Accompanying His Own Party

Bob Mitchell seems a little embarrassed by all the fuss over his 90th birthday celebration this evening at the Downtown Palace Theatre. Mitchell, who began playing the organ for silent movies back on Christmas Day 1924, will be accompanying the 1925 Buster Keaton classic “Seven Chances” on the Hammond organ at his birthday party.

“I think it’s foolish,” he says rather sheepishly, the reason being that his friends and fans will have to pay $15 to $18 to attend. Mitchell, who plays every weekend at the Silent Movie Theatre in the Fairfax District, recalls that for his 88th birthday party, that theater’s owner, Charlie Lustman, “generously turned over the theater. All my friends came and they didn’t charge them anything. But at any rate, I hope it works out well.”

On a recent Monday afternoon, Mitchell is playing a 1927 Steinway in the lounge area of the Silent Movie--the only such theater in America. The music wafts through the building as Mitchell plays the Oscar-winning tune “Swinging on a Star” from the 1944 film “Going My Way.” His Bob Mitchell Boys Choir appeared in the Bing Crosby drama.

“Actually I was in the Navy” when the film was made, says Mitchell, who looks dapper in a dark suit and has Paul Newman-blue eyes and a shock of white hair. “I was already drafted when ‘Going My Way’ was made. My associate directed the music in the movie and they used my arrangements. I came back on leave and had my picture taken with Crosby and the boys.”

Mitchell began his choir in 1934; it continued for the next 65 years. In the early days, it sang at Catholic Masses broadcast locally on the radio. The radio gig led to numerous film appearances.

“My first picture was ‘The Girl From Paris’ with Lily Pons. Jack Oakie was the comedian. One of the assistant directors heard our broadcast and heard the boys,” he said. “We learned when we first started those primitive microphones were just awful. They couldn’t take those high sopranos, so we had to teach the boys to sing in a whisper, and we got a very beautiful blend, so that was great for recording.”

Over the decades, the choir’s numbers dwindled from 34 to one. “What happened is that conditions are so different,” Mitchell says. “It’s a different world. Our recruiting fell. As the boys dropped out of the choir, we didn’t replenish them. In the days of our heyday, the boys made so much money in the movies.” Then tastes changed with the sexual revolution, “and they don’t use boys choirs and family type of things. Also, it used to be that the public schools, they didn’t have a very good reputation here in California. We had teachers. We had school from 8:30 to 12:30. It was a wonderful opportunity and we had a big waiting list.

“I got down to one boy. The first was in 1934,” he recalled. “I played at his funeral. I trained 600 boys. At least 50 of them are dead.”

Mitchell began playing at the Silent Movie in the early ‘90s. After the proprietor was murdered in the theater in 1997, he returned when the doors reopened in 1999.

“I started to hear about him before I opened the doors,” says Lustman, who is producing Mitchell’s birthday bash. “Then I called him and he was more than happy to return.”

Lustman says his biggest worry is that Mitchell will die during a performance. “He is playing the pedals with his feet and the keyboards with his hands at the same time,” Lustman says. “This man is playing for two hours. It’s like a workout.”

About a year ago, he thought his nightmare had come true. “Bob’s known for his style of playing--he pauses for dramatic effect and then comes back in. I was in the projectionist booth, and there was a pause and he didn’t come back on. All of a sudden, my heart started pounding. The audience didn’t’ notice anything.”

But Mitchell’s caregiver, one of his former choirboys, noticed Mitchell was slumped over the keyboard. “He jumped in and grabbed Bob, who kind of came to .... He said, ‘I’m OK. I’m just really tired.’ ” His caregiver took over on the keyboard and continued the screening.

It turned out that Mitchell had begun new medication that made him groggy and he had fallen asleep during the performance. “Bob couldn’t play anymore,” Lustman says. “We thought it was the end. I think it was two months that he stopped playing. He was extremely depressed that he couldn’t come here and play.”

Finally, the caregiver called to let him know that Mitchell was doing better. But Lustman had his doubts and said, “ ‘As harsh as it sounds, I have to audition him before I book him for a Saturday night.’ So he came in and played better than he had ever played before. He blew us away and we booked him back into the theater.”

Mitchell improvises the score for each movie. “It will never be the same twice,” he says. “It’s the ability to improvise that allows a person to be able to play silent pictures. I play the first part of the show on the piano and then play the organ for the feature. I never play anything that has been published since after the picture was released.”

During the performance, Mitchell plays in the dark. “He doesn’t need to see the keyboard,” Lustman says. “He refuses to play with light. He can see the picture better without some light on him. It is just a better view of the screen.”

Over the years, Lustman has seen Mitchell get excited as a youngster when he plays. “He gets to go back in time when he remembers his friends and family and the stars he worked with.”

The birthday celebration will feature actor Bill Pullman as host, the dance group the Rhythm Rollers and musical guests Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys. Lustman and Pullman will then do a tribute to Mitchell drawing from a “This Is Your Life” radio broadcast that honored Mitchell in 1949.

Listening to the broadcast was a revelation to Lustman, who didn’t know Mitchell poured most of the money he earned back into the choir.

“He literally was the sponsor for these children,” Lustman says. “He would take poor kids, he would clothe them and house them and teach them how to sing. It’s amazing. He had done that for decades for these children.”

From Lustman’s perspective, Mitchell’s life has come full circle. “He got his first big break playing for silent pictures in 1924, and he is finishing out his career playing for silent pictures,” the theater owner says. “The organ and the silent pictures are what he thrived on as a young boy and how he finishes out his life.”

Mr. Bob Mitchell’s 90th Birthday Celebration takes place tonight at 8 at the Downtown Palace Theatre, 630 S. Broadway, L.A. Tickets are $15 if purchased between noon and 5 p.m. today at the Silent Movie Theatre, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A., or $18 after 7 p.m at the Palace box office. Information: (323) 655-2510 or on the Web at www.downtownpalace.com or www.silentmovietheatre.com.