movie Theatre here in Hollywood. I didn’t know Bob Mitchell either, but, in this guy’s lifetime, we have gone from light-through-celluloid silent film with a human pianist, to digital downloads and now approach computer-generated total entertainment. This must serves – if nothing else – to confirm what Marshall McLuhan told us. The Speed-Up is now.
“I have sad news. Our organist, Bob Mitchell, has passed on at the age of 96. Mr. Mitchell, who started playing at the Pasadena Playhouse at the age of only 12 years old, had actually played for silent films in the '20s. It was a pleasure and a privilege to witness someone who wasn't just a master at his craft, but was a human portal to another time. There will be wonderful silent musicians continuing the tradition of live, improvised accompaniment, but there was a certain unforgettable authenticity that comes from not simply recreating another time, but being of it. Bob's entire musical background and earliest memories lent a texture to his performance that was quite unique; his musical quotations, his sense of humor, his reference points were all of the era. He knew and remembered the songs and themes that were contemporaneous with the films he accompanied, and would weave them into the scores at natural points. If you were watching William Hart's silent western Tumbleweeds -- sure enough, he would play the hit song "Tumbleweeds" as the credits rolled. It is short notice, but tomorrow, before our screening of Greta Garbo's Love, we will have a short memorial for Bob.”
“I have sad news. Our organist, Bob Mitchell, has passed on at the age of 96. Mr. Mitchell, who started playing at the Pasadena Playhouse at the age of only 12 years old, had actually played for silent films in the '20s. It was a pleasure and a privilege to witness someone who wasn't just a master at his craft, but was a human portal to another time. There will be wonderful silent musicians continuing the tradition of live, improvised accompaniment, but there was a certain unforgettable authenticity that comes from not simply recreating another time, but being of it. Bob's entire musical background and earliest memories lent a texture to his performance that was quite unique; his musical quotations, his sense of humor, his reference points were all of the era. He knew and remembered the songs and themes that were contemporaneous with the films he accompanied, and would weave them into the scores at natural points. If you were watching William Hart's silent western Tumbleweeds -- sure enough, he would play the hit song "Tumbleweeds" as the credits rolled. It is short notice, but tomorrow, before our screening of Greta Garbo's Love, we will have a short memorial for Bob.”
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3 comments:
Well done Bob. I've been playing with my organ for quite a while too, often just the two of us but with some occasional help. I hope we have a few more years together.
dh, you are fucking crude.
God bless him...they dont make them like that anymore.
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