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Dr. Mitchell, though battling blindness and possibly a more disadvantaging blackness, still was able to compose, play, and perform music on the piano.
Dr. Mitchell joined the university staff in 1961 and has been playing piano since before then (Genello and Brown, 1989).
Though there is no certain date that Mitchell began playing piano, his first performance was a thirty-minute show in 1963 at the Hotel Casey in downtown Scranton. He performed a few of his own compositions in addition to works of Mozart and Chopin (University of Scranton Newspaper, 1963).
This is an image of the Hotel Casey in 1910. The building has since been demolished in 2001 to be built into a parking garage (Zach L., 2012).
Image sourced from (W.T. Comstock, 1910)
Mitchell’s family’s talent for the arts did not stop at Louis. Dr. Mitchell’s brother, Loften Mitchell, was a talented playwright that would bring Dr. Mitchell’s music to an entirely different audience.
In 1976, Loften Mitchell debuted his gospel musical, “Songs I Heard Mahalia Sing", in it, Dr. Mitchell composed the music (University of Scranton Newspaper, 1976). The musical was one of many successful plays written by Loften Mitchell and placed Louis Mitchell in the light as a great composer.
The Mitchell brother's musical opened on May 30, 1976, in the Don A. Watters Theater on SUNY-Binghamton campus.
This image was sourced by (Binghamton University, 2020)
Following his brief time in the light, Louis Mitchell realized that his passion for music holds potential to advocate for the black minority. Mitchell then applied and was inducted into the author’s union, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1978 (University of Scranton Newspaper, 1978). This guild protects authors and composers' works and compositions from being used incorrectly under copyright laws, as well as provide licensing to businesses to use copyrighted works.
Induction into ASCAP marked a very important milestone in Dr. Mitchell’s career as a composer. It shows that Mitchell was moving into a position to grow his audience, and to give himself more opportunity to impact others with his music. Dr. Mitchell, paired with his playwright brother, will go to do just that.
In 1985, the Mitchell brothers would go on to create the Boardway hit musical “Star of the Morning”, based on Loften’s book by the same name. The musical follows the “development of black music from 1895 to 1907” (University of Scranton Newspaper, 1985). Louis Mitchell would write sixteen of the seventeen songs for the musical, all of which depict different eras of black music. Thus, solidifying his talent as a composer and fulfilling his dream of bringing his blackness to a large-scale audience. “Star of the Morning” was a massive success on Broadway in New York City, nearly making Dr. Mitchell a celebrity overnight. When asked about his frequent trips to Spain “for privacy” to write, Dr. Mitchell said he cannot go to Spain anymore because “People know my telephone number over there now” (University of Scranton Newspaper, 1985).
With all of Dr. Mitchell accomplishments as a composer, it becomes clear that he provided an exemplarity example of a successful black man to the University of Scranton. Dr. Mitchell’s successful work in both “Songs I Heard Mahalia Sing” and “Star in the Morning” as well as induction into ASCAP provide clear examples of success that students at the University of Scranton can admire. Another theme that can be seen in Dr. Mitchell’s success story is work ethic. It can be easily observed the steady progression made from performing for thirty minutes in hotel lobbies to becoming a Broadway composer for two successful musicals. Dr. Mitchell was and continues to be an incredible example of success under hardship that the students at the University of Scranton can strive to achieve.
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